I’m thinking of starting a new little feature of three things that relate to guitar playing in some sort of way, such as three guitar playing tips, and doing this each week.
It could be fun and hopefully, it will help you in a few ways as well as give you some tips and insights into what has been happening in my life and teaching studio lately.
I get asked a bit about arthritis prevention and guitar playing by students.
Mostly how can I help people become better guitarists when they suffer from it?
As many of you know, arthritis is not a pleasant thing to suffer from.
I am no doctor and don’t give medical advice on such things, but one thing I preach is that prevention is better than cure – this applies to arthritis prevention when playing the guitar as well.
One of my favourite films of all time is Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I remember watching it as a kid with my dad on VHS – I was probably only 8 at the time (and the film had a 15 rating here in the UK, so he might be mortified if he knew I told you this!) It is a great film and in it, there is a scene that reminds me of how it feels to play guitar each day and is a great reminder of the importance of guitar warm-up exercises.
What do you do when you get a spare few minutes each day?
For example, when waiting for the kettle to boil, dinner to cook, or the husband/wife to finally stop faffing, etc.
Most people tend to check their phones or potter about but…
When you get a spare minute, I recommend you grab your guitar and play something. Read More
My brand new paperback book, Fingerstyle 101 is out now on Amazon, but did you know this is a huge re-write of a book I first wrote 5 years ago?
Well, in this time I have learnt, developed, and expanded my teaching in the following 7 critical areas, and I want to share these insights with you…
It’s now 2018, and this is a great time for all guitarists and those learning to get re-motivated and really make this year a year to remember. In this post, I will go through one simple guitar challenge that will help you make massive progress this year, especially if you feel your playing has hit a plateau or not really gone anywhere.
Scale practice often gets a bad reputation in the musical world. In this blog post you will learn 9 ways scale practice can be awesome for your guitar playing. I’ll explain why they are massively beneficial for your guitar playing, exactly how you should practice them and why four minutes is the magic number. Read More
In this new blog post, the very first of 2017, I’ll show you how a simple infographic (which, by the way, you can download for free at the bottom of the post) will help you transform your guitar playing to make it more fun, productive and much more inspirational – while helping you sky-rocket your levels of motivation on the guitar.
Grohl at The Concert for Valor in Washington, D.C., 2014 by DoD News Features, licensed under (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Most guitarists who want to learn how to play guitar and sing often prioritise the guitar part over the vocal part but this is a common mistake that will hold you back.
The reason why? Because it takes much longer that way. Spending too long perfecting the guitar part before adding singing can work against you.
Singing and playing the guitar is tough and does take a little time, but you can shorten that time by doing things in the correct order which I’ll show you.
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