Learn To Play Rock Guitar

Trying out open tunings… and a PSA

Hey Friend, If you’re here in the States, just a friendly reminder… Federal taxes must be filed by Tuesday, April 17th! If you need more time, file an extension, but get it done. What the “H - E - double hockey sticks” does this have to d ...

Don’t worry - you’re in luck...

Hey Friend, Ooo, Friday the 13th! Do you feel lucky, Punk? There’s a blast from the past for you... All kidding aside, lots of people consider this an unlucky day. I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s never been a big deal in the Vance family ...

Take control of your direction

Hey Friend, Today’s exercises are designed to focus primarily on your picking hand. When you play through them, be very strict with yourself - the picking direction needs to be followed to get the most benefit out of these exercises. We are tra ...

Let’s try this...

Hey Friend, Happy Sunday! I’ll ask you to send some patience and luck my way today… My youngest daughter got her temporary driving license, and we will go out for our first lesson later this morning… I’ll keep this short. Learning economy ...

Economy/Directional picking...

Hey Friend, Economy picking expands on alternate picking by incorporating downstrokes or upstrokes based on the next string you’re moving to. I’ve read that economy picking is the combination of alternate and "sweep picking," but based on what ...

Want to Improve Your Playing Quickly? Dig Deeper...

Hey Friend, Feeling confident enough in how alternate picking works? How did the exercises go? As long as you practice maintaining that strict down/up picking pattern, you’re developing important muscle memory that will serve you well as we look ...

Happy Easter

Training Your Muscles

Hey Friend, Since we’ve been discussing picking patterns, each exercise so far has sort of built upon the one before it. Downstroke picking moves in one direction, upstroke in the opposite direction. Now with alternate picking, we “alternate” ...

Build Your Speed with Alternate Picking

Hey Friend, So far, we’ve investigated downstroke picking and upstroke picking patterns. While both are suited fairly well for certain rhythmic styles, they don’t do us as much good when you’re picking individual notes for a melodic riff such ...

Using the Upstroke Picking Pattern

Hey Friend, Morning… We’re going to be quick today with the exercises. That’s mainly because I don’t have a lot of references to pull from in Rock where you’re going to use upstrokes in much besides strumming. Here are the exercise files: ...