Awwww, Isn't he cute?

My son from a year ago...

And the singer...

Recent R&B Session...

Some of the guitars were my $99 Squire...

And beware, I just picked up an $89 used Squire, it's already appearing on some tracks.

Bands Who Should Quit...

...Food for thought...

10 Bands That Should Call It Quits

Cool Site - Flatpick Apprentice

This guy is "sharing my efforts to attain flatpick guitar competency" on this cool site with pdf's and rhythm mp3's at different tempos.

Flatpickapprentice

Print the pdf's if for no other reason than for sight-reading practice (and pick up some bluegrass licks along the way.)

"3pers" Lesson 7 - F# Locrian

Elixir Nanoweb Electric Light Strings 10-46

Dunlop Derlin Pick 1.5

"3pers" Lesson 6 - E Minor

Elixir Nanoweb Electric Light Strings 10-46

Dunlop Derlin Pick 1.5

"3pers" Lesson 5 - D Mixolydian

Elixir Nanoweb Electric Light Strings 10-46

Dunlop Derlin Pick 1.5

"3pers" Lesson 4 - C Lydian

Elixir Nanoweb Electric Light Strings 10-46

Dunlop Derlin Pick 1.5

"3pers" Lesson 3 - B Phrygian

Elixir Nanoweb Electric Light Strings 10-46

Dunlop Derlin Pick 1.5

"3pers" Lesson 2 - A Dorian

Elixir Nanoweb Electric Light Strings 10-46

Dunlop Derlin Pick 1.5

"3pers" Lesson 1 - G Major

The three "3per" shapes...

Elixir Nanoweb Electric Light Strings 10-46

Dunlop Derlin Pick 1.5

Drop Two's Notated

With all the video lessons posted about drop two's I wanted to give you a visual aid to remind you why they exist.

In the image below you can see how the first, stacked Cmaj7 chords are quite hard to play on the guitar. If not impossible. On piano no problem. So drop the second note from the top in the stacks on the left down an octave to create a new and improved second chord voicing that you can really rap your hand around.

Cool Tool - 1940's Kay "Archtop"

Me and my Kay Archtop in Gangster Squad

The Drop Two Chord - Lesson 27 (Altered Chords)

Third inversion Drop two chords on the bottom four strings...

G7 - 13 14 12 12 x x
G9 - 13 14 12 14 x x

G7b9 - 13 14 12 13 x x
G7#9 - 13 14 12 15 x x

G9#5 - 13 14 13 14 x x
G9b5 - 13 14 11 14 x x

G7#5#9 - 13 14 13 15 x x
G7#5b9 - 13 14 13 13 x x
G7b5#9 - 13 14 11 15 x x
G7b5b9 - 13 14 11 13 x x

When moved up and down all 12 frets that's ANOTHER 96 chords!

The Drop Two Chord - Lesson 26 (Altered Chords)

Second inversion Drop two chords on the bottom four strings...

G7 - 10 10 9 10 x x

G9 - 10 12 9 10 x x

G7b9 - 10 11 9 10 x x

G7#9 - 10 13 9 10 x x

G9#5 - 11 12 9 10 x x

G9b5 - 9 12 9 10 x x

G7#5#9 - 11 13 9 10 x x

G7#5b9 - 11 11 9 10 x x

G7b5#9 - 9 13 9 10 x x 

G7b5b9 - 9 11 9 10 x x

When moved up and down all 12 frets that's ANOTHER 96 chords!

The Drop Two Chord - Lesson 25 (Altered Chords)

First inversion Drop two chords on the bottom four strings...

G7 - 7857xx
G9 - 7877xx

G7b9 - 7867xx
G7#9 - 7887xx

G9#5 - 7878xx
G9b5 - 7876xx

G7#5#9 - 7888xx
G7#5b9 - 7868xx
G7b5#9 - 7886xx
G7b5b9 - 7866xx

When moved up and down all 12 frets that's ANOTHER 96 chords!

Crazy Pedal Giveaway...

Check it out here.

Video here.

The Drop Two Chord - Lesson 24 (Altered Chords)

Root inversion Drop two chords on the bottom four strings...

