December 25: I'm discontinuing the News section of the website - I got too far behind and besides, it's redundant. The Master Guitar School FaceBook page has all the news, plus you can sign up to the Blog and get the News there as well.

 

 

May 20: Republished: You're Not Worse; You're Ear Is Better! "I've practiced exactly what you told me and I'm going backwards; it seems like the more I practice the worse I get!"

 

May 16: Newsletter: Free Lesson: Concepts for Comping - Lesson 5, plus Blog Links, Tune of the Month and More!

 

May 6: Republished: Legato/Staccato: Have you ever listened to a guitarist play and marveled at how “smooth” or fluid his solos sounded? Are you struggling to achieve that in your own playing? I can help you with that.

 

April 29: John Elliott (Part 3): John Elliott produced many world-class musicians (Pat Metheny, Larry Williams, Bobby Watson and others), but my relationship to him had a unique aspect; years after I studied with him I published a guitar method book that includes some of his content. I therefore dealt with him concerning approval, copyright and residuals issues. This blog tells that story:

 

April 22: John Elliott (Part 2): This part tells of John's influence on my teaching and the creation of my method book, Vertical Truth: Chordal Mechanisms for the Guitar.

 

April 15: John Elliott (Part 1): This is the first of 3 installments of the story of my relationship with the jazz musician, arranger and educator John Elliott, in which I tell of the years (1979-1986) that I studied with him. John was a formative influence; by far THE most important person in my musical development. He also proved to be a complicated and sometimes difficult individual.

 

April 11: Newsletter: April Newsletter: Comping Concepts, Free Lessons, Blog Links, Tune of the Month and More!

 

April 1: Republished: How I Play Songs I Don't Know: I know a lot of songs, but not as many as it may appear, because quite often I play songs I don’t know. Read the blog to find out how:

 

March 25: Republished: The Mistake-Reboot Loop:  If you make a mistake, you're playing too fast.

 

March 18, 2024: Clip-On This! This is a rant concerning clip-on tuners. They're ugly. And that annoys the crap out of me! Read the blog to find out why.

 

March 12, 2024: Newsletter: Free Lesson - Concepts for Comping, Blog Links and More!

 

March 4, 2024: Guitar the Hard Way: You”ll never know what you don’t know.

 

February 26, 2024: First World Problems (Scambot!): Welp, I have achieved a milestone with MasterGuitarSchool.com. The website is now big enough that the scambot algorithms are noticing! It’s kind of an inverted Social Proof. Yay.

 

February 19, 2024: Republished: Easy Lesson: The Aeolian/Dorian Distinction: Chances are, you’re somewhat confused by the whole modal-theory thing; Rather than go through a lengthy explanation of what modes are and where they come from, I’m going to approach this from a more limited and practical viewpoint. I am starting from something simple and easy to understand, the Minor Pentatonic Scale.

 

February 13, 2024: Newsletter: Free lesson on Concepts for Comping, Blog links, Tune of the Month and MORE!

 

January 28, 2024: Republished: 2-Note Jazz Chords: Applying the concept of 2-note 7th chords to Jazz standards is easy since the basic harmony of that style is 7th chords. When comping behind a vocalist or a soloist, playing these 2-note chords (dyads) leaves space for the bass player and the keyboardist to do their thing. Trust me, they'll appreciate you for it!

 

January 21, 2024: Republished: 2-Note Blues Chords: A “Whomper” is a big ole fat, bottom-heavy bar chord, full of doubled notes with the root in the bass. Think your typical bar chords that use all six strings. Whompers generally (there are exceptions) don’t work well in a band context. You’ve already got the bass player playing the root; you’ve already got a keyboard player playing chords. All a Whomper does is muddy up the works. Play these dyads (2-note chords) instead:

 

January 15, 2014: Thoughts on Jimi: an R&B/Soul guitar player…on acid!

 

January 9, 2024: Newsletter: Free lesson - Concepts for Comping, Blog Links, Tune of the Month and more!

 

January 2, 2024: Sandbagging Bar Chords: Having trouble with Bar Chords? Here are some workarounds.