Kirk's Weekly Guitar Lesson: New lessons

Hi, fellow twanger, sorry about the gap in my weekly news. I have been busy, there are several new lessons of mine and other site contributors to keep you busy for a while. Here they are:

Kirk's Weekly Lessons

I've done three new fingerstyle lessons since the last newsletter.

Here they are:

1.) Yankee Doodle Dandy: I used this well known tune as a sort of primer to finger style for those just getting into it. It's a simple arrangement and will help your fingers and thumb gain some independence which is the most difficult aspect of finger style. Finger picking is a pattern based style that's a little easier to master; finger style is not pattern based and needs a bit more work Yankee Doodle Dandy: http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/finger-style-lessons/1438-yankee-doodle-dandy/

2) Travis Picking: this is more of a pattern based technique where the thumb keeps thumping out an alternating bass line while the fingers add the melody and chord fragments. This is the kind of picking that Tommy Emmanuel and Chet Atkins are so good at ... lots of fun once you get the basic moves down.

Travis Picking:

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/finger-style-lessons/14989-travis-picking/

3) Amazing Grace in D: I did a lesson for this beautiful tune years ago in the key of C. I thought I'd give it another go in a new key. I chose D ... it's not for complete beginners, but it's not that tricky, and once you do get all the bits and pieces assembled, it's wonderful to play.

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/finger-style-lessons/15423-amazing-grace-in-d/

Other Members' New Lessons

Fretsource has put together a very comprehensive lesson "All About Intervals". Intervals are the building blocks of all music -- chords, melody and scales -- so if you're interested in theory, this is the best place to start. Fretsource has a great way of explaining things and you won't find a better lesson than this anywhere. Make sure you look at the "Interval Ear Trainer" he put together in Flash format; it's the best I've seen.

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/finger-style-lessons/5599-all-about-intervals/

He's also installed a Flash "Notation Pitch Trainer" for those getting into notation. Again, a great tool and very nicely put together.

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/finger-style-lessons/9731-standard-music-notation-2.html ... scroll to the bottom of the page.

Thanks, Fretsource, for those great tools and for helping to make this the most informative site on the www.

Scoot_B has posted a very interesting look at "Playing Outside The Chords", which is what many jazz players do to add light and shade, tension and release to their soloing and improvisations. This would probably not be of interest to those just starting out, but for anyone into jazz, a must-read. He has included many mp3 samples to let you hear the possibilities.

http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/finger-style-lessons/14557-introduction-playing-outside-chords/

PlaneTalk - The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book

PlaneTalk - The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book/DVD:

http://www.thatllteachyou.com/

Ready to move on up the fretboard? Wondering how to turn it all into friendly, well worn territory? How to literally see all scales, chords, harmony and all other bits and pieces of music... those that apply to the music you're playing *right now*? How to improvise over any old progression, not just a 2 chord groove? Then it's time you take the plunge and order PlaneTalk, the book, DVD and slide rule. Together, they will teach you the simplest yet most powerful guitar/music lesson you'll ever learn. You'll also get to join the private 'PlaneTalkers' Forum' where we discuss it all on a daily basis.

Improvisation is most useful lesson PlaneTalk teaches. If you're anything like me, the most challenging and rewarding aspect of playing an instrument is being able to improvise melodically, to invent on the fly. Scales and modes are always seen as the answer, but I'm sure you've discovered like I did that they are limited in their usefulness. Once you get into music with a few 'outside chords' thrown in, scales leave you stranded. There is a better way, one that never let's you down. To have a listen to what I mean, check out these two movies I did.

The first is the PlaneTalk approach to a 12 bar blues: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh3orNb2n5s ... not once during that did I think "scale" or "mode" or "pentatonic" ... I was simply keeping track of each chord.

The second is the PlaneTalk approach to a jazzier track with quite a few 'outside chords' in the progression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW1ebDlvbJU ... once again, no scale or mode was pondered, I did the same thing, namely kept track of the chords in the progression.

You'll amazed at how simple the mind set is; of course, practice and lots of it is needed, but the beauty of thinking à la PlaneTalk is that (once you really digest the lesson) is that you'll never, ever, be stumped by any chord progression, no matter how complex it seems.

Read more and order from the main site: http://www.thatllteachyou.com

Read many testimonials here: http://www.thatllteachyou.com/testimonial2.php

and more here: http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/planetalk-testimonials/

The Slide Guitar in Standard and Dropped D tunings DVD: Bottleneck Guitar

Slide guitar is such a fun way to play. I've been doing it since about 1969 and doing it in standard tuning, or sometimes dropping that bass string down to D. Open tunings are great and give you that traditional sound, but standard is just as rich and allows you to merge both normal playing and slide into one hybrid style that really perks the ears up. Have a look at my latest blues video at YouTube (

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJOMYmKvXak ) to see what I mean. If you want to learn more about the art, check out the DVD I put together, 70 minutes of solid learning. I go through the basics of slide techniques; vibrato; muting; chords; double stops; single notes lines; playing behind the slide and merging it all together.

http://www.BottleneckGuitar.com is where to learn more and order.

OK, that's enough from me this week, have fun with all those lessons and I'll be back soon.

Kirk Lorange

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Back 28.08.2007