Blog - Music

Hot-rodding the Hot Rod - 2011 Fender American Nashville B-Bender Upgrades
Published: Monday, September 14, 2020
Category: music
Back in the mid-2000s, I fell in love with the idea of a Fender Telecaster with a B-Bender, but I didn’t want to have someone put a B-Bender in an existing Tele for a couple of reasons (cost, heavily modifying a stock guitar, etc.). Fender made the American Nashville B-Bender Telecaster, but it w... Read more >>
Recommended Guitar and Bass Pedal Ordering
Published: Thursday, September 26, 2019
Category: music
I often find myself in discussions with friends about effects pedal order for guitar and bass. Now that my kid has started playing guitar and is getting into pedals, I realized that I didn’t have a good go-to resource for the topic. I decided to write my own article on the subject, not because I ... Read more >>
Entronomy - Evolve From Chaos - Album Release
Published: Friday, May 20, 2016
Category: music
Reposted from http://www.entronomy.com/news/2016-05-21/evolve-from-chaos-album-release Today, May 20, 2016, Entronomy released our debut album, Evolve From Chaos! The album is available on many streaming and download services including Spotify, Tidal, Amazon MP3, Google Play, iTunes, Apple Mus... Read more >>
Building the Beast - Custom DIY Guitar Effects Pedalboard
Published: Thursday, September 17, 2015
Category: music
I love guitar effects pedals. Oh mah science, do I love guitar pedals. I love ‘em! Give me more! It’s a bit of an addiction. I’ve had a lot, I still have a lot, and I want more. Pedals, pedals, PEDALS! I think you’re starting to see the picture here: pedals = good. :) This is the story of my lat... Read more >>
Jim Dunlop Eric Johnson Classic Jazz III Picks
Published: Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Category: music
When I was 17, my jazz choir teacher introduced me to the Jim Dunlop Jazz Picks guitar pick (in black, incidentally). From then on, I was hooked. When I wasn’t strumming or swinging my whole arm for Texas bluesy goodness, I had a black or red Jazz III in my hand. It was especially great for jazz ... Read more >>
Guitar Tips And Tricks
Published: Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Category: music
This is intended to be a living document, so check back often for new tips and tricks to help your guitar playing. These appear in no particular order. Use a metronome when you practice This helps establish consistent timing, accuracy, and synchronization between your left and right hands. Your... Read more >>
Speed Picking Exercise 1
Published: Monday, September 17, 2007
Category: music
Learning to speed pick can be quite difficult. Many guitarists do it different ways from circular picking to stiffening their arm and wrist. I recommend trying to keep your arm and wrist as loose as possible and let the movement come from the wrist. Try to minimize the range of motion. The follo... Read more >>
Major Scale and Arpeggio - Shape 3
Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Category: music
Illustrated in A Major The Shape 3 Major Scale is an alternate moveable root-6 (meaning that the 6th string contains the root of the scale) major scale. This example is illustrated in A major and should be practiced in all available positions. Scale Fingerings Scale Tones Arpeggio Finge... Read more >>
Major Scale and Arpeggio - Shape 2
Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Category: music
Illustrated in C Major The Shape 2 Major Scale is a moveable root-5 (meaning that the 5th string contains the root of the scale) major scale. This example is illustrated in C major and should be practiced in all available positions. Scale Fingerings Scale Tones Arpeggio Fingerings Ar... Read more >>
Major Scale and Arpeggio - Shape 1
Published: Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Category: music
Illustrated in G Major The Shape 1 Major Scale is a moveable root-6 (meaning that the 6th string contains the root of the scale) major scale. This example is illustrated in G major and should be practiced in all available positions. Scale Fingerings Scale Tones Arpeggio Fingerings Ar... Read more >>
Warm Up Exercises Part 2
Published: Monday, August 27, 2007
Category: music
I’m already adding Part 2 and, just as before, there will probably be more to come. If you missed the first part, you can find it here: Warm Up Exercises Part 1 Here are a few more patterns to practice for warming up. Linear Patterns Legato Ascending Pattern I learned this pattern from some v... Read more >>
Warm Up Exercises Part 1
Published: Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Category: music
I’m calling this post “Warm Up Exercises Part 1” because I suspect that I will come up with other warm up exercises later, so this will be the first installment. I’d like to share these because, while these are not difficult, challenging, or groundbreaking, had I known how to use them years ago, ... Read more >>
Simplifying Chord Changes For Soloing
Published: Friday, August 03, 2007
Category: music
One of the things that overwhelmed me when I first tried soloing over changes in jazz was how fast the chord changes often pass. How could I change scales that quickly and express anything? An instructor I worked with years ago taught me a way to simplify a series of changes by looking at what ke... Read more >>
Finding A Jazz Guitar Sound
Published: Monday, July 23, 2007
Category: music
Oddly enough, much like with the modern country tone, a basic jazz guitar tone eluded me for a long time. Now, I fully admit that I don’t tinker with knobs like I should. I tend to set the knobs on my amps, pedals, and guitar where I think they should be and then just leave them as opposed to twe... Read more >>
Finding A Modern Country Guitar Sound
Published: Saturday, July 07, 2007
Category: music
For some reason, there are not a lot of resources (or at least not that many that I’ve found) that describe a general approach to getting a good modern country guitar sound. Of course, now that I’ve said that I’m sure I’ll get a dozen people pointing me sites that I somehow missed. But anyway, I’... Read more >>