I have a funny story about the CAGED system.

Back in the early days of Guitar Noise, we managed to talk a few actual guitar heroes into answering a batch of emailed questions, mostly because nobody had told them yet that they didn’t have to say yes to a guy with a website and a list of questions.

I could have gone after Malmsteen, or Kip Winger. But who I really wanted to talk to was Bill Edwards. His Fretboard Logic series was my real introduction to CAGED, and in my excitement about landing the interview, I did something a little embarrassing: I let it slip that I thought Bill had invented the whole system.

Bill’s reply came back with a laugh built right into it. He hadn’t invented it, and patiently explained what his actual contribution was, while I nodded along at my screen like I’d known that all along. You can read the whole interview here if you want the unedited version of me getting corrected.

I never really stopped digging into CAGED after that conversation, and somewhere along the way I think I turned into a CAGED historian, which is a title nobody asked me to have. Who invented it? Where did it come from? Back then the answer meant tracking down a guy through a magazine and hoping he’d call you back. These days you can get most of it from a laptop and a couple of very good YouTube teachers, which we’ll get to. But the real answer is a lot messier than “some guy came up with five chord shapes,” and it starts about 500 years before that guy was even born.

I. The Prime Mover

To understand CAGED you have to go back further than any guitarist, back to 16th-century Italy and a tuning decision nobody remembers making.

Renaissance lutes were tuned E-A-D-F#-B-E, with a major third between the D and F# strings. In the mid-1500s, Italian musicians adapted that tuning for a Baroque relative of the guitar called the chitarra battente. They nudged the F# down to G, shifting that major third one string over, from D/F# to G/B. Sounds like a small tweak. It was mostly about getting chord shapes to actually fit under a human hand rather than one built like a spider.

That relocated third is the whole reason the guitar behaves differently from a piano or a violin. Every other interval between the strings is a perfect fourth, five semitones. Except that one G-to-B gap, which is only four. That asymmetry is what makes chord shapes movable and interlocking in the first place. A perfectly symmetrical tuning would actually make CAGED impossible.

Two centuries later, in the late 1700s, instrument makers started adding a sixth string below the existing five. To keep the established fourths intact, a low E was the obvious choice, mirroring the high E on the other end. That symmetry is why barre chords work the way they do. Slide the same shape up or down and you get the same chord anywhere on the neck, because the relationship between the strings never changes.

Bill Edwards himself points to this. He’s on record saying the real inventor of CAGED is whoever devised standard tuning in the first place, some unsung genius nobody can even name. Every guitarist who’s ever noticed the five shapes was really just rediscovering the fingerprints of that one 16th-century decision.

II. An Age Without a Name

Once that tuning existed, the five-shape pattern was baked in, waiting for anyone curious enough to notice it. And guitarists did, long before “CAGED” was a word anyone used.

The Eddie Lang Guitar Method from 1935 and the George Barnes Guitar Method from 1943 both build solos out of the same five shapes. Around that same era, Django Reinhardt, playing with only two fully functional fretting fingers after a caravan fire, built his own private map of the neck out of sheer necessity, moving a handful of shapes around to keep playing at a virtuoso level. Decades later, Jimi Hendrix did something similar. He never learned “the CAGED system” since it hadn’t really been defined yet in his lifetime, but the triadic, shape-shifting logic running through his rhythm playing is the same pattern. Guitar teachers still point to his habit of grabbing the middle four strings of a G-shape chord as a textbook example of CAGED thinking, decades before there was a textbook.

III. The Naming

The earliest documented print reference shows up in a May 1975 issue of Guitar Player Magazine, in a piece on San Francisco’s Blue Bear School of Music. It profiles the school’s 20-year-old guitar instructor, Keith Allen, and buried in there is the logic of five interlocking scales, E-D-C-A-G. First time the idea got written down and given a name.

Allen wasn’t some obscure hobbyist, either. He was the Bay Area’s go-to studio guitarist, gigging with everyone from the San Francisco Symphony to Bonnie Raitt and the Steve Miller Band, which probably explains how a twenty-year-old ended up with enough credibility to land a feature in a national magazine. You can still find the original 1975 article and the backstory behind it, scanned from an old Xerox copy, on the website of the company that later published his poster.

IV. The Poster That Carried It Across the Land

In 1980, a company inspired by the old Woodstock poster released The Guitar Poster, a wall chart packing the whole CAGED sequence onto one laminated sheet. More than any magazine article, this is probably what actually spread CAGED into bedrooms across the country. It’s still sold today. I remember seeing it on college dorm walls and wondering what all the strange hieroglyphics meant. It was a secret world, like messages from inside an Egyptian pyramid. My guess was only off by a few centuries.

Allen didn’t just license his name to the project, either. According to the poster’s own thirty-year retrospective, he sat down with the prototype and personally roughed out the chord and scale reference table by hand, then stayed on as music editor. He went on to write and edit companion posters for keyboard, bass, and rock guitar before he passed away, still teaching private students right up until the end.

V. The Disputed Champion

Joe Pass made CAGED famous in jazz circles, though some guitarists who’ve studied his books closely argue he was mostly using the idea to visualize chords rather than the full five-position scale system that gets taught today. His instructional material also leaned heavily on a collaborator, Bill Thrasher, who reportedly wrote something like 200 pages of it and, by one account, wasn’t exactly thrilled about how the credit shook out.

That collaboration produced Joe Pass Guitar Style, a slim 60-page book that’s quietly become one of the most recommended jazz guitar texts around, with bassist Carol Kaye herself said to still point students toward it decades later. A long-running jazz guitar forum thread breaks down just how much of Pass’s recorded legacy runs through material Thrasher actually put on the page, which makes the credit question feel less like trivia and more like an actual injustice.

VI. The Systematizer

Bill Edwards didn’t invent CAGED. He’s said so himself, noting the chordal side of it already had a name before he was born. What he did was systematize the whole pattern, chords, scales, and lead shapes, into Fretboard Logic, a self-published series that ended up outselling Mel Bay and Hal Leonard titles with zero corporate backing behind it. The book was reportedly first titled simply “The CAGED System,” which tells you Edwards saw himself as extending a tradition rather than founding one.

Edwards came at the guitar sideways, too, which might explain why his explanation clicked with so many self-taught players. He started on piano as a kid, only picking up guitar later, and the whole project reportedly grew out of a single guitar student asking him how he was able to figure songs out just by ear. Trying to actually answer that question is what eventually became three volumes and a small library of instructional video.

VII. A Disputed Genealogy

The publisher behind The Guitar Poster has actually published a formal defense of Keith Allen’s claim to the name, receipts and all. Ask around elsewhere and you’ll hear different names entirely. Nobody really agrees, because nobody invented this in one stroke. It got rediscovered independently, over and over, by guitarists solving the same problem a 16th-century tuning decision created for them.

Gypsy jazz players offer a good example of that independent rediscovery still happening today. Some teachers in that world, including Stephane Wrembel, reportedly work with beginners using a reduced three-shape variant sometimes called ACE, a name few players outside the gypsy jazz world have ever heard. It’s discussed in some detail on a Django Reinhardt forum, where several posters realize mid-thread that they’ve been using some version of it for years without ever having a name for it, which is basically the entire history of CAGED in miniature.

VIII. The Heretics

CAGED has spent the last decade or so absorbing some real pedagogical pushback, mostly around awkward fingerings when patterns shift from three notes per string to two, and around how the “everything’s a major scale variant” framing falls apart once you hit melodic minor and beyond. Some jazz players go further and argue it fractures the fretboard into five disconnected boxes instead of one continuous space.

The bigger shift, though, isn’t the criticism, it’s how people actually encounter CAGED now. For decades that meant a book, a poster, or a teacher passing it down in person, the way Edwards did. Today it’s far more likely to be a YouTube video from Justin Sandercoe, whose free site JustinGuitar has become one of the most-watched guitar education platforms in the world. His own CAGED lesson makes almost the same point this piece opened with, that nobody invented it, it’s just the logic the guitar’s tuning produces. For a huge chunk of guitarists learning today, Sandercoe, not Edwards or a poster on a dorm wall, is CAGED’s actual point of entry.

One of the more convincing modern reworkings comes from Levi Clay, a contemporary teacher I’ve interviewed myself, whose site Guided Practice Routines covers a huge amount of fretboard ground while only really teaching three positions instead of five. His argument is that the C and D shapes largely duplicate territory you’ve already covered with the other three, so dropping them doesn’t cost you coverage of the neck, it just cuts the redundant memorization. It’s a small, practical edit to a fifty-year-old idea, and a good reminder that CAGED is still very much a living, contested system rather than a museum piece.

Coda

CAGED wasn’t invented on some Tuesday afternoon by a guy with a notebook. It’s the 500-year-old fingerprint of an Italian tuning shortcut, rediscovered independently by Django, by Hendrix, by a string of swing-era method writers, before finally getting named by a 20-year-old teacher in 1975, mass-marketed by a poster in 1980, adopted loosely by Joe Pass, and systematized decades later by a self-published piano player who never once claimed credit for any of it. The most “obvious” idea in guitar pedagogy has never had a peaceful, uncontested history.

Feels about right for an instrument where five different people can stare at the same fretboard and see five completely different maps. Including, apparently, a wide-eyed interviewer who once fired off an email assuming the guy on the other end had invented the whole thing himself.

In an online guitar scene that often prioritizes entertainment over education, Levi stands apart. Through his Guided Practice Routines, he’s building a community focused not just on technical improvement, but on developing true musicianship - with ear training at its center. When discussing his work, Levi has no interest in putting on a show. What follows is an honest conversation about transcription, listening, and what it really takes to grow as a musician.

Most of us picked up the guitar because of a feeling - a song that moved us, a part of ourselves we wanted to explore. Many of us have also quietly wondered whether we started too late or whether the gap between where we are and where we want to be is simply too wide. Levi’s answer is clear: the tools you need are more accessible than you think, and the most important one isn’t your fingers. It’s your ears.

The Man Who Listens for a Living

When did you first realize that your ears, rather than your instrument or voice, were your most valuable professional asset?

While I was at music school I really got heavy into transcribing, it wasn't really related to school, but I just found myself doing it for a few hours every night. Some of my work got around and people started emailing me wanting to pay me to do jobs. Music school is cool, because you're in an area surrounded by musicians, but that means for gigs the economy is ruined. Supply far outstrips demand so gigs were few and far between, and barely paid. But transcribing was paying my rent, so it felt like a no brainer to steer into it.

How do you describe what you do to people outside the music world, and does their reaction ever surprise you?

It's such a weird one because non musicians just assume someone like Eric Clapton can read. Why wouldn't he be able to? They remember having music classes as a kid and the first thing they had to do was learn to read, that's why they stopped. I think of myself as a conduit for amazing players who can do all this cool stuff but don't find the academic stuff like writing it out or explaining the why very easy. And when that fails you just tell them you're a music teacher and writer with 20 books out. I wouldn't say it surprises me, but it's a shame that "musician" is often met with groans and "oh, my mate Dave plays the guitar too", it's like it can't be a real job to them, so you have to steer into the side of your work that they accept. Like my car insurance has me listed as an author.

Was there a single transcription that made you think, “This is what I’m meant to do”?

