What just happened here? WooW!
Wednesday, 18 May 2016
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Got Inspiration?
Mark "Big Toe" Goffeney rocks!
If this does not inspire you to pick up your guitar and practice... nothing ever will!
Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Top 10 Reasons You Should Subscribe To “Guitar World” Magazine
Top 10
16 Reasons You Should Subscribe To "Guitar World" Magazine
- Support the people who keep the passion alive for everything guitar - visit the website too, while you're at it.
- Two year subscription is less than a price of case of beer
- Exclusive guitar lessons and tips with the biggest names in axemanship
- Transcriptions of popular and legendary tunes accurate to a T.
- New sound gear and guitars reviews.
- Cool and revealing interviews with guitar heroes of all styles and approaches
- Would you recognize Peter Frampton if you ran into him on the street today? “Guitar World” readers would.Hint: He looks much different from “Frampton Comes Alive” days.
- Interesting and curios facts about legendary albums and songs. Did you know that AC/DC's “Hell's Bells” was originally written in E, but Mutt Lange changed it to A during recording sessions for "Back in Black"? Yes, I learned that from the coolest guitar magazine on the planet.
- Guitar posters – thank you guys for bringing them back.
- Keeping the memory of immortal guitar genius of Jimi Hendrix alive for both old and new generations of axemen. See Jimi on all the covers throughout the years.
- ...and the memory of Dimebag, Randy Rhoads, Kurt Cobain, Cliff Burton, George Harrison, Frank Zappa, Chuck Schuldiner,... and other fallen guitar heroes.
- Super cool special editions of the "Guitar Legends" including The Beatles, The Blues, Neil Young, Jimi, Iron Maiden, Rush and many more. Keep them coming, please.
- "100 of the World's Most Iconic Guitars" and "Five Greatest Rock Albums" editions of "Guitar Legends". "Girls and Guitars" is whole lotta beauty to see for any guitar guy.
gear.
15. Guitar World's own instructional DVDs ranging from beginner guitar to blues,
slide, rock, shred, and bass guitar. Very groovy!
16. THEE guitarist's website, and all the amazing pictures and videos there!
Rest in peace Hubert Sumlin.
The work of your genius stays behind you set in stone...
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Guitar Practice Makes Pro
We all
know the old stand-by of how “practice makes perfect”, and her
sister: “It's 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration”. These two
had been over-used, misused, rephrased, rehashed, and generally
exposed to a lot of action and wear over the years. That had
effectively turned them into clichés.
And
yet, they still stand their ground in its grandiose truth of
rewarding persistence and dedication of hard workers, as opposed to
fleeting groove of “feeling it”. Inferior music aptitude will
get further through work than “naturally born gifted” ever will
on sheer talent.
Allow me
to use this cliché one more time, and
confirm that practice indeed makes perfect for anyone – it makes
pro out of novice guitar player. It is obvious when it comes to
technique for it requires mechanical skills, and those are acquired
through exercises and repetition only.
The
very structure of the practice will have everything to do with how
fast we can gain more skills and musicianship. If the guitar
practice is regularly re-occurring event filled with proper warm up,
mix of technical drills, guitar theory, ear training, jammin' etc.
then it is pretty good chance that regime like that can make anybody
into serious instrumentalist and musician in less than, or about, one
year.
 |
| Any time is good time for practice |
Think
about numbers of the guitar practices we should take in a year
(300+), and let's say that we learn a new guitar skill every week, one
lesson in music theory in that same week, and gain knowledge in two
other areas of the guitar savvy; that would mean that we learned and
mastered at least 200 skills in a single year. Can you name 20 guitar skills right
now? How about 50? It's a lot, isn't it?
My
favourite kind of students are semi-skilled strummers who are not
overly passionate about playing. Once you expose them to strict
practice schedule, they improve fast above their basic skill level by
simply upgrading and building around humble beginner knowledge.
The
progress can actually sneak up on guitarist with persistent practice
schedule, and we can find ourselves on the level we only dreamed of
before; when you start jammin' along with tunes that used to give you
headache when you tried to figure them out. You can catch yourself
thinking: “Holy how, I can easily play this!”. That moment is a
payout for all the time and practice you put in, and indeed, we can conquer
new tunes, new leads, licks and fills every day. That is how we know
that we arrived as musicians and guitarists.
Certain
guitarists I admired used to intimidate me with their grasp of guitar
playing skills and music, and especially expert technical level they
possessed. Playing their songs was a tall order for me: couldn't get
that unusual chord that they used, or that exotic sounding lead, and
I'd be stuck playing easy parts, never really getting to play along
throughout the whole song. Fast songs were the greatest challenge
for me.
