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Dave Isaacs has earned a reputation as one of the best: not simply a guitar and piano teacher but as a musical mentor to performing artists, songwriters, and performers as well as beginners, weekend warriors, and perpetual beginners. Dave's approach to teaching develops not only guitar playing but the whole musician, building real skills, confidence, and musical knowledge.A dynamic performing artist himself, he played in venues across the US from small clubs to festivals and ... (more) David currently offers 452 guitar lessons at JamPlay, with 63 beginner lessons, 358 intermediate lessons, 6 song lessons, 20 lessons in our Artist Series and 5 Lick & Riff Library entries.
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Don't get stuck learning chords, scales and theory with nowhere to apply the things you work on. Take the "David Isaacs" approach and learn the guitar by using real music. You'll be playing along with simple song examples after the second lesson!
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Tune up, learn your way around your guitar, and explore a simple, musical picking exercise to help you learn the string names. You'll be playing right out of the gate!
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Learn hand position, posture and see how to set up your playing for success when it comes to your fret hand. Dave goes in depth with his discussion and demonstration of hand mechanics. Don't miss this lesson!
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Learn the E7 minor and Am chords and then immediately put them to use with a simple song. Play along to the provided backing track and feel like you're part of the band...It's only your 4th lesson! Keep up the good work!
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Power chords are some of the most simple and ubiquitous tools for playing and making great songs. Learn the most basic shapes and put them to use right here! Dave also discusses the beginnings of strumming and note values.
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Learn a simple melody and take in a little info about what a 'key' is. You can learn the melody and have a friend strum the rhythm. Or, do it the other way around!
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These simple, musical tools can take you a long way. Use your index and middle fingers to play a simple Am chord and a simple E chord. You'll also learn how to read chord charts and play through another fun real-world example that includes a slightly more advanced chord.
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You will be introduced to a simple A minor scale and then learn a song that helps you get your new scale under your finger tips!
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1.5 Difficulty
Do you ever feel like you are wearing mittens while you are trying to practice your guitar playing? If you have ever experienced this sensation, this lesson is for you!
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You'll be introduced to the C Major scale and then you'll be able to put it to use over a soothing acoustic guitar rhythm bed. Have fun!
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Here you'll get to spend some time applying some fundamental chord shapes. Dave shows how to switch between these two chords seamlessly and, as usual, has a creative example ready to go so you can put your new knowledge to good use right away!
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I know what you're thinking..."I just learned these!" Well, you did learn a C chord and a G chord, but this lesson goes over ways to play these chords together in a chord progression that REALLY sounds great. The more ways you know how to play and use these basic chords, the more interesting your playing will become!
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You've probably heard it before, but most songs out there can really be played with just 3 or 4 chords. In this lesson, Dave gives you the tools to play most of the songs you know and love!
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We're moving into some new territory with this series now. You'll now be focusing more and more on material that you can play in a band setting. Up until now, you've been applying the basics to real music, but we're going to step it up a notch now! Get ready and have fun!
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Learn about the blues form and strum along with a cool, laid back, bluesy track. You'll be able to take the material in this lesson a long way down the road! Don't forget to have fun with it now though too!
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Learn the C major pentatonic scale and put it to good use over a catchy tune! You'll be surprised how simple this is and how very musical you can be with just 5 notes arranged in a musically interesting way.
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The mighty and intimidating F chord is one that most beginners see as a major hurdle in learning the basic chords on the guitar. Dave offers some ways to make the F chord more approachable. Once you examine the wrist and finger position for the F chord, you'll put it in a nice musical context for your practicing fun!
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Work on precision with your picking hand and more finger independence with your fretting hand using a soothing practice track called "Chimes". You'll get a good taste of combining melody and rhythm playing in this lesson as well!
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Dave works you through eight different strumming variations, discusses how to feel the groove while keeping the rhythm, and shows you how to take a handful of examples and create any strum pattern you wish!
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Look at the C major scale once again. This time however, you'll get to complete the first position C major pattern. You'll play every note within reach of your first 4 frets. You'll also learn a catchy tune that puts this knowledge to good use.