Probably not a single one (though there are plenty that have left me thinking "why am I doing this?"), but many of them give me that feeling. I think of transcription like puzzle solving. You start with a blank page and decipher everything until you have this beautiful piece of art at the end. I've always been into more analytical hobbies, so it really speaks to my nature. The "meant to do" bit is the bit that you're really asking, and that's easy. Youtube. I've racked up 38 million views at this point, and although I was transcribing LONG before posting on Youtube, back then this was what I had to do. But when you put your work out there and millions of people all over the world use and enjoy it? That's when you cross into that feeling of finding meaning.

How has your approach to ear training changed over the years? Are there things you used to do that you’ve completely abandoned?

Oh 100%! I mentioned music school, and I have a lot to say about the state of modern music education. Schools pumping out 100s of students with the same degree, the degree ends up not meaning much. After all, we all have to do the same classes and so the class isn't written for the guy who's played keys in church all his life, it's written to make sure the singer who doesn't play an instrument can also pass. I describe it as parlour trick learning. I transcribe for a living, and never have I listened to two notes and said "oh, that's a 6th". It's just not something you use outside of tests, but the stuff you do use is hard to test, so it's ignored.

Audiating is the big one. Hearing sounds before they happen. Can you sing a dominant 7 arpeggio without playing it etc. Sing everything you play, and try and sing it BEFORE you play it, you're trying to connect your ears and fingers so when you hear a sound, you just know where it is. The other one is bass notes. If you can't put a song on and just sing the lowest notes of the chords, go there. We hear sounds in relation to the chord, if you can't hear the lowest note, you're in trouble!

There’s no conservatory degree called “Professional Transcriber.” How did you build credibility in a field without a formal gatekeeping structure?

It's always been word of mouth. Prior to Youtube blowing up I'd never really put myself out there and offered the service, I just worked with famous players their friends would see them releasing products and ask how, and they'd put me in touch. To me, credibility comes from the calibre of people you work with, not just who consumes the work.

Your reputation is entirely built on your output. Does that feel freeing, or is there a kind of pressure that comes along with it?

It is amazing to feel like I can do whatever I want and what interests me. I don't chase numbers, I genuinely make things that interest me. I know when I post a Jerry Reed video, it will only get 10% of the views that say, a Paul Gilbert video would, but I really do think of myself as an archiver, trying to preserve history and teach up and coming players about some of these great players from the past you might not be hip to. Plus, I think a lot of content creators suffer from burnout, and that comes from being stuck making things you don't love but have to. Everything I make I would be doing for myself if I didn't have an audience.

You’ve become a go-to resource for ear training. How has teaching others improved your own skills?

Teaching is great for keeping you grounded. As a teen all I wanted to be able to decipher was Tunnel Vision by Tribal Tech, but that's SO niche that when I sat and did it a couple of years ago all I got was that buzz of solving a puzzle. Learning piano in the last 6 years has improved my ear so much and so now there's rarely a moment where a student brings up a song or plays me something where I ever have the panic of "oh, what was that?". I live in that space that working musicians need to be in. Got a call for a gig next week and need to learn 20 songs? Cool. No sweat.

What is the most common misconception guitarists have about developing their ear?

They think it's boring, and that they need to know theory. When I started putting my ear training course together, I started from a completely pragmatic, non theory approach, because you don't need to know theory to have a great ear. You don't need to be able to read/sight sing to have have a great ear. There are too many examples of great jazz musicians who know little to no theory or are blind who play like monsters! And it's because they can play anything they hear.

How have digital technology and platforms like YouTube changed the demand for, and the perception of, transcription work?

Oh man... AI. Let me be clear, AI is currently useless for transcribing, and I'm pretty confident it will always be useless. I've explained why in videos online years ago and been told how wrong I'll be this time next year etc, but here I am. When people want a transcription, they want expertise. Experience. Have you sat down and asked an AI like ChatGPT questions about music? It's wrong. All. The. Time. And people think you're going to trust something like that to reliably put out products? It's sad, in the last year or so I'm seeing a rise in comments on Youtube that accuse my videos of being AI. We're in a dark place where people have this ungodly faith in AI where you assume it can just do anything and that if someone has a skill you don't have... it must have been AI. It's dangerous because it results in people dismissing their own potential. No, AI doesn't do my work for me, this is a skill that I developed, and you can too! Sure, requires a lot of work, but just assuming you can take that shortcut is a big mistake. You can't just rely on computers (or anyone) to just do everything for you.

Do you think transcription as a profession will look different in ten years, especially with emerging AI audio tools?

I think it's going to make entry easier. And I should be clear, that's a good thing. I'm all about accessibility in music. Nothing worse that a Bach guy telling you you're disrespecting the music by using tab. No man, you're just upset at the idea that some guy who just enjoys music but has kids and a job can now give the music he loves a try and he doesn't have to go to school for 10 years. There's going to be a split like we have now, but greater. As it stands there are two types of transcriptions you see. Ones done by people who understand and appreciate the conventions of music, and ones done by people who just trial an error it until the MIDI sounds right. AI tools already make it easy to isolate the guitar on a track, and that feels like a nice thing to do, but I caution you against it. All you're doing by doing there is creating a reliance on tech that isn't there in the real world. I can already isolate the guitar on a track without AI... in my head. That's the skill you need to develop sooner or later. Listening to an ensemble and just focusing on the part you want to hear. It will all come down to how people want to use AI. As a tool to help them learn, or as a substitute so they don't have to.

What does it mean to you to be recognized as a leader in this field without a formal title or institution behind you?

Well it highlights how little titles mean, because I've got letters after my name and they don't mean anything! It's honestly amazing to have so many people think of me as a leader in the field and that's an honour I don't take lightly. Having said that, I'm always looking to change that. I'm so lucky that my work allows me the freedom to be flexible with my time now and so this year is the year I want to aggressively give back. So music schools, colleges, bloggers, guys with podcasts, if you want me to come and talk to you or your students, I'd love to! Let's start making a future where the community develops their ears and maybe start the next generation of transcribers!

Next time you sit down with your guitar and struggle to pick out a melody by ear, or feel like true musicianship is only for those who started young or went to school for it, remember this conversation. Here is someone who built an entire life around listening — and his clearest message to you is that the ear is trainable, theory is optional, and the music you love is well within your reach. You don’t need a stage. You just need to keep showing up.

In the last newsletter, I shared some ideas about why it’s important to learn the how and why of playing guitar instead of relying on what and where to play. You can’t memorize your way to becoming a good player. Memorizing isn’t practicing. Practicing involves learning an idea and repeatedly applying what you understand.

Whenever you’re stuck on some aspect of guitar, the answer will nearly always be to practice more. Everything you want to get better at can be improved through consistent practice. Guitar is a homework instrument. Your results are a direct reflection of the work you put in.

Watching people exercise at the gym doesn’t change your fitness level. The same is true for the guitar. Watching videos won’t help you improve as much as spending more time playing the guitar. Try taking the idea from one video at a time and woodshedding it for an entire week. Dull as it may seem, this is what it means to put in the work.

Music instructors know immediately when a student hasn’t practiced all week. Why not hold yourself to this high standard: you either do the work or you don’t.

Pro players don’t fill their days playing and learning songs they love; they practice drills and exercises designed to improve their playing. You can make steady improvements through consistent and regular practice. Learning guitar is harder than most people think. There are more repetitions for every little thing than you might expect.

Even more important than repetition is consistency. Musicians don’t experience overnight success. Consistent practice is the type of work that pays off. If there is one secret to anyone’s success, it is being consistent in their habits.

You get good at something by doing it, not by collecting more information about it. Every facet of playing guitar can be improved by doing it more consistently. A short list includes basic techniques like bending, learning songs, figuring things out by ear, and improvising solos. Even music theory can be more easily understood if you practice using it. Rather than beginning with a concept or idea, start with exercises you play, then explore the how and why behind them. Do this regularly, and you’ll gradually understand more of the theory.

You don’t have to be smart to play guitar well. You don’t need natural talent. Playing guitar requires skill. While we all build skills at different paces, anyone can learn and improve their guitar skills by doing the work.

Everyone struggles to make time for practice. You don’t need motivation; you need momentum.

Ultimately, guitar practice will boil down to what works for you. Don’t do spider-crawl exercises every day just because an instructor you like convinced you they are essential warm-ups. Your practice material is ever-evolving and should reflect what you can and cannot do. Decide what you’d like to achieve with the time available, and set goals to keep you on track.

If you are doing many things right and making progress, you’ll eventually reach a point where your understanding of things exceeds your ability to play them. That’s why you need to stay on top of your practice and ensure you catch up so that your ability matches your knowledge. You probably know this: work on one thing at a time.

For musicians, knowledge that you can’t use is pointless.

When building and revising your practice routine, remember that the two most important things to getting good at guitar are: 1) knowing your stuff and 2) practicing the living daylights out of it.

Check out Anyone Can Practice Guitar for more ideas on starting a practice routine.

Beginners and intermediates who don’t know what to practice should focus on two main areas. First, learn to play as many songs as you can because every song has something to teach you. Second, solidify your guitar fundamentals.

The song-learning approach is fun. Songs are why most of us picked up the guitar in the first place. They also keep us going because there will always be another song to learn, and there’s no shortage of videos showing the easy or correct way to play a song.

However, there is a downside when all you do is learn to play songs, especially when you rely on guitar tabs and tutorials. You’re dependent on copying and memorizing what someone is showing you. You are focusing on what and where to play. Someone is telling you to “put this finger here and do this.“ It’s a mechanical approach that relies on recalling every move in order. Sooner or later, you’ll run out of memory.

There is limited room for growth because you aren’t learning concepts that can be used in other songs and styles. If you don’t constantly practice the songs you learned this way, you’ll get sloppier and eventually forget how to play them.

Once you’ve got a basic repertoire of songs, it’s time to transfer more of your attention to the fundamentals of guitar.

Instead of sticking to the what and where to play approach, you can start thinking about the how and why reasons for the music being the way it is. When you study and practice fundamentals, you educate yourself in things that are harder to forget because you’ll use them every time you play guitar.

What are the fundamentals?

The fundamentals are not all music theory items you must learn by rote memorization. They are physical things you can and should practice daily. Once you’ve figured out your essential chords, can play in time and can identify notes on the fretboard, it’s time to get serious with your guitar toolbox.

It doesn’t matter whether you want to play metal or country, write original songs or do covers, jam with friends, or play along to a looper. All decent guitar players share a basic level of knowledge. There’s no mystery about what fundamentals you should learn and practice. We’re talking about scales, triads and arpeggios. Together, these tools will help you understand and use the full range of the guitar. There’s no real shortcut to learning them other than starting sooner rather than later.

This may seem like an oversimplification, but I’m breaking it down this way because the easiest way to learn everything is to do it one step at a time.

The good news is it’s not as much stuff as you think. It’s also not as complicated as you think. Everything you need to know to play guitar well fits together nicely if you learn it systematically. The key is to practice the new things as you learn them consistently. It will make learning and playing songs breezier. It will also make it easier to follow and improve through online courses and tutorials.

If I can get one idea across in this newsletter, learning to play songs by copying and memorizing them relies on what and where to play. You can stuck at that stage for a long time. Your way out is to pay more attention to the how and why of playing guitar. Playing music means you want to think like a musician and do what a musician does. Get beneath the surface of things if you can. Learning the fundamentals is work that pays off.

