012 Kaleidoscope, Sliding Pentatonic, Links

DEC GUITAR NEWSLETTER, issue no. 12

Oct 12, 2011.
NEWS WITH ME:
My latest project is a duo called Driven to Clarity. Good things are beginning to happen. We just played a music festival called Hungerstock and we'll be playing the Hard Rock Cafe in December. We have some videos up and we'll have audio tracks and a website very soon. I would really appreciate it if you take a moment to go to our youtube and facebook pages. We're trying to get our numbers up for the WHOOZNXT competition. Thank you so much!

www.youtube.com/driventoclarity - give us your thumbs up if you like the videos! www.facebook.com/driventoclarity - click 'Like' if you like our page!

More News:
My very good friend Devin Arne has released an amazing record called Kaleidoscope. A description of the music is below:

Devin Arne's newest release represents diversity in sound - just as a Kaleidoscope creates a spectrum of colors.  From the dark and cinematic, to the whimsical and minimalistic, the backing music not only showcases the talents of the collaborating rappers and singers, but also takes you on a sonic journey to far-reaching places.  I found myself nodding my head to sounds of the east fused with infectious old-school hip-hop beats.  Pushing it above and beyond were avant-garde and ultra-modern classical sprinklings throughout.  You'll never be lost though - all of the grooves are funky and the melodies are catchy and uplifting.  Definitely an album worth checking out.

You can find the album on iTunes if you are curious. For more about Devin, visit his website: http://www.devinarne.com/About.html

FINALLY - if you life in the area, you need to hear Carl Filipiak! He is one amazing guitar player with a band that has some unreal players in it.

http://www.myspace.com/carlfilipiak
http://www.carlfilipiak.com/schedule.html

also, type in "carl filipiak" (youtube, or grooveshark) and you'll get more great examples of his playing.

LESSON - The Sliding Pentatonic Scale

This one is one of my favorites. If you feel stuck in the box - this is a great way to get out.

e|-|---|---|---|---|---|-o-|-h-|-o-|/sl|-o-|
B|-|---|---|---|---|---|-o-|-h-|-*-|---|---|
G|-|---|---|-o-|-h-|-o-|/sl|-o-|---|---|---|
D|-|---|---|-o-|-h-|-*-|---|---|---|---|---|
A|-|-o-|-h-|-o-|/sl|-o-|---|---|---|---|---|
E|-|-o-|-h-|-*-|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|    h = hammer on

Whatever fret you choose, the * is your tonic (root note of the scale.)

For more info - email me back and I will send you a full paper on the subject.

LINKS - Technique
( ** = Dave really likes this link!)

YouTube - Tips On How To Play The Classical Guitar : Left Hand Techniques on Classical Guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x11_lsEF6-4

Guitar Technique: Relaxation & Stress Reduction |
http://relax-mind.com/guitar-technique-relaxation-stress-reduction/

**How to pick properly. This really works!!! - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_fqkNglmGA

How to Pick Properly Part 2 - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfiV5iTVDy8&feature=related

LINKS - Theory

**Creative Techniques | Sweeping 1: Suspended Arpeggios - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRPD7Le0nxI

**Sus2 (Add9) Sweeping Arpeggios - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoC_Y8Foivg

**stretch pentatonic - Stretch It ! by Eric Vandenberg
http://www.ibreathemusic.com/article/10

Variations on the Pentatonic Scale - Premier Guitar
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2009/May/Variations_on_the_Pentatonic_Scale.aspx

**Frank Gambale-Chop Builder Parte 1 - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTaUWbT8eAQ&feature=related

TOM LIPPINCOTT ARTICLES
http://tomlippincott.com/articles.htm

**Altered Pentatonic Scales
http://www.lucaspickford.com/alteredp.htm

Music Theory: Modes of the Major Scale
http://musictheoryblog.blogspot.com/2007/01/modes-of-major-scale.html

Pitch axis theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_Axis_Theory

LINKS - Jazz / Improvisation

YouTube - Jazz Funk Licks - Stephane Lucarelli - lesson at GMC -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJPApB_pxXA&feature=related

**YouTube - Jazz Fusion Guitar - Quartal harmony - ( John Scofield style)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK7gam0PW3s&feature=related

Al Di Melola Lesson - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ4FZ80Qdd8&feature=related

Frank Gambale / Acoustic improvisation /1 - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbi3UM-PO8&feature=related

Rhythm Changes Lesson (Part 1) - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmgID8tIfQ4&feature=related

LINKS - Great performances

**Bob Brozman plays "Highway 49 Blues" - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzfgagmrBk&feature=related

LINKS - Etc

Richie Kotzen - Guitar Lesson - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKyu0DXPGyc&feature=related

**Six String Experience | News, Tips, Tricks, Reviews and advice about all things guitar
http://sixstringexperience.com/blog2/

