Guitar Tricks Blog

Hey everyone. Today is a very exciting day because we are finally going to share with you something we’ve been working on, and we think you’re going to love it. This is the brand new Guitartricks app for iOS!

Guitar chord changes can be easy if you follow some of these tips from instructor Gary Heimbauer. Gary suggests that every guitar player, new or experienced can learn to be better at changing chords if they practice making chord shapes while hovering above the strings, focusing on fingers and building strength, and much more. These are five quick and easy tips on how to master perfect chord changes. 

The guitar fretboard or “fingerboard” is the part of the guitar where all of the metal frets are placed. The fretboard is used by holding down the strings against each fret and then either picking or strumming some, or all of the strings. The vibrating motion of the string against the metal frets create the sounds of different musical notes. The fretboard of a modern guitar is made up of a number of pieces and it’s important for guitar players to know which piece is which, as well as learn ways to develop memorization of the fretboard notes.

Stevie Ray Vaughan, or simply “SRV” is one of the great blues guitarists in music history. His cover of Jimi Hendrix’ “Little Wing” is a testament to his ability, but it is in his tried and true shuffle-style playing, also known as the Texas Shuffle, in songs like “Pride and Joy” that really standout. SRV guitar stylings like the Texas Shuffle is a great-sounding, and fun way to play any type of rhythm, especially in the blues.

The 12 bar blues is a form in blues music where the first (I) chord of a key is repeated for four measures, or bars, followed by two bars of the fourth (IV), then two bars of the first. The last group of four bars begins with one bar of the fifth (V), one bar of the fourth and then resolves with two more bars of the first. It only uses the I - IV - V chords of a key and is very prominent in blues music, and is heavily associated with guitar music in general. 

What exactly is a guitar riff? In musical terms a riff is an ‘ostinato’ - a motif or phrase that repeats. Whether comprised of single note ideas, repeating rhythmic chord changes, or a combination of both, a number of songs have a short but infectious guitar riff that’s repeated by the rhythm guitar. In this short tutorial we’ll look at what it takes to write a catchy riff and how to write one of your own.

Songwriting is a fun and rewarding process that’s not as hard as one might think and here I’ll share with you a few ways that work for me. One of the most popular is to use chords from a particular key. Let’s take the key of C major for example, which includes the chords C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, and an ugly sounding B diminished, which we won’t use for obvious reasons.

Hi everyone! Guitartricks Instructor Mike Olekshy will be back this Friday for a live lesson. This time it's all about barre chords. 

Just bring yourself and your guitar to listen in and follow along to this group live lesson. At the very end, Mike will be available to answer any questions you have about the lesson or guitar in general!

Hi everyone! Exciting news to announce. Guitartricks instructor Mike Olekshy will be hosting a live lesson this Friday and it’s absolutely open to anyone who wants to join!