My Backstory, Reading Music, & More

Question 1: Ray wanted to know a little about my backstory

Question 2: Ray also wanted to know if you're playing in the key of A, can you play also in the key of the IV and V chord, which would be the Key of D and the key of E. The answer is basically no, but kind of, but because of the hierarchy of important considerations when soloing.

Question 3: Richard wanted to know how guitarists tune so quickly on stage. I mentioned this cool PolyTune pedal

Question 4: Noah asked if I recommend any good books for theory and playing. I don't usually think about books, but I learned how to read music from this Mel Bay book and I would recommend it to anyone learning to read music.

Question 5: Josh was wondering if it's ok to use Dsus4 shape instead of a D shape. I referred specifically to the D CHORD in this explanation, but it applies anywhere you're talking about the D shape as well. I would not recommend it, but art is art.

Question 6: David was wondering how long to spend on the first MTFG lesson - I'd say move on once you get it mostly playable. No need to do full speed. But even more importantly, check out Practice Thoughts on The Jump, Scott's Practice Method, and Doing vs Thinking.

Question 7: Julian wanted a bit of advise on creating interesting drum tracks. I forgot to answer your bass line question! Check out my bass line lesson here and see if you can use an octave effect on your guitar or buy an octave down pedal for your guitar to write basslines.

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Soloing Over Chords & Finding Notes

This weeks questions were:

Question 1: Prahanien was wondering about soloing over the specific chords in a chord progression. I went into some detail, but mainly focused on concepts laid out in CAGED Soloing.

Question 2: Ahmed was wondering how to find the same note somewhere else on the fingerboard. I went into a few ideas and recommended checking out Unison Note Finder.

Question 3: William was also trying to get a feel for CAGED soloing. Not only do I recommend the same series from question 1 above, but I think it's important to really understand how melodies work, as in MTM 17 18 19. It's also important to switch between very deliberate careful soloing and just exploring without thinking too hard.

Question 4: Mateus was wondering if there is some kind of sheet to say every chord you can play as an alternative, like in a I vi ii V progression. I gave a really fun shortcut, but I'm planning on doing a slightly more formal version for MTM soon.

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Song Structure & Soling Over Minor Keys

Question 1: Hal was curious about my Fender Musicmaster - why do I like it?

Question 2: Mark-R was wondering about song structure, specifically how to write a second part once you have a good first part. While each song is different and requires a different approach, I think my "descriptive" method is a nice tool.

Question 3: Jonathan was curious about how to solo over minor keys. I couldn't quite understand the specifics of the question, but I think CAGED Soloing and MTM 17, 18, and 19 will help you understand melodies,

Question 4: Fred asked what kind of progress to expect as an older learner, practicing every day. Always set goals.

Question 5: ConvexFX wanted to know how I learned guitar? Who were my idols? Did I start with CAGED?

Question 6: Mathias Horn had questions about thumb placement - Where is it supposed to be when you're playing?

Question 7: Tropf was wondering if I play in a band (I do, called Hot Bodies in Motion) and why I don't post more on YouTube!

Question 8: Ahmed was looking for tips on recording voice and guitar simultaneously.

Question 9: Kaj just finished MTFG Minor Scales and was trying to make sense of my CAGED labels for each scale. I gave some explanation, but CAGED Basics I and IIwill start making more sense.

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Making Beats & Learning The Fingerboard

Question 1: Sean was curious about building out a song with drums and bassline. I gave a thought about the distinct difference between playing live with a band vs making a beat in recording software. I suggested GarageBand basics for more details on making beats, and my Bass Crash Course for learning to write basslines.

Question 2: Brett was wondering if we're limited to only 7 notes when playing a solo. It took a sec for my software to boot, so I started Guitar Camera stuff around here. Brett also wanted to know the best method for learning the fingerboard. But I forgot to answer that question! Fortunately someone else asked the same question later. Scroll down to question 2! I recommend learning Octave Shapes. Unison Shapes is a pretty cool lesson too.