Beardyman Brings the Beat and a Case for Music Education - ThoseWhoDig.net.
http://thosewhodig.net/?Beardyman-Brings-the-Beat-and-a-Case-for-Music-Education&article=452

**Fun Music Squares
http://seawitchery.tumblr.com/post/4070384205/i-started-out-clicking-strategically-and-by-the

The Bulletproof Musician | Learn How to Overcome Stage Fright & Performance Anxiety
http://www.bulletproofmusician.com/

011 Practice Words, Links

DEC GUITAR NEWSLETTER, issue no. 11

Nov 3, 2010.
NEWS WITH ME: Hey everyone! It's been a while since the last newsletter in May! A lot has been going on...big life moves, a month long trip to Spain, getting a working home studio together, and the usual business. I have not kept up as much with this newsletter as I would've hoped to, but I am still making time here and there to bring awesome guitar info to you.

PRACTICE WORDS
This issue centers around words about practicing an instrument: philosophies, technique, methods, and general advice that I've come up with or encountered over the years.

1. Method For Smart Practicing
2. Dave's Practice Tips
3. The House of Knowledge
4. How to Teach Kids
5. Quotable Quotes - Motivation for Students of Music

Method For Smart Practicing

I often encounter students who are very talented, but simply don't know how to practice correctly. As with most things in life, there's a smart way to go about it. It's about focusing your practice session on what needs to be practiced! Many times, students just play what they're good at and hope that the spots that need work will get better on their own. That's the main difference between practicing and playing the guitar. Practicing promotes growth, playing is quite simply loving the experience of playing and living in the now. We need both and the recognition of the need for discipline comes from appreciating what good practicing can bring to your enjoyment of the guitar.

1. Identify the problem area(s) and/or phrases that are found in multiple places.
2. Circle notes, write in fingerings, picking, string numbers, note letter names, TAB, or anything else on the page that will assist with technique.
3. Repeat the passage 8 or more times. (4 or more times for beginners.)
Additionally, one may say fingerings, string numbers, note letter names, or TAB out loud. This can be done while playing the guitar with the left or right hand only. It can never hurt to sing a passage.

This third step is impossible without playing the passage slowly enough to begin to teach the muscles without accruing bad habits.

Dave's Practice Tips

1. When learning something new, play slowly at first. "You have to walk before you can run." It's close to impossible to play something at the proper speed without being able to play it much slower.

A. Learn a new piece first without time restraint. This is called "no-tempo practice" and it allows the performer to get to each note at his own pace. A metronome should not be used.
B. Isolate passages: one hand/finger/etc at a time
i. with metronome - with each click think and prepare a different element
ii. with metronome - in time

Record the name of the passage and your range of tempi from beginning to end of practice session.
Record the highest tempo which was mastered.

2. Transitions are difficult. Between two phrases or sections of music are often neglected because it doesn't make immediate musical sense to hear the end of one phrase and the beginning of another. Because they don't sound "right," many players gloss over transitions and they sound awkward or suffer in other ways because of this. Transitions are usually difficult because there can be completely different musical ideas between the two sections, and these will necessitate different techniques. Switching techniques can be difficult.

3. Play it perfectly 8 times in a row. Many times students are content with "making it through" a passage one time. A lot of times it can be attributed to luck and the student won't be able to do it again, especially in a more strenuous situation, like the guitar lesson or performance. Great players are absolutely sure they can play a passage and the only way to know is through repetition.

4. Economy - prepare other fingers before they're needed. Where's it coming from, where's it going?

5. Practice station - always set up. Music stand, metronome, computer (backing tracks)

6. Create technique exercises that apply to the challenging part at hand

7. Tension - when we use our bodies inefficiently, tightness and strain occurs. Efficiency is gained through a two-fold knowledge of precisely how the body moves (anatomical motion) and the instrument itself. Knowing how to detect and alleviate tension is crucial.
A. Breathe with the passage: once every 1/2, 1, 2, 3, or 4 measures
B. Hand exercises and proper warmups
C. Diet - enough sodium, carbs, protein, leafy greens

• UPDATE: It's interesting how much what you eat can affect you. I have "gluten sensitivity" which has caused me countless playing problems: Tendonitis, joint pain, circulation issues, amongst other things. Read about Celiac Disease to learn more.

8. It takes time. I realized while on my month-long trip to Spain this summer, that my 5 years off-and-on of reading Spanish and hearing once in a while really wasn't enough to hold a more than kindergarten level conversation with someone who knew the language. I really felt empathetic with my students! I felt like I knew nothing, and there were so many words, contexts, and conjugations that it felt like it would take "forever" to learn to speak Spanish. This advice I give to eager guitar students: With absolutely proper instruction, someone with normal talent can strum through some songs, play some riffs, and read music in the first position in the first year of instruction. Maybe he could even go to a jam session. The problem is, to feel like a "native speaker" of guitar, you'll need at least 5 years of training to have performance-worthy technique. "Total immersion" is necessary throughout those 5 years in order to follow what you hear others play, or realize ideas that you hear in your head.

