Rock Me
Where do guitar licks come from? Where do I even begin thinking about what to play for a guitar solo? The melody, the melody, the MELODY of the song y…
Archives: Lessons
Wind and Rain
Today you'll take a standard G major scale one step further by targeting specific chord tones. You'll start by getting an open position G major scale …
North Country Winters
Rhythm guitar doesn't have to be busy, it doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be steady, even, and supportive of the song. The strumming pattern …
Headin’ Down South
Picking up right where you left off yesterday this series of chord transitions is not crazy extensive, but it packs a punch and just so happens to use…
Chuck Wagon
Changing gears isn't just for mountain bikers and race car drivers, it's for guitar players too. Today's technique challenge focuses on rhythm and how…
Mr. B. Goode
Taking the triplet idea from yesterday's technique challenge, you'll continue to expand on the use of triplets in both mini chords (double stops) and …
Goode and Bad
Get ready for a mind blowing moment... you can use both a minor and major scale that just so happen to be in the same exact physical shape in a single…
Duck Walk
Stretch your pinky finger for this one... seriously, its gonna need a pep talk for today's challenge. You'll be using a power chord as your anchor poi…
Berry Berry Goode
You don't know it yet, but you're a bass player as well as a guitar player. The challenge that lies ahead of you today builds off of the rhythm you le…
Cash It In
Just how much sound and oomph can you get out of three strings? Well, you can actually get quite a bit of magic out of just three strings if you give …
Jail Break
Today's lick is one that will put a smile on your face and have you sounding like a straight ahead country guitarist. You'll use a major pentatonic sc…
Walkin’ The Line
Country style guitar leans on the major pentatonic scale pretty solidly, and that's exactly what you'll experience today. You'll be learning two shape…
Maximum Security
Palm muting with a little flash is what's on deck for your challenge today. Using the palm muting you refined on Monday, today you'll add a bit more c…
Life Sentence
Remember that lick that was on Tuesday? You'll play the exact same thing in a different location today and it will function as a chord transition. Thi…
Smack You Upside the Head
Drop D tuning paired with a fingerstyle forward roll is a match made in heaven. Today you will be focusing the mobility of a forward roll on adjacent …
Drivers Ed
It's bluesy, it's moody, it emphasizes how you can play a lick from a chord position... it's today's guitar lick challenge. You'll be exploiting the b…
Strong and Silent
This scale will give you options upon options. Yes, it's just a minor pentatonic scale, but when you pair these notes with a forward roll either horiz…
Backyard Catch
Space... one of the most powerful variables you have on the guitar. Instead of filling the entire measure, today's challenge will have you holding ont…
Father and Son Reunion
Taking what you learned in yesterday's challenge you will be adding a subtlety that will help with moving from chord to chord. You'll be taking a forw…
Day 1 – Two Note Window
This week's 5 day challenge is all about moving from one chord to the next in style. You will be learning various ways to use bass notes to aid in you…
Day 2 – Four Note Window
This week's 5 day challenge is all about moving from one chord to the next in style. You will be learning various ways to use bass notes to aid in you…
Day 3 – Stepping Down
This week's 5 day challenge is all about moving from one chord to the next in style. You will be learning various ways to use bass notes to aid in you…
Day 4 – The Secret Sauce
This week's 5 day challenge is all about moving from one chord to the next in style. You will be learning various ways to use bass notes to aid in you…
Day 5 – Walk This Way
This week's 5 day challenge is all about moving from one chord to the next in style. You will be learning various ways to use bass notes to aid in you…
Heartstrings
Open D major tuning is just a beautiful thing and it just so happens to open the door of studying flatpicking technique, accuracy, and control. Today'…
Angel Walkie Talkie
"She Talks To Angels" by the Black Crowes is and always has been a shining example of how beautiful and easy open D tuning is. Today's lick is actuall…
Certain Company
Learning a scale is fantastic... learning a scale while incorporating a drone string is even better... learning a scale with a drone string that happe…
By Name
Chords in open tunings often seem mysterious and almost hidden from plain sight, that will change today as you will explore the chords used in "She Ta…
Caw Caw
Chords in open D tuning are already beautiful... today you'll make them gorgeous by adding a wonderful, drone-infused transition between them. This ch…
Desert Highway
Your technique challenge involves developing picking accuracy while playing a chord one note at a time, also known as playing an arpeggio. This approa…
Mission Bell
Today's challenge will find you picking up right where you left off yesterday. Using mini chord shapes you'll be hinting at the chord progression to t…
Master’s Chambers
On the docket for today is a gaggle of scales in the key of A minor. By the end of today's challenge you'll have 3 different A minor pentatonic scale …
Lovely Place
"Hotel California" is and always will be one of the best guitar chord studies available, and lo and behold... that's what today's rhythm guitar challe…
Check Out Anytime
