Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Pauly was wondering why scale patterns on guitar don't always start and end on root notes.

Question 2: Kevin is having difficulty with A Shaped bar chords, so I troubleshoot the various things that make the A shaped bar chord tricky

Question 3: Mateus "jokingly" asks how to build a guitar from sticks in the woods and I ended up just showing some pictures of guitars I've made.

Question 4: Barry wanted to know if I'll be doing more Rubik's Cube style lessons - I'm considering it (but Barry, if you want to tell me more specifically what you want out of those lessons, let me know)

Question 5: Kevin would like to solo and combine chords! I give some ideas for how to practice.

Question 6: Russ was wondering if there was a more visual or obvious way to navigate my content. I have the Lesson Archive but I'm considering another approach on my website.

Question 7: Riccardo wanted to know what kind of maintenance I do on my guitars - not much, but I did talk a bit about truss rod adjustment AND adjusting intonation

Question 8: Davin had some questions about DAWs and how to tell if you're singing in tune. I came up with some weird fun vocal exercises to get you more comfortable with controlling the pitch of your voice.

Question 9: Vinícius wanted to know if it was worth it to get a bass - my answer is pretty much always yes. Playing bass helps you understand guitar better. Playing guitar helps you understand bass better.

Read More

Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Dennis asked about some "diads" or two note chords, specifically about the blues in this case. We talked about how when you're in a band, you don't always need to play ever note in a chord because other folks in the band are likely doing it already. Also, we got specifically into this cool weird thing about the blues and how this weird diad/interval (in this case a tritone/flat fifth) scoots up or down half a step to change from the I chord to the IV chord and V chord.

Question 2: Andy was wondering about whammy bars or tremolo systems and how to start using them. I launched into my own complicated feelings about them and got specific about how to set up your strat to get the most out of your trem OR set it up to make sure it DOESN'T work so your guitar stays in tune better.

Question 3: Bob wanted to know some right hand patterns for arpeggios. I attached some Note Name Scratch Paper below for you, Bob, so you can figure out some of your own preferred arpeggios! There are so many options with the CAGED system. Also, check out my two-chord jam tracks for practicing arpeggios!

Question 4: Mateus liked my Chords in a Key Finder lesson and wanted to know if there was a system to quickly find the chords in a key on the higher strings. I walked through a couple fun ways to think about the chords in a key on the top three strings.

Question 5: Glen wanted to know if there were common movements through the CAGED shapes when soloing. I gave him a few ideas for some "standards" but also got into this concept of finding your own comfort zone and learning to branch out from there.

Question 6: Mike had questions about how the heck you figure out which fingers to use when sliding from one CAGED pentatonic shape to another. I gave him a few ways to think about it but also emphasized heavily that it would involve a lot of deliberate and mindful practice.

Question 7: Kevin wanted to know how to practice the solo from Hotel California and I gave him a few suggestions about how to practice any solo as well as some ideas for what lessons to help bolster some concepts related to that kind of stuff.

Read More

Office Hours, Q&A

I'm trying something new - each question is time-stamped for ease of use.

Question 1: Rod asks about V of V chords and if I'm going to do lessons on making chords to a melody instead of making a melody to chords!

Question 2: Quinn ask about proper left hand placement and pressure and I give some ideas on how to double check your technique so you don't hurt yourself in the long run.

Question 3: Davin asks about 6/4 chords leading to a discussion about the difference between slash chords and inversions.

Question 4: Greg asks what I use for making my PDFs (Adobe Illustrator) and writing on them on my iPad Pro (Goodnotes)

Question 5: Russ asks about how to practice switching between chords and rhythm in a blues context - I recommended a backing track like this one.

Question 6: John asks for a simple way to play an F# half diminished.

Read More

Office Hours, Q&A

In this stream we covered these topics:

• The difference between 3 notes per string and the CAGED system - drawing some key thoughts about how they interact.

• Strategies for how to make things more interesting when you're playing a "boring" guitar part for the full duration of a song - how to zoom in on practicing more specificity with rhythm and how to make things more interesting with different voicings and whatnot.