Another aspect of this is learning when to let something go. Music is cumulative - if you didn't get it perfect the first time around, you'll surely encounter it again if you keep playing.

9. Question and Re-evaluate: How do you feel about what you've played? What are you interested in learning at this point? How do you feel about learning a new style? Have you ever thought about composition, another instrument, another aspect of music, or a non-music topic?

How is your practice method working for you? Are you putting in enough practice time?

The House of Knowledge

There is much to know about the guitar, much less all of music. If the body of guitar knowledge can be equated with a house, then there are ways to get in and out of the house. Some will use the front door, which is open to the public, and anyone who has never encountered any aspect of music or the guitar will most likely enter here. The back door is always available, but it leads to other houses and pathways which relate less to the guitar, and more to other topics.

The front door: making something more accessible, simpler, more broken down, less technically difficult, plainer language, more diagrams/visualizations, metaphorical to the universal / well-beaten paths.
The back door: pushing to the edge of recent thought, adding complexity through combinations, more refined, more technically difficult, more specialized language, more diagrams/visualizations, relating disparate concepts.

If we take this analogy further, there are rooms in this guitar house, each with front and back doors. Now, any topic concerning guitar can be thought of in this way.

How to Teach Kids

I don't have enough experience teaching kids. Here's a short list of things that seem to work, any suggestions are welcome.

Children live in the moment. Give them goals that are attainable NOW.
Make learning materials more colorful, more engaging.
Always have a well-thought out curriculum.
Provide enough variety not to get bored, but also...
Give the children boundaries: clear-cut exercises which do not lead to confusion.

Quotable Quotes - Motivation for Students of Music

Anybody who tries to get better at their instrument is a student of music. A student is always trying to understand new ideas and approaches. A student studies their instrument from top to bottom. It's very easy to "plateau" and get stuck somewhere along the way. The theme of this issue is practice tips, and these brilliant quotes offer some great advice.

"I'd rather be a failure at something I love than a success at something I hate."
-George Burns

This is the first thing to keep in mind - remember that you love music! When you're down and out about how much you suck, remember that you're doing something that you love and that it takes time, focus (and sometimes miracles) to get better.

"Sam always said that amateurs practice until they get it right, but that professionals practice until they can't get it wrong."
-Dr. Sam Hamilton, USMC excerpt from The Inner Art of Airmanship

As I discussed previously, this is the idea behind repeating what your practicing four to eight times. This adds even more emphasis to repetition. If you get it right once or twice, it could be complete luck. Play it eight times correctly, then revisit it later in the day. Then visit it tomorrow. Then the next day, and the next day...

'If you don't practice one day, you'll know it. If you don't practice for two days, your friends and fellow musicians will know it. If you don't practice for three days, everyone in your audience knows it!'"
- George Van Eps

Can you imagine a professional musician getting on stage and saying "I haven't touched this thing in a week...I just haven't had time." That would be ludicrous! Music is his job, and his life. Many musicians I know have "muse" (a voice in their heads) that guilts them if they don't practice enough. Ask yourself how much you need to practice. More, right? (Make the voices stop!)

"It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it."
- Arnold Toynbee

Practice until you get it right...and then some. Play the piece faster than you would need to. Figure out music that you want to play, but don't think you can. Always challenge yourself.

"These teachings are like a raft, to be abandoned once you have crossed the flood. Since you should abandon even good states of mind generated by these teachings, How much more so should you abandon bad states of mind! Conquer the angry man by love. Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness. Conquer the miser with generosity. Conquer the liar with truth."
-The Dhammapada

Learning isn't just "learning the notes." Learning is accruing habits. The idea is to find bad habits and get rid of them fast by practicing good habits. Many times, these bad habits are psychological. Telling yourself that you can't do it, you don't have time, it's too difficult, I'm not good enough, it's not my thing, etc, won't get you very far. Turn negative thoughts into positive thoughts. You can't do it...yet. You will be able to in the near future! It's not your thing, but why not try it anyways? I don't have time now, but I'm working on cutting out the mindless entertainment and want to fit more music time in. Stay enthusiastic even if you're not good enough for your standards - which are probably too high.

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."
- Buddha

Finally, as has been emphasized in the East for thousands of years, we must always question what is presented before us. Use your minds to really understand, and to make sure you see exactly why something is done a certain way. Ask probing questions. Ask why. Ask until you get to the bottom of the issue.

