3 amazing tips to play songs by memory

Plus, a ton of the best guitar lessons this week!

A couple of things at the top here - We kicked off the Chasing Sound book club at the beginning of August. If you’re going through the book, let me know what you think of it. The best way is to jump into our Discord chat. This is one of my all time favorite guitar books. If you missed my announcement post, you can check that out here.

In fun concert news, I was able to see the North America kickoff of Metallica’s 72 Seasons tour. They had Mammoth (featuring Wolfgang Van Halen) and Pantera (with Zakk filling in for Dimebag guitar duties) opening up for them on the first night. All I can say, is that if you have an opportunity to see this tour, go and do it! It was a great night.

Finally, I’ve been working on two new sets of lick packages that were recently released. The first one is from Ross Campbell, and focuses on 3 levels of funky blues licks. The other, is a challenging pack of licks from Mateus Asato, called Storytelling Lick bundle. You can check that out here. Alright, let's get into this week's links!

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This week’s links!

- 3 MEGA TIPS to play songs from MEMORY! - If you're struggling to remember songs, you should check out this new video from Andy Guitar. They break down 3 tips having to do with muscle memory, learning chords in keys and more. How do you typically memorize songs?

- 3 John Petrucci Licks From 1997 - In Late Night Lessons' latest 3 for all series, he features 3 licks from a 1997 John Petrucci clinic. Jeremy Malheim who linked me to this video commented that the video was so great because these links are actually approachable for mere mortals. Have fun with this one!

- Jason Becker Techniques and Habits Lesson. Shrapnel Shred at its Finest! - I loved this lesson from Sam Bell, where he breaks down habits of how to play like Jason Becker. He goes over sweeping arpeggios, chordal movements, and exotic scales. He also talks about how you can use these techniques/ideas in genres that aren't metal/shred.

- 5 Famous Guitar Riffs That Are Ripped Off - Real artists steal! Paul Davids talks about 5 iconic gutiar riffs that were tastefully "inspired” by other songs. All of these are so good, but I think my favorite was “Smoke on the Water”.

- Play Little Wing All Day Long - I'm all for trying new and different ways to learn the guitar. Chris Sherland shows us how we can try nearly any new concept over Hendrix’s “Little Wing".

- Practice THIS to MASTER Downwards PickSlanting! - If you want an amazing exercise that'll get your left and right hand in shape, and focuses on downward pickslanting, you gotta check out this video from Ben Eller. This is a great exercise to kick off every practice session.

- 5 steps to stay MOTIVATED - If you're in a slump with guitar motivation and want some great advice, I suggest you check out Justin Hombach's latest video. These types of videos always seem like a refresher or a reset, and often remind us why we started learning guitar in the first place.

- Josh Smith - Utilizing a ii - V - I approach to improvisation - I loved this lesson from Josh Smith. If you subscribe to Guitar World, you can get the tab for his lesson on using a ii - V - I to create some aniticipation or forward movement in your chord progression.

- KIRK FLETCHER on HONEST SONGWRITING and BLUES NERDERY - If you want more blues geekery, check out Adam Levy interviewing Kirk Fletcher. Kirk is one of the best blues guitarists and teachers out there. They talk about being immersed in the blues through Kirk's record collection, studying forgotten blues players for inspiration, and being a music nerd in general.

- Jared James Nichols is the wild man of modern blues-rock – let your solos loose with 6 of his most ferocious licks - If you want to play a more modern blues-rock style, you should definitely check out Jared James Nichols. I saw him open up for John 5, and was floored by his peformance. In this lesson you can learn 6 licks that combine bends, slides, harmonics and more.

- CAGED System Pros and Cons - Chris Sherland makes the case that while you might want to start with the CAGED system to learn the fretboard, it might be better to take a multi-system approach after getting to grips with the initial ideas from CAGED. I've been preaching this for a long time! Like CAGED? Like 3NPS? Like some other way of learning the guitar? Great! I always say it's helpful to learn the guitar in multiple ways.

- What Makes Jimmy Page's Riffs So UNFORGETTABLE? || Riff Theory - Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page has written some of the most legendary riffs of all time. But what makes Jimmy's riffs so memorable? Marty Music shows us how to use the pentatonic scale and chromaticism together to makes some epic riffs.

- How Eric Clapton Mixes Major & Minor Pentatonic/Blues Scales! (fretLIVE Lesson & Theory Deep Dive) - Another super effective technique at creating awesome licks and riffs is to mix minor and major pentatonic scales. Pow Music does it through the lens of Eric Clapton in his latest lesson. Some of my favorite and most melodic players use this technique at will, so I think it's really important to get the idea under your fingers.

- 10 ways to make your guitar chords more interesting - This GW lesson was one of my favorite of the week. It focuses on 10 ways to spruce up your chords. There's examples that have root notes shifting over time, notes that add dissonance, or even arpeggiating a chord out to make it more interesting. Even if you only use a couple of these going forward, it's worth your time.

- Jim Irsay was offered $1 billion to sell his guitar collection to a buyer in Dubai - If a guitar was played by a famous artist, or if it was super rare, it's likely that Jim Irsay owns it. He recently was on the Eddie Trunk podcast talking about his guitars from Gilmour, Dylan, Cobain, Harrison and others. Apparently someone in Dubai offered him over a billion dollars to sell his collection, and Irsay ended up turning down the offer.

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Looking for great guitar or recording lessons? I’m taking new students for end of summer / early fall!

Try out half an hour to see how much you can learn when you know the right things to practice. Whether you want to learn guitar, recording, mixing or more, I can help you out!