I get asked a lot by students exactly how I work songs out for myself. That is, by not using any sort of tab, chord chart or YouTube video—nothing but my own hands and ears.
Often a student is really keen to learn this skill but they cannot believe it is something they can acquire. They see working songs out by ear as a mystical skill that only wizards such as Gandalf and Merlin could acquire (just imagine those two rocking the guitar!)
A lot of my students know how to play quite a few songs. Some of those who have played for a while know anything upwards of 10 songs.
A while back, I noticed that some students would neglect to practice some songs so I got to the bottom of it and asked them why hadn’t they practiced these songs.
Welcome to our 3rd Q and A. So far we have had our first two with singer/songwriter Harry Harris, and super popular YouTube guitar teacher Drue James and now for this month’s we have session guitarist Mike Georgiades.
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.
[Read more…]
Fingerpicking is a wonderful part of guitar playing and it is one of my favourite things to do on a guitar – especially on a nice acoustic guitar. The trouble is many guitarists do not really know how to fingerpick properly.
It might be surprising to hear, but learning to sing can improve your guitar skills rapidly. As we go through this post, I’ll explain why.
First thing’s first though – having the ability to belt out one of your favourite tunes is a skill that not only feels and looks great, but is also an ability that all of us have somewhere inside of us.
I’m currently putting together a short but very powerful book on fingerpicking. I know a lot of you regular readers love to fingerpick.
This is shown by the popularity of the `Fingerpicking Classics` series.
For this week`s blog post, we are looking at lead guitar, and more specifically the minor pentatonic scale. Everyone including acoustic guitarists will benefit from learning the minor pentatonic scale – it`s so useful.
Many beginner guitarists don`t really know how to strum a guitar – not properly anyway. They often `fake it till they make it` but unfortunately that can lead to bad habits.
Check your strumming regularly by ensuring you are not making the following very common mistakes that many guitarists make – especially beginners, but often experienced guitar players too. [Read more…]
I have been mentioning it here and there for the past year or so, and now it is finally on its way. My brand new Strumming Masterclass e-Course. It`s the most important course or resource I have created as of yet.
