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Mark Kroos plays 2 guitar necks at the same time. Originally from Lansing, MI but currently based in Williamsburg, VA he is one of the only people in the world touring his trade. His primarily instrumental style is characterized by open harmonies, polyphonic textures, incredible tapping technique, and is as entertaining to watch as it is to listen to. Live performances burst with energy and magnetism not typical of solo guitar music. Drawing influence from folk, Celtic, indie... (more) Mark currently offers 129 guitar lessons at JamPlay, with 127 intermediate lessons and 2 song lessons.
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Extreme folk guitarist, Mark Kroos guides you step by step on the setup and technique aspect of playing in the style he deems "Extreme Folk." This style is also referred to by some as lap tapping.
Mark Kroos introduces himself and the lesson series he is starting. In this lesson, Mark talks about what he'll be covering in the lessons to come.
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In the second lesson of his extreme folk guitar series, Mark explains the ideal guitar setup for this style of playing. He talks about, strings, accessories and some things to watch out for in your setup.
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In lesson three of his extreme folk guitar series, Mark talks about the advantages of using DADGAD tuning in this style. He also demonstrates how to get in to DADGAD from standard tuning using your ear.
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In lesson four of his extreme folk guitar series, Mark discusses basic fingerstyle technique. Although this isn't the main technique that will be utilized in this style, it does come in to play, so covering the basics is necessary.
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Before jumping too far into the world of "extreme folk guitar," it's helpful to have a road map. In lesson five of his series, Mark Kroos covers some of the basic chords you'll utilize in this tuning.
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In the sixth lesson of his extreme folk guitar series, Mark Kroos discusses the left hand tapping techniques used in this style.
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Now that you've learned the basic approach to left hand tapping, Mark Kroos demonstrates the basic approach to right hand tapping.
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In his eighth lesson with JamPlay, Mark Kroos discusses the primary function of a capo - to change keys. He will discuss more creative and conceptual ideas for capo use in a future lesson.
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In this lesson, Mark Kroos discusses power chords and how they apply to DADGAD tuning. This tuning enables you to use one finger to make your power chords, allowing you to project the chords and stay out of the way of your other hand for melody work.
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Now that Mark has demonstrated tapping techniques for the left and right hands, it's time to combine them. In his ninth lesson, Mark provides a few exercises that help with this process.
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In his 11th extreme folk lesson, Mark Kroos discusses parallel fifths and how they can be used to create melody. DADGAD tuning is extremely conducive to this compositional technique.
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In this lesson, Mark Kroos demonstrates the movable chord shapes necessary to play in a major key within DADGAD tuning.
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Now that you understand the basics of playing in D major, Mark discusses playing in D minor.
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In his fourteenth lesson, Mark Kroos demonstrates how to turn your guitar into a drum kit.
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In lesson 15, Mark demonstrates some chord chord grips for the diatonic chords in D minor. He also discusses how relative minor keys relate to their major counterparts.
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In his sixteenth lesson in extreme folk guitar, Mark discusses a technique he calls "cascading." Cascading is a quick hammer-on and pull-off technique that allows notes within a melodic figure to run together in a seamless way.
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Now that you've got the basic cascading technique under your belt, Mark is back with a look at what else you can do with this technique. In this lesson, he adds chords as well as picking into the mix.
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In his 18th lesson with JamPlay, Mark Kroos discusses the advantages of working in Open D Tuning. Additionally, he teaches some fundamental chords in this tuning as well as how to get to it from DADGAD.
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Mark Kroos is back with a lesson on natural harmonics. You may be familiar with the concept, but Mark takes it to the next level and demonstrates how to include these harmonics in the songwriting process.
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In this lesson, Mark Kroos discusses why you may want to create your own altered tuning. He also provides some tuning tips and what to avoid.
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In this lesson, Mark Kroos takes a look at diatonic 6th intervals in both DADGAD and open D tuning.
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Mark is back with a lesson on slap harmonics. In this lesson, he covers when and how you might use this technique.
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Now that Mark has covered natural and slap harmonics, he provides a lesson on what are commonly referred to as "harp harmonics." This technique will allow you to add some flair to your playing and can be combined with various other techniques.
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Mark Kroos covers a new tuning that you may want to try in your extreme folk playing. He covers the advantages of CGDGGD tuning, common chord shapes, and how to tune to it from DADGAD tuning.
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To conclude the first part of his Extreme Folk Guitar teachings, Mark Kroos provides a lesson on practice strategies. He discusses the differences between playing and practicing, time management and using tools like a metronome.