Question 3: Josh was wondering if I could explain the e minor pentatonic scale used in blues music. I gave a brief idea, but I dig in a little deeper in MTM 12 and MTM 13. If those are a little heavy, start MTM from the beginning. If that's too heavy, start with Music Theory Monday.

Question 4: Hal was wondering if I plan to make any technique videos again like Playing Mechanics. I suppose I could! Is anyone else interested?

Question 5: Graeme, who made this AMAZING ONLINE SCRATCH PAPER for everyone to use, was wondering about dom7 chords. Specifically, does the VII7 in a minor key resolve to III? We get philosophical because yes, but no, but kinda.

Question 6: Dr. Algenpfleger wanted to know the best way to learn the fingerboard. This is where I answer the other question I forgot from Brett in question 2. Definitely check out Octave Shapes.

Question 7: Mark-R wanted to know how much time to spend on each lesson. Generally, spend enough to understand and play around with the concept, but not enough to master. Context in a series is more important than complete mastery of each lesson before moving on.

Question 8: Roscopico was curious about the ideal approach for those with arthritis or other arm and hand issues. My suggestion is not as much physical, but emotional - ALWAYS warm up with the same thing so you have the opportunity to learn how your hand feels and reacts differently day to day.

Question 9: MJ was wondering my go-to ways to make a simple chord progression more interesting. Adding 6ths/7ths/9ths as you see fit can do a LONG way along with playing different voicings. I get into it.

Question 10: Daniel asks how to get out of the repetitiveness of playing open chords and pentatonic scales. I recommended CAGED Basics.

Have follow up questions? Bring the discussion to the community forum.

REMEMBER, THERE ARE NO DUMB QUESTIONS! EVER!

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Pentatonic & Moving Though Scales

Question 1: Ray struggles with making chords and scales musical and wants help. Also, whats the deal with Hendrix's double stops and stuff.

Question 2: Josh wanted to know who made the pentatonic scale the norm for solos ion modern music. I don't know! Here is a fun article to read.

Question 3: J.T. had questions about moving through a scale vs jumping, which I talk about in detail on my Melody Making Lessons in Music Theory Monday and after that, CAGED soloing lessons.

Question 4: Dede wants me to make a video kind of like my Rubik's Cube system but for sus2 and add9 chords.

Question 5: Dorothy was wondering why I teach the pentatonic scale as a sort of extended triad with extra notes.

Question 6: Rick had a question about closed position vs 3 note per string

Come further the discussion on any one of these questions below or on the community forum.

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Phrasing and Low Tunings

Here are the questions for this stream:

Question 1: Mr K was wondering how to set up a guitar for drop C tuning with heavier strings.

Question 2: Adam wanted a better sense of what the word "resolve" means in music.

Question 3: Ahmed had a question about phrasing

Question 4: Ahmed was ALSO wondering if you have to THINK about the name of each note you're playing. No, but I go into more detail!

Question 5: Graham asked if watching and learning famous solos and phrases is a good way to learn good phrasing. Yes, BUT

Question 6: Mojo Jeff asked if I have plans to teach any funk guitar rhythm. I already have to some degree in my Strumming Patterns series on 16th note patterns.

Question 7: Zoe had a question about thirds - I went into a pretty fun example of how thirds can be so fun! I played along to this jam track from my SPJ Jam trackschannel.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Please remember: THERE ARE NO DUMB QUESTIONS WHATSOEVER! I believe that every question has wonderful secrets to reveal about the world. This is a place to ask even the simplest of questions.

These were the questions for this week:

Question 1: Stevie was wondering where to start with Melody Writing. I gave examples of my guidelines from Music Theory Monday lessons 17, 18, and 19 and talked about how the theory is one thing, but how to do it on guitar is another thing, which is why my CAGED Soloing Series is really about making melodies on the guitar.

