Recently, a reader messaged me about how he can get his son to practice guitar more. He wrote: "hoping to encourage my son who is 12 to practise more. I dont think he is that excited by his music lessons, but would like to improve" Here was my response: Getting kids to practice is a tricky one. They're usually at a level where they can't do anything too exciting … [Read more...] about How to Get Your Child to Practice Guitar More
Do Guitarists Need to Learn to Read Conventional Musical Notation?
One of my readers recently wrote: Hey Sam, Thanks for the message! I've had a skim read so far - looks like some greatadvice in there! I wondered what your opinion is on guitarists learning to read conventionalnotation - particularly the note pitches rather than just rhythms alongsidea TAB? Classical and jazz guitarists will tell you it's a necessity,whereas rock, pop … [Read more...] about Do Guitarists Need to Learn to Read Conventional Musical Notation?
50 Little Things You Can Do To Get More From Your Guitar Practice Time
Set Goals For Yourself and Guitar practice The first step to getting more form your guitar practice time isn’t doing practice, but thinking about who you want to be as a guitarist. Do you want to play rock guitar? Rhythm guitar? Lead guitar? Classical guitar? Do you want to be able to compose or improvise? Read music? Or play songs from tab? What genres do you want to … [Read more...] about 50 Little Things You Can Do To Get More From Your Guitar Practice Time
How to Perform Neoclassical Chord Progressions on Guitar
The music theory behind neoclassical guitar is the theory of what is known as “The Common Practice Period”, often abbreviated to CPP, of music. The CPP spans roughly from 1650 - 1900. In terms of music theory, this is what we know as “tonal music”. CPP gave us: a framework for the order in which chords can be played and exceptions for those rules, known as … [Read more...] about How to Perform Neoclassical Chord Progressions on Guitar
The Guitarists Guide to Lead Guitar
What is Lead Guitar? Lead guitar is when a guitarist plays a melody, usually in a higher pitch range. In most rock, pop and metal music, the main melody of the song is performed by the vocalist. You can think of lead guitar as replacing the vocalist, for supplying the main melodic material of the song, at that point in time. You often hear lead … [Read more...] about The Guitarists Guide to Lead Guitar