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Returning to his Extreme Folk Guitar series, Mark Kroos offers up a lesson on octaves. Just like in the movable fifths lesson, Mark discusses how and why you might utilize octaves in your playing. He demonstrates the shapes associated with them and teaches some practical applications.
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In this lesson, Mark Kroos demonstrates how to use your thumb to create percussive rhythms on the guitar. This is beneficial as a backing if you're singing, or have a lull in the music you're playing.
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In the lesson, Mark Kroos demonstrates an easy, yet unique technique that can transform your playing and add some pop to your arrangements. Called an "explosive pull-off," this technique involves doing a mass pull-off of all the strings on the guitar.
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In this lesson Mark discusses the use of a partial capo. He demonstrates how to utilize a partial capo and how this benefits your playing. Lastly, he discusses how to modify and create other partial and short cut capos.
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In this lesson, Mark Kroos demonstrates the slap and pop techniques. Similar to slap bass, you can use this technique to add percussion and a unique sounding attack to your playing.
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In this lesson, Mark builds on the slap pop technique taught in his last. This quasi "clawhammer" technique is something most commonly found in banjo playing. Mark discusses its uses and demonstrates how to perform this technique on the guitar.
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Mark Kroos returns to his "Extreme Folk Guitar" series with a lesson on Open G tuning. He discusses and demonstrates the basic chords in the key as well as some of the advantages of playing in Open G versus DADGAD or Open D tuning.
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In this short lesson, Mark demonstrates how to utilize a bandana or handkerchief to accomplish a slight mute on your string. This helps to create a staccato rhythm effect that improves the groove.
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Get your hands working together with this two hand grooves mini-series.
In this lesson, Mark introduces the concepts for this mini-series of lessons. Designed as supplement material for his Extreme Folk series, this lesson set will get your hands working together. Mark provides prerequisite information as well as demonstrations of what you'll be learning in the series.
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In the first etude given by Mark, you'll start out slow and gradually work your way up to more challenging parts. This first lesson is designed to get you thinking about using your hands both individually and together.
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For the second etude in the Grooves series, Mark steps it up a notch on the difficulty. You'll start with a basic figure and begin to add complexity to it. Mark discusses and demonstrates the use of repeated figures in both odd and even groupings.
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Mark Kroos drops the skill level down a bit for the third etude in this mini-series. In this lesson, you'll focus on two hand patterns that are different, yet share common rhythmic patterns.
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Mark is back with the fourth etude in his grooves mini-series. He's amping the difficulty back up with this one and discusses passages that involve the hands working in close proximity to one another.
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For the fifth etude in his grooves series, Mark demonstrates a difficult pattern that utilizes open D tuning and a capo. This groove utilizes the "slap pop" technique discussed in Mark's Extreme Folk Guitar series.
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As you move along in these etudes, they become increasingly more difficult. This etude focuses on rhythmic patterns over melodies and incorporates percussion on the guitar body.
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Mark Kroos is back with another etude in his Groove mini-series. For etude seven, Mark introduces a more complex melody pattern for the right hand.
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For lesson nine in his mini-series, Mark provides an etude that focuses around the "slap-pop" technique he taught in his Extreme Folk series.
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For etude nine in his mini series, Mark changes things up a bit. You'll want to grab a handkerchief for this lesson! You'll also be adding percussive and melodic fretting elements.
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Mark returns with the tenth etude in his grooves mini-series. This etude is the most difficult by far. Starting with the left hand, you'll play a complex bass melody to which you will then begin adding rhythmic and melodic components with the right hand.
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Mark Kroos reaches in to his bag and pulls out a few tricks you might be interested in learning for the acoustic guitar.
Mark Kroos returns to JamPlay with a new mini-series. Here, Mark reaches into his bag of tricks and pulls out a few gems you may be interested in. To start things off, Mark provides a lesson on how he started playing a double neck guitar. Most people don't have one, so to get started, he discusses how you can use two separate guitars to achieve the same effect.
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Mark returns to his tricks lesson group with a lesson on using a wooden stomp box for percussion. He talks about his preferred box as well as some other options. Then, he demonstrates common ways to add it into your playing.
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Is your Blues playing bland? Does it feel like your playing is missing a few key ingredients? Well, it's time to spice things up with this comprehensive course as Mark Kroos offers several tools that will add variety to your solo playing over the 12-Bar Blues and beyond!