There are many practical ways of learning and improving your fundamentals. They aren’t things you quickly learn and put aside when you know what you’re doing. You’ll use these fundamentals every time you play guitar for the rest of your life.

There are many practical ways of learning and improving your fundamentals. They aren’t things you quickly learn and put aside when you know what you’re doing. You’ll use these fundamentals every time you play guitar for the rest of your life.

I’ll describe how to learn and practice them in the following newsletter.

25 Years and Counting

Guitar Noise has been teaching guitar online since 1999. Next month, the site will be twenty-five years old!

If you haven’t been there in a while, it remains a trusted source of lessons for self-taught guitarists who want to move beyond the beginner plateau. Have another look at www.guitarnoise.com.

They have. In a market driven by content creators who often entertain more than they enlighten the timing couldn’t be better.

Fretboard Biology is a no nonsense, no posturing guitar program for players who are ready to take guitar seriously. Guitar for dummies this is not.

Fretboard Biology is the online equivalent of the pro-level training offered by colleges and music schools. It’s a self-paced, self study course that mirrors the curriculum and progression of courses you’d find at a real guitar institute, without having to move to L.A. or Boston.

The course has been online since 2020 and I’ve spent the past few months putting myself through the paces with it. This is not just some simplified impersonation of a music school curriculum. It’s a realistic alternative to studying full-time somewhere like Berklee or Musicians Institute.

What is Fretboard Biology?

Inside Fretboard Biology you’ll find several volumes of comprehensive material to work through. It’s a rigorous course with a clear focus on serious learning. You don’t get to pick and choose the topics or styles that work for you. You are free to study at your own pace, but it’s a progressive course that requires you to go through it in order.

Fretboard Biology is ideal for the intermediate or advanced students who are seeking to understand the "whys" behind music - and all the things that can transform a good player into a great player.

What will you find inside Fretboard Biology?

Fretboard Biology is divided into eight levels, with each level covering roughly one semester of college. In each level there are 10 units. Each unit approximates one week of classes. The units are further split into modules that cover topics like theory, logic, technique, rhythm and improvisation. Everything is tied together so that the theory, technique, rhythm and improv all align into one purpose.

To get into shape as a complete guitarist, you’ll have to work through different styles of music such as blues, folk, rock, country, reggae, funk, R&B and Latin. Rather than teaching flashy licks or quick fixes that paint over your deficiencies, you’ll be trained to confidently play in all kinds of styles and situations.

Who is your instructor?

Fretboard Biology is taught by Joe Elliot, who wrote the book on how to become a professional guitarist - literally. He’s written books for Hal Leonard and ran the guitar department at McNally Smith College of Music where he wrote the guitar program. Before that Joe taught at Musicians Institute in Hollywood where he had a heavy presence both in the classroom and the development of the school’s curriculum. He later served as Musician Institute’s VP of Education, or dean of guitar. You’d be hard pressed to find someone more specialized in this kind of guitar teaching.

Joe has also enjoyed a long career as a session player and gigging guitarist. He’s currently the guitarist in the David Sanborn Band.

Past credentials aside, working through the course it’s clear Joe fully understands all the material, and has honed his craft on how to teach it in a straightforward and useful manner. His no nonsense style of teaching will keep you on your toes. There’s no time wasted learning flashy licks or trying out shortcuts. Fretboard Biology is all about playing the long-game and learning the guitar fundamentals that every serious guitarist needs to have down.

A Smarter Way for Self Taught Musicians

With Fretboard Biology you are working towards becoming a literate musician. You can always become a flashy guitar player if it suits you, but this course is about making sure you can do the heavy lifting. That means you can always play what is needed, whether it’s in service of the song or pleasing the person who’s paying you to play.

Who is Fretboard Biology for?

It’s probably not for everyone.

This isn’t one of those courses you can try your hand at for a few months and then put on the shelf next to all the other courses you’ve tried. Working through Fretboard Biology is a big project that will take an intermediate level player a couple of years to complete.

Joe’s lessons don’t pull any punches, and the most difficult aspect of the course is probably the sheer volume of material you’ll need to learn and practice. However, everything is laid out in such an organized manner that you’ll gradually see that none of the material is overwhelmingly difficult. It all fits together and makes sense.

Regardless of your level or experience you’ll definitely cover new ground. If you’ve been playing guitar for years this will help consolidate your knowledge. If you’re a newer player, and want to learn methodically, this will give you a great road map to follow.

You may approach guitar as a hobby, but there is little doubt in my mind that if you work through this course you‘ll wind up at the level of an employable musician.

With each passing level you’ll gain more tools that you can use in real life working or playing situations. This isn’t merely academic learning. You are learning to do a lot more than simply “get by” on guitar.

From Joe:

Even though there is college level content, we’ve designed the trajectory and paced the material for the average intermediate player who has some performance experience. It’s also very effective for advanced players and pros who don’t have any formal training, but always feel a little insecure about what they don’t know. We have pro players in the program who like that they can be anonymous and still fill in whatever gaps they have that have haunted them for years.

We also want to remain accessible to a wide audience. I loved my 30 years teaching in the classroom. I taught thousands of guitar players and it was an incredibly rewarding experience. I have so many former students out there tearing it up.

Fretboard Biology’s goal is to make you a self-reliant guitarist. If you put in the work, after only a few levels you’ll be on your way to achieving these goals:

• Demystify the guitar neck

• Develop good technique

• Play meaningful solos

• Play solid rhythm guitar

• Understand music theory

• Know how to practice effectively

Ultimately, you’re getting a music degree worth of knowledge from an affordable online course.

You can become fluent in another language without studying it for years at university. The same is true with music. You can learn everything the pros know without going to college.

Fretboard Biology is $299 a year. There is a 7 day free trial so you can find out if it’s right for you.

https://fretboardbiology.com/

There are no affiliate links in this review.  Check out the archives for past newsletters and reviews.

Motivation alone won’t turn you into a good musician. Doing your homework is by far the most important thing you can do to get better at guitar. You have to put in the effort.

One problem with music is we say things like “play guitar.” As if it’s all fun and easy. The words don’t do it justice. The amount of time and effort that goes into learning an instrument is enormously underestimated.

Plenty of people tell me they can only find 20 minutes a day to practice. While that’s better than nothing, you really need to spend closer to an hour each day practicing. That may sound like a heavy demand on your time, but there are ways to gradually build up to an hour a day.

First, let’s do away with the idea of finding time. You need frame things so that you’re making time. An hour a day is the bare minimum you need to see real change in your abilities. Be prepared to negotiate with others in your life and set some boundaries. You should expect more from yourself too, but a perfect week doesn’t exist. Be kind to yourself when things don’t go according to plan.

60 Minute Workouts

Treat guitar practice like you’re going to the gym. People committed to working out make the necessary sacrifices. They wake up an hour earlier if they need to. They cut down on reading newsletters like this and scrolling through apps until they’ve achieved their daily goal. Every minute spent looking at a screen is a minute spent not working at your goals.

Working out at the gym is like a ritual. Getting there is the hardest part. Once you’re wearing the right clothes and have driven there you’re almost certainly going to exercise. No one walks through the door, says “hi”, then turns around and leaves.

The guitar player version of going to the gym starts with closing your door, tuning your guitar and starting a timer. If you can do that, you’ve done the hard part. Let the timer do it‘s thing. Now it’s a matter of staying on task without getting distracted. Once you’ve started you might as well see it through to the end.

I believe that most people can set aside an hour a day to practice. Over the years I’ve put the guitar down for extended periods more than once, and this is how I get back into guitar shape.

First, I start with a 20 minute practice every day. I make that session as early as possible, preferably before anyone else wakes up. I’ll set an alarm really early if I have to. When that practice session is set in stone and I’m doing it everyday without fail, I’ll add a second practice later in the day. My aim is to wind up with two twenty minute practices every day that are carved in stone.

Practicing at the same time everyday lets family know you want to be left alone. If you have young kids they’ll appreciate you letting them watch TV or play on iPads while you do your thing. They’re less likely to bug you if it’s part of an established routine.

I find that over time the 20 minute practice grows to 30 minutes. I don’t even have to work at that part, the practice expands on its own. Doing this twice a day grows to an hour of practice every day. That hour can stretch even longer too without even noticing.

When you aim to improve by 1% a day you are practicing with a body builder’s mindset. Everyone knows a body builder when they see one. And everyone will recognize a musician when they hear one.

Every journey begins with a single step. Take that step today, and then another one tomorrow. Let’s see how far you can get.

Start the week strong. End the week happy.

Just a quick afterword here. Consider building a solid practice routine before you buy another guitar course. It’s always tempting to get another bag of awesome licks, but you don’t need a really large library of materials. Instead of gathering information you might not get time to use, focus your energy on building unshakable habits. Set yourself up for success by consistently practicing at a level that won’t burn you out. When you feel like you can’t fall off the wagon - buy that course, the one you’re sure is right for you.

As always, I love reading and replying to your comments.

Shout out to everyone who has been in touch since the last newsletter. Let’s keep the conversation going about starting up a new premium guitar course. Your feedback has been fantastic. Please be patient if it takes me a few days to reply.

Finding your way around

The internet community can be a great help when it comes to learning guitar. Everything you need to know has already been shared online. As exciting as this is, the self-taught guitarist will eventually run out of runway. If all you do is learn songs from YouTube or Ultimate Guitar Tabs you’ll have a hard time learning how to fly.

If I had to sum it up, the purpose of this newsletter has been to help the beginner who doesn’t want to be a beginner anymore. Let's recap some of my preferred sites and suggestions for levelling up your guitar playing.

I’ve split this into three parts. Part 1 is my mini-lessons outlining important areas for beginners to work on beyond technique and learning songs. Part 2 lists a few free guitar sites that are good at laying out a path from one level to the next. Part 3 is where I give my top choices for paid online guitar courses.

Part 1 - My Mini Lessons

Don’t start scrolling as soon as you see the words “music theory.” You don’t have to learn tons of theory to be a better player, and most of the theory intermediates need isn’t that complicated. It’s like learning a new language - you can get by on surprisingly few words and expressions.

You’re not alone if you find this part of learning music tedious and want to leave it for later. But this is one of those areas where a lot of guitarists wind up saying “I wish I had learned this stuff earlier.” You can keep messing around on guitar for as long as you like, but it won’t just come together one day by itself. You have to connect the dots. It’s so much easier to be good at something when you know what you’re doing.

Some things you’ll just have to memorize. Most likely you already know your guitar strings from low to high are EADGBE. It’s pretty hard to forget that. With repeated use, some of the theory you learn becomes permanent knowledge like that.

What should you memorize? A big light bulb moment for me was learning the CAGED system. CAGED gets talked about a lot because it’s good basic knowledge to have in common with other players. You have to memorize shapes and patterns, but once you see them you can’t un-see them. It’s useful and lasting knowledge. I wrote about rote learning and CAGED in Why is the CAGED System so important?

One common characteristic of the lifelong beginner is not knowing the notes on the guitar. If you haven’t already learned the fretboard I strongly suggest you make a plan to do that now. If you choose not to learn the notes there are two likely outcomes. The first is you will eventually give up guitar because you aren’t getting results. The other is you will finally realize just how important it is to know the notes and you’ll come back to it. Learning it sooner instead of later will make a lot of what comes next easier.

