“Life is one damn thing after another!”………………………Mark Twain Mark Twain, being a humorist, often put profound insights into humorous form. One can find the inner meaning of the above quote in the writings of great philosophers, mystics, and saints. This saying is pointing to an understanding that has been recognized as an attitude whose attainment […]
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The longer I teach, the more I am impressed with one unassailable fact: most of what becoming good or great on the guitar is about has nothing to do with “musical ability”. It has everything to do with that group of qualities loosely spoken of as “character”.When I was 16 years old, I met a […]
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Tension In the Body Prevents Guitar ImprovementOne of the most important things you must keep in mind when you practice and play is thatall the parts of your body affect each other as you are making the movements involved inplaying. If you want maximum guitar improvement every time you practice you must beaware of your […]
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Sympathetic Tension Makes You Unable To Control Your FingersLet’s talk about finger control on guitar. We have learned about “The Cycle Of The Note” and how tension goes into the body with every note you play. Now it is time to learn about the tension that goes into your fingers every time you play a note, […]
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Learn To Control “The Cycle Of The Note” – Or Suffer From Uncontrolled Tension!There are certain things that go wrong at the beginning of virtually all guitar students training.The most important of these is ignorance of what happens in the body every time you play a note on the guitar Every time you play a note, […]
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The 2 Right Hand Positions On GuitarThere is a basic position for playing with a pick, and a basic position for playing fingerstyle. Although pro players may use variations of these positions, we should learn these basic positions first. Here are the basic characteristics of each position… FingerstylePickstyle1. The fingers are almost perpendicular to the […]
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As a lifelong guitar student, guitar player and guitar teacher, this is the subject that fires my greatest passion. If I could get across only one message, and for some reason wasn’t allowed to say anything else, this is what I would want to say. I want to tell you what I have learned about […]
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Here is one of many stories that guitar students have written to me over the years…. Hi Jamie, I have a history of hand problems, and I was searching for some instruction on proper form that might help. I was a student at GIT in the late 80s, and practiced about 15 hours a day, apparently without […]
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The 2 Left Hand Positions You Need On GuitarThere is more than one “correct” position for the left hand on guitar. There are two basic left hand positions for guitar. However, one of them should be learned before the other, or important muscles in the hand will not develop properly.1) The Straight Position2) The Slanted […]
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Form First, Then MovementNo matter what field of activity, if it is done with your body you are going to find that the best training teaches you form before anything else. If you take dance lessons, they will teach you to stand correctly and imagine a string pulling you from the chest. If you study […]
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