LINKS
Dave's Links - links to my youtube channel, myspaces, blogs, etc.
New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock
Dunlop Nylon Max Grip Jazz III Guitar Picks 6-Pack - I recommend this pick for fast-type playing.
Dunlop Nylon Max Grip Guitar Picks - 12-Pack - I recommend the .88 for general, all-purpose playing.
The Wizard of Shred's website. He has some great practice tips concerning keeping a practice log and making concrete goals.
The Wizard of Shred's channel.
Licks you won't wanna share with your friends! #1 Chris Brooks
Guitar Right-Hand Physics
"Josie" Lesson Demo
Right Hand Guitar Position
Guitar hand position
I Love Guitar.com: CAGED System for Guitar
Adjusting Your Guitars Pickups by Greg V

010 Steve Vai, Links Galore

DEC GUITAR NEWSLETTER, issue no. 10

May 2, 2010. Hey everyone, sorry it's been a while! I owe an explanation, so here's the news with me: The last newsletter was in october of 2009 - since then, I had some mild tendonitis and kind of gave up on typing so much which was really exacerbating it. Then we had some holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas/Hanukah. Then, in January/February were spent obsessing over getting a new guitar and amp. (both links go to my blog: scraggo.blogspot.com) Then after that, I was wrote a piece for my girlfriend's recital, which I will post on myspace or youtube or both at some point. I've also been playing solo jazz guitar gigs, which have been very fun.

IN THIS ISSUE:

wisdom from Steve Vai!

links galore! including more crazy guitars, online lessons, great playing, and more!

Wisdom from Guitar Virtuoso Steve Vai
excerpt from the following Steve Vai masterclass:
Steve Vai Masterclass

"...and you can do the same thing with soloing. You take an idea [...] and just work on it and work on it and evolve it, until finally, I come up with something...weird. Then, that would become part of my musical vocabulary. For instance, take the idea of trills where you flutter the note (fast and repeated hammer-on pull-off combinations). If I just sit and do nothing but that for...an hour, I'm going to come up with something I haven't done before. You do this until you fascinate yourself with some of the weird things you're coming out with. It's like finding a thread and pulling it...or knitting a sweater. That will work its way into your playing."
So what is to be gained from Steve Vai's advice? He's talking about improvisation sessions, setting up a significant amount of time to mess with ONE idea. The stress is on ONE idea and to mess with it until something happens. What is that something? Vai says until he comes up with something "weird." I think he means "interesting" but for him, being weird is synonymous with being interesting! When he says "fascinate yourself," that's all tied together.
The next element in his advice is the ONE idea factor. If you try to cram a bunch of miscellaneous things in a practice session, then you only get a little better on a thing or two, while the rest is glossed over. Believe me, I've heard the advice to do this before, where you spend 15 minutes on scales, 10 minutes on legato, 20 minutes on chords, etc. I feel like there is a place for this - but it's not satisfying to only practice in this way.
I equate the concentrated-one hour-one-idea practice session with experimenting in a laboratory. You have your equipment: guitars, amps, computers, metronomes, recordings, drum beats, etc. You have the ingredients, which are musical ideas such as: tempo, melody, chords, techniques (such as trills, slides, bends, fingerings), etc. Many great players practice this way. I feel like it's not talked about a whole lot because it doesn't really feel like practice when you're doing it! You don't have to be amazing to do this though and it's crucial in developing your own sound and style.
The goal of practicing an instrument, for me, is to become "at one" or "connected" with the instrument. That way, you'll be able to achieve whatever musical goals you have by the sheer virtue of not having barriers between your mind and the instrument. This sort of practice leads to better improvisation ideas which may even become compositions! For the creative (and I believe EVERYONE should try their hands in musical creativity), I highly recommend these sorts of practice sessions.

LINKS

To begin our links, see this amazing improvisation by our wisdom giver extroardinaire:
Steve Vai Demonstration

More Great Guitar Playing

Van Halen Cathedral
Jody Fischer - excellent jazz player
Kenny Burrell rocks. Another jazz guy.

Online Guitar Lessons
These are free lesson guys who don't suck!
http://www.youtube.com/user/sheetsofsound
Soloing over difficult chord changes
Guthrie Govan - Pirate Modes
Guthrie Gowan imitates great players!!!
Bending Lesson
Master The Guitar Youtube Channel
Master The Guitar Website
Learn Music Theory blog
Jazz Guitar, minor 2 5 1
The Fraktured Zone
Combining Blues Scales lesson

More Cool Guitars
Guitarists like guitars, enough said. The following links are ergonomic (contoured to fit your body better.)
http://www.guitarjapan.com/talbo/talbo.html
http://www.edroman.com/guitars/lsr/bodies.htm
http://www.elutherie.org/
http://www.elutherie.org/2009/09/michael-spalt-hybrid-guitar.html
http://www.hohnerusa.com/index.php?1717
http://www.burrellguitars.com/JG023.html