I shared my strategy for learning the fretboard in What do the dots on a guitar really mean?

Even if you don’t know what keys mean or any of that, you should already get the idea that some chords just sound nice played in a certain order. Rather than randomly trying all the chords you know or looking things up online, you can quickly assume which chords to play using a few simple patterns. I started talking about this in Movable Chord Shapes and elaborated on it more in Quick Patterns for Finding Chords.

A lot of the stuff you want to play isn’t as hard to learn as you might think. There are a handful of chord progressions that cover most popular songs in a variety of genres. There are exceptions of course, but most of the hard work can be gotten out of the way by studying the Must Know Chord Progressions.

These mini-lessons only scratch the surface, but they do offer some reasonable goals for the beginner who wants to make progress.

Free Sites

It’s an exciting time to learn guitar with so many free lessons out there. YouTube has answers for every question you could ever ask. Still, it helps to have a structured approach.

Justin Guitar is bit like an encyclopedia for beginner and intermediate guitarists. Search for anything about guitar - how to hold it, how to use a pick, scale patterns, - and one of Justin’s lessons is going to show up. I’ve found his ear training lessons to be very useful but if you’re looking for step by step lessons, Justin’s site is organized in a way that gradually progresses through different levels for beginners and intermediates alike.

A big problem with a lot of “song tutorials” on YouTube is that they don’t teach skills than are transferable to other songs. Song Notes by David Pots breaks down songs showing how to get the little details just right. This is more helpful than the average how to play a song lesson, because you’ll improve strumming, timing and picking technique in ways that you can use in anything you play.

David Pots is a popular YouTube creator whose videos are freely available. You can support his work through his Patreon page or buy his custom sheet music through Music Notes. David’s website is a good staring point.

Premium Sites

A big part of this newsletter has been reviewing premium guitar sites. There are a lot of great choices out there. Your best bet is to try working with only one at a time.

Active Melody could also be considered a free lesson site. Brian drops a new lesson every week and the first half is always free. The free portion is packed with an incredible amount of information. Unless you need to learn the entire composition note-for-note the free lesson will be a good guide. Signing up to be a Premium Member for $89 a year gets you the complete lesson with added benefits like jam tracks, tabs, an onscreen tab viewer, plus access to all of the lessons on the site. Since reviewing Active Melody a few months ago, Brian has added some new starter courses on theory, the CAGED system and playing lead guitar.

The once a week lesson format sets a manageable pace to level up gradually while simultaneously increasing your knowledge and ability.

Paul Davids’ Next Level Playing is another of my favorite premium courses. It‘s most suited for players who are already at the intermediate level. If you’ve watched Paul Davids on YouTube you know he can be all over the place. But Next Level Playing is a compact course that stays true to its mission, even if the steps you have to take are pretty large ones. Here is my review of Paul Davids’ Next Level Playing.

Tomo Fujita’s Guitar Wisdom has raised its prices since I reviewed it here, but it’s still worth the time and money if you’re ready to dedicate yourself to learning guitar. Guitar Wisdom features linear lessons for beginners who need step by step instruction. Rather than just showing you what to do, Tomo provides explanations for why things should be done a certain way. You can get information anywhere, but this course aims to show you how to use the information. Guitar Wisdom is not about memorizing or copying examples note for note. More than other courses, Guitar Wisdom requires you to use your ears and develop your rhythm feeling.

If you’re wondering, the answer is yes - this could take years. Guitar Wisdom is training you to be a real musician.

I should mention that none of these reviews contain affiliate links. These are my personal recommendations for premium guitar courses on the market today.

Many of you already know that I’m planning to make a new premium course for self-taught guitarists. You can read about how that’s going over here.

Please feel free to get in touch if you have ideas, suggestions, questions or simply want to talk about guitar with me.

I’ve been teaching guitar online since 1999, and never seriously considered creating my own premium course. Until now, that is.

While there are many excellent courses you can buy online (see the archives for examples), I feel there is room for a few more. I still haven’t found a course that makes me say “I wish they had this when I was at that level.”

A common conversation I have with readers is about how they’ve been stuck at the same level for a long time. For whatever reason they struggle to get past their plateau. The range of topics online provides endless choices but not much guidance. If only there were someone who understood their predicament and could spell out exactly what to learn and in what order. I’d like to make a guitar course that does just that.

The course I have in mind is called “From Beginner to Intermediate.” It would be a comprehensive course that takes people who’ve played guitar for a while but not progressed very far from Point A to Point B.

It doesn’t require a ton of knowledge. You shouldn’t need to take lessons for the rest of your life. You just need to master the right things and go about it in the right order. I think a lot of students need a map to follow, with step by step directions showing them where to focus their time and energy. It needs to be comprehensive and practical, but not overly complicated. There aren’t any shortcuts that make learning quick and easy, but you can shorten the learning curve.

I’ve given it a lot of thought and have a pretty good outline prepared. But for now I want to turn things over to you. What do you want to learn? What is hardest part about playing guitar for you? What do you think a good guitar course should include? What features would you like to see (progress tracker, app, forums… ?)

Any feedback you can share by email or in the comments below will help me narrow my focus.

My Philosophy on teaching and learning guitar

Online guitar lessons should do more than entertain us. People spend money on lessons to gain lasting skills and knowledge. Too often self-taught guitarists fumble around with concepts only to switch to something entirely new when things get difficult.

My teaching approach looks like this:

1. Don’t make simple ideas complicated

2. Only use theory and memorization when there is a real purpose

3. Stick to approaches that lead to musical development

4. Challenge students to work on things they aren’t good at

5. Confidence comes from knowing/understanding what you’re doing

6. Caring mentors and a supporting environment are important

7. Every student is an individual

8. A teacher who draws attention to themselves is drawing it away from the students

9. Passion for the subject is infectious

10. Don’t promise to be fast, fun or easy

What the lessons would look like:

1. Step by step format

2. High quality writing with clear explanations

3. Concise presentation, the writing is mixed with practical examples

4. Contains clear charts and diagrams

5. Tabs and sheet music

6. Play through videos

7. Downloadable PDF workbooks and exercises

8. Downloadable MP3 jam tracks

A certain amount of growth is required to complete each step. The time it takes to complete the course would be different for each student.

My aim is to make sure:

1. Concepts are taught in a strategic and systematic way

2. Goals are ordered step by step, taking you from A to B

3. It’s a guided approach that levels up skills and knowledge

4. Students move at their own pace

5. Students follow the lessons in order instead of jumping around or skipping sections

If all of this sounds ambitious I agree with you. I don’t expect to do all this work by myself. In fact, I’m already searching for musicians and teachers to team up with. It’s not easy to find the right people with a background in education, music and writing. So I’d like to put out a general call here. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in making guitar courses for a living we should talk.

There is still a lot of work ahead. As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read the newsletter all the way to the end.

Leave a comment

There is good news for beginners.

If you don’t know how to dance you can learn. If you can’t sing you can be taught. Most things in life can be learned if you just start at the beginning and stick with it.

It’s like this with guitar too. Anyone can learn guitar. But there are some real challenges that everyone will have to face at the start.

Today we’ll address a topic that frustrates a lot of beginner guitar players: rhythm. No one just picks up the guitar and starts playing. Rhythm has to be learned and you have to practice rhythm by doing lots of drills and exercises. Being able to keep time on guitar is an absolute must. Anyone who skips nailing down good rhythm is going to have to come back and learn it someday. It’s unavoidable.

It’s a bit like dancing. Very few people are born with moves like Jagger, but with regular practice it is a learn-able skill.

Rhythm training requires a lot of patience and a willingness to see the process through. Good timing rarely comes about by itself. Since growth occurs at a different pace for everyone how do we avoid getting distracted and trying something else? What rhythm lessons are likely to bring the best results?

Very rarely will you find a one size fits all solution for guitar lessons. This week I want to share a course that I believe will help most players from beginners to pro-level players. Whether you are new to guitar, or have played for a while and occasionally struggle with timing, this is a course that covers just about everything you need to know about rhythm.

Signals Rhythm Guitar Course is produced by Jake Lizzio of Signals Music Studio. It’s a premium guitar course for sale based on the “honor system.” Rather than setting a price you are free to “pay what you want” and you won’t even get nagged to make a donation. So while you could technically get it for free, this is an invaluable course that is easily worth hundreds of dollars.

This is not a crash course or a boot camp for strumming. Signals Rhythm Course covers everything a professional musician needs to know about rhythm, timing, vocalization, metric structure and more. It consists of 52 videos and more than 40 PDFs of information, instruction and exercises. It is well worth the price of a college course, or many months of in-person lessons with a private instructor.

Jake clearly put his heart and soul into the course and doesn’t cut any corners:

I personally think that one of the biggest differences between the amateur musician and the and the professional is mastering rhythm. If you have mastered rhythm then everything is easier. Playing live is easier, writing interesting music is easier, playing in the studio is easier. - Jake Lizzio

Signals Rhythm Course is suitable for players of any level, from beginner to advanced. The course starts with simple drills and moves to more difficult rhythms without making any giant leaps. As a self study course you set your own pace and mark levels as complete when you are comfortable with more difficult exercises. Even accomplished players are going to find exercises that help fine tune their abilities.

This is a giant course that goes over everything you could possibly want to know about keeping good time and playing good rhythm guitar. Topics covered include:

• strumming

• counting

• reading

• writing

• foot tapping

• technique

• theory

If you’re a beginner and don’t have much rhythm, this is the course you want. If you’re past the beginner stages but are feeling stuck with a handful of go-to strumming patterns this is also for you. Many of these exercises are useful for skilled musicians as well. I found the explanations to be laid out in a clear manner that clarified my understanding of how rhythm works.

Jake’s drills and exercises will prove especially useful for guitar teachers. If you’ve ever tried to help someone who fumbles around trying to develop their rhythm these drills and exercises are some of the most effective I’ve seen.

Signals Rhythm Training is a comprehensive course on an essential topic that will be an eye opener to anyone who has spent years trying to teach themself guitar. Jake Lizzio’s course has the cure for your rhythm blues.

This is a valuable course and I highly recommend it. So what should you pay for a course that lets you choose a price?

I’d suggest paying at least $30. Given the scope and depth of the course that’s probably still underpaying. The teaching and the materials are both excellent. You may also want to set aside a little money for other courses Jake has made. Jake’s recent course on Music Theory and Songwriting sells for $270. If you spend months, or even years, mastering everything in the Signals Rhythm Guitar Course you may be interested in paying serious money for whatever Jake Lizzio comes up with next.

Check out the course and let me know what you think.

Share

A strange and surprising thing people tell me sometimes is that they’ve been a beginner guitar player for over 20 years. I have to wonder if they’re being too hard on themselves or do they really play like a noob.

In truth, they may not be beginners at all. If they’ve been around guitars that long they probably know a lot more than they realize. They don’t need more answers. They need encouragement.

My hunch is that most readers of this newsletter span the divide between beginner and intermediate. Some of you may consider yourselves life-long beginners. Perhaps you’re looking for some insight or push that steers you in the right direction. I hope I’ve got that right. Let me know in the comments or an email afterwards if I’m way off.

