The Guitar Principles Path To Guitar Mastery
A Powerful Collection of Courses for Mastering All the Essential Skills Every Guitar Player Needs
The Guitar Principles System
...your step by step path to guitar mastery
how to walk the path
...your step by step path to guitar mastery
The Guitar Principles System
Step 1:
Foundation Training
This is the most important step of all. Without it, your path forward will be blocked. You will not be able to be as good as you could...
Step 2:
The Basic Chords
Now that your fingers are trained for relaxed and controlled movement, we can safely learn our first chords and play some real...
Step 3:
How to Master a Scale
After the fundamental left-hand training has been achieved, the left hand must learn to play scales easily. Scales appear in all music...
Step 4:
Bar Chords
After learning the basic chords, every guitar player will find that they need to know bar chords in order to play many of the songs...
Step 5:
Hammers and Pulls
The most detailed, powerful training you will find on Hammers & Pulls on Guitar - 2 Essential Techniques used in ALL styles of...
Step 6:
Advanced Practice Strategies
"Beyond The Basic Practice Approach" contains 12 powerful practice methods used by professional musicians to build...
Step 7:
6 Essential Scales
This is the key to the higher levels of guitar playing! Writing, arranging and improvising at a high musical level is possible...
Step 8:
Chromatic Octaves
As guitar players, we need to stretch the fingers far apart, sometimes, very far apart! There are special, small muscles in the hand itself...
Step 9:
The Foundations of Rhythm
Guitar students so often do not understand how to read rhythms, even if they have taken lessons where they were supposed to learn...
Step 10:
The Yoga of Guitar
"The Yoga of Guitar" reveals the essence of what it is to play the guitar. All of the previous training has prepared the player to...
Hi, I'm Jamie Andreas
I've spent my life helping people learn the guitar. Along the way, I've studied all the problems people have as they go along the path to guitar mastery, and there are a LOT of problems!
"The Principles System" for guitar mastery begins at the beginning and guides the guitar student, step by step, through the very complex process of developing the fingers for great guitar playing in any style.
The Principles System For Guitar Mastery is for every level of player and every style of guitar!
The Guitar Principles System for learning guitar is a collection of powerful courses designed to take you from beginner to professional level player!
If you've ever wondered why you still struggle with guitar after spending hundreds of hours practicing, and thousands of dollars on that mountain of guitar books you will find out as you study the Guitar Principles System. You will find yourself saying, over and over..."Why didn't anybody ever tell me that before!"
STEP 1: The Beginning
This is the most important step of all.
Without it, your path forward will be blocked. You will not be able to be as good as you could be.
Required Achievement:
Developing The Foundation of All Finger Control: Relaxed & Controlled Finger Action
The Training
The Principles" training gives these pro guitar fingers to anyone who uses them!
This is how professional guitar fingers look. These fingers play with easy, relaxed, control because they have...
There are 3 things that a guitar student must attain before they will have any chance of success on guitar. They are:
The Results
Watch Guillaume, a graduate of "The Principles of Correct Practice" foundation training.
Notice how easily and smoothly his pick and fingers work on these foundation exercises. These movements must be learned and mastered before a player can hope to play scales and more complex movements properly. All other movements are built upon them.
When your fingers work this well and this easily with fundamental movements, playing everything else becomes easy too!
Thousands of people have achieved the same result - you can too!
speed demonstrated: 16th notes at 120 bpm
Notice the beautiful form and movement of the fingers, illustrating all the qualities listed above that a good player must have - separation and curvature. And the economy of motion is so good his fingers look like they are hardly moving.
STEP 2: THE BASIC CHORDS
Let's Make Some Music!
Now that your fingers are trained for relaxed and controlled movement, we can safely learn our first chords and play some real songs!
Required Achievement:
Mastery of Basic Chords Ability to Change Them Easily
The Training
"First Chords & Songs" will teach you how to practice chords so that you will get into them easily, and change them easily
Every guitar player, regardless of style, needs to know the basic chords on guitar. They should be learned as soon as the rudiments of tension-reducing practice are learned. They are usually learned in a random manner, on a per-song basis. This is like starting school in the 8th grade! We must:
The Results
Stacey & Stephanie could not change chords fast enough to play a song, until they worked with "First Chords & Songs". They can now play and change chords with complete ease - even the difficult C chord!
Many guitar students play for years and still struggle to play chords and find they cannot play a song all the way through without breaking down.
The methods in "First Chords & Songs" work for everyone who uses them!
Easy and smooth playing of G - Em - C and D chords. These chords should be learned first, and in the right way.
STEP 3: DEVELOPING THE LEFT HAND WITH A SCALE
After the fundamental left hand training has been achieved, the left hand must learn to play scales easily. Scales appear in all music, and this training opens the door to more complex guitar playing.
Required Achievement:
A Higher Level of Pick & Finger Ability
The Training
6-2-Major Scale for Guitar
When you can play this scale well, you will be able to learn all other scales well.
Beginner players are often given scales to learn, but no player should practice scales until the fundamentals of Step 1 are learned. Then, scales should be practiced.
