Want to get faster and cleaner on guitar? Andy Wood breaks down the mistakes to avoid in your practice
Plus, one of the most magical live albums you'll hear
Hey everyone - I’m fully back this week, and I couldn’t be more psyched to dive into all things guitar again. With everything going on in the world, it feels extra good to be here, writing, sharing, and geeking out over what we all love. This issue has a ton of great links that you're bound to learn a lot from, plus I've got a surprise book recommendation that you theory nerds can get excited about. I’ve got an album recommendation that’s just perfect for anyone who loves soulful playing and live energy, and a great question of the week too. Let’s get into this week’s issue!
🔊Turn This Up
This week’s album recommendation is a must for any Derek Trucks fan. Mad Dogs & Englishmen Revisited: Live at LOCKN’ shows him and Susan Tedeschi at their absolute best. The guitar playing is awesome, with that amazing, vocal touch that only Derek can pull off. Leon Russell is on piano and vocals, and knowing he passed not long after this recording makes it feel like a real gift. His energy and tone are completely timeless.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band is stacked with talent, and they’re joined by an incredible lineup of special guests like Warren Haynes, Dave Mason, Chris Robinson, and Claudia Lennear, all adding their own magic. Together, they bring new life to these classic songs while still honoring the spirit of the original Mad Dogs & Englishmen. If you're in the mood for an amazing live experience, you should check this one out.
❓Sunday Sound Off
There’s no shortage of recommendations about what matters most when learning guitar. So, let’s try to decide it here in this week’s issue.
I’d love to hear why you picked your answer hit reply and let me know your take. The best part of these polls is seeing all the different perspectives from fellow players.
📝 Book Recommendation of the Week
You know I’m a huge fan of books of all kinds. Guitar and music education books line my shelves, and had for years. I always follow the Ramit Sethi principle - if you can even get one good idea from a book, don’t think about purchasing it, just do it! If you put in the time, books are always worth your money.
I’ve had Harmony and Voice Leading by Aldwell and Schachter for about 25 years now. I first cracked it open back in music college, and it’s been a book I always go back to all the time. It can feel heavy at times, but the way it breaks down how chords move and how melodies connect is pure gold. Even for guitarists, this stuff is insanely useful. Understanding voice leading makes your chord changes smoother, your writing more focused, and your playing feel like it really flows. If you want to dig in yourself, I highly recommend picking up a copy (and just so you know, the link I’m sharing is an affiliate link. If you ever want to help the newsletter out without costing you any additional money, this is a great way to help).
🔗 This Week’s Guitar Links
The Wildest Blues Lesson Ever! From Greasy Hendrix Licks To Twisted Turn Arounds With Greg Koch - Greg Koch has been one of my all time favorite players, ever since he released his solo disc The Grip! back in 2001. Koch has likely forgot more about guitar than most people will ever learn, and it seems whether it's on the road, doing a livestream, or demoing guitars for Wildwood, he's constantly honing his craft. He recently sat down with Brett Papa to talk about blues - touching on things like “lick downloads", how to develop phrasing, some of his biggest influences like Hendrix, SRV and the Allman Bros., and why you shouldn't diss early era Clapton. I'm hoping we get a Greg Koch course with Brett. In the meantime, Greg has a ton of amazing lessons on TrueFire. Check out all of his lessons here (heads up, this is an affiliate link that helps keep the lights on at the newsletter with no extra cost to you).
Play MELODY - NOT Scales and Arpeggios - Building on the interview above, I think you should check out this excellent lesson from John Cordy. In the lesson, John dives into the essence of melody, and why if you're targeting any chord tones, the 3rd is the most beneficial (this helps determine the chord quality). Using a AABA pattern or even sequence playing helps make your licks more exciting and less scalar/arpeggio-like. The key focus at the end of the day, is that no matter what chords you're playing over, your licks should always be very singable (I like how John used Mayer and Clapton as examples). Check this one out and let me know what you think.
How to Play to Changes with Triads & Melody - And if you loved the links above, you should check out this lesson from Eric Haugen as well. It goes over a bunch of things I'm still working on in my own day to day practice - stuff like finding all the triads based on CAGED shapes, and honing in on the melodies based off of arpeggios. But that's not it, there's another triads lesson below! 🙂
You Don't Know Guitar Triads If You Can't Do THIS - Practice Routine - This one is from Levi Clay, and goes over visualizing triads with different chord changes. This is a helpful lesson that shines a light on Levi's new Guided Practice Routines subscription site, which myself and some other readers are part of. Just a heads up, this is taken from a higher level of Levi's triad mastery course, but I've been going through some of the lower levels to fill in knowledge gaps, and am already feeling the effects of playing better chords all over the neck with new shapes.
