Guitar Tricks Blog

Most guitar players who are interested in playing the blues start by learning the blues scale. But exclusively relying on the blues scale for blues improvisation without ever considering other notes outside the scale has disadvantages. 

Jazz guitar is an intellectual art form. Some people may disagree but I would say a majority of people that go full time at it are hungry for learning more. So lets be honest if you are going to retain the technical beauty of jazz theory you will have know the 8 times table!

In this post I want to share with you what it is about classical guitar that brings me such pleasure and how you might find it a new part of your musical journey.

Did you know that Guitar Tricks^® has a progress tracking feature?

With so many tutorials on the site, it can be easy to forget where you left off and which lessons you already watched. The best way to stay on track is to use the progress system!

Learn how it works in this step-by-step guide.

Beginner and intermediate-level players as well as many advanced guitarists don't effectively utilize modes and fall into playing ruts by sticking with the "go to" scale patterns they learned when they were first taught. No worries, there is a simple solution to get you out of your mode rut by breaking modes into pentatonic box configurations.

Have you ever tried to figure out the chords to a song and become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of chords available to you? And have you noticed that some chords sound better together than others, while some sound downright discordant together?

I don’t want to say that the rhythm side of modern rock guitar is “easy,” but it’s probably not as difficult as you might think. Rock music is, generally, uncomplicated. Classical music, certain sub genres of bluegrass and advanced jazz (among others) are complex, but modern rock is actually quite simple...