Posted August 19, 2022

Posted August 4, 2022

Posted August 3, 2022

Posted July 21, 2022

Want to be able to play a scale in any key, major or minor? This A Minor / C Major pentatonic scale pattern can be moved up and down the neck to fit into pretty much any key you might find yourself in. If you'd like to learn more about pentatonic (and other) guitar scales, 

Posted July 14, 2022

Posted February 11, 2022

Power chords are the backbone of rock music. They're often used in rock music, and are also known as fifth chords. They're called fifth chords because they're made from the root note and the fifth. They’re beefy, often crunchy and are super simple to play because it takes only three notes to make these types of guitar chords. Here are 5 easy steps to learning and practicing these powerful chords.

Posted January 20, 2022

7th chords are triads but with the addition of one more note, the 7th. Common 7th chords are major 7th (Cmaj7), minor 7th (Cmin7) and the dominant 7th (C7). These chords are used in all genres of music including blues, jazz, rock and more. 

Posted January 15, 2022

Minor chord progressions are very similar to major chord progressions but of course, we’re looking at the minor scale. It’s important to know how to find chords within a minor scale so that you have a number of options when it comes time to create your own song or if you simply want to know how your favorite hits have come together. In this guitar lesson we will take a in-depth look at minor chords, ho

Posted August 9, 2021

As you're learning how to play guitar, you'll likely hear players reference the CAGED system as being a great tool to utilize in your learning process.  To put it simply, CAGED is essentially a way of visualizing chord shapes on the fretboard. The trick to using the CAGED system is to realize that it consists of moveable shapes that can be any chord depending upon where you put the root note. Once you know the five basic shapes you can p

Posted January 8, 2021

While standard tuning is certainly the go-to, and the tuning we likely all learned how to play guitar with, let's face it: it can get a little boring. It's not the guitar's fault, it just sometimes takes a change of scenery (or in this case, tuning) to spark a little creativity in your mind. There are countless alternate tunings for the 6-string guitar, but a style of alternate tuning that can be fun to play with (especially for beginner-intermediate guitarists) is an "open tuning."

Posted July 29, 2020

Eddie Van Halen’s guitar style was all about using a strat-style guitar with humbucking pickups and turning that all the way up for blazing-fast riffs, licks and more. Eddie Van Halen songs are chock full of really great material for guitar learners to study, including hammer ons, pull offs, as well as more advanced techniques like using a boogie-style rhythm, two-hand tapping, hybrid picking and palm-muting triads. There is so much to dig through when learning how to play like Van Halen, so don’t forget to check out the full free lesson at the end of this, as well as the entire tu

Posted June 23, 2020

Posted May 15, 2020

The Hendrix chord is usually a 7#9 chord, and more specifically, an E7#9. The chord shape is colloquially called the Hendrix chord because guitarist Jimi Hendrix frequently used it in a number of his songs like “Purple Haze.” Let’s take this chord apart and see what it's all about.

Posted March 20, 2020

B.B. King is considered to be one of the greatest blues artists of all-time and certainly one of the most influential guitar players ever. His signature guitar tone can be replicated via what guitar players call the “B.B. King Box” or the “B.B. Box.” This box refers to a box pattern on the fretboard that players can utilize to play B.B. King’s signature licks. This box pattern is also great to incorporate into any guitar player’s repertoire as it’s always helpful to know a few licks that c

Posted March 5, 2020

Advanced guitar techniques like sweep picking, travis picking, two-hand tapping open up a myriad of expression and creativity to playing. More than anything, the mastery of these techniques elevate the guitar into an instrument that is richer and fuller. Check out these five advanced guitar techniques every guitarist needs to learn.