MY ALBUM IS DONE! FINALLY... - Sometimes good things take a lot of time - this video from Mateus Asato resonated with me in a major way. You have to be so careful with what you say online, because the internet never forgets! Mateus has been saying he'd release a solo album over the past couple of years, but now it looks like we're finally going to get his debut. All the songs are done and recorded, so now it's in the hands of other folks to wrap up the process and ship the album. The video shows off some cool segments of Mateus and his band in the studio, where they recorded 14 songs. Asato mentions in his next video he'll share even more about the album, and I'm hoping that means we get a release date. Excited to hear what this album sounds like, as Asato is one of the most melodic guitarists I've ever heard.
Drop D Tuning Made Easy: Everything You Need to Know - There are certain things that feel incredible when you first start learning guitar, and dropping that low E string down to D for some heavy riffs has to be way up there. This video from Guitar World gives you everything you need to know about the world's favorite alt tuning - from how to do one finger power chords, to creating riffs and leads and more. What's your favorite song that was recorded with drop D tuning?
How to Play George Benson's FAST 2-Note Arpeggios! - This was one of my favorite videos of the week. Chase Maddox shows us an awesome George Benson lick from an old Hot Licks instructional video. This type of lick will have you blazing up and down the fretboard. Start slow with this type of lick, use an alternate picked pattern, and check out Chase's recommended fingering and you should be in great shape. Let me know if you get it up to speed.
Stop Practicing This Way If You Want to Play Fast w/ Andy Wood - Speaking of wanting to play fast, this video from Andy Wood shows what you should avoid if you're trying to get your shred on. This video comes from Spencer Handley on the Playback channel (this is the first time I'm linking to them!) Andy discusses a lot of different topics, like who he's learned the most from, making your way as a professional musician, and focusing on musicality first. But my favorite part was what he had to say about gaining speed on guitar - playing bits and pieces of licks/riffs/songs you like, playing clean, and not "brute-forcing" practice. This interview is totally worth your time.
SUPERCHARGE YOUR LEGATO TIMING | Legato 'Active Listening' Exercise That I Teach to All My Students - There aren't many people better at legato playing than Tom Quayle. Other than a few gear demos, Quayle hasn't put out a lesson video in a few months, so I was so happy when this one popped up. This video focuses on the timing that's so crucial when it comes to using legato - stuff like externally saying the downbeat to interalize the timing in your playing, recording yourself and watching back what you got right/wrong, and how to work on different subdivisions in your playing. If you want to sound more melodic and professional when it comes to legato, you should check this one out.
How to get your technique right - And speaking of technique, Rotem Sivan (whose new solo album I featured in last week's issue) is here with a new video that gives us 5 exercises to work on technique. Sivan talks about incredibly important things like mapping the fretboard to know where the notes are, to things like using the circle of 5ths in your practice, and using smaller triads rather than bigger barre chords (which if you've been reading this newsletter for a while, know is something I'm all about!) Great, 15 min video that’s perfect for your weekend practice session.
Your Self-Doubt on Guitar WILL VANISH - If you're just getting started with your pentatonic boxes, you should check out this video from Dan Seriff. He shows off his diagonal pentatonic concept, how you can make so much music with a small amount of notes, why using technique can make your leads sound so much more effective, and that sometimes starting on the middle set of strings is your best bet sonically. This whole diagonal pentatonic concept isn't something new - people have been talking about linking boxes for a long time. But I do think no matter which way you learn this, learning all 5 boxes, and understanding how they connect together will open up the fretboard dramatically for you. I know it's basic, but that being said, new musicians are learning guitar all the time - would a video / livestream on something like this get you excited? What else would you like to learn around the idea?
I think you've got to learn these things together: basic theory, then learn a song while trying to understand what is happening - or at least knowing how to read from your basic theory, and then learn the proper techniques (and form!) to use while learning the song. Improv is something that'll come later, unless you're already an intermediate player to start with.
For the poll I would have picked "have fun" if it were an option. I picked jamming and improvising because my friends and I would sit with our guitars and trade off solos over the 12 bar blues. It was fun and it's probably where I learned the most.