I remember an old forum post where someone said “If you wonder whether you’re a beginner or not, then you’re not. Beginners know it.” The intermediate level is where the real learning begins.

So where does beginner end and intermediate begin?

Can you play songs all the way through without stopping or messing up the rhythm? Can you do a steady Down Down-Up Up-Down-Up strumming pattern and change chords smoothly? How about over a chord progression like G-D-Em-C? When you’re learning a new song do you pick it up quicker than when you were first starting out?

If it’s a yes to all of these you can relax. You’re far enough along to stop calling yourself a beginner. Your time on guitar so far has been well spent.

There is a lot of overlap between beginner and intermediate and separating the two is pretty subjective. I feel like we need a list of what exactly an intermediate should know.

The Intermediate Guitarist Checklist

Using a scoring system to rate ourselves and others is a terrible idea. I don’t want to make a bullet list of what makes someone an intermediate.

Fortunately, Nate Savage has put together an excellent checklist of 16 things you probably need to know to fit the intermediate label. It’s far from being a discouraging scoring system. In fact, after watching the video you have to check out some of the comments below it. It’s awesome to see that many people say they feel good about their playing after watching this video.

Nate’s list (also summarized here) makes a good to-do list if you’re not quite there yet. If you can’t do some of the things on the list the only way is up, and that should still feel pretty good.

How to become an intermediate

Most of your growth comes down to practice. There is no set amount of hours that will get you to the next level. It’s how you practice and what you practice.

Brian from Active Melody recently sent this out in an email and it really resonates:

“Always have a goal in mind when you start your "practice" time. If you're learning a scale, you should know WHY you're doing it.  Never practice something, "just because", you need to know how it relates. Oh, and and if you aren't learning something new, you're just in "maintenance mode". Learning something new feels like work and may not be as fun, but is extremely important.”

People judge themselves harshly. Someone else might be a better judge of your progress. If you have a phone it’s easy to record yourself playing. You can get feedback by sharing it anonymously online. If you don’t want to show anyone, simply watching yourself play is good for spotting areas that need work. Don’t rule out finding a teacher. Even an online instructor once a month can point out some small changes that could lead to big improvements.

Your talent is less important than your time. If you are willing to put in work, even just 20 minutes a day, you will see improvement. Progress may appear slow, but looking back on where you were months ago is when you notice improvements. If you’ve been writing down goals in a notebook don’t tear out the pages. Being able to point to things you’ve scratched out is a good feeling.

In recent weeks I’ve written some lessons that are aimed at helping beginners level up.

1. What do the dots on a guitar really mean? is about learning the fretboard.

2. The Greatest Story Ever Told is One Four Five explains three chord songs and one of the most common chord progressions,

3. Movable Chord Shapes shows you how to find chords quickly without relying on tabs or sheet music.

4. Quick Patterns for Finding Chords explains how to find even more of the chords you’ll need to play most songs.

5. Must Know Chord Progressions goes over the most common chord progressions you’re likely to encounter.

These lessons form one of many possible blueprints to move from a beginner to intermediate level.

Recently I’ve been working through several premium guitar courses people have asked me about. There is one in particular that I think will help beginners level up. I plan to write a full review in the next newsletter.

See you then.

There are literally thousands of possible chord progressions. Luckily for us, most styles and moods of music can be played using only a handful of them. When you learn the most common progressions by heart you’ll start to recognize that writing songs or playing along to something is a reasonably straightforward affair.

You can easily find charts of the most common chord progressions in every key. While it might be tempting to print one of these charts for your binder, try to keep in mind that music isn’t a visual thing. Breaking your attachment to printed material helps develop your ears. With regular practice over time you’ll start to change chords more intuitively, simply knowing what comes next.

Some progressions are tried and tested because they come up again and again. The songs you know and love are the ones you’ll want to play. Take the time to work on the progressions that matter most to you. Also, as you’re listening to music, try to match songs to these common chord progressions.

The Must Know Chord Progressions

There’s a good chance that most songs you know use one of these progressions. There are exceptions, but knowing these progressions by heart will unlock millions of possibilities to play around with.

The I - IV - V Chord Progression

The I - IV - V is also called the 12 bar blues, but you can also think of it as a three chord song. It’s short and to the point. It works really well with call and response type songs (eg. “I woke up this morning…”). But it doesn’t have to be a blues song. The I - IV - V frequently shows up in songs with lots of energy, whether they are blues, country, pop, rock or punk.

Using only two chord shapes you can play the I-IV-V in any key. I explained how to do this in Movable Chord Shapes.

Some examples of the I - IV - V include

• In the key of G: (G, C, D): Bad Moon Rising, Blowin in the Wind, Brown Girl, Night Moves

• In the key of A: (A, D, E): Johnny B. Goode, Lay Down Sally, Gloria, Whole Lotta Love

Search for three chord songs and you’ll never run out of things to play.

I V vi IV - The Pop Song Progression

For better or worse, this is probably the most common progression used today. It has its own wikipedia entry and has gained a lot of notoriety thanks to a video by Axis of Awesome. This is a progression that can be played on an endless loop. In fact, many pop songs use this progression for the entire song.

The I V vi  IV is a popular progression for songs that tell a story (eg. “Just a small town girl, livin’ in a lonely world…”)

“Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey and “Someone Like You” by Adele use this progression. Both songs consist of C, G, Am and F.

The order of chords can be moved around to create a different feel. When arranged as vi–IV–I–V you get songs as diverse as “Zombie” by the Cranberries, “Apologize” by OneRepublic, “Numb” by Linkin Park, “Africa” by Toto, “Cheap Thrills” by Sia and Joan Osborne’s “One of Us.” An oldie but goodie with this progression is "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)” by Scott McKenzie. Try playing Em - C - G - D on acoustic with a folky strum pattern and you’ll recognize it right away. It sounds especially good if you have a 12 string guitar.

I vi IV V - The 50s Chord Progression

The I - vi - IV - V is often referred to as the 50s chord progression. I associate it with “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King, which I think is the greatest song of all time. The chords are A F#m D and E.

The Wikipedia entry on the 50s chord progression includes a long list of songs that use it.

ii V I - Jazz Chord Progression

Going from the ii to the V and then the I is commonly referred to as the Jazz Progression. Many jazz standards use the ii-V-I to modulate through several keys. It isn’t limited to jazz though, and shows up in other genres.

On it’s own the ii-V-I has a satisfying sound that could build an entire song. Quite often it’s used as a turnaround or to transition to a new key. Check out the Beatles song “From Me to You.” During the middle-eight the song changes key using a ii-V-I chord progression only to change back to the original key using the ii-V-I again almost right away. If you listen to a lot of Beatles you’ve probably heard the ii-V-I without even realizing it.

All these chord progressions are worth knowing by heart. You don’t have to learn them all at once. Being mindful of chord progressions as you play should be part of your practice time. Over time you’ll start to hear where a song is going by feel without needing to look at a chord chart.

There are still more progressions to learn after this. For now, try getting to know each of these progressions in the most popular keys, which are: C, G, D, A and E. Using movable chord shapes and quick patterns for finding chords will help you identify the chords in each key quickly.

I won’t dive any deeper into chord progressions for now. Explaining something too much can make it seem more complicated than it is. If you would like a more detailed lesson on chord progressions I recommend starting with Exploring Common Chord Progressions from the Musical U website.

Have a great week.

Beginners spend a lot of time trying to learn bits of songs they like, and so they should. Getting familiar sounds out of the guitar is what the beginner is working for. But you can’t stay a beginner forever. Music is supposed to be fun and to keep the fun going you need to keep on growing.

Once you have a few riffs and recognizable bits of songs in your repertoire what should you work on next?

Most of your development as a musician comes from woodshedding. This is the hard work you put in on your own. A lot of guitar sites will try to entice you with the lure of being easy or fun, but that’s misleading. Struggling through the early stages of guitar is hardly fun or easy. How is it fun when you can’t do what you want to do? If only someone would spell out exactly what you need to learn and in what order. You could practice guitar comfortably knowing that you aren’t just wasting your time.

To move past the beginner stages there are a few things you should be able to do well. Have you learned most of the notes on the fretboard or at least know how to find them quickly? Do you know the most common chord progression used in countless three-chord songs? Can you change between the I, IV and V chords using movable shapes?

If you answered “yes,” or “sort of,” to these questions, a good next step is to get comfortable with the most common chord progressions. There may be millions of songs out there, but you really only need to know a handful of patterns to play most of them. Working on these progressions until you can run through them in any key will level up your understanding of guitar and your ability to pick up new songs.

I would like to share some of the most common and useful chord progressions, but first there is a bit more prerequisite knowledge regarding chords. In Movable Chord Shapes I went over two helpful patterns for finding the IV and V chords in any key. With those patterns we can play almost any three chord song. However, a lot of music uses more than three chords. To get comfortable playing almost any song we need to know a few more patterns. These new patterns will help us quickly locate the ii chord and the vi chord in any key. Once you put all the patterns together you’ll be ready for almost any chord progression that comes your way.

Quick Method for Finding the ii and vi chord

Most guitarists, even struggling ones, can name the notes on the 5th and 6th strings. It’s essential to know those notes when playing barre chords. Barre chords, for all the pain they sometimes cause, are pretty simple. There are only 4 shapes to know for all the major and minor chords.

There’s the E shape that is used for major chords with a root note on the sixth string. There is also the E minor shape for minor chords.

Chords with their root note on the fifth string can be played with the A shape and the A minor shape. With these four shapes you can play any major or minor chord.

If you studied Movable Chord Shapes you can already cycle through a I - IV - V chord progression. By learning four more patterns you’ll know how to quickly get to the ii chord and vi chord. That is going to cover most of the common chord progressions we will encounter.

Here are the patterns for getting the ii chord:

Any time you are playing an E shape barre chord, simply move up two frets and use the Em shape. This is the ii chord. For example, G major then up two frets is Am.

Any time you are playing an A shape barre chord, move up two frets and play the Am shape. For example, D to Em.

Committing these patterns to memory will help you quickly find and play the ii chord. Even if you’re supposed to be playing a song with open chords, you can quickly run through this barre chord pattern to work out the ii chord. Figuring out what chord to play next is a lot less intuitive with open chords, and this pattern will work for any chord or key.

Next, there are two patterns for finding the vi chord:

Any time you are playing an E shape barre chord, move down three frets and use the Em shape. This will give you the vi chord. For example, from A major back three frets is F#m.

Any time you are playing an A shape barre chord, move down three frets and play the Am shape. For example, D to Bm.

These patterns always work, regardless of the chord. Memorize the patterns so you can easily move to the ii or vi chord without having to work it out in your head first. 

With the patterns we’ve looked at so far you can play nearly every popular chord progression. In the next newsletter I’ll lay out what I think are the most essential chord progressions. Putting it all together isn’t hard, and it amounts to a pretty big step for a novice musician who wants to level up. You’ll find it easier to write your own music or jam on songs with just a handful of chords.

Peace and love.

Hey everyone,

I had a regular newsletter planned for this week. But writing honestly requires a certain mood, and to be honest, there’s too much going on right now to be in the right frame of mind. If I don’t enjoy writing a newsletter, I doubt you’ll enjoy reading it.

