Category: On The Fretboard

Looking to learn more about actually playing guitar (rather than just having fun with gear)? This is where I collate all the playing and music tips that I come across.

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#CoffeeAndKlon 36: Runaway Inflation For Guitar Gear

#CoffeeAndKlon is my (irregular!) Sunday morning magazine series, where I talk about whatever’s on my mind right now. There’s always coffee, and there’s normally chat about the Klon and its many competitors.

When I started writing this, Winter NAMM 2024 had just kicked off, and my inbox was full of my favourite guitar stores sending out links to their pre-order product pages. Out of curiosity, I clicked through to the Andertons page to take a look …

… and my jaw hit the floor at just how expensive new gear has become.

But was my reaction right, or was it just a reflection of how hard general inflation has affected all prices in the last few years? I’m going to explore that today.

Continue reading “#CoffeeAndKlon 36: Runaway Inflation For Guitar Gear”
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Solo In Any Key With One Scale Shape

Mike Geronsin of The Art of Guitar has posted a new, free lesson. Here, he’s looking at how to use the same scale shape to solo over any key – major or minor.

This is very helpful if, like me, you’re just starting out with learning how to solo or improvise over a chord progression. It’s a neat tip, that Mike clearly explains and demonstrates.

Watch the video to see how this works, then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment.

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Jamzone Jamming App Demo

Fluff has posted a demo of a new app for jamming along to. It’s called Jamzone, and it has some really neat features.

With each song you purchase, you get a multitrack recording to jam along to. You can mute, solo, or fade any of the individual tracks – perfect for jamming along to. You also get a breakdown of the song structure, along with tempo, key, and chord information – perfect for learning a song.

Watch the video to see it in action, and – as always – please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment.

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How To Solo Over Chord Changes

Paul Davids has uploaded a handy lesson video, where he’s looking at how to solo over chord changes using the pentatonic scale.

The pentatonic scale is probably the first scale we learn when we’re trying to get into writing our own solos and improvising. It’s such an easy scale to play, but making it musical over chord changes is deceptively hard.

In Paul’s lesson, he explains what the trick (sometimes) is: switch pentatonic scales when the underlying chord changes. By using the pentatonic scale that matches each chord (e.g. A minor pentatonic over an A minor chord, C major pentatonic over a C major chord), we place more of an emphasis on the musical changes that are happening in the rhythm section.

Watch the video for all the details, then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Paul’s video.

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Delta Bluesy Drone Licks Lesson

Guitar World has posted another video lesson from Andy Aledort. In this lesson, he’s looking at how to emulate the open-tuning sound of the old delta blues masters on standard tuning.

This video is helpful if you’re looking to improve your understanding of what makes the delta blues sound work, or if you want some tips on how to improvise around this concept.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Andy’s video.

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Studying David Gilmour’s String Bends

David Gilmour’s lead phrasing is amongst the most iconic ever recorded, instantly recognisable whenever we hear it. But just what is he doing? Paul Davids shows us.

Be warned: this video features extreme 5 semi-tone string bends. Just watching Paul’s fingers getting caught under the strings made me wince!

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Paul’s video. Or even if you just felt sorry for his poor abused fingers.

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Mary Spender Breaks Down ‘Only One’

For this week’s Tuesday Talk, Mary Spender walks us through the history and recording of her new song ‘Only One’.

https://youtu.be/juikboGFLTw

This is the first song where Mary has done all the engineering herself. She normally records in a studio, but this time she wanted to have more time to work on the song – and studio time quickly becomes very expensive.

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment. It takes a lot of courage to share this kind of information, especially in today’s world of armchair critics and trolls.

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How To Riff With The Major Scale

Over on his YouTube channel, Sean Daniel has posted a lesson all about how to  use the major scale in your playing.

He focuses on the basics, which are always good to know. The video’s short and sweet, so you’ve no excuse for not leaning them here!

Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Sean’s video.