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Back to Simplifying and Playing Guitar
Photo by Jeremy Jenum
I’m a big fan of efficiency and for quite a while I’ve been caught up in the internet efficiency mode.
But as I get older and wiser :) I come to realize the internet is not always as efficient or effective as it seems.
A lot of the tools on the internet like socialmedia, apps and cloudbased stuff that is supposed to make your life easier, (easier for you to communicate, network, save and share) will eventually leave you with just more work and more things to do. It doesn’t make your life easier, it makes it busier.
So I decided to quit facebook, quit twitter, quit saving my stuff online. Back to simplifying. And you know what? It feels great! Back to playing guitar and spending quality time with the family. That’s all there is to it.
Okay I could dive a little deeper and talk about those nice late morning cappuccinos, how I spend my days with coolest guitar workouts and that kind of stuff, but I’ll save that for later posts. Patience… please!
And then I also decided to give up goals. Meaning: Learning a certain skill or working on a project (how small it may be) with a deadline in mind. No more of that. Nowadays I wake up and just do whatever comes my way and do it passionately and mindfully. With the emphasis on “mindfully”.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have a saying in how I spend my days, I certainly do, but my days flow more naturally and best of all…. I get more done without having the intention to do so. Try it and you’ll be pretty amazed. Just live in the moment and be open and openminded for whatever or whoever shows up on your path. You’ll come out as a better guitar player because of it.
I’ll leave you for now with a beautiful quote by Lao Tzu:
“The world is ruled by letting things take their course, it cannot be ruled by interfering.”
5 Beautiful Ways to Play a II-V-I Jazz Chord Progression
I just love figuring out different ways to play a jazz chord progression or just mixing up jazz chords with other styles of music.
It can add nice flavors to a song and give it some extra magic. It’s really fun to experiment with that.
Learning jazz expands your guitar vocabulary to a whole new level if you are ready for it.
In the meantime it’s just fun to play some beautiful jazz chord progressions and it will certainly contribute to your playing skills and creativity as well.
There are also more advanced II-V-I’s than the ones I show here but these are really nice to start out with and get your feet in the dirt. It can be a little bit overwhelming if you learn to play jazz chords and progressions for the first time, but after a few runs you’ll get the hang of it. You’ll be amazed! Read the rest of this entry »
Online Tools For Guitar Players Worth Checking Out
Every now and then I’m on the look out for new handy tools online that makes the life of a guitar player easier, more efficient, effective and more comfortable.
Guitar playing and the stuff that comes with it like backing up your audiofiles, writing down your lyrics and music becomes even more enjoyable if you got the right tools for the job.
Or some nice blues backingtracks to improvise over. It makes practicing a hell of a lot more fun.
Let’s take a look at these guitar productivity tools:
- Blanksheetmusic.net Notation sheets for every instrument and vocals
- www.guitarvoice.com Awesome guitar backingtracks. Search by artist, random or genre.
- Crashplan.com Unlimited Online backup storage for all your precious audio files and everything else for only $3 a month
- Audio.online-convert.com Online audio/video/ebook converter
- Mflow is a really good sounding/looking Online Social Music Streaming Tool next to Spotify, Last.fm and Grooveshark
- Audio speed tempo pitch changer (reducing audiospeed while remaining pitch and vice versa)
for Windows: Windows Media Player 12
for Mac: Audiolobe
- Masterwriter.com Songwriter tool used by famous artists and producers including Rob Thomas and David Foster.
- The 150 Essential Chords Ebook I would be a fool not to recommend my own 150 Essential Chord Ebook. A good organized, categorized and easy to read chord book with a nice layout. Free to download.
- Reading sheet music:
A short version:www.musictheory.net
An extended version: www.readsheetmusic.info
- More Tools 21-must-have-online-musician-tools-for-guitar-players
If you know some cool guitar productivity tools, please share it in the comments.
I appreciate it.
Klaus
Finding Solid Confidence on Stage
Photo by Niklas Hellerstedt
As is our confidence, so is our capacity. ~ William Hazlitt
When I first started out playing on stage I was quite a shy person.
Sometimes I could be totally the opposite but many times I was just a wreck because of a lack of confidence.
I usually wasn’t at ease.
Through the years I discovered with trial and error why I always felt this nerve racking. I eventually learned to be totally happy, at ease and enjoying the experience on stage. So can you.
Here are the keys to find solid confidence on stage:
Know your material
Make sure you know your songs by heart. Know your chords, progressions, keys, scales and solos thoroughly, from top to bottom, inside out, 110%. Practice as much as possible. Get it down! If you really know your stuff you are half way there. Read the rest of this entry »
9 Effective Ways to Increase Your Guitar Picking Speed
Working on increasing your picking speed is not just for the hell fire speed guru wannabe’s.
Once your speed increases your whole style of playing loosens up. Your fingers will feel light and flexible and you’ll gain more freedom in your playing.
Your fingers will float easily across the strings without trying so hard. It’s an important skill to work on and to maintain.
Increasing your picking speed comes with obstacles, victories, ups and downs, lots of patience and hard work. It’s all about practicing and equally important “the right way of practicing”. Just practicing a lot of hours doesn’t necessarily increase your picking speed if you don’t do it the right way.
Every individual has it’s own specific hurdles to overcome, but if you focus on these tips you are already off to a great start.
You can do it too!
Read the rest of this entry »
6 Cool Major Scale Sequences to Get Better
If you’re new to scale sequences I suggest you check out “6 Basic Major Scale Sequences / Melodic Patterns” first. That’s where I explain why and how you should practice scale sequences.
This is Part II of the previous post and if you got the basic scale sequences under your belt you’re pretty much up for this challenge.
I recommend you play these sequenses along with a metronome: “www.metronomeonline.com” It’s the best way to make progress in accuracy and speed. Start out really slow and gradually build up your speed. Only go faster when you can play each note clear and correctly.
The sequences are for the intermediate and advanced. They are tricky but incredibly fun to play.
Enjoy and improve!
SEQUENCE #1 ascending e:-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------| B:-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|---------------3-| G:-----------------|-----------------|-------2-------4-|-----2-5---2-4---| D:---------------2-|-------4-----2-5-|---2-4---2-4-5---|-4-5-----5-------| A:-----2-5---2-3---|-2-3-5---3-5-----|-5---------------|-----------------| E:-3-5-----5-------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|Read the rest of this entry »
