Altered Dominants for Guitar, Part 3
ii-V-Is using the ‘C’ & ‘E’ CAGED shapes Hi folks Welcome to the third lesson in my jazz guitar series on using altered dominant dominant chords. I’m getting down to business in this lesson and demonstrating how to apply the altered dominant chords in the keys of D minor and D major, using the ii-V-I […]
Tritone Substitutions, Part 1
Basic Theory Hi Folk, and welcome back for more lashing of red hot theory. This week I’m going to delve into the arcane mysteries of the dread “Tritone Substitution”, a diabolical techique where an innocent dominant 7th chord is substituted for more diabolically satanic alternative…ahem! Sorry…little musical joke – if you want the scoop, here’s […]
Altered Dominants for Guitar, Part 2
Shapes in the ‘E’ Position Hi Folks Welcome to the second installment in my series on altered dominant chords. Last lesson I introduced you to the basic theory of altered dominant chords. In this lesson I demonstrate the most common chord shapes for the guitar, limiting myself to the ‘E’ type CAGED position (where the […]
Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah
Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah is a powerful rendition of the Leonard Cohen Classic. Jeff’s intricate fingerstyle picking and reverb soaked telecaster tone create his unmistakable signature guitar sound. Combined with his unique vocals and the overall effect is unmistakable. Jeff Buckley, Son of the late Tim Buckley was one of the major talents of […]
“In France they Kiss on Main Street” (Jaco Pastorius)
This inspired piece of bassage from the febrile fingers of the late great Jaco Pastorius graced the smouldering live Joni Mitchel album, “Shadows & Light” and has long exerted a spell over me. I finally settled to transcribe the first verse and interlude and discovered a wealth of fascinating lines, infused with great rhythmic and […]
7 Steps to Learn Funk Piano
How Practice & Learn Funk Piano Funk piano! – when we hear it done well you might find yourself saying: “Wow! I really wish I could do that.” When you hear the pros effortlessly playing funk with a great rhythmic feel and continual variation they sound awesome. Since it can seem intimidating trying to […]
Altered Dominant Theory
Altered Dominants for Guitar: Part 1 – Altered Dominant Theory I want to do a short series on using altered dominants chords since they seem to be particularly intimidating from a theoretical point of view. This is largely because of the descriptive notation which generates length chord names. Indeed it is often a lot simpler to […]
Troubleshooting Chord Strumming On the Guitar
Strumming chords is essential “bread & butter” technique for accompanying songs with the guitar, and yet it is suprisingly hard to do well. Here’s a short checklist you can run through each time you practice to ensure that you’re getting the best possible sound. Fretting Hand Are all the desired the notes ringing […]
Piano Practice Tip of the day #1
Practice for pristine fast passages: Raised Fingers Raised fingers in slow scale practice. If you’ve ever listened to the great pianists play, it’s dazzling how pristine their single line fast passages are. Magical and pearl like evenness. The solution to this is the raised fingers approach in scale practice. When practicing scales and arpeggios slowly (and you should be practicing them slowly), raise each […]
Ten Essential Principles of Productive Practice
Practice is the key to progress, but without effective tactics, you’re liable to get nowhere fast and give up in frustation. Here are ten red-hot tips for enhancing your practice sessions and making sure you get the most out of your precious practice time! 1 – “Break it up!” – the undeniable utility of “Small-Chunking” […]
