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Category Archives: Encouragement
The Magic of Practice: How to Super-Charge Your Progress
Practice is the way to get better, nobody doubts this and everyone pushes it in one form or another. I was thinking about this as I sat through a series of mediocre players at a local open mike night. I wrote about this in my last post, Going Live: How to Make Open Mike Memories. […]
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-cat-links">Posted in</span> Encouragement, Performance
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Playing With Time: How to Spice Up An Old Song
So you want to do something different and spice up an old song. You’ve heard all of these old Christmas songs a million times and now you need to play one yourself. Going with the traditional arrangement is a safe bet when leading a sing-a-long but where’s the fun in that? I just finished watching […]
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-cat-links">Posted in</span> Encouragement, Technique
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Getting Good at Guitar: How Long Will it Take?
Getting good at guitar or anything takes time. But how much time? You might be surprised at the answer: It depends! You don’t want to hear that but it is true. Your level of “good” is a function of just what you are trying to play. For most of us, it is not really that […]
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Guitar Philosophy: How to Think Deeper About Your Playing
When it comes to guitar philosophy, where are you on your journey? You have some skills, have some songs and some cool ideas. Getting to the next level is going to take some thought and force you to go deeper. This post is your introduction to the beyond… What is a PhD? Pin-headed Dope, Piled […]
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-cat-links">Posted in</span> Encouragement
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-tag-links">Tagged</span> philosophy
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How to get noticed. Are you being heard?
Get noticed by those around you. But how? On a recent vacation, my oldest brother and I got together in my hotel room and played a few songs he brought along in his guitar case. We both sang – he on lead/melody and me doing harmony (as best I could 😉 Little did we know, […]
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-cat-links">Posted in</span> Encouragement
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-tag-links">Tagged</span> Get noticed
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Rain music – How to inspire your own compositions
Rain music is a topic that appears every now and then on albums. I started playing as a child and learned a couple of rain themed songs to play for some event at school. Since then, I have found it an inspiration for creativity much like snow in the mountains does for others. So, it’s […]
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How to learn music by ear: Missing opportunities?
You may be missing valuable opportunities to learn music by ear if you are using a tuner and if you are avoiding singing along with the notes you are playing.
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-cat-links">Posted in</span> Encouragement, Guitar, Technique
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-tag-links">Tagged</span> Guitar, tuning
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Learn to play guitar For Adults: How To Start
Many would like to learn to play guitar. Now that they are adults, the next question is how to start. What to do first and where to begin are all good questions that I would like to address here. Give you a little boost 😉 You might think, “Well, I will just grab a guitar […]
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-cat-links">Posted in</span> Encouragement
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Dad Rock? Music for the rest of us!
Maybe I’m a little behind the curve, but I’ve been seeing the term “dad rock” more lately and decided to actually look into it. I thought the term came from a love of classic rock particularly with those of my generation. Then I saw a video from JHS Pedals where Josh uses the term with […]
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-cat-links">Posted in</span> Encouragement
<span class="entry-utility-prep entry-utility-prep-tag-links">Tagged</span> bob dylan, dad rock, les paul, warren haynes
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You can
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.” – Henry Ford Also said, in part, by Phil X about his recent video of Deep Purple’s Highway Star keyboard solo. Trying to cop a keyboard solo on guitar is tough but try the one in this song and your fingers might fall off! […]
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