Instead of practicing many scales, we should first learn how to practice and master one scale. Then, learning all the others is so much easier. Otherwise, you will just play lots of scales badly! To master a scale we must:
"How To Master A Scale" focuses on ONE scale, and gives you note by note and finger by finger detailed instruction on how to practice and play it.
The Results
Here is a demonstration of the first major scale that should be studied and mastered.
The training the fingers receive as this scale is practiced gives a wonderful ability to the fingers for easy, single note work on guitar
We gain a high level of control of both fingers and pick as we work toward a skill that all good players have - the ability to play scale passages fast and loud.
All developed players can do this, all undeveloped players cannot.
STEP 4: LEARNING BAR CHORDS
After learning the basic chords, every guitar player will find that they need to know bar chords in order to play many of the songs they love. They will also find that they have a LOT of trouble playing them!
Required Achievement:
Development of the Small Hand Muscles Necessary For Easy Playing of Bar Chords
The Training
Bar Chord types on guitar
Bar Chords are essential for all guitarists. This course is a step by step guide to mastery.
For most guitar students, learning bar chords is a frustrating experience, with lots of huffing, puffing and straining!
You can't imagine being able to play them easily, and then someone says, "Just keep practicing them". Time goes on, nothing changes.
Even if you manage to squeak them out, you can't imagine ever being able to change in and out of them easily enough to play a song with them!
In "Bar Chord Mastery" you will learn the barring technique in the best possible way, so that your hand and arm muscles stay relaxed as the index finger does the work of barring. Unless they are learned this way, you will struggle. You will also learn:
How to use the weight of the arm itself to do much of the work of pressing the strings down.
Bars are not one size fits all. There are 6 types of bars you must know how to do to play all the types of bar chords guitar players need.
Special methods for learning how to change bar chords easily.
The Results
Watch my student Kathy as she demonstrates all bar chord types, using them in various styles - rock, country, acoustic, classical and jazz. Find out how she overcame the many challenges that bar chords present to guitar students.
Kathy had been struggling with bar chords for awhile, but after applying the methods in "The Principles" and the additional training found in "Bar Chord Mastery", she developed her technique to the point where bar chords became easy to play!
STEP 5: LEARNING HAMMERS & PULLS
The most detailed, powerful training you will find on Hammers & Pulls on Guitar - 2 Essential Techniques used in ALL styles of guitar.
Required Achievement:
The Special Skills and Extra Finger Strength Necessary To Do Hammers & Pulls Easily
The Training
Hammers & Pulls Essential Training from Guitar Principles
Hammers and Pulls On Guitar Essential Training Course
Hammers & Pulls are found throughout all guitar music, as illustrated in Led Zeppelli's
"Over The Hills & Far Away"
Hammer Ons require greater strength and control from the fingers than normal notes. Pull Offs require even more. Both are found throughout guitar music of every style. If you can't do them easily, you will struggle with your music.
In "Hammers & Pulls Essential Training" you will learn:
The Results
Watch my student Marcel as he uses the methods in "Hammers & Pulls Essential Training" to play hammers & pulls with ease and perfect control.
As you watch Marcel play, notice the relaxation in the fingers not being used. Notice how they stay separated, curved, and close to the strings.
This kind of control in the fingers is essential for playing our music easily.
This is the scale we learn and master in this course "How To Master A Scale". After this, all scales become accessible to us.
We cannot bring the music to life is we are struggling to play. When your technique is properly developed, you can bring out the musician inside you!
STEP 6: ADVANCED PRACTICE STRATEGIES
In Step One we learn the "Basic Practice Approach" which is a practice routine used to learn new material effectively. However, to develop speed and move into the higher levels of guitar playing, we need a collection of advanced practice strategies.
"Beyond The Basic Practice Approach" contains 12 powerful practice methods used by professional musicians to build speed and master difficult music. This book also contains 14 articles specially written to give students an understanding of how to improve all guitar abilities to the professional level.
Required Achievement:
Knowledge of the Practice Methods Necessary to Build Speed & Ability On All Guitar Techniques
The Training
Advanced Practice Strategies For Guitar
"6 Essential Scales"...these scales with their modes & arpeggios, are the doorway to a high level of ability on the guitar, and understanding of the full potential of the guitar as a musical instrument.
In this book are found all the practice methods to be used after the practice approaches and concepts in The Principles are learned. For intermediate and advanced students who want to make continuous progress on guitar.
For each technique, you will learn what the strategy is, why it works, when to use it, when and how to combine strategies, and when to change strategies.
Many of these strategies are widely used by professional musicians, and have been for years. Unfortunately, they are rarely discussed, and when they are, it is done in such a cursory fashion that it’s impossible for the student to understand what a particular practice strategy is about, much less how, why or when to use it.
For each technique, you will learn what the strategy is, why it works, when to use it, when and how to combine strategies, and when to change strategies.
Also included in this book are 6 essential essays on Practice Theory, and a Question and Answer section on some of the most frequently asked questions to Jamie.
The Results
In this video I demonstrate "Working In Groups" one of the first practice strategies we use to bring up the speed of a passage.
