An awesome song learning challenge, blistering pentatonic shred, and fretboard mapping
Plus how to improve, by practicing less
Couldn’t wait to get to this week’s issue of Six String Sunday Club. I have two awesome things to share at the top here:
First, I was looking for a way to make our Discord server even more interactive, and a huge thanks to David Donaldson who sparked the idea to do a monthly riff/lick challenge where we’d learn a full song, or at least a tough part of a song, post our videos of us playing the song, and then help each other with constructive criticism. I think this is going to lead to everyone playing more songs, and getting a lot better at guitar. Go check out the song we’re working on for May, and make sure to take part in June’s poll when it rolls around. You can join the Discord server here. To avoid spam, that link expires in 7 days. If you want to join the chat after that, just let me know!
And secondly, this Saturday I celebrated 40 years of life on this crazy planet of ours. I’ve been writing this newsletter since my mid-thirties, and it’s been one of the most fun things I’ve done each and every week. If you like the newsletter and want to support me in any way, consider a paid subscription! If you’re looking for more one on one value, let’s book a guitar lesson! Oh, and if you have any vintage or private stock guitars that you’d want to donate for my birthday, feel free. 😁 Alright, let’s get into this week’s links.
UNIQUE and GREAT: This guitarist is often overlooked - Last Saturday I kicked back and watched Tim Pierce’s livestream about Paul Kossoff’s guitar techniques and overall style. I always learn so much from Tim’s videos, and this video was no exception. Plus what an awesome tone and minimalistic writing, that’s still really effective (which Tim gets into also).
Blistering Major Pentatonic Shred | Spicy Licks #17 - I’m so happy that Ross Campbell put up a tab for this awesome major pentatonic lick. It combines the major scale and major pentatonic, for a very slick sounding phrase. Earlier in the week, Ross shared a cool octave sliding technique that’ll spice up your leads. You can check that out here.
“What Overdrive Should I Buy?” (answering my most asked question) - If you’re reading this, it’s possible that you already have an overdrive pedal. But if you don’t, check out Rhett Shull’s new video on which overdrive you should buy. He goes over a handful of pedals, how they differ, and why you might want to put them on your board.
Suck at Improvising? how to change that - Between this video and this video, Johnathan Cordy has been on a roll this week. I love how his latest videos have been about “the journey” of creating on guitar. It just goes to show that on social media, on YouTube, we see the end product of a way longer session of creation that the player went through. Go easy on yourself when you’re trying to create music.
Ep. 8: I Tried Alex Skolnick’s Guitar Warm-up: This Is What I Learned - I’ve always loved these warm-up videos from Reverb. In the latest one, Alex Skolnick shows us some really interesting shapes to use to spice up your warm-up session, and how using a harder to play guitar might benefit the rest of your practice later on.
Get Scale Practice Right And It Will Boost Your Playing - Speaking of practice, Jens Larsen shows us how to make our scale practice even more effective. At the end of the day, we’re using the scales to make music - so why not practice scales in a more musical way? Some really good advice here.
Victor Wooten on the Wong Notes podcast - Whenever I see Victor Wooten is going to be talking about music, I get amped up. He always talks about music in a very fun and philosophical way, similar to his books. If you’re looking to get a little heady with the way you think about music, check out Victor on Cory Wong’s podcast.
How to FIX Your Pick Hand Finger Position! THIS WORKS! - Are your picking hand fingers flying all over the place? Ben Eller has the solution for this issue - Ben took inspiration from Massive_Bass_Nerd on Instagram, to try and use a secondary pick that you hold with your middle, ring and pinky fingers, so they can’t fan out across the guitar. For what it’s worth, I’ve always been a pinky anchored on the guitar type of guy. What do you do with your picking hand?
Ariel Posen - Live at Studio Piccolo - It’s no secret that I really love the music coming from Ariel Posen, I enjoy the way he thinks about guitar and I love his slide playing. Check out this video where he played some of his songs Live at Studio Piccolo. Bring on the modulation effects!
Top 20 two guitar bands of all time - Similar to the top 50 rhythm guitarists list we went over a week or so ago, this list by Rick Beato is a great way to get back into bands you might have forgotten about, or might not know about. Who’s your favorite dual guitar band?
The weird gear of Wes Borland - Wes Borland of Limp Bizkit has been coming up with some crazy ideas lately in the world of guitar and bass - from 4 string guitars, or basses converted into guitars, his lineup of axes is pretty cool to check out. Guitar.com rounded up some of his latest collaborations.
Effective fretboard mapping - Chris Sherland is at it again. In his latest video, he talks all about fretboard mapping - which is a surefire way to remember the things that you’re practicing. I feel like after watching Chris’ videos, my practice always becomes more meaningful. They force you to think about the what and why a lot more.
Get better at music by practicing less - You owe it to yourself to check out this 15 minute video, full of great advice on practicing more effectively, by practicing less. h/t to John Waller on this one!
That’s it for this week. Thanks for reading Six String Sunday!
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