Here’s another lesson from my course Strum & Sing in 60 Days, teaching the basics of using the capo. My favorite chromatic tuning app (necessary for tuning a guitar with a capo on) is GuitarToolkit. Here are the notes you’ll tune your strings to for all capo positions. I’ve given all accidentals sharp names: Capo 0: 6E 5A 4D 3G …
Learn the names of the notes in this three-minute video
Do you ever knock your guitar way out of tune and, as you struggle to understand what your tuner is trying to tell you (what in the heck is a Bb or G#?), find yourself wishing you paid more attention in your childhood piano lessons? Don’t worry, I’ve got your back! In this 3-minute excerpt from my fun, innovative course, …
The key to accurate picking
Picking the right string is the hardest thing about playing guitar. How do good guitarists pick accurately? They touch their guitar lightly with their picking hand as they play. I call it BRUSHING. This is a skill that all good guitarists use, but I’ve never seen it taught outside of my studio. Learn this skill and you’ll get rid of …
The Caterpillar: The One Finger Exercise All Guitarists Should Do
This classic finger exercise will boost your strength, coordination, and flexibility. Do this every time you pick up the guitar to practice and your guitar skills will skyrocket! Wondering what else you should do when you practice? A good practice routine looks like this: 1. Warm Up – Play an easy and fun song that you know well 2. Exercise …
Pick-Hand Flight School
Students in my recent workshop at Pick-Hand Flight School,West Point Military Academy. I didn’t take any guff from those cocky flyboys. What’s the hardest thing about playing guitar? Sore fingers? Sore neighbors? I’d say the hardest part is hitting the correct string when playing single notes. Consider the rock star up there on stage. He’s singing into the mic, so …
The Importance of Having Fun
What’s the use of practicing guitar if you’re headed toward burnout? Whenever you’re working on something–a song, as skill, and exercise–you should be listening to your gut, asking yourself if what you’re doing is inspiring you. I mention this because in yesterday’s post How To Practice, I listed some principles for practicing that some of you might consider a bit …
How To Practice Guitar
One of my hopes for this notebook is to collect lesson ideas. Here is my first entry along that line. When you practice a difficult piece of music, do you repeat the whole thing again and again, stumbling the whole way through, until the music eventually surfaces from under the mess of wrong notes, halting rhythm, and curses? That’s how …