STEP 7: THE 6 ESSENTIAL SCALES WITH MODES & ARPEGGIOS
This is the key to the higher levels of guitar playing! Writing, arranging and improvising at a high musical level are possible once we have the knowledge of the 6 Essential Scales w/ Modes & Arpeggios.
Required Achievement:
Knowledge of the 6 Essential Scales With Their Modes & Arpeggios, The Ability to Play Them Easily In All Keys
The Training
6 Essential Scales for Guitar
"6 Essential Scales"...these scales with their modes & arpeggios, are the doorway to a high level of ability on the guitar, and understanding of the full potential of the guitar as a musical instrument.
Mastery of these 6 Essential Scales is achieved by study of this course more easily than any other method because you will learn:
The Results
Watch my student Nico play through all the arpeggios in the key of G, using the 6-2 major scale. This will give you an idea of what you want to accomplish as you work with "The 6 Essential Scales".
STEP 8: THE CHROMATIC OCTAVE EXERCISES
As guitar players, we need to stretch the fingers far apart, sometimes, very far apart! There are special, small muscles in the hand itself that do this, but they are always undeveloped, because we don't need them in day to day life to any great extent. After scales are learned, and the foundation is built, we need to develop these muscles. This is the best exercise to do that - IF it is practiced correctly!
Required Achievement:
Strengthening of the Small Muscles of the Hand That Separate the Fingers
The Training
Develop that Stretch!
These small muscles spread the fingers apart.
They must be carefully strengthened.
This exercise requires some fingers to stay down while other stretch.
Quite difficult at first, but gives you a very strong hand!
This... won't give you... this!
You need the
Chromatic Octave Exercise
Many guitar players use a gripmaster to strengthen the fingers, pushing down on those springs to increase finger strength. This only strengthens the muscles of the forearm that flex and extend the fingers. This may be somewhat useful, but it does nothing for the very important group of muscles that lie within the hand itself, and these muscles are responsible for stretching the fingers apart sideways.
All your playing will improve when your hand is strengthened. In this course you get:
The Results
Watch my student Nico play through all the arpeggios in the key of G, using the 6-2 major scale. This will give you an idea of what you want to accomplish as you work with "The 6 Essential Scales"
STEP 9: THE FOUNDATIONS OF RHYTHM
Guitar students so often do not understand how to read rhythms, even if they have taken lessons where they were supposed to learn how to read music! This course will give you the complete understanding of rhythm notation in a series of clear, step by step chapters that will make you a master of rhythm!
Required Achievement:
Complete Understanding of Rhythm Concepts - Ability to Read, Understand, and Play Any Rhythm Notation
The Training
Detailed explanations of all rhythmic concepts in a way you have never seen before!
Foundations of Rhythm
Learn to read, understand, and play any rhythm you see!
FROM JAMIE: "Rhythm is poorly taught in all guitar methods! Most guitar students do not even understand the most basic rhythmic concepts!
They don't even know what a beat is! If you don't understand that a beat is a unit of time measured by your foot going up and down, how can you give half a beat to a note when required?
Get the education you need on this vital topic to be a REAL guitarist & musician!"
About The Training
STEP 10: THE YOGA OF GUITAR
"The Yoga of Guitar" reveals the essence of what it is to play the guitar. All of the previous training has prepared the player to achieve a powerful union between player and instrument. This is now taken further, and explained in new ways that give us the deepest level of awareness as players and practicing musicians.
Required Achievement:
A Deep Understanding Of The Strong CONNECTION That All Great Players Have With Their Instrument - Achieving a DYNAMIC RELATIONSHIP Between Body & Guitar String That Allows Us To Use The Energy Of The String To Power Finger Movement
The Training
"The Yoga of Guitar" is an entirely new system for the study of guitar, and brings all of the power of "The Principles" to a higher level that I could not have imagined when I finished "The Principles" 20 years ago.
"Yoga" means "union" and "skill in action" and that is precisely what this new system of study does for the guitar student. It fosters the powerful connection between player and instrument that all great guitar players have attained, and because of that connection, gives us the ability to express the essence of our music unburdened by the endless obstacles that prevent so many guitar players from achieving that state often called "effortless mastery".
Yoga of Guitar
FROM JAMIE: ""Over the years, many people have suggested to me that I write a "Principles 2". Well, I have done that, and it is called "The Yoga of Guitar".
There are 5 components to this system. Consistent study of the various components will give you many new ways of thinking about, and doing, your guitar practice.
The 5 Components of "The Yoga of Guitar"
- 2. THE PRIMARY DYNAMICS
- 3. THE MOVEMENT PROCESS
- 4. KNOWING THE NOTES
- 5. THE DIRECT MECHANISM
The root of all playing problems is how the string is touched before a note is played Here we learn how to touch the string at a deep level of awareness. We practice the 5 vital parts of touching the string to produce each note. This routine called “The Approach To The String” brings the whole body into awareness, and brings us the realization that the whole body is involved each time we touch a string with a finger. Used consistently with all our music, it will change the way it feels to play the guitar.