G7 - 3534xx

G9 - 5534xx

G7b9 - 4534xx

G7#9 - 6534xx

G9#5 - 5634xx

G9b5 - 5434xx

G7#5#9 - 6634xx

G7#5b9 - 4634xx

G7b5#9 - 6434xx

G7b5b9 - 4434xx

Cheap Guitar God - Stella

Made by the Oscar Schmidt Company originally. Played by Leadbelly and Charlie Patton. Doc Watson and Kurt Cobain started on Stellas.

The Drop Two Chord - Lesson 23 (Altered Chords)

C7 - x 13 14 12 13 x

C9 - x 13 14 12 15 x

C7b9 - x 13 14 12 14 x

C7#9 - x 13 14 12 16 x

C9#5 - x 13 14 13 15 x

C9b5 - x 13 14 11 15 x

C7#5#9 - x 13 14 13 16 x

C7#5b9 - x 13 14 13 14 x

C7b5#9 - x 13 14 11 16 x

C7b5b9 - x 13 14 11 14 x

Merle Travis - The Real Deal

How Long Should You Practice?

Great article here.

Linked from Mark Wein

Three Jazz Guitar Songs That Changed Me...

And what I practiced after that...

Joe Pass - Night and Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5uBmznvTgU

Wes Montgomery - Tear It Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iteKJQRXsno

George Benson - Affirmation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUXRELGO9kk

The Drop Two Chord - Lesson 22 (Altered Chords)

C7 - x 10 10 9 11 x
C9 - x 10 12 9 11 x

C7b9 - x 10 11 9 11 x
C7#9 - x 10 13 9 11 x

C9#5 - x 11 12 9 11 x
C9b5 - x 9 12 9 11

C7#5#9 - x 11 13 9 11 x
C7#5b9 - x 11 11 9 11 x
C7b5#9 - x 9 13 9 11 x
C7b5b9 - x 9 11 9 11 x

Inside Out DADGAD

Here I talk about being creative and thinking outside the box. A DADGAD tuning is a standard tuned guitar (EADGBE) with the 6th, 2nd and 1st string tuned down a whole step, but with this tuning I started at standard and tuned the other three strings down a whole step instead or EGCFBE. I ended up with a very strange tuning that yields some cool ideas.

The "Free Range Groove"

A groove using 16th notes but with accents of three.

The chords in the progression are...

E5 - x79900
C#m7 - x46600
Bsus - x24400
A2 - x02200

Lowden F22 Guitar

Elixir Acoustic Guitar Strings - Light
http://www.amazon.com/Elixir-Strings-Acoustic-POLYWEB-Coating/dp/B0002E1NNM/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1338763632&sr=8-6

Dunlop Nylon 1mm Pick
http://www.amazon.com/Dunlop-Nylon-Standard-Picks-Black/dp/B0002D0CHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338763743&sr=8-1

Songwriting is Harder Than It Sounds

Or at least coming up with original melodies is harder than it sounds...

12 Songs That Sound Alike

Cool Site #17

The Gear Page - not just another forum. OK, it's another forum. But not just. Whatever that means.

What's In My Emergency Gig Kit?

Just taking a look at what emergencies I have prepared for. Just the basics...

Elixir Electric Strings

Elixir Acoustic Strings

Dunlop Derlin Purple Picks - 1.5mm

Dunlop Nylon Black 1.0mm

Groove Tubes EL84 Tubes

Groove Tubes 12ax7 Tubes

Finger Nail Kit

Finger Tip Bandaids

9 volt Batteries

String Winder

Basic Black Guitar Strap

Me and My Writing Buddy Jeff

Here we are having fun writing and Jeff is having fun with Final Cut Pro...

Standard Folk Groove - The Next Level

Here I add bass notes and snare hits to the "Standard Folk Groove" to make it more interesting. Be a one man band.

Cool DIY Blog...

Check it out.

Interesting...

But I've never tried it.

New Standard Tuning

Am a fan of Fripp though.

Intro to the Standard Folk Groove

This is what I call the "Standard Folk Groove" a very useful pattern for folk, country, rock and bluegrass.

1 2&(3)&4& - d du udu (d=down, u=up)