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Work in the Am, Dm, and Em chords and play them in a melancholy, yet soothing example. You'll also get to work on your basic strumming.
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Learn the E minor pentatonic scale with a small position shift that will get you out of the open position and moving around the neck a little bit. This is where it really starts to feel like you are owning your instrument!
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Earlier in the series, we explored the C major scale. In this lesson, the A minor will get some love. Learn the basic open position and use it in a new melody.
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Back to some chords now. In case you couldn't tell from the title, we'll be focusing on 7th chords for this lesson. You learned A7 a while back, and now you'll learn E7 and B7.
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Take a moment to pat yourself on the back! You've covered a lot of ground so far! You've been playing real music now for some time, and in this lesson, we're going to learn a walking blues line. What is a walking blues line you ask? Well, you're in the right place!
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Chords that don't have any open strings in them AND chords whose open strings fit comfortably within the chord all called "moveable chords". Learn how to play a couple chords up the neck.
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In this lesson, you'll take another big step forward when it comes to working outside of the open position. You'll feel like doing some jamming too!
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There are eight more strum patterns for you to dig into in this lesson. This time, they are a bit trickier. Follow along with the rhythm charts and take each example in chunks if needed. Combine them with the ideas in the previous strumming lesson for even more fun!
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You knew it was coming! This is the lesson where we stop dancing around full fingered moveable chords and dive head first into the most common barre chord shapes. They're not as bad as you may be fearing. Isaacs' straight forward, musical approach particularly shines on this often avoided topic for beginners.
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As the musical examples continue to distance themselves from that stereotypical beginner sound, Dave works through this track with a simple, moving melody inside a blues progression.
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Some of you may have been waiting for this one! Now we'll focus on some improvisation...Some lead playing. It's not about knowing all the scales or trying to be fancy. It is about using what you know to make a lasting impression on the listener, and you'll be surprised at how little you have to play in order to do just that!
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Learn how to create motion and percussive interest with your strumming. If you look at and listen to how drummers accent general grooves, there is a lot of insight there in to how to make your rhythm playing groove.
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Learn B minor chord and continue developing your feel and grooviness when it comes to strumming. Be sure that you are combing over older lessons as well so that you can incorporate many ideas into what you are playing.
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Develop precision in your picking. Learn when it's best to use alternate picking. Get comfortable with a few exercises and then apply the technique in a musical context!
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We're going to continue with rhythm playing and 16th note strumming, but this time we're going to touch on some laid back bluegrass playing. This is another simple style of playing to add to your arsenal.
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Learn a few more barre chord forms and get more advanced with your strumming. As you've come to know and love with these lessons, you'll have a chance to learn a new song!
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You've made it a long way if you've made it to the end of this series! In this final lesson of Mr. Isaacs beginner course, you'll spend some dedicated time moving both major and minor barre chord formations around the neck.
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So you want to play the Blues? Let's join Dave Issacs as he takes us on a journey covering the building blocks of the Blues for the Day 1 Beginner. We'll start at the very beginning with an inventory of the various parts and functions of the electric guitar before moving on to cover the core skills of the genre. If you're looking for a fast track to getting the fundamentals of the Blues under your fingers, then this is the course for you!
Guitars come in several shapes and configurations, and as an absolute beginner, this can confuse matters before you even get started. In this opening lesson, Dave Isaacs will discuss the name and function of the various parts of an electric guitar.
Now that we've covered the guitar itself, let's discuss each string and how to tune them!
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Using the correct positioning and posture while playing can save a lot of frustration and possibly even injury. In this lesson, Dave will cover the proper techniques to help us be comfortable and proficient in our playing.
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Tablature can be a useful stepping stone, helping us familiarize ourselves with printed music for the guitar, and with a bit more work - standard notation. Here, Dave will discuss the basics of tablature and how it associates with the location and direction of the notes on the fretboard.
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Dave Isaacs introduces us to 'Blues Guitar for Beginners'!
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Let's get our Blues journey underway with this simple melody that will help us familiarize ourselves with picking and fretting in time with a drum beat.