Question 2: Max was wondering if there were any free sites that map out modes, scales, etc. My answer is to use this awesome interactive scratch paper that a Patron named Graeme coded: The interactive note name scratch paper. This combined with learning music theory around here will go a LONG way.

Question 3: Magela asked how to keep modes in mind while writing melodies, as a follow up to question 1.

Question 4: Ahmed was wondering if I intend to do more videos on melodies and riffing. I recommended the above melody lessons again. What would you like, Patrons? What interests you? More melody lessons?

Question 5: Magela was wondering if I know anything about the "drop 2" system. I don't, but I guess I'll have to look into it now!

Question 6: Jason wanted some tips on staying motivated. I had a LOT of ideas!

Question 7: Graeme was curious about the tonal differences between tonewoods, specifically rosewood vs maple fingerboard. I forgot to mention that while the sound difference might be subtle, I MUCH prefer the rosewood fingerboard for ease of maintenance. Maple has to be refinished after a refret, but rosewood and ebony just need some lemon oil.

Question 8: Georgiy has been playing for a while and trying to figure out how to bridge the gap between theory and application. I recommended participation in the weekly community challenges and some structured ways to go about writing. The things I recommended should lead toward being able to solo, jam, write, etc.

I started talking about Get Lucky and general right hand strumming techniques.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1 from Mateus was about bending up to a note, then doing vibrato while staying bent, though it took me a minute to fully understand the question, I gave some good general pinky tips on the way there.

Question 2 from Ethan was pretty straightforward: "Are there more CAGED Basics II lessons coming?" And the answer is yes. Very soon.

Question 3 from Monster Zit was about how much time to spend on lessons: commit everything perfectly to memory or get the concept?

Question 4 from Ronnie was about the CAGED system. I launched into a mini lesson about one of my favorite CAGED concepts laid out in CAGED Soloing and the improved NEW CAGED Soloing, found here.

Question 5 was from Brock, who wanted some tips on how to get cleaner sounding notes from the guitar.

I explained a fun little mode exercise that I like

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Leo was looking for methods to find the key of a melody.

Question 2: Conor wanted to know when to move on to the next lesson AND what, in my opinion, are the fundamentals of music and also the fundamentals of guitar.

Question 3: Sean was looking for tips to keep ideas organized.

Question 4: Will was working on figuring out chords in a key in the CAGED System and basically stumbled upon some stuff that I'm laying out in my New CAGED Soloing series.

Question 5: Tasha was looking for tricks to feel inspired to write music.

Question 6: Gregg was looking to expand soloing range - I strongly recommend CAGED Basics I and II

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Office Hours, Q&A

Here are the timestamped questions from this week:

First off, some stuff fell on me, so that was fun.

The first question, was from Leo, who asked about singing and playing, but more specifically about "playing through a mistake." We got into a good discussion about it!

The second question, from Graeme, was asking why we play guitar in the left-right orientation that we currently do, as opposed to playing "left handed." I do not know, but I made a guess.

The third question was from acrvr who was essentially asking about how the guitar seems to be laid out in a "V of V of V of V of V...." kind of format.

The fourth question was from Tim, who asked wether it's best to lean into or try to avoid writing from a comfort zone where you tend to keep writing similar things.

The fifth question from David, was about how a capo affects things on the fingerboard.

MJ asked the sixth question: "what makes a voice suitable for singing?"

That was it! If you have more follow up questions or relevant info related to any of these questions, feel free to get involved on the community forum.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Here were the questions for this week - please excuse the occasional mic malfunctions - I'm working on fixing that!

Question 1: Andy was wondering which CAGED Shapes are best for 7th and 9th chords. I talked about it a bit, and recommended both my Interactive Scratch Paper and my Rubiks Cubelessons to get comfortable with each CAGED Shapes' 7th chord possibilities.

Question 2: Wasn't really a question, but Mark wanted to show off a guitar project with jumbo frets! Looks great! You can see the post here, too.

