Learn to Navigate the Minor-Pentatonic Scale
Posted by Andrew DuBrockBefore you get overwhelmed by the prospect of navigating the whole fingerboard, you should know that it’s much easier than you m... Read More...
Lessons
Bluegrass Bass Runs
Posted by Scott NygaardAfter you’ve settled into the basic bluegrass and country boom-chuck rhythm pattern, you’re bound to start looking for something else... Read More...
Here’s How to Break Up Easy Chords to Create Rock Riffs
Many of the best licks and riffs by artists like the Beatles and Neil Young are really just made up of bits and pieces of easy chord shapes. You can use the... Read More...
Want to Play Like Johnny Cash? Learn the Boom-Chuck Rhythm in 3 Easy Steps
By Chris Grampp | Excerpted from Rhythm Guitar EssentialsThe boom-chuck beat is one of the first rhythms guitarists learn, and for good reason: you can pla... Read More...
The Art of the Blues Turnaround
Posted by Ron Forbes-RobertsIn the language of the blues, the term turnaround refers to a musical figure played over the I and V chords in the last two ... Read More...
Play a Ragtime Blues Thumb Roll
By Orville Johnson | Excerpted from Acoustic Blues Guitar BasicsOne of Blind Blake’s signature rhythmic ideas was a “thumb roll” in the bass. This quic... Read More...
Play a Syncopated Fingerstyle Rhythm
Example 3 shows a syncopated variation of a 4/4 rhythm that features a pattern of two dotted quarter notes and a quarter note in the bass. This asymmetr... Read More...
Play the Spanish Classical Song “Bolero”
Posted by Patrick Francis | Excerpted from Spanish Repertoire for Classical GuitarAndalusian-born Julian Arcas (1832–82) was perhaps the greatest Spanish clas... Read More...
Cross-String Picking Basics
In third position or higher, it becomes possible to combine open and fretted strings to play ascending/descending intervals on nonsequential strings. This t... Read More...
Use Sus4 Chords in Your Acoustic Rock Compositions
The major and minor chords you already know are made up of three notes—the root (or first note in the corresponding scale), third, and fifth. The third of a... Read More...