Blog

Let's talk about bending.I teach my students to have their thumb in the back of the neck to play a lot of different things - legato, picking, etc.⁠But when it comes to bending, it's important to have your thumb over the top of the neck to act as a sort of winch and...

How do you sit with the guitar?⁠There are 2 main ways to sit with the guitar.⁠One is known as "casual position."⁠The other as "classical position."⁠Casual position is when you rest the guitar on one leg.Classical position is when you rest the guitar between your legs...

I'm often contacted by people who tell me they've been playing for a while but can't play anywhere near as well as they'd like.⁠Now, there can be a few reasons for this.One reason is they may not have very good technique and need to learn how to play in a more...

Want to know the most common bending mistake I encounter people making?⁠ Is it accidentally sounding other strings while bending? No, but that's close. Is it using poor bending technique? No, but that's close too. It's NOT BENDING IN TUNE!⁠ Some guitarists are so...

Want to know something a lot of guitar players want to be able to do well?⁠Soulful major blues soloing.⁠Though most forms of rock music are largely minor based, the ability to solo well in a major setting is still important.⁠Major blues is probably the best avenue to...

Do you struggle to integrate your skills into improvisations?⁠This is a common problem a lot of people experience when they first come to me for lessons.⁠They can play exercises and licks well on there own, but struggle to integrate those techniques and licks into an...

Want to know one of the great benefits of a Zoom lesson?⁠Screen share!⁠With screen share, I can bring the students lesson material right up onto their screen and make notes and markings right in front of their eyes.⁠I've been told by many students this makes it a lot...

Self belief goes a long way.Some people say success is 1 part hard work and 1 part self belief.⁠I meet a lot of people who just don't believe they have what it takes to learn guitar or improve their playing.⁠I encourage these people to think of other things they've...

Do you struggle with changing strings when picking?⁠This is a common problem I see amongst players who're new to playing scales and riffs.⁠One the best things to do is take something reasonably simple like a scale or riff that requires you to change strings, slow it...

Do you ever feel your pick snagging and catching on the strings?⁠If so, it's likely because you're contacting the strings with the flat side of the pick.⁠This can cause the pick to catch on the strings and create a lot of resistance with picking.⁠Something that can...

Something I say here and there to my students is "guitar playing is a lot of the same things a lot of the time."⁠ The act of playing the guitar is made up of a lot of the same techniques.⁠If you get comfortable with one of these techniques in a certain song or solo,...

Are you still struggling with barre chords?⁠ If so, you're not alone.⁠Barre chords are hard.It's not uncommon for competent guitar players to still experience a certain amount of hand fatigue when playing songs with lots of barre chords.⁠Here are few quick tips that...