Come hang out and celebrate the first big YouTube milestone: 1,000 subscribers! To kick this off, we are going to have a special live workshop to show you a totally raw perspective on what the birth and development of a riff can look like. This will be a challenge for me since I've never done t...
We guitarists are always looking for ways to optimize our practice and playing. Some of us are convinced that if we had the right guitar, it would be easier to play faster. Others are convinced that if they had a high-end pro amp setup, they would finally have the perfect tones. In either camp, m...
If you were to ask me what the most important concept of music is, I’d say that intervals would be tough to beat. Intervals are some of the most significant contributors to music because they dictate how other notes are perceived. This especially applies to emotion, so if you are trying to evoke ...
I hope you're ready to learn what is perhaps one of the most epic Christmas songs ever: "Carol Of The Bells". We're talking about the insane lead guitar version of the song by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I'm gonna be breaking down the epic lead opening for you step by step so that way you'll have a...
MuseScore is one of my favorite, most-used tools that help with my instructional content for guitar. It's an amazing, free piece of software that allows me to write out tabs, sheet music, and chord charts for my lessons and videos. Unfortunately, recent updates have made this process a lot more d...
Music theory can be a sensitive topic for guitarists.
Considering all the talk of modes, intervals, arpeggios, arrangement, 7th chords, song structure, appoggiatura, contrary motion, and all the other lingo, it's easy to see how this would cause one to feel overwhelmed.
Fortunately, the...
When I was in the market to pick out a guitar for my 16th birthday, I knew for sure I wanted something with a Floyd Rose bridge. The one who fueled this desire was Synyster Gates of Avenged Sevenfold. Seeing all the tricks he did live during Critical Acclaim and watching him make that last note s...
If there is one guitar trick you absolutely CANNOT get by without, it’s palm muting. Palm muting is not exclusive to a specific genre, so no matter what style you play, this trick is something you’ll need to learn. It’s an essential technique that relies on your picking hand to dampen the sound o...
Have you ever been awestruck when seeing one of your guitar heroes just shredding away?
I’m not talking about a recorded, composed solo on a song that's played live every night. I'm talking about those next-level shredders that seem to have amazing leads pouring out of their fingertips on th...
On the list of Heaviest Riffs Ever, “Servitude” by Sylosis has got to be there somewhere. When you consider the fact that the song is in E standard tuning of all things, well that just takes its ranking up a few notches.
Over the years, I’ve noticed that a lot of people have different ideas ...
A single note can be played in many different ways if you're playing it on the guitar. You can pick a note, hammer-on or pull-off to it from a different note, tap it, bend up to it, or slide into it. Each note has an opportunity to be played with flare by using a variety of tasteful tricks. We ca...
Sometimes, when writing a solo, it can feel like you're missing something that's got some dazzle to it. Something weird, ya know? A mind-bending sequence that'll either piece two other parts of the solo together or wrap it up with something unique. You may also be searching for a musical practice...
