This week I was teaching an adult student how to play the following arrangement of Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door:

This arrangement is by Chris Murrin of the YouTube channel Six String Fingerpicking. He...

You sit down with your guitar. You’re ready to play.

But then you pause.
“What should I work on today?”

It’s a common struggle of guitar learners: not knowing what to practice.

You want to make mus...

Life gets busy. Work, family, errands... Sometimes it feels impossible to carve out time for guitar practice. But here’s the truth: you don’t need hours a day to get better. Even 10 focused minutes ca...

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?

1...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

You want to get better at guitar.

But how do you know whether you’re making progress?

For each song or piece you play, there are 5 ways you can check yourself.

Looking at each of these will show wh...

Imagine you're observing a guitar lesson and this is what you hear:

“Pluck the third string.”

“Not like that!”

“Take your hand away from the guitar.”

“Scratch your knee, keeping the fingertip in c...

Sometimes you feel like you’re not improving on guitar.

If you’re like me, you want to find that new exercise, that perfect 15-step practice plan, or whatever.

I like weird exercises and complicated...