GUITARHABITS

Beautiful Chord Embellishments & Tricks

September 4, 2023 by Klaus Crow

Playing chords and strumming patterns makes up part of the guitar rhythm for a song. Adding colorful embellishments to your chords will make your rhythm playing more interesting to listen to. It can give the song just sparkle it needs.

Although it’s really cool to experiment with embellishments, try to use them when it’s appropriate. Use embellishments here and there to lift your music.

In the two videos below I explain how to use and apply embellishments using a basic strumming pattern, open chords C, D, E, F, G, A, Am, Em, Dm, adding sus2 sus4, add4, 6sus4, sus2sus4, dom7 and hammer-on tricks to chords and progressions.

Let’s spice up your rhythm playing.

Enjoy!

Beautiful Chord Embellishments & Tricks Part I

Beautiful Chord Embellishments & Tricks Part II

Guitar and Goals for 2016

By Klaus Crow 7 Comments

May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

Another fresh new year ahead of us. A year full of potential and possibilities. I always write down new resolutions and ideas in my Moleskin notebook that will motivate and inspire me to do creative and exciting things. This year I bought a yellow colored volant. It’s just a happy color that reminds me of the sun and positive things. A positive attitude for 2016 seems like a good place to start with.

With all these lovely ideas and ‘awesome things to do’ I need a plan to fit them into my weekly schedule and stick to it. Waking up early is always a great motivator for me.

It sounds funny, because waking up doesn’t sound that great to many, but if you have a plan to accomplish some great things early in the morning you feel amazing afterwards. And when you stick to it for a while and persevere, the more that amazing feeling will grow.

Although I do my best to realize these goals, I don’t know if I am able to do all of these things in one year or maybe my course will change. Like John Lennon said: “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans” and that’s a good thing. Life should be spontaneous and full of surprises.

On the other hand as Lewis Carroll stated “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”, so it’s nice to give your life some direction and give your self a sense of purpose.

So here are my plans for 2016:
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6 Vital Reasons Why and How You Should Learn Guitar Licks

By Klaus Crow 2 Comments

May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

A guitar lick is a phrase (a short musical idea) made up of a series of notes that you can use and incorporate into your soloing and improvisation. You can also see it as a small part or fragment of an entire solo. Good licks can add magic, excitement and drama to your solos.

Learning, memorizing, dissecting, rebuilding and incorporating licks into your playing is such a great investment in your guitar learning process. It will enhance, expand and upgrade your soloing in many ways.

The variety of licks is infinite. They come in all shapes & sizes, styles, moods, tempos, timings, keys and levels of playing, so it’s important that you learn why and how to use them.

Let’s start to take a look at the 8 vital reasons to learn guitar licks: Continue Reading

5 Easy Jazz Chord Exercises

By Klaus Crow 3 Comments

September 4, 2023 by Klaus Crow

Guest post by Matt Warnock (jazz guitarist and educator)

Learning how to play jazz guitar chords can seem like a tough hill to climb. There always seems to be new chords that you need to learn, and each of these chords has myriad variations and fingerings to work out on the guitar. But, while there are a lot of options when learning jazz guitar chords, you don’t have to learn every shape before you can begin making music.

By starting with a few easy jazz chord shapes, one popular jazz rhythm, and five classic jazz progressions, you’ll build your confidence with jazz chords in no time. This lesson will help you do just that, build your confidence, have fun learning jazz chords, and expand your jazz chord knowledge all at the same time.

Easy Jazz Chord Shapes

To begin your study of these easy jazz chord exercises, you’ll need to get a few chord shapes under your fingers. Each of these chords uses three notes, only the most essential notes, to make them easy to finger on the guitar.

Take a few minutes to become familiar with these chords, and then move on to the next section where you’ll add rhythm and harmonic movement to these shapes. If you aren’t 100% comfortable with any of these shapes, not to worry, as you’ll be working them throughout this lesson, so you’ll become more comfortable with each shape over time.

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