How To

Guitar Lessons: How to Solo

This post is about a lesson that was on my site a while ago, where I talked about how to improvise. No, I’m not talking about “what scale should I use over this?” or “what mode am I in?”! I’m talking about actual “improvisation”. Basically: How to make stuff up. How to Solo (part 1) [...]

August 18, 2011 at 3:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, How to | 3 comments





Slash’s Style

This week on “In the Style of…” we’re looking at Slash from bands such as: Guns’n’Roses and Velvet Revolver. Recently, Slash (real name “Saul Hudson”), has been involved in his own solo project too (the album is just called “Slash” if you wanted to look for it…). I wanted to show Slash’s approach to melodic [...]

July 25, 2011 at 2:39 pm | In the Style of... | No comments





Guitar Lessons: How to Re-String Your Guitar

If your guitar strings are no longer smooth and shiny, but are instead sporting the latest in dull, brown rust, then it’s about time you re-string your guitar! If you play every day, you should have to do this at least every month, maybe even more- and if you’re breaking strings, that’s too long to [...]

July 12, 2011 at 11:00 pm | Equipment and Maintenance, How to | 5 comments





How to Transcribe: Structure

So far in our series on “How to Transcribe” (or “how to tab stuff out by ear”), we’ve looked at the song from the top down. Imagine the song you’re trying to transcribe as a building: on the third floor we have the melody (lead guitar or vocals) underneath that (the first floor) we have [...]

July 7, 2011 at 2:00 pm | How to | No comments





10 Easy Guitar Solos

Well I’d already covered “20 easy three-chord songs” and “20 Easy Rock Guitar Songs“…but, as a beginner guitarist, you want to learn awesome guitar solos too, right? I mean, strumming chords is great, but what happens when you want to take it to the next level? So here’s my list of 10 easy guitar solos [...]

July 6, 2011 at 1:00 am | How to | No comments





Jimmy Page’s Style

This lick is in the style of Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin. His technique and style are influenced by many different genres because he started out his career as a session guitarist (just listen to the album “Houses of the Holy” to hear what I mean!). This lesson, however, focuses on his blues-rock style found [...]

June 30, 2011 at 6:00 pm | How to, In the Style of... | No comments





Rhythm Guitar: Chord Inversions

It’s all very well and good knowing your basic open chords, and if you can extend each of the CAGED shapes up the neck to form barre chords, that’s even better…but you’re still kinda limited by those shapes. I mean, do you ever listen to rhythm players and just wonder how they’re pulling all of [...]

June 28, 2011 at 11:00 pm | Guitar Chords, Music Theory | No comments





How to Transcribe: Chords

So, here’s the next issue of the “how to transcribe” series (where I basically explain how you can get better at tabbing stuff out and figuring out songs…). We’ve already covered the lead sheet method and how to start figuring out the tune or melody. This week, we’re going to start working out the chords. [...]

June 16, 2011 at 3:42 pm | Developing Your Ears, How to | No comments





Dimebag Darrel’s Style

Here’s an example solo in the style of Dimebag Darrel from the heavy metal band “Pantera”. Dime liked to use plenty of legato in his soloing, and his phrases would often be a mixture of pentatonic and chromatic lines. The solo starts with a chromatic idea based on the E minor pentatonic scale at the [...]

June 11, 2011 at 3:00 pm | How to, In the Style of... | No comments





Transcribing: Melody

The dark art of transcription, a.k.a. “tabbing stuff out” has baffled many aspiring musicians for many years. Well, if you’ve come here looking for the answers then you’re in luck! I’ve broken down the process of transcribing into what I might end up calling “The Lead Sheet Method“. What is the “lead sheet method”? Well, [...]

June 9, 2011 at 2:00 pm | Developing Your Ears, How to, Practicing and Practice Routine | No comments





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