Without a doubt, it’s been a rough couple of years for most people. This week feels like another low point. I’m hopeful that things will improve soon for our friends all around the world.

Still, I want to give you a little something. So I’ve put together a “mix-tape” for you. This is a playlist of the rock songs that more or less got me interested in guitar.

Back when I was in high school I ordered a Time-Life Music compilation from TV called “Guitar Rock”. Most of these songs are older than I am but I still love hearing them. I’m sure you’ll recognize most, if not all, of the artists and songs. For me there’s still something fun about listening to these songs in this order.

For the record, I like listening to albums, but when you’re listening to songs that are 50 years old a compilation of different artists can be just as good, and these songs are fun to hear on shuffle.

The songs on the original Guitar Rock tapes are listed below, and you can listen to them on my Apple Music playlist.

Before someone asks, “why no Spotify?” it’s because I’m not a Spotify user. There’s no big political stance here, I just don’t like it. Admittedly, I’m a little bothered that Spotify pays artists and songwriters diddly squat while spending millions of dollars on podcasts.

Personally, I don’t listen to podcasts. I listen to music at every possible opportunity. If I’m in a car on the DJ on the radio keeps blabbing I switch stations. I love music and want more of it. I don’t care if it’s light or heavy, clean or dirty, punk or pop - give me more music, please.

Mix tapes and playlists can always be improved upon. Feel free to tell me which artists and songs you’d add to this list. Someone always comes up with something good that I’d forgotten about.

Guitar rock is so much fun. I still smile when I hear these songs. Memories of being in high school, waiting for summer to start and wanting to get my first guitar come rushing back.

Enjoy the playlist.

Guitar Rock playlist

1. Purple Haze - The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)

2. Feel Like Makin' Love - Bad Company (1975)

3. Bang A Gong (Get It On) - T. Rex (1971)

4. You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet - Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1974)

5. All The Young Dudes - Mott The Hoople (1972)

6. You Really Got Me - The Kinks (1964)

7. The Bitch Is Back - Elton John (1975)

8. China Grove - The Doobie Brothers (1973)

9. We're An American Band - Grand Funk Railroad (1973)

10. I Shot The Sheriff - Eric Clapton (1974)

11. Hot Blooded - Foreigner (1978)

12. Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo - Rick Derringer (1973)

13. Maggie May - Rod Stewart (1971)

14. Mississippi Queen - Mountain (1970)

15. Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973)

16. I Fought The Law - The Bobby Fuller Four (1966)

17. Ramblin' Man - The Allman Brothers Band (1973)

18. Show Me The Way - Peter Frampton (1976)

19. Layla - Derek & The Dominos (1970)

20. I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band) - The Moody Blues (1972)

21. (I Know) I'm Losing You - Rod Stewart (1971)

22. Smoke On The Water - Deep Purple (1972)

23. After Midnight - Eric Clapton (1970)

24. Radar Love - Golden Earring (1973)

25. Smokin' In The Boys Room - Brownsville Station (1973)

26. I’m Eighteen - Alice Cooper (1971)

27. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window - Joe Cocker (1969)

28. Love The One You're With - Stephen Stills (1970)

29. Whipping Post - The Allman Brothers Band (1969)

30. American Woman - The Guess Who (1970)

31. Sunshine Of Your Love - Cream (1967)

32. On The Road Again - Canned Heat (1968)

33. All Right Now - Free (1970)

34. Heart Full Of Soul - The Yardbirds (1965)

35. Takin' Care Of Business - Bachman-Turner Overdrive (1973)

36. Rocky Mountain Way - Joe Walsh (1973)

37. Funk #49 - The James Gang (1970)

38. Free Bird - Lynyrd Skynyrd (1973)

Once again, here’s a link to the Apple Music Playlist.

Peace

Music is patterns. Those patterns move us and sometimes even surprise us. We enjoy music in part because of the patterns, whether they are familiar to us or not.

For music learners those “a-ha” moments happen when we start to recognize a pattern. Working out how music works can sometimes feel like math class. You struggle with a series of problems until suddenly you see something that was there all along. You’ve discerned a pattern and can exclaim: “Now I know what to do!”

I still remember the excitement of someone showing me barre chords for the first time. It was actually the person showing me the chords who was really excited. “You can play anything! Anywhere!” He could barely contain his excitement. Although he showed me how to play barre chords he left out the part on how to put them all together.

Nearly everyone starts out with open position guitar chords. They are easier to play and they sound nice. But without a capo they can’t be moved around the neck very easily. To get a well rounded sound on guitar you have to move beyond just playing basic open chords.

Barre chords aren’t difficult to work with once you get past their technical challenges. There are just a few shapes and they can be reused all over the neck. The fact that they don’t use any open strings is what allows you to “play in any key.”

While it’s easy to see barre chords as fixed shapes, I suggest thinking of them as movable shapes. Music requires movement and you’re not always going to be staying on a single chord. Moving around is where you will create and return to familiar musical patterns.

The M Word

Once again I have to use the M word. Not movable, the other one: memorize.

I talked about the importance of memorization in Why is the CAGED System so Important. Some aspects of learning an instrument need to be memorized. It can seem boring or difficult, but the sooner you commit things to memory the sooner they become part of your playing. Weeks from now you won’t regret the time spent remembering something. You’ll be too busy using it to go even further.

There are only two major chord barre shapes you need to know. Probably you know them already. They are the E Shape and the A Shape.

Our last last newsletter talked about three chord songs and the I - IV - V chord progression. Using just the E shape and A shape barre chords, we can play the I - IV - V anywhere our hands can reach. There are two patterns that allow us to play the progression in two different ways.

This is how you do it.

Pattern 1

In my example we start with an E Shape barre chord at the third fret. It’s a G chord. It doesn’t matter which chord you start with. Just remember that the E shape chord is formed on the 6th string. After playing this chord move down to the 5th string. Your next chord uses the A shape at the third fret. Then move two frets higher up the neck and play another A shape there.

Start off by strumming each chord once. These three chords are G, C and D. You are playing the I - IV - V with barre chords. You can actually play the E shape barre chord at any fret. If you follow it with the two A shape barre chords in the order shown it will always be a I - IV - V pattern. This is worth remembering because it will always come in handy.

If you’re comfortable with single strums, try playing some more complex rhythm patterns.

Pattern 2

This is another pattern for playing the I - IV - V with major chords.

Play an A shape barre chord at any fret. Move two frets down (towards the headstock) and play an E Shape on the 6 string. Move back up two frets and play the E shape there too. You should be directly above the A shape you started on. This method of playing the I - IV - V chords can also be done anywhere on the neck. My example uses D - G - A. I picked these chords because the middle of the neck is a good area to practice barre chords.

When using either of these patterns you don’t even need to know what chord you are playing. As long as you move in the pattern shown you will be playing a I - IV - V progression.

I won’t cover minor chords in this lesson. But if you know the two minor barre chord shapes you can follow the same pattern with them. It also works with 7th chords and whatever chord types you want to use.

For practice, try working through both patterns in the most common major keys: C, G, D, A and E. That means start with a C barre chord. Can you work out what the IV and V chords are?

If you’re a novice at barre chords, I recommend reading this lesson on Barre Chords at Applied Guitar Theory. You’ll find tips for playing all barre chords and learn the shapes I haven’t covered, including minor, major 7th, dominant seventh and minor seventh.

Happy practicing.

Six strings,
three chords,
big dreams.

“This Thing Called Life,” Richard Ashcroft

Most of us guitarists picked up the guitar because we wanted to play songs. Some of us heard that we only needed “three chords and the truth” and heeded the call. It sounded so simple. Learn a few chords and you can play thousands of songs. If it was only as simple as that. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, no big deal there.

Regrettably, the person who tells you that learning guitar isn’t difficult usually disappears before explaining why it’s so easy. So, let’s elaborate on one of the easier aspects of learning guitar - the three chord song.

Playing popular music means reusing a lot of the same chords. A lot of classic songs have simple chord progressions. Being catchy and familiar is what makes them stand out. One of the most common chord progressions is the “One Four Five.” In Roman Numerals it’s spelled:  I - IV - V.

Understanding chord progressions helps you learn more songs, figure out songs by yourself, write your own songs and play well with other musicians.

Good stories need a beginning, a middle and an end. The I - IV - V tells a great musical story. There are other chord progressions we probably hear more often, but really knowing the I - IV - V is important for a lot of practical reasons.

Give Me One Reason

The I - IV - V is also known as the 12 bar blues, although it’s not exclusively used in blues. You can also hear it in pop, folk, country, rock, punk and more.  “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman is a great example of what the I - IV - V sounds like. It’s one of those songs you can sing along to the first time you hear it. The chord progression is so distinct, even someone with no musical background knows exactly when the singing is about to start.

Tons of classic songs use the I - IV - V progression, including “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Ring of Fire” and “Johnny B. Goode” to name a few. As you get to know the progression it becomes easier to hear it in the music you’re listening to. This is an important step in training your ear to recognize patterns in music.

Figure out songs quickly

If you want to play songs by ear you should learn the basic three chord progression as soon as possible. Figuring out which chord to use next is a basic choice when a song only has three chords.

Here’s the I - IV - V progression in a few popular keys:

Quite often a three chord song will begin and end on the same chord - that’s the I chord. It’s a good indicator of the song’s key. The beginning and the end of a three chord song should feel like home. It’s a stable place that should feel comfortable returning to.

The IV chord creates a definite movement away from home. It’s a pleasant shift and we could easily stay on this second chord. Songs that fade out often fade out over the IV chord, rather than having a big ending.

The V chord is where the musical story picks up a lot of tension. If our progression is telling a story, this is the climax, the most tense and unsettling part of the story. Our song has to get out of this place and return to the comfort of the I chord.

The Origins of I - IV - V

No one really knows exactly where the I - IV - V comes from. But contemporary music owes a lot to the country and delta blues music of the early twentieth century. Artists like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters pioneered a guitar style that influenced much of the music of the twentieth century - from Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley to the Beatles and Led Zeppelin, all the way up through today’s hard rock and metal bands.

But where did the original blues artists come up with their chord changes? Early blues music reflected the enduring struggles of the American South after emancipation. Blues was a secular foil to gospel music. It had a more immediate connection to everyday life than the spiritual gospel music. Materially the topics differed, but the music was very similar. Gospel typically features a shift from the V chord to the I chord. Lines end with an “Amen” where the “A” is sung over the V and the “men” arrives on the I chord.  It was a powerful chord change that would have been as familiar to listeners then as “Baby Shark” is to us.

The Fade Out

Three chord songs are less likely to have fade outs. Bob Dylan’s 60s folk music is generally based on blues and simple ballads. His frequent use of I - IV - V is as insistent on cold endings as anything AC/DC ever did. You’re never left guessing about when a song is going to end.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking a 12 bar blues is only for the blues. Try playing I - IV - V chord progressions in any style that suits you. With repeated use you’ll start to feel the chord changes. Also keep your ears open. Try to recognize it in songs you hear in passing. To be fair, most songs you hear today will probably have four chords in the progression. But three out of four ain’t bad.

