Learn To Play Rock Guitar

Phrygian Exercises

Hey Friend, The Phrygian mode (III) continues the party, starting with the E note. That means we can start either at the twelfth fret, or the open position on the fingerboard. BTW, it’s pronounced “frigian” in case you were wondering. Kinda ...

Dorian Exercises

Hey Friend How did yesterday’s exercises go? Any problems? I know that index to middle finger stretch over two frets can be “fun,” especially if you happen to have smaller hands or shorter fingers. But it’s not impossible, and there are pl ...

Ionian Exercises

Hey Friend, Happy Veteran’s Day! To all my brothers and sisters who have served in the military, I want to thank you for your service. I’m prior Army and enjoy some good-natured ribbing at times towards the other branches, but I’ve served wi ...

Get Your Stretch On

Hey Friend, Okay, so we covered the names of the seven modes yesterday. Now that you’re all brushed up on your Greek, let’s get down to using these puppies. Each of these modes represents a location on the fingerboard. But keep in mind, each ...

Names of Modes

Hey Friend, Modes, modes, modes… A fancy word for a simple concept. It’s not something most guitar players are even aware of, let alone talk about. It’s usually when you’ve advanced into soloing techniques that you start hearing about the d ...

What Be Modes?

Hey Friend, How did your index/middle finger stretches go yesterday? Good? Good. You’re going to need that flexibility in the days to come! Keep stretching... When you are playing notes within a key (the scale notes), the notes line up according ...

Prep With a Stretch

Hey Friend, Didn’t we just start this month?! Here we are, one week into November, and it feels like I was standing still while it all passed by… Crazy how you can be busy all day long and get nothing done. Are you ready for some new patterns? ...

Expand Your Awareness

Hey Friend, Now that you have a set of patterns that can help you locate the key notes on the fingerboard, you can easily find any other note in a melody (or scale) simply by being aware of your position on the neck. You know there’s an E note at ...

A Good Petty Tribute

Here’s An Octave Pattern

Hey Friend, Here’s another fun little pattern to help you remember where note are on the strings. If you need to find the perfect octave of a note quickly, try this little trick: Two over, two up. What does this mean? Two strings over, two fr ...