The following links are CRAZY guitars.
MISA Digital Guitar
The MOOG Guitar - infinite sustain!
Giant Guitar from Portugal!
Fernandes Guitar Sustainer

Music and Geometry
For those who are not repulsed by math!
http://music.princeton.edu/~dmitri/
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/07/07/950.aspx
http://johnhawks.net/weblog/reviews/brain/language/music_mathematics_brain_tymoczko_2006.html?advance
http://www.uwec.edu/walkerjs/MBSGC/

Miscellaneous

Jud Jud - a hilarious group that imitates electric guitar with their voices
The History of the Amen Break - if you like electronic music at all, this is really interesting.

009 History of Guitars, Crazy Guitars

DEC GUITAR NEWSLETTER, issue no. 9

THE HISTORY OF GUITARS & CRAZY GUITARS

2009 Oct 26
 
News: All issues are currently available online! I'm still getting links activated, but now you can see all of my news, links, and wisdom on my website.

CRAZY GUITARS

This, I guarantee will blow your mind.
Wikipedia article: 10-String Guitar
Perfecto De Castro talks about his 10-string Guitar youtube
Eleven String Guitarist plays Desafinado
Janet Marlow plays a 10-string guitar
Wikipedia article: Harp Guitar
See Don Alder play a Harp Guitar on Youtube
Wikipedia article: Contrabass guitar
Peter Constant plays Bourées 1&2 from cello suite BWV 1010 on a 4-string classical (contra)bass guitar.
Wikipedia article: Tenor Guitars - 4 strings tuned in fifths, CGDA
A Tenor Guitar Sampler
Colbie Caillat's Realize on Tenor Guitar
Joe Engbino on Jazz Tenor Guitar

THE HISTORY OF THE GUITAR
This is a very special issue on the history of the guitar and crazy guitars that exist today. Originally, I believed that the guitar was invented in spain around 1800, and it was pretty close to the classical guitar we have today. There were ancestors like the lute and such, but none of them really rocked as hard as the guitar setup we have today. This was only a partial truth.

I've dived into the depths of research and have found that the guitar has been around since even before the ancient egyptians! Man has been grappling with the mysteries of the guitar for over 5,000 years!

Ancient Near East

It is believed that the history of the guitar began in the ancient Near East. There, the archeologists found instruments and representations of them that served as landmarks or guideposts in the relatively uncharted territory of the guitar's beginning.

Among the artifacts excavated from Babylonia, the most relevant were the clay plaques dated (1900-1800 B.C.). These showed nude figures playing musical instruments, some of which bear a general resemblance to the guitar. Close examination of the instrument on the plaque shows it to have a distinctly differentiated body and neck. Its back is undoubtedly flat; the manner in which it rests against the priest's chest precludes the possibility of its being bowl-shaped. It is clear that the right hand pluck the strings.

In 1400 B.C: The Hittites play a four-string, guitar-like instrument. This four string instrument had soft, curved sides, which were somewhat similar to the current guitar. Also around this time, the Greeks produced a similar instrument which was modified by the Romans and became known as the cithara.

Precursors of the guitar can be traced back as much as 4000 years to an Indo-European origin of stringed instruments once known in central Asia and India. For this reason guitars are distantly related to contemporary instruments from these regions, including the tanbur, setar and sitar, among others.

Egypt and Rome

In the earliest days, the only plucked string instrument in Egypt was the bow-shaped harp. Later, a necked instrument with carefully marked frets, probably made of gut, wound about the neck. Eventually, some of the features and characteristics would combine in a later instrument, one would be the predecessor not only of the guitar but of all necked string instruments, both plucked and bowed. Further developments made this instrument even more similar in form to the guitar.

The instrument from the Roman period (30 B.C. - 400 A.D.) is made entirely of wood. The rawhide soundboard is replaced with wood on which five groups of small sound holes are visible. This arrangment persisted up to the 16th century. On an instrument found in Coptic tomb in Egypt, the curves along the sides are already quite deep and the basic guitar shape is apparent. The back has become completely flat instead of it curving upward to meet the soundboard, the two surfaces are now attached to each other by strips of wood that form the sides of the soundbox. These features remain to the present day.

This brings us to Medieval Europe. The Carolingian Dynasty, which encompassed both France and Germany, produced the Carolingian instrument; which is rectangular, approximatively equal in lenght to its neck, the upper end of which is a wider rounded area containing small pegs for the attachment of strings. Next, we'll see two main types of guitars found in this period, one of them will lay the groundwork for the modern guitar.

