GUITARHABITS

A Golden Productivity tip for Practicing Guitar

March 29, 2021 by Klaus Crow

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Sometimes you can feel like you’re stuck in a rut and wish you would make more progress with practicing.

It seems there’s always something else coming up in the midst of practicing.

You get distracted, you think of an idea while you play something and you go along with that idea and that idea leads to another idea and so on. No progress in what you actually should be practicing.

Another time you feel like this fast lick is too challenging, so you throw in the towel and decide to play something else that feels good instantly. No progress there.

Or you feel absorbed by everything around you and stuff that is on your mind and as a result you lack focus. Progress? Nope.

So how do you change this?

You set time limits for practice.

If there is a time limit and the clock is ticking, you know there’s no time for your mind to wander and think of other things. It’s easier to focus because you don’t have that much time to squander and you want to go straight to work and practice that riff, solo or song. It makes it more manageable.Continue Reading

How to Benefit from The Circle of Fifths and Fourths

By Klaus Crow 15 Comments

May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

The circle (or cycle) of fifths, also called the cycle of fourths is a diagram that gives all kind of handy information on key signatures, chords and scales in a quick and clear manner.

Besides that, it’s an awesome practice tool to improve your guitar playing.

The circle displays all 12 notes of the chromatic scale (those are all the notes in western music) and moves clockwise in intervals of fifths.

An interval of a fifth is equal to 7 semitones or 7 frets on the guitar.

Counter-clockwise the circle moves in intervals of fourths which is equal to 5 semitones or 5 frets.

The circle of fifths is generally used for the study of classical music whereas the cycle of fourth is more often used for the analysis of jazz music, but let that not stop you because there is so much to gain from the circle for any style of music. Make it part of your knowledge of music theory. It will help you in many ways.

Let’s check it out:

Recognizing key signatures
The cycle of fifths is an easy way of finding the key signature of a song. The cycle will show you how many sharps or flats each key contains. At the top the key of C has no sharps or flats. Turn one step clockwise each time and the sharps add up. Next to C on the cycle you’ll find the key of G which has 1 sharp, then D has 2 sharps, A has 3 sharps and so on.

If you go anti-clockwise one step each time the flats up. To left of C you’ll find F which has 1 flat, then Bb has 2 flats, Eb has 3 flats, Ab has 4 flats and so on.

This is useful also and especially if you can’t read music. When you see a music score which makes no sense to you, but you see 3 sharps in the beginning of the note staff, you’ll know that the song is in the key of “A”. Continue Reading

9 Blues Guitar Chords to Rock The House!

By Klaus Crow 16 Comments

September 6, 2023 by Klaus Crow

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The dominant 7th chord is the most common used chord in blues. But also the ninth and thirteenth chords are found regularly in blues music to give that extra flavor to a chord progression. They add a little bit of jazz flavor.

Choosing the right blues chords can make your blues rhythm playing sound fresh and full of color.

Playing these blues chords in different positions will give you a unique sound every time again and makes playing rhythm much more fun and challenging.

The blues chords shown below are all in the key of A, however they are moveable chords so they can be played in every key. The red dot indicates the root note. In the diagrams below all red notes are “A” notes. If you would move all the chords up a whole step then the chords are in the key of B.

If you want the chords to be in the key of E, then move the entire chord so that the red dot (root note) lands on the “E” note.

Practice Guitar Improvisation using Different Drum Beats

By Klaus Crow 3 Comments

May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

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Okay, you know your blues scales inside out and are confident improvising with these scales.

But you might not be aware that you always practice improvisation with a drum backing track using the same drum beat over and over again.

You tell the drummer of your band to play a slow blues shuffle because it feels so good. Or could it have anything to do with the fact that it feels safe? Does it sound familiar to you?

Then the day arrives you have to play in a new band or with a different drummer and this lunatic starts playing an uptempo country blues. Huh? What’s this? Suddenly your phrasing doesn’t work, it doesn’t fit the groove and you have a difficult time keeping up and putting it all together. That’s a hard truth to be confronted with.

It’s because blues (as any other genre) can be played in many different styles, variations and tempos. Something you may not have focused on. This is a scenario you want to avoid. You want to build the confidence to handle every common drum groove that is being dished up.

You want to play in a band and feel free to solo over every blues, rock, country, pop song like a real pro. It’s something a lot of guitar players struggle with and it’s good to work on this and make sure you get this under your belt.

To make sure you do, take on a 30 day challenge to keep yourself at it! Here’s what to do:Continue Reading

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