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Learn Dave Matthews' 5 Best Riffs
Dave Matthews is renowned not just for his soulful voice and poetic lyrics but also for his distinctive guitar style that's as unique as his music itself. When it comes to Dave's guitar playing,...
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Grant Green's Bebop Blues
Grant Green was a luminary in the realm of jazz guitar and crafted a distinctive style that seamlessly blended bebop, blues, and soul. His approach to the instrument was characterized by an...
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Play the Wrong Notes. Please.
Why is it that when soloing some notes that seemingly shouldn’t work, do? And no, it’s not jazz we’re talking about. So get ready to play some dissonant music that sounds wonderful.Which Are the Wrong...
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Cheap Tricks That Make You Sound Fast!
Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediate Lesson Overview: • Learn how performing slurs can make your guitar playing two to three times faster. • Integrate fast licks in the context of songs. • Use...
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Wolf Van Halen’s Tornado of Tapping on “Take a Bow”
The well-known heir of rock royalty breaks down his own takes on his father’s fiery techniques—and gives an up-close look at rock’s most iconic guitar.Being born into rock royalty doesn’t make you a...
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How to Plan Your Practice Time
Getting a practice routine is hard enough when the world is “normal.” In this particularly disorienting and intense time, it can be even more challenging to find one. It’s hard to know what to...
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Spider Fingers: Dave Mustaine’s Metal Artistry
Flanked by some of metal’s finest guitarists, Megadeth’s leader more than holds his own.Upon being unceremoniously fired from Metallica in 1983, right on the cusp of their climb to worldwide success,...
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Three Pro Guitarists Write a Song Before Your Very Ears
Hosts and musicians Sean Watkins and Peter Harper kick off this podcast series by writing a new tune with Vulfpeck multi-instrumentalist Theo Katzman.Click here to subscribe to the podcast!While...
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How to Syncopate Your Strums
Syncopation is like the secret sauce of rhythm playing for guitarists. It's what gives your music that extra kick, that groove that makes people nod their heads and tap their feet without even...
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Richie Sambora Is Ready to Rock
As the premier season of the show comes to a close, Richie Sambora sends it off with a fun, free-wheeling episode that looks at his high-drama fingerwork on “Only Lonely” from Bon Jovi’s second...
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Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads” Solo Revisited
Recorded live in concert, March 10, 1968 (first show) at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, Cream’s version of Robert Johnson’s “Crossroads” still, 56 years later, stands as a high point of...
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Improve Your Alternate Picking
Improving your alternate picking technique on guitar requires focused practice and attention to detail. In this video, Tom Butwin offers a few essential tips to tighten up your picking for more...
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Superstar Cowriter Dan Wilson Details His Songwriting Approach
The Semisonic frontman and multi-Grammy-winning cowriter joins this episode to talk creative processes and write an alt-country hit.Click here to subscribe to the podcast!If you’ve been in any bar...
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Beyond Blues: “Rhythm” Changes and the Blues
Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediate Lesson Overview: • Learn how to play convincingly over “rhythm” changes. • Develop deeper bebop vocabulary. • Understand how to outline chords using...
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All About Guide Tones
Do you feel like your solos lack focus or that there isn’t any underlying structure to your lines? Does it seem that you are wandering around the neck, hoping that what you are playing “looks like it...
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The CAGED Blueprint
Caitlin will show you the step-by-step process of connecting all five CAGED Shapes to create a “blueprint” for any key. Once this blueprint is formed, we can then outline any scale in that key. The...
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Obsessive Progressive: John Petrucci
Chops: Advanced Theory: Advanced Lesson Overview: • Gain a deeper understanding of complex, shifting time signatures. • Learn fast-paced, alternate-picked riffs. • Create phrases that use legato,...
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The Shred Decoder’s Guide to Sweep Picking
Chops: Intermediate/Advanced Theory: Intermediate Lesson Overview: • Develop proper sweep-picking technique. • Learn how to move across two, three, and four strings. • Create diatonic shapes that move...
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Nick Thune Writes a Different Kind of Love Song
This time on Before Your Very Ears, hosts Sean Watkins and Peter Harper give love a chance. Helping them learn the ways of love is Nick Thune, comedian and musician, who spearheads the songwriting...
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Make Moves Like Metheny
Do you want to play like Pat Metheny? Me too. But truth be told, I have no idea how to do so, though I’ve really tried. It was very difficult to wrap my head around writing a lesson on Pat because the...
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One Note at a Time: A Chet Atkins Primer
As inspiring as it is to hear Chet Atkins play some mind-bending fingerstyle licks, it can be quite daunting to decode what he’s doing. Where do all those sounds come from? How do we create our own...
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3 Steps to Better Blues Guitar
The major blues scale is such a vital scale for guitarists to learn to add color, dimension, and emotion to their solos. Here are the three simple steps to mapping the scale across the fretboard.The...
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Future Rock: Economy-Picking Pentatonics
When I first heard about economy picking, the simplicity intrigued me. The concept is relatively straightforward: After a downstroke, if you're moving to a higher string, you make another downstroke....
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Last Dance with Dorian
Chops: Intermediate Theory: Intermediate Lesson Overview: • Learn how to construct Dorian scales. • Understand the minor-key harmony of “Last Dance with Mary Jane.” • Develop an ability to hear the...
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Pentatonic Boxes Are for Squares
Likely the first melodic device any improvising musician learns is the pentatonic scale. It’s a simple pattern to learn on guitar, it’s easy to play, and it always sounds “correct.” It contains mostly...
View ArticleMaster Capo Position in Any Key Position
Discover advanced capo techniques that will refine your playing and enhance your mastery of any key. Perfect for guitarists ready to take their skills to the next level!
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How to Play Rhythm Guitar in the Pocket
No matter what style you play, playing in time could argubaly be the most important skill to have. Click Here to Get Your Free Guitar Handbook from Berklee Online!Improving time feel is crucial for...
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Beyond Blues: Scotty Moore’s Raucous Rockabilly Licks
Chops: Intermediate Theory: Beginner Lesson Overview: • Craft simple blues-based phrases that lie within the CAGED system. • Understand how double-stops are used in rockabilly music. • Improve your...
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Get Creative With Your Chords
Don’t settle for those vanilla open-string shapes. Here’s a way to unlock new sounds without difficult barre chords.Once you have the “Cowboy” chords together there are thousands of songs that are...
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What’s a Turnaround?
Get back to center in musical and ear-catching ways.A turnaround chord progression has one mission: It allows the music to continue seamlessly back to the beginning of the form while reinforcing the...
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