The Circle of Fifths or Circle of Keys is a circle that contains all 12 notes and Major Keys in music. Think of it as a kind of calculator for figuring out all of the notes in all 12 Major Keys or scales. Very useful! Other names for the Circle of Fifths include: The Circle of 5ths arranges the 12 notes in the chromatic scale clockwise around the circle in fifths, or counter-clockwise in 4ths …
10 Tips For Playing Live In A Band
Performing live can be scary for new musicians – especially if it’s your first gig. I’ve been playing live now for a little over 27 years now. Thousands of gigs! (Thats me in the pic above playing live at The Gaylord Palms, Orlando in 2013) I’m still learning.. and like any good musician, you should be too! If you want your live performances to go smoothly, make sure to avoid some of these common mistakes. …
Guitar Practice Routines – An Interview with 5 Pro Guitarists
While on my ‘Virtual Book Tour’ promoting The 7 Day Practice Routine For Guitarists, it occurred to me to ’round-up’ some of my favorite players both Local and National to talk a bit about what they practice on a daily basis. These guitarists are as formidable in 2024 as they were when this article was first published a few years back. As much as I love playing and teaching the guitar… I also really love …
Guitar Arpeggios – The 7 Day Practice Routine
Hey, it’s Arpeggio day! In this lesson we’re going to change it up by doing some Guitar Arpeggios and sequences for guitar. You can grab these guitar arpeggios in PDF, TAB, or download below. If you missed the first 2 installments of the guitar practice routine, you can find them here: 7 Day Guitar Practice Routine: Day 1 – Warmups7 Day Guitar Practice Routine: Day 2 – Modal Workout Guitar Arpeggios Table of Contents If …
20 Essential Picking Exercises For Guitar
Alternate picking for guitarists may seem like something we all take for granted. Most guitarists, even complete beginners alternate some down and up strokes naturally whether they are consciously doing it or not. How to hold a guitar pick is equally important too. As we develop our picking hand, alternate picking can open a whole new world of techniques and music not obtainable otherwise. Even if you’re familiar with alternate picking, it can often be …
Pentatonic Scales For Guitar
Pentatonic Scales for Guitar Pentatonic scales are simultaneously the most used and sometimes most purposely avoided of all scales on the guitar. In all of my years of teaching guitar lessons, I’ve found there are typically 2 kinds of guitarists: Pentatonic Scale Music Pentatonic scale music is most commonly found in Blues, Jazz, Rock, and Metal, but can often be heard in other styles as I’ll explain below. It’s just a 5 note scale that …
The Girl From Ipanema Guitar Tutorial
The Girl From Ipanema Guitar Lesson and Guitar Jazz Chord Study An analysis, lesson and study of a really classic Jazz / Pop tune, The Girl From Ipanema.In this Guitar lesson: Girl From Ipanema Chord Chart Chord Analysis Section A Chord Analysis Section B Soloing and Improvisation Ideas – The Essential Scales Practice Backing Track\ Girl From Ipanema Guitar History Every once in a while I need to write a lesson for myself as well …
Minor Pentatonic Scale Shapes for Guitar
This week I’m going to revisit the Pentatonic Scale Shapes. Particularly the minor pentatonic scale and how it overlaps notes in it’s parent Major Key. In case you missed it, a while back I did a lesson on guitar modal scales and how they overlap. One of my readers, Tim, sent me an email right after that lesson went live and asked about the same concept using minor Pentatonic scales.. so like I always say… …
Guitar Modes – A Practical Guide To Modal Shapes
Guitar Modes Whenever I see guitar modes explained in lessons and other guitar blogs, there always seems to be one key point missing. How they overlap each other. When discussing how to use guitar modes, it’s really important to understand how they fall across the fretboard in any given key. To further illustrate this point, I received an email from Randal, an email subscriber who had just purchased my book The 7 Day Practice Routine …
Lagrima Complete Guitar Score PDF
My first online Classical Guitar Lesson! I gotta say, I’m kinda stoked about it too. Lagrima is one of my favorite semi-easy pieces for Classical Guitar. Also, it’s just an easy one to get your hands around. I’ve also included a free Lagrima Guitar Music PDF below. (Updated 2024 – I also did a Classical Guitar Lesson on Sor’s study in B minor). In this Lagrima Guitar Lesson: January for us working musicians in Florida …