Learn To Play Rock Guitar

More Fun Than Weekend Projects...

Hey Friend, Welcome to the weekend, We got fun ’n games, We got every kinda project honey, they’re different but the same… Ha, I couldn’t resist a little play on Guns ’n Roses “Welcome to the Jungle.” It seems G’NR is in my strea ...

Can You Hear It?

Hey Friend, Yesterday I mentioned that one tool a songwriter might use to move a melody in a direction is to place notes over chords that sound uncomfortable. Let’s say the topic is something uncomfortable or painful, like a breakup. The melody n ...

Playing Over D Minor

Hey Friend, Alright, happy Thursday. We’re rounding third base and on the slide into the weekend - Come on, Friday! I updated the MP3 for the intervals over the C major chord, so now there’s a half-note strum for each bar. This way you can hear ...

Intervals in Chords

Hey Friend, Well, I apologize. Turns out Christmas came a little early and I got ‘wrapped up’ in setting up a new iPhone. Now, I want you to understand… Even though I’ve worked in information technology for seventeen years, I’m not a gad ...

Playing the Scale Over C

Hey Friend, I thought for the first round of exercises, we’d keep it simple by listening to each interval played over a C major chord. Follow along on the PDF below and just listen to how the intervals sound. Each is played over four bars. Notic ...

Choosing Notes

Hey Friend, I’m back from snowy Ohio and ready to get back to it - guitar that is. The j.o.b. … well that’s another story! But not one I’m going to bore you with. Thanks for letting me take a little break. It was good to just turn everythi ...

Using Modes for Melody

Freekin’ J.O.B.

Hey Friend, Did you miss me? Were you worried when you didn’t get the email this morning? I got suckered into doing a software update for a client at 5:30 this morning and I just finished up. So much for taking a sick day… Anyway, I didn’t w ...

How About Some Holiday Songs?

Hey Friend, I want to shift gears today and break away from modes and melody. Give you a little break... Since we are in the thick of holiday season with some radio stations going full-on into Christmas music, I thought I’d pass on a resource I c ...

Coming Full Circle...

Hey Friend, Today’s exercise brings us back to the beginning. We’ve come around full circle, back to the Ionian mode. You’ll start the exercise in Locrian and end in Ionian. We’re still working in C major, so the first pattern starts on th ...