Well,
those days are over now... solid foundation gained through steady
practice allowed me to jam along with just about anybody, and in any
style or tempo. Sure I get stumped by some parts still, but they are
not out of reach for me anymore: quite the opposite – they are just
tasty challenges ready to be cracked if I really choose to
pursue it.
And
that is many, many miles ahead of where I was before I took the
guitar practice seriously.
So,
keep on picking and jammin', stay well and be practicing every day.
In
hopes of finding you improved and more complete guitarist
I
salute you
Cheers!
Your
brother in arms (and fingers ;O)
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Stuck In a Rut
When we're new to learning guitar it is somehow easy and exciting to get ahead in large leaps, and our learning curve is steep and steady. Fueled by desire to emulate our guitar heroes we just chug along and learn something new every day.
But, sooner or later, we all get stuck in that spot where our playing and practice gets boring, and we don't seem to progress at all. It is equivalent of hitting the wall in the middle of the road. Going through the motions of playing familiar tunes, changing chords, and all the other skills we acquired in our guitar training get somehow bleak, old and very uninspired. Learning curve has just flattened, and we sit there wondering where we went wrong, and what is it we need to do to get out of this uncomfortable rut?...
Some guitar players are perfectly happy to possess basic guitar skills only, and they don't seem to mind staying there as long as they can keep time and play along with couple songs they hold dear and worthy of learning. For instance, ability to change few basic chords can go a long way for mildly ambitious guitarists, and they can stay on that level for years, maybe even a lifetime. Others want to improve their musicianship all the time, and this is where it gets somewhat painful, especially for those who are learning on their own.
So, what is the way out of the flats, and back into swing of improving skills? Learning something new will do it most of the time. I don't care where you get it, just acquire a brand new skill: be it the new exercise, tip from fellow guitar player, learning unfamiliar song, music theory lesson... and best of all going for the things that are hard to play-that alone can give any musician boost on any day, and should always be kept in a back pocket as a sure way ahead.
We seem to reach this, flat and uninspiring, plateau quite a few times during our musical development, and that certainly should not stop us from bettering our skills. Recognizing and acknowledging it is the first step towards defeating it, and moving along on our quest of conquering guitar and music. It should never discourage us, or make us quit. Especially when we find out that it happens to every musician, everywhere. It should be us deciding how far and how high we want to go; us and nobody else. Bumps and obstacles on the road to success will always be there, but the road itself is beautiful and certainly worth taking, wherever it might take us.
Keep on picking and
keep on keeping
Cheers!
Yours truly
Shredd
But, sooner or later, we all get stuck in that spot where our playing and practice gets boring, and we don't seem to progress at all. It is equivalent of hitting the wall in the middle of the road. Going through the motions of playing familiar tunes, changing chords, and all the other skills we acquired in our guitar training get somehow bleak, old and very uninspired. Learning curve has just flattened, and we sit there wondering where we went wrong, and what is it we need to do to get out of this uncomfortable rut?...
Some guitar players are perfectly happy to possess basic guitar skills only, and they don't seem to mind staying there as long as they can keep time and play along with couple songs they hold dear and worthy of learning. For instance, ability to change few basic chords can go a long way for mildly ambitious guitarists, and they can stay on that level for years, maybe even a lifetime. Others want to improve their musicianship all the time, and this is where it gets somewhat painful, especially for those who are learning on their own.
So, what is the way out of the flats, and back into swing of improving skills? Learning something new will do it most of the time. I don't care where you get it, just acquire a brand new skill: be it the new exercise, tip from fellow guitar player, learning unfamiliar song, music theory lesson... and best of all going for the things that are hard to play-that alone can give any musician boost on any day, and should always be kept in a back pocket as a sure way ahead.
We seem to reach this, flat and uninspiring, plateau quite a few times during our musical development, and that certainly should not stop us from bettering our skills. Recognizing and acknowledging it is the first step towards defeating it, and moving along on our quest of conquering guitar and music. It should never discourage us, or make us quit. Especially when we find out that it happens to every musician, everywhere. It should be us deciding how far and how high we want to go; us and nobody else. Bumps and obstacles on the road to success will always be there, but the road itself is beautiful and certainly worth taking, wherever it might take us.
Keep on picking and
keep on keeping
Cheers!
Yours truly
Shredd
Monday, 21 November 2011
Internet vs. Guitarist
We might not be aware of influence internet exuded on guitarist's world in the past couple decades. Surely, the globalized access to information and like-minded people is one of the benefits of info super-highway, as it applies to guitar players everywhere. You can get so much information on your favourite guitar player, view or download many pictures and/or videos, and effectively communicate with your fellow guitar players worldwide - if you have the access to internet.