• How half diminished chords are typically used and what that sounds like - if you find other uses for a half diminished chord, feel free to share in the community forum!

• Resources for practicing rhythm guitar. I suggest my Rhythm guitar playlist combined with my Strumming Patterns series - that should get you some fun resources to practicing strumming patterns.

• Techniques for how to practice singing in tune better - ways to dig in on vocal control and thinking clearly about what note you're playing.

• Places to find people to play music with and what skills you'll need to play with other people. Basically, do a google search for open mics in your area (when the pandemic allows, obviously.)

• Wether you ought to know what notes you're playing at all times.

Read More

Office Hours. Q&A

What a stream! We laughed, we cried.... jk. We had some great questions AND a technical glitch toward the end, resulting in two separate streams.

We covered questions about where my Patreon is going in terms of content, direction, and what I'm hoping Patrons will get out of it. Then we talked about what to look for in a private guitar teacher and why you would want to have one! Then we dug into the idea of tuning your whole guitar down one half step and then somehow got into chromatic transposition.

Then we dug into a question about where to go when songwriting: how to get OUT of the key with your chord progression using similar chords AND how to just launch into a totally different key by just cramming in the V or IV of the key you're headed.

After that I launched into a (hopefully encouraging) rant about how while you're learning music theory, you HAVE to be ok with just writing music that you like without worrying about wether or not it's "music theory correct." Eventually you'll be able to analyze what you're working on for the purpose of making it sound deliberately the way you want it, but you don't HAVE to KNOW why things work to enjoy what you make.

Read More

Office Hours, Q&A

This stream had a lot of good questions. How to sit down and write music that fits your mood, how to figure out the key of a riff in your head or how to apply chords to a melody you've come up with. We also got into a bit about what MIDI is and if you need an audio interface with a DIN connector (you don't.)

Then we talked a bit about what kind of tuner to buy if you're experimenting with alternate tunings, how to start making chord and melody arrangements, and why it's so awkward an un-guitarly to play major scales.

We also talked about the meter of lyrics and how to identify the meter of your lyrics and use that in your own writing.

Read More

Office Hours, Q&A

This week we got into a lot of live chat questions. It was a fun one, and the camera guitar is back up and running so we'll get to use that from now on.

One thing I talked about at length was how to get into the initial phase of ear training - the idea of trying rapid fire to find the key in a bunch of songs on a spotify (or youtube) playlist. Don't listen to the whole song, just the first 30 to 60 seconds and see if you can figure out the key. If you get a list going and you want to ask the community about it, post that here. If you feel like you're getting a sense of things and want to take a stab at the chords, try here.

We talked about plenty of other things, including how to read (and prepare to read) lead sheets, how to play bass with a guitar player and also related - how to approach ranges when playing with another guitar player.

I also offered a fun challenge to come up with a bunch of voicings for rhythm guitar on JUST the D, G, and B strings on any of my jam tracks (because its fun) and I've attached some scratch paper to aid in that process. I'd LOVE to hear what you come up with because voicings on those strings are my favorite.

Also I told Christiane to watch Octave Shapes | Memorizing the Fingerboard, but if you haven't you should too.

Read More

Office Hours, Q&A

We had questions about posture, how to get into jazz and what jazz is (essentially), how to start jamming with friends and what it looks like to jam with friends vs with musicians you don't know, CAGED system soloing and modes, AND what kinds of effects pedals to start with.

Read More

Office Hours, Q&A

This was a fun one. We got deep into sus chords up front and how the IV chord in a major key is tricky with sus chords. We talked about a quick way to think about secondary dominants. We talked about what to think about when you're soloing, how to approach double stops, and a load of other things! Including how you can set out to write in a mode and just end up writing in a Major or Minor key AND how the opposite can happen too!

Read More

Office Hour, Q&A

This was a fun one. We talked a lot about Dom7 chords today. First, we talked about wether they HAVE to have the 7 to qualify as a dom7 chord, or can they just function that way. Then we talked about Augmented chords and how they function, and then how you can sneakily substitute a fully diminished chord for a V chord in harmonic minor. This A minor jam track was used at one point.

