Creating a mini-feature on the Cambridge Jazz Festival got me thinking about genres and how we categorise music - does the name of the genre of music you make really matter? Or is it just a short-hand people use to know whether or not they might like listening to something? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPXrtIxnkPQ Here's some links to … Continue reading The Unimportance of Genre
jazz
Over Bending
Tutorial for Over Bending, and advanced string bend technique. Here's Doug Aldrich doing his thing:
Standard Chord Progressions 2 – The II V I
In Jazz we like to say that each chord plays a particular role within a scale. The job of the I chord is pretty clear - it’s what we want to hear the most, no matter what comes before it we need this to feel satisfied at the end of a piece. The V, (or … Continue reading Standard Chord Progressions 2 – The II V I
Quartal Harmony
Here’s something that’s been fascinating me recently - Quartal Harmony. If you’re at all into jazz or fusion you may already be aware of this idea, if not you might like to use it to embellish chord progressions, or use them as a basis for some unique solos. As I’m still getting to grips with these ideas … Continue reading Quartal Harmony
Memorizing The Fretboard
(I've stolen an image from http://www.CortGuitars.com for this. So there.) These are some tips and tricks to help you memorize the fretboard. Memorizing the fretboard will help you to instinctively know where to go in order to voice different chords. The first step is to remember the order of the open strings, which is as follows, (from … Continue reading Memorizing The Fretboard
Hammer-Claw Finger-Picking Technique
Hammer-claw finger-picking is a technique used in country, jazz and sometimes blues music where the guitarist plays with their fingers rather than a pick. In this style your thumb is the “hammer” and your fingers are the “claw”. Your “hammer” is intended to play the bass strings, (E, A and sometimes D), and replicate the job … Continue reading Hammer-Claw Finger-Picking Technique
Example Song #3 – 7th Barre Chords in Gm
This track is intended as an exercise for students who have recently been introduced to 7 Barre Chords. Once they are familiar with the shapes this track is a good way of learning how they’re used in practice. You’re playing mainly 7 barre chords. The Basic 7 Barre Chords lesson will be a useful reference … Continue reading Example Song #3 – 7th Barre Chords in Gm
Example Song #2 – Open 7th Chords in C
This track is intended as an exercise for students who have recently been introduced to 7 Chords. Once they are familiar with the shapes this track is a good way of putting them into practice and using them between chords they’re already familiar with. You can review the Basic Open Chords and Open 7 Chords … Continue reading Example Song #2 – Open 7th Chords in C
Example Song #1 – Open & Barre Chords in F#m
This track is intended as an exercise for students who have recently been introduced to Barre Chords. Once they are familiar with the shapes this track is a good way of learning how Barre chords can be used in a song. Students will be playing Barre Chords along with the Open Chords they’re already familiar … Continue reading Example Song #1 – Open & Barre Chords in F#m
Barring 7th Chords
This lesson focuses on Maj, Min and Dom 7th barre chords with roots on the E and A strings. Dim and Aug 7ths will be covered in another lesson, (although in the Open 7th Chords lesson, you will find one barre chord for the Dim7 rooted on the A string), as will roots on other strings. Compare the following … Continue reading Barring 7th Chords
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