Ability to watch or stream videos opened another door in the school of guitar music: The good ol', ever reliable,one on one instruction. Even though many digital miles might separate instructor and the student, it still is same old music class with a guitar teacher.
Other teaching resources are wide-spread in the digital realm, and they all work on some level, and on some people. Question arises: Would you know how to pick the best guitar method suited for you? What is the best way to learn to play the guitar, and in what order should you stack up your skills towards that ultimate goal of mastering the instrument and becoming musically literate?
Guitar video lessons can go a long way in any guitarist's development, but on the other hand it is vitally important to have a black-on-white references, notes, and yes, why not?, a diary of your progress.
It is safe to say that some middle ground must be established in order to implement the best possible path to expert levels. As a recommendation then it is prudent to seek a guitar course that is a blend of visual, audio and written methods seamlessly incorporated into one rounded approach to learning how to play the guitar.
I catch myself leafing through one of those instructional books from time to time, just to see how well it covered guitar fundamentals. Majority of them can teach me nothing new, but sometimes I still find some interesting facts and guitar techniques and tips. As a result, I possess half a dozen instructional books featuring different guitar method, and quite a few video guitar lessons. It saves me a hustle of teaching someone every little detail personally. Instead, one of the books will cover it for me, and then I can teach them other advanced guitar tips and guitar exercises on top of the basic material they went through. I am also often asked to recommend "good quality guitar instruction book or DVD".
Another exceptional feature for guitarist of digital age is the ease of access to sheet music and guitar tablatures of popular songs; the holy grail of intermediately skilled players sought for the sheer desire to break through the limitations of current skills, and learn a song that requires more than they can handle by themselves. I don't mean to belittle anyone; we have all done it: it was that one part in the tune that we couldn't get just right, or one strange chord that baffled us for a long time, and we had nobody to ask about it... The next best thing is internet's databases of guitar tabs.
How about all the resources on guitar scales? That is one popular search on the net's search engines, lemme tell ya. It just shows how haphazard learning process is for many a beginner players.
It is just about that time that we can find the answer to almost every questions we might have concerning our quest for mastering guitar, and that is solely thanks to the connectedness through wondrous power of the net.
Stay well and in tune
Your brother in arms
Shredd
Ability to watch or stream videos opened another door in the school of guitar music: The good ol', ever reliable,one on one instruction. Even though many digital miles might separate instructor and the student, it still is same old music class with a guitar teacher.
Other teaching resources are wide-spread in the digital realm, and they all work on some level, and on some people. Question arises: Would you know how to pick the best guitar method suited for you? What is the best way to learn to play the guitar, and in what order should you stack up your skills towards that ultimate goal of mastering the instrument and becoming musically literate?
Guitar video lessons can go a long way in any guitarist's development, but on the other hand it is vitally important to have a black-on-white references, notes, and yes, why not?, a diary of your progress.
It is safe to say that some middle ground must be established in order to implement the best possible path to expert levels. As a recommendation then it is prudent to seek a guitar course that is a blend of visual, audio and written methods seamlessly incorporated into one rounded approach to learning how to play the guitar. I catch myself leafing through one of those instructional books from time to time, just to see how well it covered guitar fundamentals. Majority of them can teach me nothing new, but sometimes I still find some interesting facts and guitar techniques and tips. As a result, I possess half a dozen instructional books featuring different guitar method, and quite a few video guitar lessons. It saves me a hustle of teaching someone every little detail personally. Instead, one of the books will cover it for me, and then I can teach them other advanced guitar tips and guitar exercises on top of the basic material they went through. I am also often asked to recommend "good quality guitar instruction book or DVD".
Another exceptional feature for guitarist of digital age is the ease of access to sheet music and guitar tablatures of popular songs; the holy grail of intermediately skilled players sought for the sheer desire to break through the limitations of current skills, and learn a song that requires more than they can handle by themselves. I don't mean to belittle anyone; we have all done it: it was that one part in the tune that we couldn't get just right, or one strange chord that baffled us for a long time, and we had nobody to ask about it... The next best thing is internet's databases of guitar tabs.
How about all the resources on guitar scales? That is one popular search on the net's search engines, lemme tell ya. It just shows how haphazard learning process is for many a beginner players.
It is just about that time that we can find the answer to almost every questions we might have concerning our quest for mastering guitar, and that is solely thanks to the connectedness through wondrous power of the net.
Stay well and in tune
Your brother in arms
Shredd
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