Last year, Tommy Emmanuel put on a clinic at Berklee. If you've never seen Emmanuel live, I highly recommend it. He puts on one of the best shows I've ever seen. Here's some footage from his Berklee clinic: … [Read more...]
Page Hamilton – Sonic Shapes
Last year, Page Hamilton released a guitar instructional DVD titled Sonic Shapes. I've mentioned before that I was a big fan of Hamilton's and his band Helmet when I first started playing guitar in the 90s. He was one of the first musicians I knew of who tuned to drop-D. On Sonic Shapes, Hamilton illustrates some of the concepts and approaches he takes when writing music for … [Read more...]
John Mayer “Crossroads” Lesson
The February 2010 issue of Guitar World magazine is a blues-oriented issue and features John Mayer on the cover. On the bonus disc that comes with the magazine, John Mayer gives a lesson on how he plays his cover of "Crossroads" on his latest album Battle Studies. The intro to the lesson is hilarious, and the lesson itself covers how he plays the entire song, including what … [Read more...]
Music First
Classical guitarist and composer Kevin Gallagher, from his recent article "Music First": We cannot excel at any style of music by simply putting our fingers in the correct place at the correct time. There are no excellent jazz guitarists that I know of who don't have an understanding of jazz music. There are no great pop guitarists who don't have an understanding of pop music. … [Read more...]
Blues with Brains Volumes II and III
In June, I reviewed Chuck D'Aloia's Blues with Brains DVD, which is designed to help you add some sophistication to your blues. I liked the DVD, and I like Chuck's approach to teaching. Since then, Chuck has released two new volumes of his Blues with Brains series, providing further information about how to jazz up your blues soloing. Volume 2 expands upon the insights provided … [Read more...]