Blog

Understanding Modes

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

Understanding the concept of modes is confusing to many musicians. Let’s try to simplify this seemingly complex subject for those of you just delving into this area. A mode is formed by taking a scale (such as the C major scale) and instead ... Read Article

Shred Guitar

By: Frank Macri

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

Years ago back in the days of cowboy slinging guitarists, I, like most other players of the time went out to become a fast efficient guitarist. Players with amazing technical abilities were abundant, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and... Read Article

Keys To Picking Fast And Accurately On Guitar

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

The key to picking quickly is the ability to successfully synchronize both hands. Most guitar players are more comfortable playing fast legato phrases versus picking every note. The goal is to have a nice balance of both techniques in your playing. ... Read Article

Mixolydian Thirds

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

The Mixolydian mode is a popular choice for soloing in many forms of music.  It is derived from the fifth degree or note of the major scale. In the key of C major for example – G Mixolydian would be G,A,B,C,D,E,F,G. It is common to use thi... Read Article

Harmony Guitar Lesson

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

In this month’s lesson we will take a look at constructing single note harmony lines on the guitar. I have always loved two guitar bands that featured two or three part harmonies in their riffs and solos. Bands like The Allman Bros, Thin Lizzy ... Read Article

6th Chords

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

Many times guitarists are required to play the same chord for several measures of music or we just want to add some spice to the more commonly played chords. A nice variation or embellishment to a basic triad is a 6th chord. A 7th chord is a very str... Read Article

One String Scale Practice Part 1

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

One of the benefits of the guitar is the ability to see/memorize patterns and shapes for scales and chords. The downfall of patternistic playing is just that, at times it can sound mechanical and predictable. Visual recognition is of course part and ... Read Article

One String Scale Practice Pt 2

By: Scott Gilliam

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

This is my second installment on the subject of practicing on one string. The first lesson showed a few examples using the Minor Pentatonic, Harmonic Minor and the Mixolydian scale. As a quick recap, one of the advantages of single string studies is ... Read Article

Pentatonic Guitar Lesson

Posted in: Rock Guitar Lessons

Today we’re going to take a look at using the pentatonic scale for creating fast passages. Example one is going to take the first position of Em pentatonic and break it up into fives. Whats very important is to pay close attention to yo... Read Article