With a chord progression that contains as many chords as "Hotel California" does it's a nice touch to add some subtle bass led chord transitions. Toda…
Charcoal Briquettes
All the hammer ons are in store for you today... seriously, all of them. Open string hammer ons, fretted hammer ons; they're all present and accounted…
Fire Up The Chimney
The power of the D chord will be unlocked today with, you guessed it, hammer ons. Holding down a D chord as a base you will be reaching and exploring …
Hot Cooking Coals
Your improvisation challenge today utilizes a standard open position D major scale with the inclusion of open strings and copious amounts of hammer on…
Perpendicular Grill Marks
Today hammer ons enter the realm of rhythm guitar. The challenge on tap proves that hammer ons have a place in rhythm guitar as well, in fact, they ac…
Flip The Burgers
Hammer ons on the off beat into the down beat... what on earth does that even mean? Today's challenge will show you. This challenge will have you hamm…
Pumpkin Pie
The technique in your sights today is harnessing the power of syncopation. On a single string you will execute a somewhat odd rhythm including muted n…
Golden Brown Perfection
Today's lick employs the rhythm you spent time on yesterday, but in a far more musical context, in fact today's lick is so useful you can use it verba…
Dollop of Whipped Cream
D major is on the agenda for today... and you'll be playing that scale over a B minor backing track... cue the record scratch. How can this be done?!?…
Lemon Meringue
The same rhythm that you worked on with single notes on Tuesday will now be used within the rhythm guitar arena. Muted percussive strokes have a huge …
Key Lime
Remember Tuesday? Remember Yesterday? Good :-) Today you will be combining those two days. You will use Tuesday's lick as a mode of transportation bet…
Travis Nicks
The foundation of this entire week is Travis picking; the quintessential fingerpicking pattern that will fuel your fingerpicking for eternity... sound…
Snow Covered Hills
Space is not just for exploring in a rocket ship... space in music is one of the most difficult yet powerful things you can add to your playing. For t…
Mirror In The Sky
The harmonized G major scale is on deck today and you will play through it two notes at a time in different combinations on the high three strings of …
Avalanche
An avalanche of fingerpicking awaits you today. You'll be fingerpicking your way through the song "Landslide" using that basic pattern you learned on …
Afraid Of Changes
Building on what you worked on yesterday, today gives you the opportunity to add a subtle transition that adds interest to your chord transitions AND …
Fill Up The Tank
Thumb, Thumb, Thumb, Thumb, Thumb... Yep if you guessed today is about using your thumb you nailed it. You will be challenging your thumb to do someth…
Bathroom Break
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee... a phrase most associated with boxing, but fits perfectly with today's lick challenge. Your thumb is the st…
Alphabet Game
The title of today's challenge is a perfect match for what you are about to play. Today you will be playing the low string arpeggios to all of the nat…
Are We There Yet?
Double thumb to pinch... that is your mantra today. The ragtime technique that you will learn today puts your thumb in the driver seat. You will be pl…
Mix Tape
A culmination of techniques happens today... a "mix" of techniques if you will. You will stay on the double thumbing train, but this time you will use…
I’m A Lot Like You
Chord modifications sound mysterious and seem difficult, but the good news is that they are quite easy, especially if you use the chord you are holdin…
So Much More
The "Neil Young" chord is what's in store for you today. You know the one... I know you know the one. The great thing about this chord is that it's an…
Rolling Home To You
A bit of a shake up happens on today's challenge. You are going to mix two things that maybe you thought could never be mixed before... a major and a …
Take A Look At My Life
The main chord progression for "Old Man" is on deck and although it may seem pretty standard it has a bit of a twist... two twists actually. Twist #1 …
Run Around The Same Old Town
Remember those chord modifications from way back on Monday's technique challenge? Well, you're going to lean on those heavily to accentuate the change…
3D Glasses
First thing's first, make sure your guitar is in open D major tuning (D A D F# A D low to high strings). Now you can strap on your 3D glasses because …
Buttered Popcorn
Quite possibly the most useful open D tuning, blues lick is on the menu for you today. This may seem like just a small little two measure phrase, but …
Main Feature
A classic D minor pentatonic (blues) scale in open D tuning is going to be your target today... with a twist... or I should actually say a bend. You'l…
Starring Role
Open D tuning is just a wonderful, blank musical canvas to work with... Things sound new, they sound different, they have more impact, and... are easi…
Sunday Matinee
Just one more reminder that this week is all done in open D tuning, so if your guitar sounds a bit funky make sure that it's tuned D A D F# A D low to…
Day 1 – Crosspicking Calamity
This warmup is one that will show you both sides of the crosspicking coin and get you comfortable with switching between the two most common styles of…
Day 2 – Topsy Turvy
Today's lick is one that may have you feeling topsy turvy because the picking can certainly be confusing. What's great about this lick is that it comb…
Day 3 – Drone Zone
Using a drone while flatpicking is seriously fun, especially when you can compose an entire solo infused with droney goodness. It just so happens that…
