Get a Free DIGITAL EDITION OF The 2016 Gear Guide!Lessons
How to Break Through Speed Barriers
The art of properly practicing technical passages on the guitar has many parallels to athletic training in its way, as it is a physical endeavor requiring repetition and focused execution of...
When in Doubt, Minor Pentatonic
According to Sean Daniel, crippling loneliness is the cornerstone of any good blues musician. But so is the minor pentatonic scale!
Five Things That Could Be Holding Back Your Playing
We recently shared a video to help you determine if your guitar is holding you back.
Adding Tension to the Minor Jazz-Blues Progression
Continuing our exploration of the minor jazz-blues progression I introduced last month, I’d like to now show you some cool variations on it that are sometimes used by jazz musicians and feature...
Melodic Phrasing and Playing Over Blues Changes
Over the next several months, I look forward to sharing numerous elements that have contributed to my overall guitar style and approach to both soloing and rhythm playing across various genres,...
Acoustic Artistry of The Beatles' George Harrison
Of the four Beatles, George Harrison brought to the group an assortment of electric and acoustic guitar approaches, flavors influenced by everyone from Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins to the Byrds and...
The Empire Strikes Chords!
Joey Lodes of MaelstroM here. Let's all just agree...The Empire Strikes Back was the best.
Trick to Help You Learn Scales Fast
Learning a scale isn’t just memorizing a pattern. In fact, it’s memorizing lots of patterns, but there’s more to it than that.
The Minor Jazz-Blues Progression
In this lesson, I’d like to focus on and introduce you to the basic structure of the minor jazz-blues progression and some of its common variations and chord substitutions, with the emphasis on...
How to Use Triads in a Guitar Solo
What are you supposed to do when you play lead and solo? If you’ve never soloed or played lead, you might now know where to start.
How to Play "Speed Pentatonic Scales"
This example demonstrates how to play the B minor pentatonic scale on the E and A strings using two notes on the E string and three notes on the A string. I typically play this using hammer-ons and...
How to Jump into a Guitar Solo
Whenever you switch from playing open chords to soloing or playing a lead part, you risk making an abrupt change in the song’s dynamics as the full-sounding chords drop out and the lead work begins.
Three Hot Country Licks for Rockers
We’ve talked here before about country licks—about how they’ve been used by rock guitarists like Jimmy Page, David Gilmour and Steve Howe, and the value they have in broadening your range when...