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Now that we've got a single-string melody under our fingers, let's take the next step and focus on your first chords with this simple chord progression.
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Continuing with our fundamentals, here Dave will highlight another mandatory Blues skill: sliding between frets.
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Alright, we've got our basic mechanics down. Now let's dip our toes into the theory pool with this Blues staple, the genre-defining 1 - 4 - 5 in A.
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Now it's time to take our melody playing to the next stage with this two-finger pentatonic melody!
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The power chord (also referred to as a 5th) is another essential skill that spans multiple genres. In this lesson, Dave will utilize this technique with a moody Blues riff in A.
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Time to expand our chord lexicon with this new chord progression that highlights the use of 7th chords and the need for resolution of the progression.
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Let's continue our journey by adding another tool to our repertoire with this common multi-genre skill: the Hammer-on.
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In this lesson, Dave will return to the Minor Pentatonic Scale, but this time in the key of E. He'll also highlight other core vocabulary terms such as intervals, and "call & answer" phrasing.
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Let's jam for a while! Here's a familiar bass-driven blues progression in E that will help up us to locate and stay in the "pocket".
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Alright, let's dial things up a notch with this catchy Blues progression based on the G Major Pentatonic Scale that will also introduce us to a new and useful skill: Syncopation.
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Time for some new chords! Here, Dave will highlight more of our "Cowboy Chords", but this time with a bit more emphasis on the middle, ring, and pinky fingers.
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Learning to accurately strum through a shuffle beat can be a challenge. In this lesson, Dave will break down this skill and also introduce us to a new chord: the D7.
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Up to this point, we've used our pick. In this next lesson, Dave will introduce us to the basic mechanics of fingerstyle picking!
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Let's continue our work with fingerpicking with this fun Country Blues progression in G that will require us to add another finger to our fingerpicking style!
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Time to dive into the world of minor keys with this Minor Blues progression that incorporates the Am, Dm, and Fmaj7 to add to our lexicon of chords!
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A 'pull-off' is the flip side of the coin in regards to our previously learned skill, 'hammer-ons'. In this lesson, Dave will make use of this skill with a smooth A minor melody.
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Double stops and partial barres are useful tools that can add depth and complexity to our sound and are a staple of the classic blues sound. Here, Dave presents us with a fun 16th beat progression to help us add these important skills to our toolbox.
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Time for a challenge! In this lesson, Dave presents us with sultry-sounding blues progression in Am that has some tricky fingering and demanding use of vibrato!
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Ok, now it's time to revisit our "Cowboy Chords" that we've learned. In this next lesson, Dave presents us with an easy-going piece in 12/8 time.
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Congratulations! You've reached the last lesson in the course and should now be well on your way to playing the Blues. In this final lesson of the series, Dave presents us with a bluesy melody to complement our 12/8 piece from the previous lesson.
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Effortless Guitar With Dave Isaacs.
JamPlay welcomes David Isaacs to our teacher roster. With his first lesson Dave explains his approach to playing guitar with a focus on efficiency of motion.
Dave Isaacs takes a look at left hand technique with this lesson. He explains how the hand works with the neck and fretboard and corrects some common mistakes most beginners and intermediate level players make.
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In this lesson, David Isaacs explains the mechanics of picking with a flat pick. He shows the differences between using your arm and wrist for the picking motion.
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Dave Isaacs teaches right hand rhythms with this lesson for solo acoustic guitar. He explains that when playing by yourself you need to make up for the lack of other instruments by spicing up your right hand strumming.
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Dave teaches you how to open up the fretboard by learning chords built from scales. In this lesson and most lessons in his series, Dave assumes that the student knows the major and minor scales as well as basic chord concepts.
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Building upon his last lesson, Dave shows you some ways to change between chords efficiently. This lesson is aimed at self-taught intermediate players but may benefit beginners as well.
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Dave Isaacs continues his lessons on chord technique with this lesson on barre chords (also known as bar chords). In this lesson he shows simple but effective ways to play barre chords efficiently. He also shows you how to play some common chord progressions with these techniques.
