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Mike Dawes is hailed as one of the world's finest and most creative modern fingerstyle guitar performers. His acclaimed solo music has gained over 50 million hits on popular video sharing sites and since the release of his debut album in 2013 he has toured almost every continent on the planet, with an average of 200 concerts per year. Mike needs to be seen live to be believed. His ability to create the most unusual tones and textures simultaneously from a single acoustic guit... (more) Mike currently offers 40 guitar lessons at JamPlay, with 40 lessons in our Artist Series.
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Learn the next level of percussive fingerstyle from a world-class player. Mike Dawes teaches you to go from an average fingerstyle player to playing some of his most advanced compositions. 40 lessons to both inspire and challenge any guitarist, exclusively from JamPlay.
Mike Dawes introduces you to his inspirational course. He talks about what you will learn, and what you need to know. Buckle up and get ready for the ride.
3:53 Runtime
0.5 Difficulty
From fingernails to pickups, take a close look at the gear that helps Mike create his unique, beautiful sound.
7:23 Runtime
3.0 Difficulty
Time for a technique overview! Mike walks through the basics of Travis picking to set a good foundation for what's to come.
10:38 Runtime
2.0 Difficulty
Mike demonstrates travis picking over the 12-bar blues, a perfect context to get your fingers wrapped around this technique.
13:43 Runtime
Learn a lead accompaniment inspired by the late Jerry Reed. This travis picked lick works great over the 12-bar blues.
6:07 Runtime
2.5 Difficulty
Taking the parts learned in the last two lessons, Mike demonstrates them separately, then we overlay them to hear what they sound like together.
3:55 Runtime
3.5 Difficulty
DADGAD offers a great stepping stone out of standard tuning. Mike introduces scales and warm-ups to familiarize yourself
10:48 Runtime
Now that we are comfortable with scales in our left hand, Mike introduces right hand exercises that will increase strength and control.
8:51 Runtime
When you changed into DADGAD, it probably felt like you lost your chord shapes. Mike eases you into the change by teaching shapes for this tuning.
11:22 Runtime
Continuing with movable shapes, Mike introduces some of his favorite chord shapes that have proven useful in his own songwriting.
5:36 Runtime
So far, we've taken a very technical and theoretical approach to DADGAD. Let's start making music. Mike teaches a beautiful, celtic composition.
7:37 Runtime
Extracting a section from "Somewhere Home", Mike puts DADGAD tuning to good use. Beware: this song utilizes hammer-ons, trills, and modulates.
14:39 Runtime
Mike starts into some more advanced techniques, starting with harmonics. These tools are sure to make your playing rise above the fray.
13:22 Runtime
Learning to blend harmonics into chords and melodies is next level! Mike teaches an exercise that introduces harmonics into a chord environment.
8:30 Runtime
Tapping is an useful technique to extend melodies beyond basic fingerpicking. Mike introduces the concept and introduces an exercise.
7:51 Runtime
Find out how an accident led to Mike discovering a whole new approach to tapping. Lap tapping is an effective way to know your fretboard even better.
7:26 Runtime
4.0 Difficulty
As Mike continues his exploration into horizontal tapping, he breaks down the first section of his song, Still, for a practical study of this technique.
7:35 Runtime
Mike introduces a new, untitled lap tapping riff. We're still hanging out in E minor, but this riff will help increase speed and precision with your tapping.
7:04 Runtime
Time to put your guitar back in the upright position. Mike starts to delve into some more advanced tapping techniques, including harmonization and percussion.
7:53 Runtime
In this "ridiculously, hectic" exercise, Mike takes some familiar shapes and turns them into a beautiful, challenging workout for anyone brave enough to join him.
8:36 Runtime
You would never hit your guitar? Well, Mike will convince you otherwise. He introduces his "grid" system which offers a foundation to add percussion.
13:06 Runtime
As introduced in the previous lesson, Mike expands on the percussion grid and teaches how to create a snare like sound on your guitar.
10:51 Runtime
If you've ever seen a drum kit, there's more than just a kick and snare. We are going to start recreating other sounds found in the world of percussion.
6:24 Runtime
Now that we've got a handle on drums, it's time to add guitar! We introduce the fretting hand, both as a percussive element and for adding chords.
5:57 Runtime
Mike takes a percussive groove from his song, Overload, and breaks it down. This riff takes the grid system and introduces a simple bass line.
7:05 Runtime
Mike takes a riff from "Maybe Someday" a song from his first album, "What Just Happened" and breaks it down for us. This riff has a celtic waltz feel and involves subtle percussion.
5:51 Runtime
World Premiere of this hauntingly beautiful song, "The Old Room". In this lesson, Mike does a complete playthrough, then breaks down the first verse.
16:41 Runtime
The chorus of The Old Room opens up into a majestic section with lush, full chords, harmonics, and accented single note runs. Sounds difficult, but it's an achievable challenge!
7:21 Runtime
Now Mike takes a look at some slight but cool variations in the second verse and second chorus of The Old Room.
9:52 Runtime
Relying heavily on a mix of harmonics, fingerpicking, pull-off's, hammer-on's and percussion, this will be a technical challenge, but it is well worth the effort.
13:27 Runtime
Interlude C of The Old Room features 3 sub-sections that build off of one another. Starting with a melodic phrase, Mike then adds a little percussion, then adds a lot of percussion. A nice build as we head towards the Outro of the song!
12:16 Runtime
0.0 Difficulty
Mike closes out the song with this open, free-time outro with dark harmonic tones and heavy reverb. If you don't feel the emotion, check your pulse!
6:05 Runtime
Building off of what we've learned, Mike is going to break down his song Boogie Shred, section by section, in unparalleled detail. In this first lesson, Mike does a complete playthrough, then shows us the chorus and the main riff.
16:01 Runtime
The verse of Boogie Shred is built upon a bass pattern with some simple percussion. From there is escalates, but getting the foundation is key!
11:34 Runtime
We'll take a look at the pre-chorus of Boogie Shred.
In this lesson, Mike teaches us some cool variations on the verse and chorus of Boogie Shred.
4:41 Runtime
Now it's time to take a look at some variations in the pre-chorus the second time it comes around.
7:17 Runtime
It sounds crazy, but Mike breaks down the hectic bridge of Boogie Shred and shows that it is actually possible to play!
8:11 Runtime
4.5 Difficulty
For the final piece of Boogie Shred, we look at the outro, which is a variation of the chorus. Mike then congratulates us on a job well done as he wraps up the entire series.
5:05 Runtime
Mike shares stories and advice from his own experience as a career musician.
16:10 Runtime
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