Music Theory

  Pentatonic scales are a great way to start improvising on guitar. Pentatonic patterns are simple and easy to memorize, and they remove some of the riskier note options, essentially ensuring that every note choice will land safely. However, those riskier notes that the pentatonic scale removes can also be some of the most effective note choices when used well. So while the pentatonic scale is a g

  Two-handed tapping is a fun technique that allows you to grab ahold of notes generally outside of your reach and often leaves audiences dazzled by its flashiness. While you shouldn’t learn tapping purely because it’s flashy, most guitarists would be lying if they told you that it wasn’t at least part of the appeal. But for all the awesome things a solid tapping technique has to offer, a surprisi

It can be difficult to keep track of all of the different types of chords, as well as their relationships to each other. However, understanding different chord qualities is important for songwriting, improvising, or just all around being a musician. I’ve found it helpful to think of different chord types as a spectrum, much like the color spectrum. Below is a simple version of this spectrum that c

  We spend a lot of time and attention on learning how to play improvised solos. When we think of improvisation in music, the first image that likely comes into our heads is of a soloist tearing through scales and arpeggios. It makes sense that the focus is on improvising solos; not only are improvised solos integrated into otherwise pre-composed to a degree that other would-be improvised elements

Sixth chords are often overlooked. They sound great and can add some wonderful color to a chord progression, but, like many other chords that break-away from tonal music’s standard pattern of nothing but stacked thirds, they don’t get much attention. Guitar methods and class curriculums often exclude them, teachers seem to sometimes forget about them, and many guitarists just never get around to r

  Have you ever been having fun jamming with some friends, only to have one of them yell “Let’s try a blues in D!”. Then you watch in abject horror as everyone else effortlessly jumps into a set of chord changes you don’t know and no one takes the time to explain to you? Teary-eyed, you watch your friends tear through some righteous blues licks as your unplayed guitar grows in your lap. When I fir

  Chances are that you’ve heard the word triplets before. You might even be able to play them, intuitively sensing how they fit into broader rhythmic structures. But there’s also a good chance that you don’t know exactly what a triplet is, even if you can play them accurately. Personally, it took me longer into my journey on the guitar than I care to admit before I was able to define what a triple

  When you first learn to play guitar, the focus is generally on big open chords that use all or most of the guitar’s strings. However, something that may surprise you is that some of the notes in many of your open chord shapes aren’t really necessary. This is because all of your basic major and minor chords actually only have three unique pitches in them. As a result, any basic major or minor cho

  Although power chords are a staple of many guitarists’ toolkits, many players remain unaware that power chords can be far more versatile than they are generally given credit for. By altering just one note on a common power chord shape, you can create an entirely new chord that still retains many of the sonic qualities that have made power chords so beloved. Additionally, it’s easy to

Trying your hand at songwriting can be an intimidating process for reasons, not the least of which is not knowing where to even start with chords. There are many chords to choose from, and not all of them will even work together by most conventional standards. In this piece, we’re to dip just a tiny bit into music theory in order to have a framework for coming up with chord progressions to your so