Guitarra Latina and Guitarra Morisca

The Guitarra Morisca was brought by the Moors, hence, its name. Its soundbox was oval and it had many sound holes on its soundboard. The Arabs, passing through Egypt on their way to complete the great Muslim conquest of North Africa and Spain, may well have transmitted the cardinal features of this design to the instrument makers of Western Europe. It is equally possible that the first Spanish guitars were a European development. Certain is only that the Arabic influence in Spain prepared the ground for the advent of the guitar.

The Guitarra Latina however, did have curved sides and was thought to have come to Spain from some other European country. It was this type that undoubtedly developped into the modern guitar.

The late 1400s: A new guitar, called the vihuela, evolved from the two types of guitar mentioned. The vihuela was a large instrument with double the strings of the Latin and Moorish guitars, a longer neck and ten or eleven frets. The Portuguese and Spanish courts preferred the vihuela over any other instrument for roughly 200 years.

Until the late 1600s: The vihuela, and another instrument called the lute, were more popular than the guitar. This changed when the popularity of the lute declined because it had too many strings and was too hard to play and tune. The vihuela was replaced by four and five course guitars of that time. Four course guitars had seven strings—a single high string and three pairs of other strings—while five course guitars had nine strings—a single high string and four pairs of other strings. Some feel that the addition of the fifth course during the 16th century, which gave the guitar greater flexibility, was the reason why the guitar became popular.

By the beginning of the 1800s: Some guitars used fan struts under the soundboard and featured six strings (like the modern guitar). Also changed during this time was the neck (which was raised), the fingerboard (which used ebony or rosewood), and the tuning pegs (which were replaced with machine tuners). Guitars like these are most similar to early classical guitars.

By the late 1800s: A man named Antonio Torres Jurado changed the guitar dramatically by refining the strutting of the guitar. This allowed for as many as seven struts to be spread out like a fan under the soundboard. Additionally, the size of the body and the width of the neck were greatly increased. As a result of Jurado’s improvements, the guitar had greater bass response and volume. Jurado’s work made it possible for the guitar to meet the demands of both the solo performer and the concert stage.

The Present: Our modern guitar is practically the same as the one made by Jurado.

For more info...LINKS
Illustrated History
Guitar: Wikipedia
Guitar History: Wikipedia
Guitar History Timeline
Guitar History
A Brief Guitar History
History of the Classical Guitar
Guitar History
Guitar History

008 Master Classes, 12 Keys, Wisdom

DEC GUITAR NEWSLETTER, issue no. 8

2009 Sep 28
Hey everyone, Dave C the guitar teacher here...I know, it's been a long time. I haven't forgotten about you, I just haven't had time for the newsletter! Summer was busy with vacation, recording, and the like. I also recently started taking lessons with DC Jazz Guitarist Steve Herberman and it's been amazing!

News: I now have 3 videos available for download at Mikes Master Classes!

There are youtube clips for all of them:
How To Harmonically Analyze a Tune
The Major Scale
The Harmonic and Melodic Minor scales

New Paper: All 12 keys in the first position - with tab! I'm not sure if any of you have every been asked to play music in another key, but I figure the best way to get started is to play all 12 keys in the open position. Another way to do this is to play the same scale shape in all of the frets, but this way will really get you to hear the difference between the scales.

Wisdom from fellow guitar colleagues: These are words of wisdom coming from students - we all have something to teach and share, so go ahead and let me know if you have any wisdom!

1. "The best way to learn guitar is to actually play with other people. Solo practice is important, of course, but since I've been playing with other folks, I've had the opportunity to apply what I learned in my lessons with you. Granted, I don't apply it all that well sometimes, but I get often learn from my mistakes and get a little better each time. Thus, I think the two--solo practice and jamming--are the yin and yang of guitar (to continue with the zen metaphor)."

If anyone's looking for people to jam with, let me know. There may be someone else close to where you live that also needs a jam buddy!

My last guitar teacher said that people don't play together anymore! They lock themselves away in practice rooms with their computers and don't figure stuff out by ear with friends. Back in the day, long ago, people used to get together, talk about music together, listen to music together, and play together, trading licks and ideas. This is the tried and true method of learning music - what Robert Conti calls "the mooch method." You figure out how other people play by ear OR you wait until your buddy figures it out, then get him to show you! We're all teachers and students at the same time. After this, start a band, join an ensemble. You'll learn music by playing music. What a concept!

2. "You have to think ahead when playing guitar, using strategy to get your hands to the right spot at the right time. It's about knowing what you want, then figuring out the smartest way to get it. We all need to develop our ability to visualize the guitar without having to look at the guitar neck. You can do this by blindfolding yourself or playing in the dark."

When you're ready for this step, to really start internalizing the guitar, you'll know. You have to balance this sort of playing with practicing "under the microscope" ie: with a mirror and incredible attention to detail. But after all of this, you'll be more comfortable with the guitar, eventually being able to just play!