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Dave shows you how to connect a chord together in a progression even if it is not in the same diatonic key of the progression. In this lesson Dave assumes you have some basic knowledge of scale and chord theory. Beginners may get something out of this but it is aimed at intermediate players.
David Isaacs explores the intricacies of fingerstyle picking and the different methods that can be used. He explains how your right hand works while fingerpicking and how to find what works for you.
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Dave Isaacs shows you how to add melody lines to your fingerstyle arpeggio progressions. As with all his lessons in this series a certain amount of knowledge is assumed and Dave focuses on helping you become more efficient with this concept.
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Dave lays out his life long experiences related to practicing and guitar. If you have limited time to practice and want to get the most out of your time, you need to watch this lesson.
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Join Dave Isaacs for a comprehensive course covering some of the most well-known sounds of the last 50 years in guitar playing.
Join Dave Isaacs for a comprehensive course covering some of the most well-known sounds of the last 50 years in guitar playing. Come straight out of Isaac's Phase 1 series and learn songs in the style of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, The Eagles, Stevie Wonder, and more! You'll also learn how to practice new techniques and apply more musical ideas as you work through each example.
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Get warmed up and bridge the gap between Dave's extensive Phase 1 course with this lesson on chords. You'll have a nice track to play over and you'll be able to review many of the common chords you may already use every day!
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Learn how to use inversion chords to link other chords together. This happens all the time in the Rock and Roll style of bands like AC/DC. Grab your overdrive pedal and and make a statement with your chords!
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Work your chords in a melodic and soothing way. Picked arpeggios make it possible to extract melody from ordinary chord shapes. Once you have the concept and shapes down, try your hands at playing over calming backing track called "Home".
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Do you remember the first time you heard "Day Tripper" by The Beatles? Learning these techniques and playing with this track will take you back and help move your playing forward a huge step. Learn how to riff!
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Get comfortable playing small, musical chords around the neck in this lesson. You've likely spent some time moving your barre chords around the neck. You'll use parts of those chords and be able to realize some melody possibilities as you move around the neck.
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The minor pentatonic scale is a great place to start and a bedrock of popular music. Dave used those shapes and adds in the rest of the notes from the natural minor scale to tip his hat to one of the most influential guitar players of our time!
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You're familiar with a standard 12-bar blues. Now, you'll get to experience some of the twists and chord possibilities that can be present in a minor blues. Riff away!
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Learn how to navigate the neck by connecting simple C major scale patterns together. Do it in a musical way with a nice, catchy example to get your feet wet with.
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Scale the neck with both single notes and chords with this catchy musical example. This track moves at a slow pace and allows for a very contemplative mindset while learning the different positions of your scales and chords.
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You'll spend some more time with moveable chord forms, journey around the neck a little, and learn bits and pieces of a classic rock style.
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By making small adjustments to a simple scale, you can make something very normal, sound much more interesting. It's been done for decades and is often not well understood, but Isaacs breaks down this concept here!
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Put a little Chuck Berry in your playing by incorporating some of the most familiar sounds in all of Rock 'N Roll. Chords, rhythm and lead playing all come together in this style.
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You might think of fingerstyle guitar as something that mostly only happens on acoustic. While acoustic players will get a lot out of this lesson, electric players will also be given the tools they need to embrace fingerstyle playing at a very basic level. You'll learn a great little song as well!
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Bends are always one of the signature sounds of any guitar player, but bending musically and in tune consistently can be quite a challenge. Dave sheds some light on this subject in this lesson and also provides a musical context in which to practice your bends!
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Wanna play chords anywhere on the neck? Learning and applying your triad shapes is a GREAT place to start. Learn how to use triads all over the place with this simple and fun musical example.
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Using nothing more than the simple Major Pentatonic scale, you'll create some catchy music and learn some nice licks. There's a lot to play with when it comes to this classic 5-note scale.
