How Do You Win at Guitar Playing?

Sometimes you put down the guitar with a feeling of defeat.

You’re disappointed that you did not play as well as you hoped.

How could you finish each practice session with a feeling that you won?

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You Want to Play Music That's Too Hard

You’re excited to play a difficult piece of music.

You try it.

It takes hours to learn even one measure.

You become frustrated.

When this happens, the best approach is often to find a different pi...

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My Young Guitar Student Discovered Something

My student was playing a melody on the B and E strings.

He discovered he could play the same pattern of frets on the D and G strings, resulting in the same melody in a different key.

I pointed o...

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Why Are Time Signatures so CONFUSING?

You see fractions and groups of dots on a page.

They seem so complicated.

What do they really mean?

Instead of starting with notation and fractions, let’s think about the concepts they represent.

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How to Master the Guitar - the Easy Button

Is there an easy button for mastering the guitar?

Yes!

A magic trick.

A cheat code.

What is it?

Slow Practice!

“If it's that simple, why doesn’t everyone do it?”

Because most people believe fou...

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Improve Your Classical Guitar Playing

You’re interested in improving your classical guitar playing, but you've hit a plateau.

How do you take your playing to the next level?

I recommend 7 things that will help:

1. Start Strong

Each ti...

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My Guitar Student Learned 4 Ways to Practice This

Sometimes you play music that challenges you in multiple ways.

Maybe there are technique challenges.

Difficulties in understanding the rhythm. 

That was the case for one of my students recently.

H...

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What Strings Are Best For Classical And Acoustic Guitars?

You don't love the sound you're getting from your guitar.

Could a different type of strings improve the tone?

It's worth trying!

I will share my experience with some of the strings available for cl...

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Should You Play from Sheet Music or By Ear or Improvise?

It’s an old joke that you get a guitarist to stop playing by putting sheet music in front of him. Classical guitarists bristle at this joke, but even classical players are rarely strong sight-readers....

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What If The CAGED System For Guitar Was Simple?

You've heard of the CAGED system for understanding the neck of the guitar.

But it seems complicated.

How do you move guitar chords to different locations on the neck of the guitar?

Here’s the simpl...

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How Do You Switch Between Guitar Chords Without Pausing?

Picture this.

You can play each chord individually.

But when you try to switch from one to the other, there’s an annoying pause.

I struggled with this myself for years.

Here's how I fixed it:

1. ...

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Not Making Progress in Your Guitar Playing?

You’ve been playing guitar for a while.

In the past you saw your playing improve, but now you feel stuck.

You want to take your playing to the next level.

But you don't have clear guidance.

You pr...

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