Guitar Noises

What Should You Play in a Guitar Store

Every guitar store should have a sign along the lines of “Everyone welcome, come in, sit down and play.” Trying out a guitar you don’t own shouldn’t be a reserved activity for people who shred like Steve Vai. In fact, since most people can’t shred like Steve Vai, we should expect to hear wildly different…

Read more

5 years ago · 23 likes · 2 comments · Paul Hackett

Another unsettled point for me is: what do the dots on a guitar mean? I’m not confused by their usefulness, but the reasoning behind their positions mystifies me. There are no accidents, right? Everything should mean something.

Most acoustic and electric guitars have fretboard markers at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 12th frets. This pattern repeats beyond the 12th fret: 15, 17, and 19 are just 3, 5, and 7 respectively. These markers are helpful for finding your way around the fretboard, but it’s confusing because there’s an apparent pattern at work, which mysteriously ends after the 9th fret. The 12th fret is probably the most significant fret on the neck and merits a special double dot. But why put a marker on the 9th fret and not the tenth or eleventh fret?

Position Markers

Fretboard markers go by a few different names. A lot of people call them inlays. To me that makes them sound like decorative accoutrements. There is more to this than aesthetics and stylistic conventions. I think of them as position markers. A Position Marker is like a point on a map that helps us navigate and find our way. For beginners, the markers are indispensable.

If you’re a beginner, or intermediate for that matter, and haven’t memorized the fretboard yet, I strongly urge you to get to work on that today. The position markers are a great tool for quickly learning the notes up and down the neck.

It’s hard to memorize the entire fretboard when you start with an open string and count up note by note. The process is quicker if you memorize the notes at the fifth fret. Before cheap clip-on tuners most guitarists used the fifth fret to tune their guitars. The note at the fifth fret of the E string is A. The 5th fret of the A string is D. You follow this pattern making an adjustment for the G and B strings and you can quickly commit to memory all the notes at the fifth fret.

Similarly, you can tune your guitar using the seventh fret, making it the next logical area to memorize. Play the 7th fret of the A string. It’s an E, the same note as the open string right above it. The seventh fret of the D string is an A, just like the string above. Knowing that your guitar is tuned EADGBE makes learning the notes at these two frets a more productive starting point than counting up however many frets it takes to work out a note.

What is significant about the marked frets?

It turns out that there is something significant about each of the frets with markers. There’s no dot at the first fret, otherwise you’d expect to see one at the 13th fret too, and that would be out of place next to the double dotted 12th fret.

So we start with the third fret, which happens to be the minor third of the open string you’re playing. On the E string the third fret is G.

The next marker is at the fifth fret, which is a perfect 4th from the open string. It’s generally the fret we use to tune by ear. But it’s also a good fret to know all the notes on for quickly figuring out what chord comes next in a chord progression. If your friend starts jamming on a I - IV - V chord progression, you can quickly check the note at the fifth fret and that will be the IV you need to play next.

The same happens at the 7th fret. The note at the 7th fret will be the root of your V chord. Knowing all of the notes at the 7th fret can be super handy for tuning as well. It’s a perfect fifth of the open string which is pretty significant interval and useful to know.

So far we have:

• Open string - I

• Fifth fret - IV

• Seventh fret - V

So, what does the 9th fret add to this? The note at the 9th fret will indicate the relative minor (minor sixth) of the open string. This is useful if you’re into pop chord progressions like I - V - vi - IV. 

Do the chords D - A - Bm - G sound good together? Yes, they do.

If you know a song with these chords and the singer says change it G how do you quickly figure out the what that third chord should be? Grab the note at the 9th fret of the G string and voilà, transposed to: G - D - Em - C. It sounds like “Let It Be” but it could just as easily be “No Woman, No Cry.”

Harmonics

A quick word on harmonics. The ninth fret is really good for harmonics - it produces the same notes as those played at the fourth fret: G# C# F# B D# G#.  Harmonics can be produced easily at the 5, 7 and 12 fret. Maybe the fret markers are also saying you can play harmonics here.

How to use the position markers?

It’s okay to occasionally look at the neck while practicing guitar. But that’s not how we perform music. As you get your bearings you should avoid leaning over your guitar to check the markers. (There are small dots on the side of the fretboard anyway.) It’s a good idea to get in the habit of doing a portion of your practice standing up. This will help you spend less time looking at the fretboard.

It’s worth noting that classical guitars don’t have position markers, although they may have the small dots on the side of the fretboard. Watch a classical guitarist perform. They are always looking at their fingers while they play (unless they were conservatory trained!). In most other styles of music it’s bad form to always be looking at the instrument. You’re either looking at the audience you’re entertaining or the other musicians on stage for subtle musical cues.

To be extra confusing, some guitars have a position marker at the 10th fret instead of the 9th. These are typically Gypsy Jazz guitars. The reason for the change seems to be the guitars were based on mandolins, which have a fret marker at the 10th fret. It’s a helpful alteration for gypsy jazz players as a lot songs in the genre have D, G and C bass notes. (Those are the 3 lowest strings at the tenth fret.)

My main problem with fret markers is that there are too many explanations for them. Like a lot of things related to guitar there are too many possibilities. The guitar has been around for a few hundred years. But our “rules” for tuning and sense of what sounds “good” has been around for thousands of years. No doubt some important stuff has been lost along the way.

I haven’t overcome my confusion about the dots by writing this. Overthinking it has just made it so deep it’s meaningless.

No one is perfect all the time. Tiny daily actions, or inactions, add up over time. Setting small but realistic goals is the key to making progress as a guitarist. The more specific your goal the greater your chances of achieving it.

By sticking to your goals you will eventually arrive at your destination, even if it means sometimes arriving late. That’s okay though, you wouldn’t jump out of an airplane just because it was late.

If you can take the good with the bad, and accept there’s an up for every down, you’re in good shape for reaching your goals at any time of year.

Do Things in Threes

I like doing things in threes. A beginning, middle and an end is a pretty good formula for anything. When trying to choose some guitar goals here are three things that will help.

1. Set a routine.

2. Write things down.

3. Keep the guitar out.

Keeping a guitar in its case is like keeping the good dishes in a china cabinet. If your guitar is always on a well-located stand it’s almost certain you will pick it up and play more often. Start treating your guitar like it’s your coffee mug or your favorite bowl for cereal. If you store it away like a precious heirloom you might be better off with a framed picture of a guitar instead.

Get into the habit of writing down the things you want to do today. Having it in writing increases your chances of actually doing it. Use a small notebook to create a daily list of no more than 5 things you want to do on guitar today. Anything more than 5 is too many. If you’re new to this just put three things on the list. That’s your beginning, middle and end. If you have more ideas and goals than that, use a separate page to draw ideas from on other days.

As you work through things day after day, the list should start to look like a practice routine. Begin your list with a warm up. Put the hard stuff in the middle. That’s the stuff you’ll only see progress on over time. Towards the end is where you review things you already know. You can play stuff from your repertoire and start to drift out of serious practice and into the fun zone of just playing for kicks. Your practice is winding down, but your day’s goals are achieved.

A lot of what you work on will be up to you. But I’ll suggest a couple of warm up routines to get you started.

I’ve written about the importance of warming up. It prepares you physically and mentally for what comes next. I’d recommend finding exercises you can do every day. You don’t want to be swapping out your warm up routine for something new every few weeks. You’re laying the groundwork for a routine that has lasting effects and adds benefit at whatever ever level you reach. A warm up routine that helps with strength, dexterity, technique and mindfulness is something you won’t grow out of.

A good set of warm up exercises to do every day is Tomo Fujita’s chromatic scale exercises. There are five different exercises that aren’t especially hard, but they aren’t easy to do properly either. Done correctly you’re not just running through scales, there’s a lot to pay attention to. You’ll have to focus on your thumb position, palm muting, getting a clean sound, sustaining notes, keeping your fingers close to the strings. It’s not easy to do it all simultaneously, but as you work on it every day, you can be mindful of something different each time. If you are warming up without paying attention or concentrating you aren’t getting as much benefit from it as you could. The best warm ups are both a mental and physical process.

If you’re looking for deeper explanations of those exercises, they are taught in even more detail in Tomo’s paid Guitar Wisdom course. Check out my review from last month - there’s no affiliate commissions for clicking through. These chromatic exercises are also in Tomo’s out of print DVD/book Accelerate Your Guitar Playing.

There are plenty of other chromatic exercises you can try. Another good one is by Carl Brown at Guitar Lessons 365. There’s more variety and less detail here, but they are good exercises, especially if building speed is your goal.

As you set goals for the future, remember to prioritize what you're doing on each day.

“Take care of the days and the years will take care of themselves” 

- Maria Edgeworth

All year long I’ve been sharing free online guitar lessons. Your continuous feedback and questions have kept me busy checking out other “premium guitar sites.” You asked - sometimes more than once - and I’ve tried to answer.

For the final newsletter of 2021 I’m doing things a little differently. I want to do a side by side run through of the two most sought after premium courses. If the names Tomo Fujita and Paul Davids are new to you I suggest you quickly check out their YouTube channels. They are the Godfathers of online guitar lessons.

I’m not trying to compare these instructors so I can tell you which one is better. I’m a fan of both. I chose this format because we’re at the end of the year and I really wanted to get to both of these popular requests.

A Guide to Going Paid

Tomo Fujita and Paul Davids both have active YouTube channels. So why would you want to spend money on their paywalled content too? Aren’t there enough videos to consume yet? Both of these instructors know that it’s not their job to entertain us. They don’t produce regular content to dazzle us with their intellect and musical abilities. Their premium courses are designed to help us gain lasting skills and knowledge. Instead of teaching you how to play songs, they show you how to learn the instrument.

Tomo Fujita’s Guitar Wisdom costs $9.99 a month and it’s a pretty good value if you’re looking for lessons you can try out first. There are approximately 200 videos with more to come. It’s easy to pause your membership if you need to take a break or work at a slower pace.

Paul Davids' Next Level Playing costs $199 for a lifetime membership. It’s a pretty big investment considering that it only comes with a 14 day money back guarantee. That might not be enough time to see if it’s the right set of lessons for you. It’s a comprehensive step by step program that will take a long time to work through. The ultimate goal of becoming a next-level player can’t be rushed.

Stylistically the courses are very different. Tomo Fujita’s teaching has a lovable lo-fi appeal to it. It’s a bit like listening to classic Beck. It could have been recorded on cheap equipment outside a traditional studio, but for reasons that are hard to explain, it just connects and pulls you in.

Stylistically Paul Davids is more like Pink Floyd. Later Floyd albums were recorded in small spaces and used generous amounts of studio magic to make them sound like they cost a bazillion dollars to make. Paul Davids’ lessons are filmed in a small Rotterdam apartment and are put together so artfully you could almost forget about your guitar and just watch them for them for the mise-en-scène.

Let’s dig in some more, shall we?

Tomo Fujita teaches Guitar Wisdom

For over 25 years, Tomo Fujita has been teaching guitar at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In Guitar Wisdom he shares many of the lessons he developed there for his students.

Rather than just showing you what to do, he provides explanations for why things should be done a certain way. As he says in one video, “you can get information anywhere,” but you need someone to show you how to use the information.

The course avoids the use of guitar tab and other visual materials. Chords and scales aren’t just shapes to be memorized. Guitarists should learn to hear music and recognize what’s going on. Guitar Wisdom is not about memorizing or copying examples note for note. You don’t need extensive knowledge of music theory to develop your musicality, but you do need to look at things differently than the commonly taught patterns and shapes.