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Triads, double stops and slides intertwined with tasty slow blues phrasing are going to make you proud to learn and practice this piece. Dig in
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Arpeggios are not just for classical guitar players and shredders. They are fantastic musical vehicles and make your playing sound spacious and dynamic. You'll also give your pinky a good workout.
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It's bright and bouncy... It's "Swing". Learn this simple melody and learn the feel that always brings the moods up a notch. You'll get a good hand workout and get a catchy tune stuck in your head at the same time!
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Practice moving triad shapes around the neck in a musical and even soothing way. You'll learn how to connect these small chords so that you're making little melodies as you're moving around!
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Rock out a little bit with this Bluesy and driving track that will make you want to play lead guitar all day long. Get ready for some straight up Rock and Roll. You'll be working a lot on slides and pull-offs as well!
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Laid back, clean, and soothing to play, this lesson will have you focusing on double stops and slides in a Classic Country setting. Set the overdrive pedal aside and make it ring loud!
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It's time for a geography lesson. Look at the way the CAGED patterns relate to each other around the neck. You'll be moving up and down the neck with ease after you master the material in this lesson!
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Dig in to some R&B-style grooves and playing here! You'll be using a lot of we've already covered previously, but with a good deal more 'bounce'. Each lick will contain a lot of different types of techniques and you'll be going back to a familiar song form as well.
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Do you like Classic Rock? Do you like Country-tinged, laid back leads? Well, get ready for a treat! You'll learn a solo in the style of the Eagles today and have a chance to work on musical bending and double stops at the same time!
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Improvisation might be a scary word for some, but Dave lays out a method and a track that will have you making music that easily comes out of your stream of conspicuousness. You won't need to over think!
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There's lots to unpack here with all of the various rhythmic variations. It has a chime, yet it is tight and full of range. Have fun with this one!
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Enter back into the realms of improvisation in this lesson and have some fun experimenting with different flavors of the minor sound. You'll get a sense of how to use some 'unexpected' sounding notes while working out the melody.
Dave Isaacs is back with his comprehensive series covering all sorts of different ways that Acoustic Guitar presents itself in popular music.
Dave Isaacs is back with his comprehensive series covering all sorts of different ways that Acoustic Guitar presents itself in popular music. Get ready to learn your favorite styles from recognizable artists and put to practice techniques such as strumming, fingerpicking, and chord voicings!
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Dave discusses important ideas about rhythm and time, including counting as you play. He also covers types of notes and rests, and shows you how to read basic rhythms in notation and tablature.
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Dave dives into two of the most important concepts in modern music - groove and dynamics. He talks about how these two ideas go hand-in-hand to make music more exciting, and shows you how to incorporate them into your own playing.
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Dave teaches the song "Heartland Soul," a simple and groovy acoustic number. Using examples from the song, we learn different strumming patterns, as well as how to embellish chord voicings with different notes.
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You'll get a single note workout in this lesson! Practice crossing strings, using the most efficient and musical motion possible. We'll discuss anchoring, alternate picking, and some 'best practices' for picking single notes within a chord.
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Building on the picking techniques from the last lesson, you'll get to learn a cool, laid back track called "Years Go By". When you're understanding and able to track with the picking concepts from lesson 5, you're ready to move on to this lesson. Have fun!
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Get into some single note work and scales in preparation for learning a song in the next lesson! You'll get a taste for working in position and learn how to choose which fingering makes the most sense.
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Take the picking insights from the last tune and apply them to this straight forward Bluegrass tune called "Picking Party" This mid tempo picking workout will help you cement the picking techniques you have been working on.
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Strumming is an art. It's also something that show flow and be pretty much effortless. Still, many guitar players struggle with maintaining that 16th note feel and making it sound natural. Mr. Isaacs will break it down for you!
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Continue working on the 16th note strumming techniques that you used in the last lesson and put them to work in a tune called "Strumming Groove".
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If you didn't start as a fingerstyle guitar player, it can be a daunting task to get started with the technique. Dave makes it easy to add this style to your playing!
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Once you have taken Dave's introduction to fingerpicking, get a taste of the way that Classical music uses this technique. You'll also get to learn a cool tune.
