Jack Gardiner’s Improv Masterclass
Plus, 50 years of wisdom in just 15 minutes
Hey! Here’s the deal for this week’s newsletter - 8 fun links that are all well worth your time. I usually have more links than this, but my youngest kid decided to scoot his way into the emergency room last night. Next week I’ll be back with even more great guitar links for ya!
In the meantime, what would make me super happy is if you replied to this e-mail or commented (if you’re reading this on Substack). What are you working with on guitar, what are you struggling with on guitar? Talk to you next week!
This week’s guitar links!
Improvisation: A Complete Overview for Guitar | Masterclass - Jack Gardiner has become one of my favorite players and teachers over the past 5 years. This week he put up an improvisation masterclass that covers topics like seeing the fretboard in intervals, limitation exercises, triads, target notes and a lot more - it all clocks in at just over 46 minutes! If you dig this stuff, check out his courses on improv, reharmonization, fretboard visualization and more. Also, check out his most recent album with Owane, which got a ton of spins from me last year.
How to Teach Yourself Guitar Today (Save YEARS of WASTED TIME) - Videos like this are why I love YouTube, especially for beginning guitarists. If you're just getting started with guitar, it's so beneficial to see the mistakes/pitfalls other people have made so you don't make them yourself! This week, Rotem Sivan talks about how to make the most of your practice sessions, whether that be making your space comfortable, learning bar by bar rather than by full song, scheduling time to practice, and a lot more.
THEY LIED About How To Play Faster and Shred? Does Martin Miller Have A Point? - Is there something good that happens when you try new guitar ideas at an uncomfortable speed? There's a bit of truth from both camps - start slow and accurately, or play uncomfortable and push yourself to become more accurate over time. John Cordy breaks down an idea Martin Miller had on the topic.
Chords, Arpeggios, and Scales | They're All Connected - Jack Ruch's lesson this week talks about how you can find so much information by understanding your chords. You can pull arpeggios and scale patterns from these chords easily. I've talked about this a bunch over the past couple of months - that curious mindset. Rather than just mindlessly learning patterns, understanding the "why" behind each one. It makes your practice so much more useful.
50 Years of Guitar Wisdom in 15 Minutes - You’re bound to find some sort of wisdom in every Five Watt World video, but in his latest, he packs 50 years of guitar playing into 15 minutes of great tips. Everything from your practice regimen to playing with other people (see the Zakk link below) and much more. This video is well worth your 15 minutes!
Zakk Wylde’s Favorite Riffs & Solos: Randy Rhoads, Dimebag Darrell & Tony Iommi - Zakk Wylde sat down with Nick Bowcott to talk about his favorite solos from some of the guitarists that influenced his playing - Rhoads, Dime, Iommi, and more. Nick also asks Wylde how he manages to be everywhere in the music world, and how playing with other musicians is one of the most fun things you can do.
“A brand-new Marshall and an Epiphone, if you dial it in right, can sound like a sunburst Les Paul through a vintage Bluesbreaker”: Joe Bonamassa explains why great tones are “much cheaper than people realize” - Lot of quotables coming out of this interview with Joe Bonamassa. And he's right. 9 times out of 10 it's not the gear, it's the player. Does gear make a difference? Of course it does. But it's without a doubt true that tone comes from the player first.
“I would know if the ‘Red Eye’ was a good guitar even if I was stone deaf – you can feel it vibrating”: Gibson’s Custom Shop has recreated Jason Isbell’s prized 1959 Les Paul – formerly owned by Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Ed King - I usually focus on lessons in this newsletter, but this new Gibson Custom Shop guitar caught my eye. The story behind the ‘Red Eye' was interesting to read, and I love how Gibson meticulously recreates these guitars. Do you think there's the same amount of mojo in these recreations? Also, who's affording these types of guitars? This one in particular is over 20 grand.