In this video I talk about how to build your style and voice by learning phrases a bit like you would do when you learn a foreign language and make it your own.
Tag: Jazz
Vlog – You’ve got a friend – Tips for solo guitar playing
In this short blog I play a solo guitar arrangement of “You’ve got a friend” By James Taylor/Carol King and show some ideas I used to create this arrangment
10 tips on Practising Guitar
It’s better to practice 30 minutes a day than 10 hours once a week. Take frequent breaks, distract your mind to then go back and give full attention to what you are doing. Usually 45 minutes practice followed by15 minutes break works for me. Always warm up and stretch before playing for hours. Start slow… Continue reading 10 tips on Practising Guitar
Melodic Development – How to make your solos more interesting
In this video I quickly explain how to take a basic idea and try to develop it to make your solos more interesting and memorable. Remember to leave lots of space!! Recommended reading: Hal Crook: An analysis of his core improvisational style: An analysis of trombonist Hal Crooks’ improvisational style from 1994-96, through the examination… Continue reading Melodic Development – How to make your solos more interesting
Playing ‘Out’
Playing ‘out’ is very common in jazz and fusion circles, as it adds tension-resolution to your phrasing. In the video I show a few examples of this and of how to get ‘that’ sound. Tips: 1- always use phrases that are very recognisable, with very strong melodic content. 2- use this techinque at the end… Continue reading Playing ‘Out’
Strumming ‘In Four’ With Bassline
In this lesson I explain how to comp in four strumming with a bass line. Usually this is done quite easily in finger style but I find the strumming to change the feel quite a bit, adding a nice groove to the whole thing.
Swing Technique – Jazz Articulation on guitar
In this video I explain how to approach right hand technique to have a better ‘swing’ when playing jazz solos…obviously this works well for any style of music that has back beat (blues, rock and so on…). The idea is to PICK the note on the UPBEAT and SLUR the note on the DOWNBEAT, using… Continue reading Swing Technique – Jazz Articulation on guitar
Intervals Explained pt 2: practical application on guitar.
We have seen in this post https://www.trueguitarist.com/intervals-explained/ what intervals are in theory and how the simplest and safest way to identify an interval is by calculating the number of semitones between the two notes. Again, this is the table for you to ‘do the math’: N.of halfsteps 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 also 7… Continue reading Intervals Explained pt 2: practical application on guitar.
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
A tool to improve your improvising skills.
It’s not a secret that one of my all time favourite guitar instructional books is The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrich. One the exercises explained in this great book is about creating a random sequence of chords by writing every type of chord (major, minor, all the 7th chords and, if you feel more adventurous, chords… Continue reading A tool to improve your improvising skills.