Songs that are being worked on in lessons - let me know if you'd like to work on one of these at some point!
Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven"
Incubus "Just A Phase"
Paul Dukas "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"
Ten Years After "I'm Coming Home"
The Beatles "Here Comes The Sun"
Pink Floyd "Comfortably Numb"
Star Wars Theme

007 Chords, Zen Guitar

DEC GUITAR NEWSLETTER, issue no. 7

2009 Apr 26
Hello fellow guitar enthusiasts!  It's time for another installment of the infamous newsletter.  Here's what's in store:
    1.      News about me:  I'm going to be teaching for Mike's Master Classes!  It is a website where master teachers and players share their information in video format.  You can view these as they happen if you join us on the scheduled date or download the lesson later.  Very exciting!  http://www.mikesmasterclasses.com/
    2.      The latest paper:  The difference between chords!  Ever wondered exactly what the difference is between triads and seventh chords, and major/minor/diminished/augmented?  Now you can find out!
    3.      See below!

Wisdom from Zen Guitar, by Philip Toshio Sudo

In this bit of wisdom, I feel that it explains one very important reason why we play music.  Music not only allows us to express ourselves, but it is a discipline that strengthens the mind and body and allows us to find unity of mind and body, where it may otherwise be hard to find.  I call this unity Spirit.

Section II:  Practice - White Belt to Black Belt - 12 Points of Focus
Spirit

Guitar playing is a physical activity that demands training.  In that sense, it is no different than learning how to throw a discus, run the high hurdles, or swim the butterfly.  The body must acquire an intelligence of its own.  The muscles must learn to move in new, disciplined ways.
Physical challenges force the mind to confront obstacles:  pain, fatigue, self-doubt.  You can not make progress along the path without developing some kind of mental strength.  Use your training here (in the Zen Guitar dojo) to build a strong spirit.
When the body engages in something new, it forces the mind to pay attention - to acquire focus, direction, and resolve.  Conversely, when the body tires of an activity, the mind must forge discipline and endurance in the muscles.  Beginning guitar players, for example, often complain of painful fingertips from pressing down on the strings.  Right away, the mind must teach the hands to fight through this discomfort until calluses build.  As any jogger knows, when the body wants to quit, the mind has to step in and say no. 
Frustration results when the body will not perform as the mind directs, or the mind becomes confused about what it wants the body to do.  These confrontations between mind and body are an integral part of training.  They bring us face to face with our motivations and limitations:  Why are we putting in all these hours of practice?  Why do we desire what we desire?  Are we wiling to make the sacrifice necessary to progress?  Are we asking more of our body than it can do?  How we answer these questions determines our progress on the path of Zen Guitar. 
Your spirit here must be one of total resolution; as martial artists like to say, "Tighten the mind."  You may arrive here like a wild colt, scattered and unfocused.  Through training, learn to harness your raw energy and charge like a racehorse.  Other beginners will arrive here with the spirit of a tired, old soul.  Through training, they learn to build up their energy the way one strenthens a little-used muscle.
Here are three adages from the samurai on the spirit required to know the Way.  Fix these in your heart as you train:
1. Don't ask, practice.
Some questions, no one can anser but yourself.  Practice properly and answers will come to you in time.  The only route to understanding the Way is through your own experience.
2.  Seven times down, eight times up.
If you slip in your training, get up.  Even should you think defeatist thoughts - "I can't learn this," "My hands aren't strong enough," "I'll never be any good" - never voice them aloud.  Burn such thoughts from your mind before you make a single utterance.  The famed martial artist Bruce Lee was said to have done that exact thing:  whenever a negative thought came into his head, he would visualize writing the words down on a slip of paper and putting it to flames. Apply this thinking to your own training.
3.  The only opponent is within.
What matters on the path of Zen Guitar is not the obstacles we face, but how we respond to them.  Master your reaction to the unforeseen and unfortunate circumstance, and you will master the Way of Zen Guitar. 
When you are focused, every task, no matter how small, becomes part of your traning.  In even mundane things such as making the bed, mowing the lawn, and washing the dishes - keep your mind from laziness and wandering.  This will carry over into everything you do. 

Songs that are being worked on in lessons:
Kyle's Mom - from South Park
Metallica - Battery
Give It All - Rise Against
You Found Me, How To Save a Life - The Fray
Linkin Park - What I've Done
Candle - White Tie Affair
All That Remains - Chiron
Landslide - Fleetwood Mac
Jackson Browne
So What - Miles Davis

006 Ear Training, Zen Guitar

DEC GUITAR NEWSLETTER, issue no. 6

2009 Mar 13
EAR-TRAINING
You are afraid, and rightly so.  Because tab and youtube videos will only get you so far in your musical training!  You've got to use your ears!