Question 3: Trevor was hoping to troubleshoot some pedal noise problems. I gave a few tips, but if anyone has tips for Trevor, let him know in the comments or community forum! Also, please report back if you've made some progress, Trevor!

Question 4: Riccardo was curious if I prefer oldschool pedals and amp or newschool amp and pedal modeling box (like a Helix) directly into a monitor or something similar.

Question 5: Mathias wanted to know what to practice for only ten minutes a day. I launched into my soapbox routine about how you HAVE to be specific about your goals, or what to practice won't make any sense. And a lot more helpful advise.

From there we kind of had a discussion about practice in general. It was great, despite the occasional mic malfunctions. I'll get that fixed for the next stream.

If you have follow up questions, or for this stream in particular, if you, Trevor, find the noise issues in your pedal board, please let us know in the community forum.

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Office hours, Q&A

Question 1: Mateus was curious about how to make an improvised melody sound like the chords are changing when there is no backing track.

Question 2: Mr K wanted to know if I have any advanced guitar setup tips. I launched into a little lesson about what your truss rod does and got into a few other little things.

Question 3: Kyle wanted to know if the classic blues riff we're all familiar with has a name. I don't know, but I went into a detailed lesson about Maj6 chords and how they relate to bass lines, rhythm guitar, and ultimately back to this riff.

If you have any follow up questions or want to continue the discussion, come hang out on the community forum.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Another great stream with great questions, here they are, linked to the specific spot in the stream where they are addressed:

Question 1 was from Greylight, who wanted some ideas for how to stay focused on the current lesson rather than bouncing around. Or, to put it another way, how do you know when you knowthe material?

Question 2 was from Mr K, who was wondering what steps might be involved in setting up a guitar to be tuned a whole step higher! We discussed a few of the risks as well as comparing and contrasting what situations you'd simply just capo on the 2nd fret vs actually tuning your guitar higher. I also mentioned "Mitchell's Abrasive Cord."

Question 3 from Other Person was about how to practice as a beginner/someone coming back after 20+ years. As always, I ask Other Person for some more specific goals before I map out a little practice diagram (attached below)

Question 4: was curious about buying Kontakt software - it's great software, but make sure you can't get that stuff from Logic Pro X.

Question 5 as some point D Walker was curious about the software people use to remove different instruments from a track. I don't know! Does anyone know? Feel free to comment about it or send a link in the community forum.

Question 6: MJ was hoping for chat's recommendations on Tele's or Jaguar's in the Squier realm. Do you have a recommendation?

Question 7: Juan FM was wondering if there is always some sort of frustration or if the beginning phases of guitar are just inherently frustrating? When will there be more lightbulb moments?

Do you have follow up questions? Want to continue one of the topics mentioned here? Come hang out on the community forum.

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was my first stream from my new studio in Orange County, CA and it was a good one!

The first question was from Martin, who wanted some advise about how to prepare for a jam session with another guitars, a pianist, and a drummer and bass player.

The second question was from Graeme, who was wondering how to branch out with practice time while working on CAGED Soloing.

The third question was a combination of Sean and Tim's questions about how to differentiate a verse, chorus, and bridge. It got a bit etherial, but it made me think we should spend some time digging in on these concepts.

The fourth question from Ethan, who was wondering about sliding in and out of chord tones along the fretboard using the G or D strings.

The fifth question was from Mark, who first had a comment about a cool interval exercise to help remember intervals and note names up the fingerboard. Mark's question was about writing a melody to lyrics. So gave an example by writing a melody to his lyrics and showing my thought process.

I introduce everyone to Betty

The sixth question was from Martin again, wondering HOW to go about practicing the skill of figuring out the key of a song - Austin had a similar question.

The seventh question was from Lyn who wanted to know how to figure out the chords in the key of B flat. I gave a little example, but my Music Theory Monday series is all about that kind of stuff.

If you want to ask follow up questions or continue a discussion about any of these topics, come hang out on the community forum.

