You realize that the cheers from the audience after a particularly difficult passage are for a sports play on the big screen TV over the bar, and that in fact, no one is listening to you. When the gig you drove 200 miles for to make $100, and had to pay for [...]

Learning to improvise music without beating yourself up over the right notes or fumbling for the right fingering is something we all work towards when learning to solo over chord changes. Some musicians are uncomfortable with the idea of using licks because they fear it will inhibit their creativity. But learned correctly licks can enhance your [...]

Introduction to Spelling Chords By: Dennis St. Germain In this music lesson I want to show you how to spell chords and understand the component parts of a chord. You don’t have to even read music to learn to spell chords. All you need to know is the first seven letters of the alphabet. In music, chords [...]

I’m trying to post something that everyone can take away. Even at the early stages of someone’s musical path, you run into a major scale. Remember Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Ti Do well, that’ a Major scale. Let’s talk about what chords are found in a Major scale. For example I’ll use the [...]

The following is a process designed to get your brain to assimilate new musical material. This system will let you memorize music fast and help you reprogram your mental synapses and learn music the right way rather than relying on muscle memory only. This process applies to all music and all instruments [...]

Here is a very cool trick to learn all the note names on all 6 strings on every fret in 4 easy steps.

7 Reasons why you should learn music theory

The key thing is that you don't have to be a genius to play music, all you need is an interest in music and commitment to a life long learning of your instrument also known as a passion for music.

The Real Book Jazz Fake book volume 1

The best jazz fake book around. Learn lots of jazz music.

With the growing interest in Jazz and other forms of music, I find more and more people asking about chord symbols and chord construction. While there are many books out there on the market, there is very little explanation of how chords symbols are interpreted. I’d like to share some of my insight with all you music enthusiasts.

My new video guitar lesson called cool chords shows how to create your own chords and understand how to construct chords. It builds on the concept of learning a little bit of chords but knowing a lot of chords. All Chords in this tutorial are movable chord forms. Using chords built with the ROOT names on the 6th, 5th, and 4th strings.

Just because you're not a drummer, doesn't mean that you don't have to keep time. Pat your foot and sing the melody in your head when you play. Stop playing all those bullshit notes.

Many people consider the bass guitar to be the “soul instrument” of music. It gives a song life, and if you can learn to play, you can impress your family and friends! So don’t waste any time, and learn to how play bass guitar. Many people are more into electric and acoustic guitars because they’re [...]

Guitars are not straight-forward and simple. They are eccentric and flashy. People want to learn how to play in order to stand out. To do that, one must first learn how to play a rock guitar solo in various rock styles—or at least in their favorite style. Think for a moment of an average band. [...]

You need to develop a good understanding of how to read and use diagrams if you want to learn to play guitar chords. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a bit experienced, the easiest path to becoming a pro guitar player is by learning some simple chords. That way, you can apply them to learning [...]

In the simplest terms, a guitar tab is a word that is used to describe a musical notation, which may contain either numbers or letters and explains to the musician where to place his/her fingers on the instrument. Guitar tabs consist of multiple lines and is often called a ‘staff notation.’ These lines, which are [...]

Have you been auditioning for different bands and not getting the gig? Musicians are very critical of the other musicians they play with, even though they will probably not be brutally honest about what they see and hear. We don’t want to hurt your feelings so we might say something nice and then never see [...]

What grooves you? Why do you want to improve?   Regardless of your intentions – whether to get started playing, learn a few licks of your favorite tunes, or want to expand your repertoire to include blues, funk, or rock and roll music, on your way to recording yourself, there are resources out there that can help [...]

The didgeridoo is possibly the oldest instrument in the world with many experts believing it to have been played for at least the last 40,000 years. Across the top of Australia Aborigines have been using the didgeridoo at ceremonies for thousands of years, and there are even cave drawings showing the didgeridoo being played that [...]

Do you ever wonder how some people come to be great at playing the guitar? Do you wonder if you could ever be that great? Well, what if I told you that you could? I’m here to give you some tips on how to become so great at the guitar. There are quite a few [...]

What are some of the most important aspects of a successful guitarist? Successful guitarists all have goals in what they wish to achieve, and remain disciplined and persistent with their guitar practice. The biggest pitfall that is seen in many beginners is that they give up after awhile as they think they can’t achieve the [...]