Mark Kroos introduces us to 'Spice Up the Blues'!
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Grab your guitar and let's get started with this basic form of the 12-Bar Blues.
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We've all heard of the Minor Pentatonic scale, but in this lesson, Mark will dive in on tweaking the Pentatonic Scale to cover more ground and incorporate the Major and Minor Blues Scales.
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Now that we have the Major and Minor Blues Scale under our fingers, Mark takes us through our first solo for this series utilizing both of these foundational scales.
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In this lesson, Mark shifts gears and dives into one of his very favorite modes: The Dorian Mode.
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Time for another solo! In this solo, we'll incorporate what we've learned with the Dorian Mode and even add a new level of complexity by including the Major Blues Scale.
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Ok, let's move on and add another mode to our musical toolbox. In this lesson, Mark dives into the Mixolydian Mode.
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Alright, let's get another solo under our fingers as we combine the D Dorian and D Mixolydian modes!
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In this next lesson, we'll move on to learning some key Dominant 7 arpeggio shapes for incorporating into our 12-Bar Blues soloing.
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Arpeggios are fun, but can often lead to losing our place on the fretboard. In this lesson, we'll take our arpeggios a step further by learning how to stay in position while using them!
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Now that we have our arpeggio shapes down let's put them to the test with this arpeggio-based solo!
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We have the Dominant 7 arpeggio shapes thoroughly under our fingers now, but what do we do with them? In this lesson, Mark guides us on how to use these arpeggios as a roadmap to connect our chord tones to build tension and resolution.
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Now it's time to work on our chord changes over the 12-Bar Blues by using guide tones!
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Ok, now it's time to put everything we've learned about chord and target tones to the test by connecting the different chord changes in this solo!
Looking for a quick and fun skill to incorporate into your solos? Here, Mark dives into harmonic double stops and how to use them at different intervals in our playing.
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Let's expand on our double stops as Mark incorporates sixths to create a very distinctive sound!
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Now let's take these harmonic double stops that we've got under our fingertips and incorporate them into a solo!
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Moving on, Mark walks us through harmonized bends and how to tailor this technique for the specific chords that we're using in our 12-Bar Blues.
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Alright, now let's take those harmonized bends we learned in the previous lesson and put them to use in this next solo!
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In this next lesson, Mark breaks down what can be intimidating to some players: fully diminished 7th chords.
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Time to take a look at a different type of arpeggio! Diminished Arpeggios can be tricky, but once we get them under our fingers they can be a lot of fun!
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In this lesson, we move on to the useful Diminished Scale, which is built from alternating half-steps and whole-steps.
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Time for another solo! For this solo, we'll take the Diminished Scale and incorporate some tension and resolution to make this a well-rounded and dynamic piece.
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Here, Mark takes us through the Whole Tone Scale, which feels a little different from other scales we've encountered due to the notes being a whole step apart.
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Congratulations! For this final lesson of the course, we'll put our Whole Tone Scale to use in this unique-sounding solo.
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Guitarists are always looking to add to their musical toolbox! One of the most sought-after tools is definitely the percussive acoustic style. In this fun series, Mark Kroos gives us four grooves to work with and all of the tips and tricks needed to ease our frustrations when tackling these techniques. After completing this course we'll be mastering these percussive grooves in no time!
Mark Kroos introduces us to the 'Percussive Fingerstyle Practice Plan'!
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Let's grab our guitars as Mark starts us off with our first groove in this series, where he breaks down DADGAD tuning and the bassline and backbeat of this groove.
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Alright, now that we have the bassline and backbeat of this groove under our fingers, let's practice with some repetitions!
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Time to get the melody of this groove under our fingertips!
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For this practice session, we are going to stick with just focusing on the melody as we practice this part of the groove at multiple tempos!
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Mark gives us some tips and tricks as we put all the pieces of this groove together!
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Now that we have the complete groove under our fingers, let's practice it at multiple tempos!
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Moving on, Mark breaks down the open D tuning we will be playing in and then takes us slowly through the bassline and backbeat of this groove.
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Let's get that bassline and backbeat ingrained in our muscle memory by practicing it at various tempos!
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Mark helps guide us with some tips and tricks on how to tackle the natural harmonics found in this melody of this groove.
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Let's practice the melody we just learned at three different tempos.
Now that we have both parts under our fingers, let's line them up to see how they flow together.
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Time to get that full groove down by practicing it with some practice repetitions!