Then we got into some other good questions about a variety of things: How I got into music, general ideas around writing bridges and writing music in general and a bunch of other things!

I promised someone (Hugh, was that you?) that I would attach my CAGED Pdf from YouTube, but you can also find my notes from this lesson as well.

Read More

Office Hours

This was a fun stream - there were MANY questions about soloing over chord tones, so I want to set up a set of links here for resources:

MTM 16, 17, and 18 will help you understand how to make melodic phrases, which is foundational to making solos.

CAGED Soloing series helps you take these melody-making concepts and apply them to specific chord progressions in specific.

Why Pentatonic part 1 helps you understand that the pentatonic scales are dope BECAUSE they a) fit the guitar well and b) they allow for you to EASILY adapt to nearly any mode - this is to help solidify that the pentatonic scale is really just a scaffolding of the major and minor scale.

There were plenty of other great questions, too!

Read More

Office Hours

This was a fun one. We talked about left and right hand synchronization exercises and how to think about soloing over specific chord progressions. I used this E Major Jam Track

We also discussed how to move out of your comfort zone to learn new things. How much to take on at once and how to integrate new stuff into your comfort/thinking zone.

We talked a little about how to figure out strumming patterns and I recommended starting with my strumming series. That will be a great foundation for learning to hear progressions in the music you listen to.

We also talked a bit about how sus chords work and how to start figuring out what you're doing when you noodle around. We also went into drone notes a little bit.

We also talked more about dominant chords, and harmonic and melodic minor. I used this A Minor Jam Track to mess with wether to use a Mixolydian scale or just a modified A Minor Scale (aka, a harmonic minor scale.)

I also fielded some live questions from the chat and we discussed some nice ideas about gear, DAWs, audio interfaces, and a few other great questions. Also, Ernie the dog made an appearance.

Read More

OFFICE HOURS, Q&A SATURDAY

This was a fun one! We talked about Major and Minor keys and how chord progressions can be Natural, Harmonic, and Melodic minor and how that relates to the secondary dominants in the Major Key. The Pixies "Where is My Mind" came up as an example.

We also talked about jamming with friends, setting up a pedal board, and a few other things. It was a lot of fun! If you have follow-up questions or progress related to any of these concepts, post about it on the community forum.

Read More

OFFICE HOURS Q&A FRIDAY

This was a fun one! We discussed a wide range of things from alternate tunings to chord substitutions to recording software to general guitar concepts and CAGED thoughts. It was a lot of fun. At the end I decided to make up and record a little spontaneous jam just for fun with guitar, bass, and drums. This was a fun one.

Read More

OFFICE HOURS, Q&A SATURDAY

This was a fun one - we talked about a lot of things! Whole tone scales, CAGED system stuff, wether you should or shouldn't overlay pentatonic scales on top of each other, how to set up a practice routine, a few thoughts about playing bass guitar, and more!

Read More

OFFICE HOURS, Q&A FRIDAY

In this livestream I talked a bit about CAGED Soloing, how to solo over an atypical chord progression, and a bit about the difference between rhythm's like 6/8, 3/4 as well as funk and sing rhythm. There were a few other nice questions from Patrons. It was a fun time.

Read More

Office Hours, Q&A

This was a fun one! We dug into a few patron questions about intervals in solos, CAGED shapes in alternate tunings, and some big clarifications about how dominant = V chord. We also talked about song arrangement in songwriting and a few other things!

Then I went on a long (but helpful) rant about how the CAGED system IS all the possible triads on guitar. It was a lot of fun.

Read More

Office Hours: Q&A Hangout

In this stream we talked a bit about technique - fingerpicking, holding a pick and getting comfortable with single note picking - but we also tackled some questions about how to actually use half diminished and fully diminished chords which led to a fun Django Reinhardt riff.

We also talked about why scale circles have to go clockwise when making chords.

Post your questions, homework, etc on the community forum post.

Read More