Before I get into the news, remember that you can unsubscribe from this newsletter at any time by logging into
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/forum/ and going to your User CP > Edit Options and unticking the 'Receive Email from Administrators' check box.
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Kirk's Weekly Guitar Lessons
I've got a few new lessons for you:
The first is a Dropped-D version of that classic Bob Dylan tune 'Tambourine Man'. It's a good stretching exercise, guaranteed to loosen up all those tight tendons and sinews. You'll find it at:
Dropped D >> Tambourine Man
The next is 'The Arpeggio Blues', a nice Blues progression, each chord played as an arpeggio, meaning of course that the chord is played one note at a time. A good one to practice moving from one chord to another smoothly and also to keep a nice even flow witht he picking. Tha one is here:
The Arpeggio Blues
I've done a couple of demos this week rather than a lesson. It's not really for beginners, but I think everyone will benefit from reading them and watching the movies. I've called them 'The Power of Chord Tones' part 1 and 2. The first movie shows me picking melodies through the chord progression from the last lesson (The Arpeggio Blues). The notes I choose are all chord tones ... so I wasn't thinking about scales at all, I was just thinking chords, creating lines from each chord's tones. You'll see how easy it is to create good strong melody. The second movie shows exactly the same this, only this time I'm picking two chord tones at a time ... double stops. This one should show you how easy it is to create harmony lines out of chord tones.
The Power of Chord Tones 1:
The Power of Chord Tones
The Power of Chord Tones 2:
The Power of Chord Tones 2
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The Guitar For Beginners and Beyond Community News
We're 20,000 members strong now at the forum! I'd like to thank you all for being such a great bunch of twangers and for the friendly, helpful input. I'd like to thank the moderators who do such a good job of keeping everything on track and, last but not least, Clancy for the huge number of hours she puts in and her dedication to making it the most innovative, progressive, unique forum out there. Thanks!!
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New Lessons added by our Members.
Since our last Newsletter Tekker and Fretsource have added two new lessons each which are well worth checking out.
Tekker's New Lessons
Finger Exercise Patterns -
Finger Exercise Patterns
Practicing With A Metronome -
Practicing With A Metronome
Fretsource's New Lessons
Fingerstyle accompaniment -
Fingerstyle accompaniment
The Circle of Fifths -
The Circle of Fifths
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MusiciansFriend Clearance Center -
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/cg...Center&afsrc=1
Most people already know of the great deals available at MusiciansFriend, but aren't so aware that they also have a Clearance Center part to their site which has around $6,000,000 worth of overstocks, refurbs, returns, and discontinued gear available at any one time.
So, if you're shopping for a guitar, amp or anything music related, but don't want to pay full price, be sure to check out some of their great Clearance Center deals here -
http://www.guitarforbeginners.com/cg...Center&afsrc=1
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PlaneTalk - The Truly Totally Different Guitar Instruction Book >
http://www.thatllteachyou.com
The 'Power of Chord Tones' demos should demonstrate how important it is to really know the chord structure of the tune you're playing. Seeing and using chord tones was by far the steepest part of my learning curve, and one that has allowed me to put all scales and modes and 'boxes' on the back burner where (in my not-so-humble opinion) they belong. But HOW do you see them there? What's the trick to seeing any given chord as the 'super-chord' that it really is ... the chord that stretches the whole length of the fretboard?
My book PlaneTalk the book describes and explains that trick in minute detail; The hour long PlaneTalk DVD demonstrates it all in real time. You'll be shocked, amazed and pleasantly surprised when you find out how simple it is.
Check it out at
http://www.thatllteachyou.com
There are dozens of testimonials here:
http://www.thatllteachyou.com/testimonial2.php and once you become a true-blue PlaneTalker, you can join the private forum.
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The
Slide Guitar in Standard and Dropped D tunings DVD
Who doesn't like the sound of slide guitar? I still haven't met anyone. I think many players put off learning slide because they hear that they need to learn open tunings and it all seems way too complicated. Not so! I've been playing slide in standard tuning for decades. It is in fact a great tuning for playing slide and is in a sense a bunch of mini-open-tunings all living together. I also drop the low E string down to to D to get a bonus power chord that loves to be slid upon.
I recently loaded some videos of some slide playing up on YouTube ... check 'em out:
The Yuppy Blues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMkcE87CzCg
Blue Groove (from the DVD):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRJdRNYUA0o
Walkin with Kirk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmFIVWIYNgw
I reveal all in the DVD I recently finished: 'How to play Slide Guitar in Standard and Dropped D Tunings' which you can check out at
http://www.bottleneckguitar.com
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Donations
As you know, GfB&B is a free site, and apart from a couple of bucks per day (literally) revenue gererated from the ads on the home page, we have no sponsors. The site eats through close to 5 Gigs of bandwidth every day now which Clancy and I pay for. You can help out though, by clicking the 'Donate' link in the blue navigation bar at the top of each page and make a donation of any amount you can afford. It's all done through Paypal and takes just a couple of minutes. Once you've donated, you get a star next to your username to reflect your generosity ...
Thanks to all our starred members! We certainly do appreciate it.
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That's it for this week, enjoy the lessons, enjoy the site!
Kirk