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In this lesson, Mark focuses on playing solely with the left hand for this groove, as we will be keeping a drum-like beat on the guitar with our right hand.
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Let's commit these skills to muscle memory by practicing this melody at various tempos.
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Here, we focus on our right hand by playing the body percussion on the guitar for this groove as Mark gives us some insight on what kind of percussive sounds we can generate on different parts of the guitar.
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Now let's practice with just that right hand while keeping our percussive beat at various tempos.
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Now that we have those two parts under our fingers let's put them together to complete this groove.
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Let's practice this complete groove at different tempos!
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Mark incorporates some harp harmonics along with fretting for the final groove of the series!
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For this practice, we focus on getting the backbeat, the bass notes, and the harp harmonics under our fingers by playing them at different tempos.
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Here, we'll incorporate a left-hand 16th-note figure with some hammer-ons and pull-offs.
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Time to practice our left-hand exercise to get it burned into our muscle memory for this groove!
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Now we'll combine the left-hand and right-hand parts of this groove. Here, Mark breaks it down for us slowly so we can see how these two parts work together.
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Now let's close out the series and practice this final groove at different tempos!
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Been jamming for a while and looking to spice up your rock playing? Mark Kroos invites you to get these 30 show-stopping rock licks under your fingers! He'll guide you through a host of useful techniques and tools to help enhance your playing over an army of scales and arpeggios that perhaps you've never played before to help create a more versatile and complete rocker!
Mark introduces us to '30 Outside the Box Rock Licks'!
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For our first lick, Mark uses the Melodic Minor scale.
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This lick encompasses the Lydian Dominant scale which is very similar to the Mixolydian Mode.
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For this lick, we will be using the whole tone scale which will use a repeated figure throughout the lick.
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We move on to the diminished scale for this next lick which will be played over a C7 chord.
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This lick will use augmented triads and diatonic triads to create tension and resolution throughout the riff.
For this lick, Mark will incorporate some triplets in the Diminished Scale.
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Mark shows us a technique that has us muting the strings with our right hand as we sweep with our picking hand.
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Using the last two lessons as a foundation, Mark helps us build our skills by incorporating triplets, muting, and sweeping in this lick.
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For this lick, Mark shows how to use a somewhat sloppy fretting technique to acquire the sound we are looking for.
We use triad shapes for this lick, incorporating arpeggios throughout the piece!
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We continue to use arpeggios in this lick but this time on alternating major chords, Mark also incorporates hybrid picking.
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This lick has a couple of different moving parts to break down, it's centered around an A minor 9 arpeggio and uses a bit of the pentatonic scale as well.
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We explore a few different voicings and a tiny tap technique in this lick, giving it a unique sound!
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For this fast-paced lick, we use a fully diminished 7th arpeggio that will be a moveable shape.
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For this lick, we will alternate between G minor sweeps and C major sweeps that will generate a C9 chord sound.
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Let's add some more sweeps to our toolbox! This time we will alternate C#m arpeggios and G#m arpeggios.
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For this lick, we use double stops on the Dorian mode.
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This lick has a powerful melody comprised of 6ths and 7ths that can be used in a lot of real-world playing minor scenarios.
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We move on to a lick that is based around an A7 chord as well as the Mixolydian mode.
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Let's pick up the pace with this next double stop lick that uses the Dorian mode.
Mark helps us add another tool to our musical toolbox by walking us through some harmonized bends within this lick.
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For this lick, we incorporate some tapping techniques along with a technique called cascading.
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This lick will have us building on our tapping skills as well as adding some bending into the mix!
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Ready for some more tapping? For this lick, Mark guides us on how to tap arpeggios on a single string.
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Now that we have the foundation for bending and tapping, let's build on that in this next lick where we will hold a bend and tap arpeggios!
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For this lick, Mark walks us through a tapping a legato which is a flowing connected melody.
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Mark helps us build upon our cascading technique in this lick!
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This lick will have us playing a fully diminished 7th Arpeggio over a dominant 7th chord as we add tapping throughout!
As we near the end of our course, Mark adds another tool to our repertoire with touch harmonics!
For our last lick we put all of the skills together we have acquired over this course along with incorporating one last technique called harp harmonics.
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Mark Kroos teaches song lessons in the style he calls "Extreme Folk Guitar."
In this lesson, Mark Kroos discusses and demonstrates how to play his arrangement of "Amazing Grace". In his rendition, he exploits harmonic and tapping techniques common to his extreme folk style.
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Mark Kroos teaches a lesson on his song "Petals Change".
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