Outsmart Your Guitar

I love music. I love the guitar. There is always something new to discover.

I was with a student this last week and he is still fairly new to the guitar, been playing around a year now. I took a lesson to set aside all the "learning" and began to show him how to use things he already knows to explore the fret board and the ideas that can come to mind through experimenting.

Basically, we took first position chords and began moving them everywhere, looking for positions on the fret board that sounded good, even with a little dissonance. He was having so much fun by the end of the lesson, now getting a little direction on one aspect of taking something simple and using it in a way not previously considered.

There are a lot of things you can do on the guitar that are not "obvious". Working with a guitar teacher who knows these things "hidden in plain sight" helps you to expand what is possible, how some of the music they love actually got created.

The journey on guitar is real. If you want to get beyond your current place, I have a few openings available. I teach remotely via Wire (ex Skype guys), which is free to download.

Let's talk about what you need to get beyond the "wall"!

Learning to navigate the fret board in any given scale can be a challenge. Learning and understanding each position of a scale, its order in the sequence of positions up the neck from the "root" or first position is the beginning of ending confusion and getting lost.

If you struggle with this, I can help you see everything clearly in a way that makes sense and will quickly unlock your ability to move up and down the fret board and make melodies - or learn melodies from songs - easier to play and/or learn!

I have a few openings available. Contact me and let's talk about getting you moving forward!

Chord skills matter. How are yours? The standard major, minor, dominant, sus and maybe a few variants are the starting point, not the end.

While you may not like Jazz or want to play Jazz, learning the chords used in Jazz standards songs like Autumn Leaves, Let's Fall In Love, All Of Me and similar tunes - which were all considered pop tunes when they were originally released, not Jazz - will help expand your chord vocabulary.

This is particularly helpful to you because it helps tunes your ear to hear things better so that when you are learning songs you want to play by ear, you will be more able to truly KNOW what chords are being played because your ear is now tuned to hearing the subtle things happening in the rhythms being played.

If you want to improve your chord playing skills, I can help make that happen. It's a lot of fun and challenging, too. I have a few openings and would love to have you come on board and expand your skills! Let's talk!

When you are practicing your guitar, are you focused, directed and dedicated to understanding the specific thing(s) you are working on? If not, you need to learn what goes into a productive session.

First, are you practicing or studying? They are not the same thing.

Study is what you do when you are learning a technique, approach or even a song. It is the process of taking in NEW information and learning it well.

Practicing is what you do when you are going over things you already know, whether technique, stylistic things or a song.

Knowing this difference and being mindful of just which one you are employing is the first step in removing the unproductive aspect of your time on the guitar.

I can help you learn these things and so much more. Message me about what you need, want and desire in your playing needs. I have a few openings for students. Reasonable rates. Let's talk!

Hi, everybody. Yes, I've been quiet for quite a while, but sometimes that is required for our peace of mind.

Just letting everyone know I have a limited number of openings for students. I currently teach remote via Wire (ex Skype guys); it's free to download and use with zero time limits (unlike Zoom)!

If you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced player, I have everything you need to advance, solve problems and improve your skills.

Contact: fletch at fretboard dot com and put "guitar lessons" in the subject line.

Serious inquiries only, please.

Howdy, all! Here is part four in the Aeolian mode scale series. For the full series, go on over to my Patreon channel and subscribe!

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