Simple Ways to Harmonise Guitar Parts

By Kevin Downing

Harmonised guitar parts is something you will be hearing a lot from your favourite players. It is also something that is not well understood by many guitar players. Even in guitar lessons most teachers do not discuss or teach it. So to learn more about Simple Ways to Harmonise Guitar Parts click the link. Enjoy.

What to Do When Tempos Are Too Quick

By Kevin Downing

Many guitar players ask me questions about what they need to do when the tempos of songs they are playing with their band are just too fast for them to play well. That is a great question. If you have this problem, you can read the article What to Do When Tempos are Too Quick here.

You Can Learn A Lot From A Simple Lick

By Kevin Downing

Many guitar players tend to overlook the many simple licks or riffs that come their way not realising that there is a wealth of information just waiting for you to tap into. Have a look at this lesson called You Can Learn A Lot From A Simple Lick and see what it can do to reshape your guitar playing skills. Have fun with this lesson.

The Best Guitar Solos Tell A Story – Do Yours?

By Kevin Downing

Many guitar players just play up and down pentatonic scales, wonder around the fretboard aimlessly, or never think about what it is they are trying to say musically. Are you like that? Maybe you need to read The Best Solos Tell A Story. Make sure to implement the contents in this lesson into your playing immediately. Have fun and enjoy this lesson.

Play What You Hear

By Kevin Downing

Many guitarists hear others say “play what you hear in your head”, but find that doing it is quite difficult. Wouldn’t it be great to play whatever you hear in your head, or on a recording, as it would make learning your favourite songs, solos, and writing your own songs so much easier than it is now? Here is a great lesson on How To Play What You Hear In Your Head. Enjoy.

11 Things I Learnt From Carl Verheyen

By Kevin Downing

Carl Verheyen (pronounced Ver-high-in) is the number one session guitarist in Los Angeles, a member of the band Supertramp, and runs his own band, the Carl Verheyen Band. In June I was in Los Angeles and caught up with him at Village Recorders in Santa Monica where he was working on and producing an album for Felipe Tarantino.

Click here to see the 11 Things I Learnt from Carl Verheyen.

Travis Picking

By Kevin Downing

Here is an introductory lesson into Travis picking, made famous by the legendary country guitar picker Merle Travis. The difference between Travis picking and regular finger-picking is the use of alternating and/or descending bass notes played by the thumb. Click here to learn more about Travis Picking.

Jingle Bells

By Kevin Downing

The festive season is here again and a great way to celebrate is to learn a traditional Christmas song. Jingle Bells was written around 1850 by James Lord Pierpont, and at around 150 years old is still one of the most popular festive songs around.

I have arranged this song as a chord melody – meaning you can hear the chords and melody all at the same time. This is a simple arrangement, but it might take a bit of practicing if you haven’t played chord melody before. Click the link to see the Jingle Bells lesson.

The Lead Guitar Role

By Kevin Downing

Great guitar players can play the rhythm or lead role easily depending on what is required for the gig or jam session, but sometimes you are the only guitarist so you have to do a bit of both. Click here to see the rest of The Lead Guitar Role article.

The Rhythm Guitar Role

By Kevin Downing

The rhythm guitar role is often misunderstood, and undervalued among many bands. Not many guitar players actually understand what the role entails either, but in this article I will explain some of the things you need to equip yourself to become a better player now. Here is the The Rhythm Guitarist’s Role article.

Using Movable Chord Shapes

By Kevin Downing

Guitar players face numerous challenges when starting out and three of them are 1/ knowing your chord shapes, 2/ how they fit together, and 3/ how to make music with them. To learn how to do the three things all at once have a look here at the Using Moveable Chords lesson

Developing Your Own Guitar Playing Style

By Kevin Downing

A lot of guitarists find that coming up with their own unique style of playing is difficult. However, it need not be difficult if you follow the imitate, assimilate, innovate rule. Click here to learn more Developing Your Own Guitar Playing Style

Learning Simple Melodies

By Kevin Downing

Many guitarists think learning simple melodies is a waste of time, but the benefits of doing this is not only fun, but your song writing, soloing, and general musicianship will improve so much you will feel it going through the roof in no time. Click the link to get started Learning Simple Melodies

Do Your Solos Sound Like Scales?

By Kevin Downing

A big frustration among many guitarists is that they complain their solos sound like scales. Have you ever complained of this problem before? If so, you need to read the Do Your Solos Sound Like Scales article right now.

How Dynamic is Your Playing

By Kevin Downing

Many things separate professional players from amateur players, but one of the biggest ones is the use of dynamics. Dynamics quite often relate to volume, like that of your strumming or picking getting louder or softer. Great soloists use dynamics to build solos up to a climax, while releasing to wind back into the vocal section to finish, etc. Dynamics within music can get very complicated at advanced levels. To see the rest of this lesson, click here How Dynamic is Your Playing

Melodic Minor Workout

By Kevin Downing

Why do guitar students have to learn scales?  They mutter that scales are boring to practice, or they would rather play songs, etc.  But knowing your scales can get you to the next skill level very quickly by improving two hand co-ordination, speed picking, tone, and even improve your ear.  There are many more benefits of learning scales that are too numerous to mention here.

The Melodic Minor scale is simply an E minor scale with the sixth and seventh degree raised a half step ascending, while descending the sixth and seventh degrees return to their natural state…..download the Melodic Minor Workout lesson here.

Here is the play along for Bouree in E Minor. It plays the E Melodic minor scale first, then the melody for Bouree in E Minor.

Here is the full score for Bouree in E Minor.

Octave Licks

By Kevin Downing

In the 1960s the jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery made the playing of octaves famous, then during the 1970s jazz/funk/blues guitarist George Benson took what Wes had done and took it a step further.  Since then many others have taken what George was doing and taken that a step further as well, and so it goes on. Click the link to download the Octave Licks lesson.  Here is the Octave licks video for this lesson
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with me now. Not only can you learn all about this subject, but you will seriously improve your playing ability quickly as well.

Twin Guitar Solos

By Kevin Downing

Many guitar players are fascinated by the twin guitar solos played by Thin Lizzy, Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, and the Allman Brothers to name a few. Many rock bands have included twin guitar solos in their songs because it adds something special to the music when used well, and many bands have made it a distinctive trademark of their sound. Here is the link to download the Twin Guitar Solos lesson.

Twin Guitar Solos Ex 1

Twin Guitar Solos Ex 3

 

Rhythm Guitar with Fills

By Kevin Downing

This lesson is another rhythm guitar part that can be heard often – playing a shuffle strum with a fill inserted into the line to make it more exciting. Do you know when to insert a fill into your rhythm guitar playing? Or what type of fills to play? If not, then download the attached lesson Rhythm Guitar with Fills.

Click the link to hear the Rhythm with Fills being played.

Building Rhythm Riffs

By Kevin Downing

I have been saying this for a long time now, playing quality rhythm guitar is a lost art these days. It is what we have to do around 95% of the time when playing in a band or jamming with friends, but not many players are good at it. So dig into the Building Rhythm Riffs lesson here.

Click the link to hear the Building Rhythm Riffs being played.