    * Here are some excerpts from the attached papers I've written on ear-training.  The first paper explains the basics, the second gives you tab for what to play to start practicing ear-training.

Two steps towards effective listening
Believe it or not, there is a way to train your ears such that if you listen in the right way, you can simply play back or write down any rhythm, note, chord, melody, or chord progression that is presented to you.  It is a two step process:
1. Study the basics of music by playing the components by yourself and getting them "into your ear."  This is done first and foremost by singing.
2. Have someone else play the components while you play them back or do dictation.  Dictation is where you simply write down what is played without being able to see what the other person is playing.  You will eventually be able to transcribe any type of music.

You can do this!  Music is all about sound, and you can learn to hear this stuff.

Intervals Introduction:  The Octave
One of the more difficult aspects of music to grasp at first is the interval, which is the distance
between two musical pitches.  I've already mentioned the octave, which is a jump from the root note to the next closest note which sounds like the same note color (a.k.a chroma or pitch).  The octave is considered to be a pretty wide interval.  The prefix "octa" implies that the interval distance is a total of eight tones.  If we count from C:  C D E F G A B C.  There are eight notes total, so the interval is an octave.  *Note:  When we speak of an octave, we are usually referring to a perfect octave. There can be diminished and augmented octaves, but they are found infrequently.  We will discuss interval
qualities in the next sections.

    * How to remember an octave: sing "Some-where over the rain-bow".  Those first two notes are an octave!  (SEE: EAR TRAINING WITH GUITAR PT III) 

Finished the paper and want more?  Visit Justin's website for more on transcribing.
http://www.justinguitar.com/en/TR-000-Transcribing.php

SOME MUSICAL WISDOM
We all need it sometimes.  Here is another excerpt from Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo:

page 146, "JAMMING"
"The most important thing I look for in a musician is whether he knows how to listen." -Duke Ellington

Some players perform strictly unaccompanied.  Others perform in groups, but play only prewritten parts.  To achieve a black belt in Zen Guitar, one must know the spirit of jamming - how to improvise with other players in the moment.
To truly jam, you must subjugate your ego for the good of the group and seek a harmony that lifts everyone higher.  One player acting selfishly can ruin a jam.  In basketball, for example, if one player on a team hogs the ball and takes all the shots, the other players become selfish and start hogging the ball as well.  But if a player thinks first of passing the ball and setting others up to score, others begin to think the same.  Just as selfish attitudes are contagious, so are the generous ones.  If you play generously, anyone who's listening will feel it.
It is said that music is the only language where many people can talk at once and be understood.  But there are still rules for conversing.  Effective jamming means knowing how to listen, when to lead, and when to follow.  There is no rule more basic to functioning in a group setting.
Listening
If you've ever been to a country where you don't speak the language, you know how difficult it is to communicate.  You must look for people who are generous and willing to try and understand you.  They must fully concentrate on your efforts at communication; you must fully concentrate on theirs.  What you're looking for is a bridge that will carry you across the divide.  When you find it, what develops is a kind of third language - not your tongue and not the other's, but a hybrid of the two.  The shared spirit of trying to communicate is what carries you along to that common ground where you can make yourselves understood. 
Musicians jam in the same way.  No matter what their different styles, backgrounds, or preferences, players who know how to jam can make themselves understood.  They're always looking for the bridge - musically and figuratively.
Leading
A jam will not go anywhere unless someone takes the lead.  It need not be the same person throughout; in fact, different people can take the lead at different points within the same number.  But if no one steps forward and says, "This is where we should go," the music will meander, wasting everyone's time.
Determining who should lead at any given point can be difficult.  Sometimes the leader is preestablished - the person who calls the jam, for example, or the person whose home it's in.  Other times the leader is the person with the most experience, or the most respected level of ability.  Or the leader can be someone who simply has the strongest vision of where the jam should go.
When leading, don't fixate on what other players can't do; work with what they can do.  Adjust the jam to work out of the pieces you have.
Following
Even a leader must know how to follow.  When following, do so in the spirit of fitting in, in whatever way lifts the group highest.  Sometimes this means playing something less than the full extent of your ability.  If that's what the music calls for, then do it.  The best musician is not the one with the best chops, but the one who best knows how to contribute to the whole. 
Fitting in with others does not mean relinquishing your individuality.  In fact, if the spirit of the jam is right, your uniqueness is your asset.  Be like the hot sauce in a jambalaya - an indispensable spice that adds to the character of the whole. 

 Songs that are being worked on in lessons:
Foo Fighters - My Hero
Radiohead - Creep
Green Day - American Idiot
(Jazz) - Misty
Sound Of Music
Bach - Minuet in G
Ok Go - Here it goes again
America - Horse with no name
The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love
Charlie Christian - Rose Room
Eric Clapton - Layla, Cocaine