Online and private guitar tuition
One of my favourites, and quite why I’ve never got round to looking at any Captain Beefheart before I’m not exactly sure. In this new video I’m looking at the song Plastic Factory taken from his debut album from 1967, Safe as Milk. A weird, warped piece of psychedelic blues, it’s pretty easy to play and lots of fun. Check it out here.
Here’s a complete song lesson on Another Girl, Another Planet by The Only Ones. It’s a fantastic piece of ’70s power pop, and contains tons of great guitar playing. The rhythm parts are mostly quite simple power chords and barre chords, and we have a couple of classic solos too, for you more advanced players to try. Find the lesson here.
In this video I take a look at how you can combine major and minor sounds in the same solo. All the blues greats do this kind of thing, understanding how it works is a surefire way of taking your blues playing to the next level. Check out the lesson here.
I haven’t got that much in the way of gear-related information on my site, but I know from the comments and emails I get that loads of you are interested in what guitars, amps, effects I use, how I get certain sounds etc. So I thought I’d start doing the occasional video or lesson along those lines. I’m kicking off with this look at a mini pedal board which I put together recently. Let me know if you enjoy this kind of thing and I can do more. I’m thinking maybe some videos on my different guitars and amps, some on how to use effects…
I’ve gone major pentatonic mad this week with three new videos on probably every guitarist’s second favourite scale. There’s this video which takes you through a rock-style solo that demonstrates a few ways you might get some of these sounds into your playing. If the whole idea of the major pentatonic is totally new to you, then you might like to check out a couple of new videos in the resources section which will take you through the basics. Over the coming weeks I want to continue to update and improve on the resources section of the site, to make it a bit more detailed and comprehensive. So I’ll try and do some similar lessons on other common scale types.
With their angry riffs and abrasive guitar tones Gang of Four are never going to be everybody’s musical cup of tea. But even if this isn’t the kind of music you’re naturally drawn to, definitely give it a chance. Andy Gill is a real original whose style deliberately goes against all the usual guitaristic conventions. And they’re a hugely influential band too, with everyone from Nirvana to the Red Hot Chili Peppers borrowing heavily from their sound. In this video I’m looking at 3 of my favourite riffs from their debut album Entertainment. Check out the video here.