Guitar Wisdom is not a typical “A to Z” course. The lessons are organized into three separate divisions. The Beginner Lessons are arranged in a sequential order. A second series of lessons is designed to transition students away from the linear approach. The third grouping of lessons offers a variety of topical lessons that can be done in any order according to the student’s personal interest.

From the course title you can gather Guitar Wisdom takes a philosophical approach to guitar. The teacher is always positive and encouraging, while patiently walking students through even the simplest of tasks. Tomo Fujita is a caring mentor who delivers more than just conclusions to his students.

Part of Tomo’s teaching style relies on tradition. You’ll notice he likes to teach guitar the same way he learned. For his beginner sight-reading lessons he uses Berklee materials, and to follow along you’ll need to get your hands on a copy of "A Modern Method for Guitar" by William G. Leavitt. The sight-reading lessons are excellent for all levels so you’ll probably want to get the book. It’s a bit like being in class with Tomo as he takes students through the material pointing out important details along the way.

We should be so lucky to have in-person lessons with Tomo at Berklee or on Skype. Guitar Wisdom captures what it would be like to learn with Tomo in person. If you’re already a fan of his YouTube channel, there’s a lot more detail and focus in Guitar Wisdom.

There are many paths to wisdom. The most important thing is to find the one that is right for you!

Paul Davids teaches Next Level Playing

Paul Davids is a guitar player from the Netherlands who runs an inspiring YouTube channel with over two million followers. He has three different premium courses available. Today I’m looking at Next Level Playing, which is a step by step course designed to help intermediate players level up even further. Unlike a lot of online courses, it’s designed to be used primarily with the electric guitar. You can take the course with an acoustic but things will be more difficult.

Next Level Playing starts off fairly simply, almost like a refresher course for beginners, making it accessible to many level of players. The goal is to make you “a well-rounded guitarist who can confidently improvise, create your own sound, and jam with other musicians.” The course is presented in a book like format, with clearly written text, diagrams, audio, play-along tracks and exquisitely produced videos.

By the later sections of the course you’ll be immersed in more advanced topics like using different modes, mixing techniques to make solos more interesting and playing extended chords.

Although the course covers a lot of ground you will always know where you are with the site’s navigation and design always illustrating your progress. Next Level Playing is divided into 7 levels, which become progressively more challenging. You are free to set your own pace, but the site discourages you from jumping around and moving too quickly.

Learning guitar is hard work and real growth takes time. There are mini-tests at the end of each section to evaluate yourself. Throughout the course you will encounter numerous challenges and goals for that particular section, which help you see whether or not you’re on the right track.

Another thing Paul gets right is including a downloadable workbook for every level. Although a talented video creator, he recognizes that students can’t absorb everything from videos. Information presented in videos sometimes evaporates as soon as the video stops. To make the lessons more permanent you have the workbooks to study and refer back to.

As mentioned, Paul has three different courses for sale. If you find that Next Level Playing isn’t for you, refunds are available, or you can ask to switch to one of the other courses.

Next Level Playing and Guitar Wisdom take very different approaches to learning guitar. But the goals are the same: to teach you guitar by making sure you know what you’re doing.

If you’re treating yourself to some guitar lessons this Christmas, or someone is gifting you a membership, either of these sites would be a great choice.

Regardless of who you follow online, it’s always going to be up to you whether or not you stick with it. If you’ve found an online instructor that keeps you coming back for more then you are more likely to stay motivated and connected to the material.

Coincidentally, as I was writing this newsletter, Paul Davids posted a collaboration featuring Tomo Fujita on his YouTube channel. Check out 10 PRO GUITARISTS SOLO OVER THE SAME TRACK and see them both in action. It’s a fun video that shows the mutual respect these teachers have for each other.

Have a Merry Christmas and a fantastic New Year.

I will see you again in the new year.

Christmas is an important time of year for aspiring guitarists. I know this because the number of visitors to Guitar Noise soars every year at this time. Traffic starts building around the start of November and grows steadily until to the big day. A typical Christmas Day on Guitar Noise has double the number of visitors than an average day in July.

I’ve come to believe that people practice guitar more at this time of year. The reasons for renewed interest in practice could be many. It’s colder outside and gets darker earlier for a lot of people. There are family gatherings on the horizon where you might want to play with or for someone. Things only get merrier when the guitars and ukuleles come out. If a relative’s house has a piano you can bet the keys get dusted before your holiday visit.

Forget about people taking guitar seriously as part of a New Years Resolution. All the evidence suggests people want to end the year on a high note.

Christmas Music is Great for Your Ears

One thing I’ve found to be true over the years is that Christmas songs are really good for learning music. Most popular Christmas songs are great for ear training. If you’ve never figured out a song by ear before, the best song to start with is “Happy Birthday.” The melody is so ingrained in our memory even an uncertain ear will know which note is correct. The next most recognizable song in the world has to be “Jingle Bells.” You’ve probably been making up your own words to it since you were a kid: “Jingle Bells Batman smells….”

Our familiarity with “Jingle Bells” makes it a great song to try and learn by ear. Figure out the melody from memory using just a few strings, playing one note at a time. From there, if you know the note names you can figure out some chords. If you can do this with “Jingle Bells,” think of how many other Christmas songs you’ve heard a million times before. Your ear probably knows them well enough to figure some of them out without even having to look at tab. If you can do that, you might as well tackle the next most recognizable song in the world: Für Elise.

Every year around this time I like to dust off David Hodge’s version of Silent Night. It’s a simple arrangement that’s perfect for beginners. Simple doesn’t mean it sounds bad. It’s a tune that nearly everyone recognizes. David’s lesson is like an introduction to fingerstyle playing, and the results sound pretty enough to impress family and friends.

If you want to learn a few holiday songs this year, I can help you find them. Guitar Noise has several Christmas song lessons aimed at the beginner and intermediate level. I’ve also been looking back at some of the sites I’ve written about this year. They have their fair share of Christmas coverage too.

Lauren Bateman has a Christmas Playlist on YouTube with some simple beginner tunes, including Jingle Bells, Silent Night, All I Want for Christmas is You and several others.

Brian at Active Melody usually does a holiday song every year in his unique style. You can search for them here or check out this year’s lesson, a cool take on God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman. Brian usually does the songs in a bluesy or funky style which will help when you’re graduating into non-holiday songs after Christmas.

Over on Play Song Notes David Pots has a collection of holiday song lessons. There are lessons on WHAM!’s Last Christmas, The Eagles’ Please Come Home for Christmas and John Lennon’s Happy Xmas (War is Over). 

A fun entry this year is Marty Schwartz teaching Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms. He breaks the song down step by step showing the cool licks and how to keep the D chord sounding interesting. 

Surprisingly, when I start hearing Christmas carols in October it doesn’t turn me into a Grinch. I keep my ears open and start soaking up the melodies. I try working out the songs in my head while shopping or driving. And the payoff is noticeable when it comes time to put my fingers on the frets.

A Little Christmas Trivia

Did you know that “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” was written by Johnny Marks, the same guy who wrote “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” He also wrote “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Run Rudolph Run” among many others. Seems he had a knack for writing Christmas songs. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and passed away in 1985. It goes to show there’s a market for every kind of talent.

Have a great week.

This weekend is Thanksgiving in the United States, which is a good time to look back and reflect on our achievements.

I started writing this newsletter in March of this year, delivering a new issue every other Friday. Now sitting at Issue #20, I’ve written 22,000 words and sent over 95,000 emails. Thank you all for being here.

One of my main goals with Guitar Noises is to help get you in front of the best online guitar teachers, wherever they may be. I also seem to write a lot about different approaches to learning guitar. There are things I’ve found helpful as a self-taught guitarist over the years that I want to share. And this week I hope to be a little bit inspirational.

Sometimes it’s a good idea to take a break from thinking about all the things you can’t do yet. Remember to take it easy on yourself. You probably already know more about guitar than you think you do. What have you learned about guitar so far? What can you do now that you couldn’t do a year ago. Enjoy thinking about that because it’s a win for you.

Don’t be too hard on yourself. When setting goals for the future remember that the more realistic and specific your goals, the greater your chances for success.

Black Friday Guitar Deals

You’re probably getting bombarded with Black Friday emails this week. Some of them will be for guitar courses that promise “mastery” and “tricks” that will “unlock secrets.”

I’ve been around online guitar lessons for a long time. I started Guitar Noise way back in 1999. Since then I’ve talked to a lot of other guitar site owners. I now spend a lot of time looking closely at online guitar lessons. I want to help beginner and intermediate players find lessons that work for them.

What you haven’t seen much of in this newsletter, is my take on mass-marketed guitar lessons that are advertised on Facebook and YouTube. You’ve probably seen ads showing someone shredding at lightening speed, bragging about who they’ve worked with, or even worse, telling you that you’re learning guitar all wrong. If you’ve ever clicked on these ads you’ve wound up inside a weird marketing funnel that is like a TV infomercial that never ends. There’s always “one more thing” and “another added bonus” if you act now. These long landing pages with braggadocio headlines are followed up with a never ending flow of emails reminding you that time is running out on a special offer.

I’ve never featured any of these things in my newsletter because I’ve never found any of them to be as good as they pretend to be. As we roll into Black Friday and Cyber Monday I’d like to ask you to be careful with your money. If a guitar lesson is being offered to you at a huge discount this weekend, ask yourself why it’s on sale.

I’ve found that, in general, guitar programs that go on sale at different times of year aren’t as good at teaching as they are at selling. The real quality lessons that I’ve seen (and there are plenty out there) are almost always marketed in a more subtle way. They don’t hook you in with huge savings or Black Friday bargains.

If you’re looking for real solid lessons, you can browse through some of my previous newsletters. I do recommend a lot of instructors and I don’t get commissions or kickbacks for doing so. I’ll always share good lessons that I find - the ones I don’t like usually don’t get mentioned. If you have questions about a specific program you can always shoot me an email. Maybe I’ve already gone through it like a Consumers Report writer. I just don’t want to use this space to put down another person’s hard work.

A Message for Thanksgiving

Speaking for myself, writing this newsletter has been a bright spot over the past year. It is often said that in order to understand something you need to write about it. The more I write about this, the more I understand what it is we’re doing. The process of writing helps me articulate my thoughts.

I enjoy writing. I’m happy that I’ve been writing a newsletter during a pandemic without making it about the pandemic. It feels good to talk with you here instead of on social media where you need to shout to be heard.

As my first year writing on Substack winds down, I realize I’d like to keep doing this for a while longer. You can help me find new readers by sharing this email. But more than that, I’m really interested in keeping you happy. Send me any ideas or suggestions that you have. I have touched on some topics readers have asked about. Lots of great suggestions have come in already and I’m building a list of ideas to work on.

I’ll be back with at least two more newsletters before the end of the year. Next time I’ll probably have something Christmassy. I don’t want to give too much away because I like to give myself the added pressure of finishing things at the last minute. It’s a pleasure to write under any circumstances. 

Thank you for reading. And Happy Thanksgiving to everyone celebrating it.

In addition to this newsletter, I’m also on Twitter and Facebook. Follow Guitar Noise on Instagram for updates there.