New Lessons

Come As You Are by Nirvana has a little of everything. Great riff, cool chords, and simple, effective solo. Must tune down a whole step to be in tune and get that sound.

Worrying You Off My Mind is a solo acoustic blues tune by Big Bill Broonzy.  It is played fingerstyle as most of the old blues were and uses an Eb tuning.  It does not follow a typical 12 Bar Blues pattern but rather an 8 bar progression with the occasional extra bar added in. While solo acoustic blues is not easy, this is a relatively simple arrangement for the genre.

In this lesson we will be taking a dive into the chord tone mapping of Autumn Leaves. Chord tone mapping is the process of mapping out the chord tones for each chord of the progression to give us a better handle on improvising over the tune. For example we will map out the root, 3rd, 5th, and 7th of each chord. The targeting of these notes will help us play better, more melodic solos. A great exercise for any tune in any genre.

Learning chord inversions will increase your knowledge of the fretboard and improve your rhythm playing in a more creative way. In this lesson we will dive into major chord inversions using the B, G, and D strings.

In this lesson we will be diving into a harmonic analysis of the jazz standard Autumn Leaves. Understanding the harmonic structure of the tune is an important element in learning the jazz language.  It will help develop our ear, recognize common chord progressions, and help with improvisation over the chords.

In this lesson we will be studying the intro to Snow by Red Hot Chili Peppers as a Lick of the Week lesson. This piece of music is a great exercise in cross string picking and pick hand work in general. Not to mention it sounds cool and is really fun to play!

In this lesson we will be studying Sugaree by the Grateful Dead. The song is in the key of E major or B Mixolydian.  We will be covering the chord progression as well as some note for note licks as played by Jerry and some John Mayer licks from a Dead and Company version. Grateful Dead Version Dead And Company Version

In this lesson we will be learning Summer Breeze by Seals and Croft on acoustic guitar.  There are 4 sections, intro, verse, chorus, and bridge. Mostly open chords are used, but the bridge does present some tricky slash chords.

Learning chord inversions will increase your knowledge of the fretboard and improve your rhythm playing in a more creative way. In this lesson we will dive into minor chord inversions using the B, G, and D strings.

In this lesson we will be covering the Little Wing intro note for note and also studying the chord progression for the rest of the song.  The song is in Em or G (they are relative) and uses a lot of barre chords.  Once you have the chord progression down it can be a great tune to jam and improvise over.

Billy Strings is one of the best flatpickers in the world! In this lesson we will be deep diving into a Billy Strings style lick.  The lick is a great example of combining the Blues Scale with the Country Scale.

In this lesson we will be studying a short excerpt from a John Mayer Sugaree solo with Dead And Company.  The focus is on analyzing the notes he chooses to play relative to the chord progression.  This is an important improvisational concept called Chord Tone Targeting Lick starts at 4:36 - Video

In this lesson we will be studying the Harmonic Minor Scale and why it might exist. Learn how to use it in your soloing or create interesting and new chord progressions!

In this lesson we will be taking a close look at a B.B. King youtube video where he walks us through his approach to soloing over the 12 bar blues changes.  We will analyse and learn exactly what he does note for note.  Great lessons for blues improvisation and soloing! Watch B.B. solo (starts at about 0:48)

Have You Ever Seen The Rain is played in the key of C and uses open chords C, G, F, Am with some transitional chords in the chorus.  We will be covering the arrangement along with a couple strumming pattern options.

In this lesson we will be learning a chord melody version of Oh My Darling Clementine.  This is a great song to learn chord melody as the melody is fairly simple and just three chords are used, G, G7, and C.

Songs can be written in different modes other than the Major Scale.  For example, Mixolydian is a common mode used to write and compose Rock N Roll tunes and Dorian is common in Latin music.  In this lesson we will study and learn how to find the mode a song may have been written in.  This can help us determine the chords used and how to improvise over those chords.