As a working guitarist, sooner or later you will be confronted by tension in your upper body and shoulders. I always try to teach to all my students how to avoid tension and explain how warming up before a session/gig and sitting/standing correctly can make a huge difference in how you will feel at the end of… Continue reading Posture, Warm ups, Stretching and Health for the Working Guitarist.
Category: A day in the life of a musician
Check List for the forgetful Guitarist
I usually play 150+ gigs a year in different styles, in different settings, sometimes playing ‘dep’ gigs, where you might not know what you’ll be doing until the last minute, it is easy to forget stuff at home (I have done so twice last week…). I have created this check-list to make sure this does… Continue reading Check List for the forgetful Guitarist
A list of the most popular jazz standards
This post if for the jazz guys, and possibly those that want to venture into jazz territory. I talked about repertoire yesterday, and today I was asked by a friend to put together a list of the most popular jazz standards that might be called at a jam session…this is what I came up with,… Continue reading A list of the most popular jazz standards
The Importance of Repertoire
In this short post I want to spend a few words on the importance of knowing tunes, either written by other musicians or by yourself. ‘Repertoire’ is often a fancy word we use to identify ‘all the tunes we know’. In my experience as teacher I have found to be a divide between the guitarist… Continue reading The Importance of Repertoire
5 Ways To Improve Your Sight Reading
We have heard too many times jokes about guitarists that cannot read music, or are the worst reader in the group…or the kind of guys that consider reading music unnecessary as ‘Clapton does not read music and is famous’. I can assure you that reading traditional notation will improve the knowledge of the instrument and… Continue reading 5 Ways To Improve Your Sight Reading
A self-promoting musician’s Press Kit
As a self-promoting musician I have learnt the hard way that time is a precious commodity. Being organized is of paramount importance if you want to dedicate only the necessary time to the boring and repetitive promotional stuff and concentrating on what is more important: your music. So I have learnt to keep a “Press… Continue reading A self-promoting musician’s Press Kit
Musician’s Health
In my experience, I have found musicians to belong to two categories: the health freak and the self-destructive…the first one would never touch a mojito with a ten foot pole, and is always at the gym doing Yoga or Pilates, while the second one is pretty much drunk by the second song. I am… Continue reading Musician’s Health
On how to find the best gig for you as a guitarist/musician
In the ever changing world of the music industry, it is getting more and more challenging to find your way as a guitarist (or should I say as a musician) and make a successful career out of it. I think the best piece of advice I can give from my experience, is… Continue reading On how to find the best gig for you as a guitarist/musician