Day 4 – Tricky Texture
Crosspicking on the lower strings of your guitar is territory that absolutely must be explored and experimented with. The lush body that lower chord v…
Day 5 – Seventh Heaven
Emphasizing dissonance is something that is wildly effective and it's exactly what you will be doing today. You will be using an "odd" crosspicking ap…
Cloudy Day
The objective for today is to give the picking hand a workout and gain a perspective on how to divide time so that you have options for basic rhythm a…
Gone Too Long
Melody is king. Melody is queen. Melody is top dog. I could go on, but I think you get the idea... melody is very important and it makes a great launc…
I Know, I Know, I Know
'A' minor pentatonic is on the menu today... all 5 positions of it as a matter of fact. One position of this scale is effective so don't feel like you…
Wither Away
The rubber meets the road today with 3 differing approaches to the basic chord progression of "Ain't No Sunshine." Starting from the basic chords with…
Every Time She Goes Away
A simple chord progression can receive the smallest of tweaks to make it more interesting and gain a greater feeling of movement... this chord progres…
Day 1 – Blues Jitter Bass
Bass is the name of the game today. You'll be using an eighth note pulse to play a bass pattern on your guitars low strings. While this sequence may h…
Day 2 – Triple Threat
Playing a blues shuffle is satisfying, useful, and it can get any foot tapping. The problem that sometimes arises is the thought that a blues shuffle …
Day 3 – Kodachromatic
Chromatic sequences are quite the ear catching thing, but how on earth do you integrate them into your playing? Today you find out. You'll be using a …
Day 4 – Shape Shifter
Your fretting fingers have an easy day ahead of them... well kind of. Today's 12 bar blues in A has you using the same exact shape for all of the chor…
Day 5 – Funkified Blues
Wowza!!! Today is a day to get funky with the blues. You'll be using pieces of chords, hammer-ons, and even muted strums to achieve a bit of funk flav…
Find Your Way
Pick accuracy is the name of the game today. You'll only be fretting a single chord today, so the action is all in your picking hand. Starting with a …
Just Ain’t Got The Time
The tag ending lick you're about to learn today is so much fun to play and not all that complicated, and it allows for lots of opportunity for modific…
Somebody Holds The Key
The classic 2 for 1 special, a shopper's delight, a sale that is sought out purely for the incredible value it offers... the same will apply to what y…
Waiting All These Years
Drop D tuning is wonderful... this chord progression in drop D tuning is even more wonderful... quite possibly the wonderfulest (I know, I know I made…
Come Down Off Your Throne
A simple recipe for success today: Take the same chord progression you played yesterday, add some simple bass note hammer-ons and pull-offs and voila …
Mississippi Timing
There's a special magic when it comes to Mississippi John Hurt's finger picking style and it has to do with his timing. The feel he brings to his play…
Drive the Spike
Tough to describe this in any other way other than this is THE lick from Spike Driver's Blues, a song that Mississippi John Hurt is synonymous with. Y…
Railroad Tracks
Now, Mississippi John Hurt isn't known for his lead playing per se, but you can take his technique and apply it to lead guitar situations. Here you wi…
Spike Driver
Hammer on like you would hammer a spike. Today's rhythm challenge gives your fingerpicking rhythm guitar approach a subtle oomph that conures up some …
Catch and Release
Get ready to be comfortably uncomfortable... sounds weird I know, but today's transition challenge is one that uses friendly dissonance to emphasize c…
Home Sweet Home
Triplets are in the driver seat for today's technique challenge. Getting a hold of this rhythm will be the key to your progress this week, and it will…
Same Old Place
Upon hearing this lick for the first time, it takes you to a very distinctive place... it takes you right to the heart (actually the start) of sweet h…
Blues Brothers
The 'E' minor pentatonic scale is your focus for today, and you'll be learning two different versions of this scale starting in the same exact spot...…
Akroyd Shuffle
Before you today lies one of the most fun, useful, and recognizable rhythm patterns of the entire blues guitar world: the blues shuffle in the key of …
Belushi Bass
Combine ingredients and bake at 425 degrees for at least 10 minutes... nope, we're not cooking a pie today, we're cooking up a complete and varied app…
Dogwood Flowers
Hammer-ons and pull-offs are on the menu today... a whole buffet of hammer-ons and pull-offs as a matter of fact. You'll be using every finger on your…
Rock Me
Where do guitar licks come from? Where do I even begin thinking about what to play for a guitar solo? The melody, the melody, the MELODY of the song y…
Wind And Rain
Today you'll take a standard G major scale one step further by targeting specific chord tones. You'll start by getting an open position G major scale …
North Country Winters
Rhythm guitar doesn't have to be busy, it doesn't have to be fancy, it just has to be steady, even, and supportive of the song. The strumming pattern …
Punching Bag
Today's technique challenge will bring together a few different pieces of the puzzle. First on the menu, a fretted pull off. This will find you fretti…
Punch It
Today's challenge will find you adding a solid musical exclamation point to your repertoire. You'll be learning this bluegrass lick in the key of G an…