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Office Hours, Q&A

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Office Hours, Q&A

If the above link isn’t working for you, here is a link to watch directly on YouTube: https://youtu.be/r7xRZTNwpx4

Here's how it works: bring your questions to the comments below, the community forum, or save them for the live chat.* Questions can be about anything you want - guitar technique, music theory, gear, songwriting - your choice! Also, feel free to link a video of you playing if you have a technique question!

I'll do my best to answer your questions and give examples of how you can practice developing skills related to your question.

Keep in mind, you can always watch later if you can't make it live! Check back a few hours after the stream for a numbered list of each question and a timestamped link to each answer.

*Please note: you may need a youtube/gmail account to ask questions in the live stream, but you can watch without one.

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was a great stream!

Here is the interactive Note Name Scratch Paper that Graeme put together:

Note Name Scratch Paper

As for the questions this week, here is a timestamped list:

Question 1: Kachap was wondering how to decipher slash chords. I got into it!

Question 2: Cata was wondering if it's better spread out and learn all the CAGED Shapes simultaneously or focus in on one shape system at a time.

I demo Graeme's Interactive Note Name Scratch Paper here, but I used a color that didn't translate well into my livestream. You'll have to try it out yourself right here.

Question 3: Tasha was curious what key this progression is in: Dm C A7

Question 4: Stevie was wondering how to organize practice time. I launched into preacher mode.

Question 5: Mark wanted a nice warm up routine on top of practicing major scales

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Office Hours, Q&A

Here are the timestamped question from this week:

Question 1: Mark was curious about my take on the variety of fretwire available for refretting guitars (or fretting brand new ones).
Question 2: Mateus was curious about this situation: If you're soloing over triads and you play the 7th or 9th of that chord, are you altering the chord? Yes!
Question 3: Brett was wondering how to decide where to play a chord voicing or where to play a pentatonic scale on the fingerboard? Why bother with all the different places to play chords and scales if it's all kind of the same notes?
Question 4: Jerry was wondering about how to make up your own fingerpicking patters after watching my Fingerpicking Technique video. I gave a few pointers and recommended using some Eighth-note scratch paper, which I attached below.
Question 5: Stevie was wondering what key this set of chords belongs to: Fmaj7, C, G, Am, and Em. I discuss a few quick ways to figure out what key a set of chords comes from.
Question 6: Sean wanted some tips for how to hold and aim the pick a little better.
Question 7: Ian was having difficulting accessing the community forum. I suggested he delete his discourse account (NOT the patreon account) and try again, being sure to follow the rules laid out on my "Where to Start" page.
Question 8: Mark needed some help playing along with a metronome.

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Office Hours, Q&A

Question 1: Rohan was wondering what software to use to edit my PDFs. If you're looking to fill in answers and stuff on an iPad, I use GoodNotes. If you're looking to create your own PDFs the way I do, I use Adobe Illustrator. If you're looking for a free software that does similar stuff (though MORE similar to Adobe Photoshop) I've used GIMP in the past. If you're looking to just fill out the PDFs on your computer, I'm not sure what software I'd recommend, to be honest. Other folks recommended forScore and LibreOffice.
Question 2: Mr K was having issues accessing the chat, so I walked through a few ways to access it.
From there, this stream focused on mostly chat questions, and I did an example of the 3/4 and 6/8 beats for the community challenge that week.

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Office Hours, Q&A

This was a great stream! Here are the questions:

Rust and Stevie's Question was about songwriting - Specifically, what are some ways to get two sections to go together?

Graylight had a question about how to add something like delay to a track, but only in a certain section. This is called "automation" and I show how to use it in Logic Pro.

Mateus had a question about wether he should stick with our quick fix for his nut or if he should take his guitar in for a new nut.

Andrew was curious about when it's ok to move on from the Major Scales lesson in Music Theory for Guitar. The answer is: basically, when you're comfortable at a medium speed and/or you get the concept. It's always ok to skip ahead.

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