Subject: Here’s a Killer Finger Exercise
Here’s a Killer Finger Exercise
April 30th, 2017 at 8:48 am EDTHey Friend, Hope you’re having a good weekend. I only have a minute - it’ back to THE LIST today, and I have some catch-up from yesterday. I was looking through email from some of the guitar magazines I receive and saw this little gem of an ar ...
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
April 29th, 2017 at 11:05 am EDTHey Friend, Whoo, it’s shaping up to be a hot one today in Central Florida! 77° already and promising to be in the 90s by mid-afternoon. It would be a great day to stay in-doors and work on getting better at guitar, but that is not to be for ol' ...
Counting Steps
April 28th, 2017 at 8:40 am EDTHey Friend, Yesterday, I started explaining a subtle concept about chord formation, that it’s not the individual notes that determine what the chord is, but the intervals used. I thought we’d look at a minor chord first, since we’ve been focus ...
It’s NOT the Notes, Though...
April 27th, 2017 at 8:38 am EDTHey Friend, As I was putting together yesterday’s email, I started thinking about the relationship between the key (and its resulting scale) and the chords that can be formed naturally within the key. By naturally, I mean that you only need the n ...
E Major as the VII Chord
April 26th, 2017 at 8:34 am EDTHey Friend, The last triad in the F# minor key lineup is E major. I IIdim III IVm Vm VI VII F#m G#dim A Bm C#m D E There are no surprises here - the notes that make up E major are part of the F# minor scale, so the chord fits naturally into any ...
D Major as the VI Chord
April 25th, 2017 at 8:19 am EDTHey Friend, D major shows up yet again! This time it’s the VI chord in the key of F# minor. I IIdim III IVm Vm VI VII F#m G#dim A Bm C#m D E Its notes are D, F# and A, and we know this because these are the 1 3 5 notes in the D major scale: 1 ...
C# Minor as the Vm Chord
April 24th, 2017 at 8:37 am EDTHey Friend, Let’s see what’s in the bag of tricks for today… Oh yes, looks like we’re up to the C# Minor chord, the Vm chord in the F# minor harmonic progression. I II° III IVm Vm VI VII F#m G#° A Bm C#m D E C# minor is built using the ...
Allan Holdsworth, 1946-2017
April 23rd, 2017 at 9:44 am EDTHey Friend, I would be remission my duties as a guitar teacher if I didn’t mention the passing of Allan Holdsworth, who died last weekend. Many of you, if not most, will not recognize his name, but you will recognize those who revered him as a g ...
Train Those Ears
April 22nd, 2017 at 8:59 am EDTHey Friend, Hope the weekend is going well for you - just being able to sleep in an extra hour was almost a coup for me! I’ve got lots of fun things to do, like refinishing a bath tub and playing plumber. I was checking email this morning and s ...
B Minor as the IVm Chord
April 21st, 2017 at 8:34 am EDTHey Friend, B minor was the root chord for the last key we studied (B minor, in case you were distracted two weeks ago). In the key of F# minor, B minor is the IVm chord in the harmonic progression. I II° III IVm Vm VI VII F#m G#° A Bm C#m D E T ...