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This lesson will introduce the 6/8 time signature. You'll learn just a small bit of music theory, you'll get better at counting music and you'll learn to groove!
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Take what we worked on in the last lesson and apply it to a song in 6/8 time. You'll get even more used to strumming in this triple groove and play along with real music!
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Continuing with honing in on the groove, you'll have an opportunity to work with moving bass lines with in a chord progression and strum pattern.
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Continue with the walking bass and strum concepts in this lesson and learn a catchy tune that takes 'walking' in the low end to the next level!
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We're going to circle back around to fingerstyle in this lesson. This time your fingers get to play melody while your thumb acts as your bass player, keeping steady time.
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Go a step further with fingerstyle in a Blues setting. Play along with the simple backing track and feel a real sense of accomplishment that you have incorporated the bass/thumb and finger/melody concept! You'll also get to practice palm muting!
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Let's talk about muting, rhythm and percussion. You can add a whole other layer of color and musical interest with proper and creative muting techniques.
Make an acoustic guitar get a little funky! You'll be applying the rhythmic and creative muting concepts you learned in the last lesson to this groovin' tune.
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Use open strings while playing up the neck to bring out the resonance of your acoustic guitar. Learn new chord shapes and scale patterns that span the neck and use the open sound of un-fretted notes.
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Take the concept of using fretted notes and open strings that was worked on in the last lesson and apply it to a soothing little tune.
We're going to return to fingerstyle working primarily with plucked chords. This will be a review of basic fingerstyle, but the fresh vibe created by the plucked chords will present a new challenge.
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Apply what you've been practicing in the area of plucked chords to this laid back and meditative piece. You'll exercise other fingerstyle techniques as well!
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Continue to work on fingerstyle, but come at with a slightly different approach. We'll add percussion to plucked chords and subtle melodies within connected chords.
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Get yourself out of the open position, and move up the neck while retaining the ringing of open strings as well. You'll do this by capitalizing on inversions.
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Drop your low E to low D and open up a whole new range of possibilities. Dave will go over the tuning process and share some tasty finger picked ideas for you to explore the tuning with.
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Travis Picking can be used generally to describe any fingerpicking technique where the thumb is alternating with the rest of the strings. This lesson will take the technique all the way back to its roots in Ragtime piano!
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Going deeper into the "Travis" style picking, Isaacs will add a technical variation and teach you a bouncy little tune called "Ragtime". Have fun!
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We'll return to the concept of moving chords up and down the neck. This time, we'll be in the key of E. We've already done lessons like this on the keys of A and D, so this one should flow nicely with what you've learned so far.
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Apply movable chords up the neck and get a strumming workout at the same time with a track called "Listen Up".
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Many players find themselves in perpetual beginner mode after feeling like they have learned the basics. They seem to struggle with the same sorts of things over and over again, lack direction in their practice sessions and find it difficult to regularly apply what they have learned. This course is designed by Dave Isaacs with these players in mind. The goal of this material is to help players who feel like they will always be a beginner break through to the next level. We want to help you bridge the gap between a beginner player and an advanced player.
Many players find themselves in perpetual beginner mode after feeling like they have learned the basics. They seem to struggle with the same sorts of things over and over again, lack direction in their practice sessions and find it difficult to regularly apply what they have learned. This course is designed by Dave Isaacs with these players in mind. The goal of this material is to help players who feel like they will always be a beginner, to break through to the next level. We want to help you bridge the gap between a beginner player and an advanced player.
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Move beyond the mindset that you need to learn new strum patterns and into the more musical way to approach rhythm guitar. Great rhythm playing is more of a mindset and a groove consciousness and less about creating a library of strumming exercises.
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You'll continue with groove development in this lesson. This time you'll focus in on shuffle and swing grooves while continuing to discuss mechanics and strumming mindset.
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Now we get to work on adding mutes and ultimately percussive interest into our strumming. We won't do it by learning exact patterns though. We'll approach it through the concepts we've been learning in the past few lessons.
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Start organizing chords that you know by sound. Start training your ear to hear the differences in chords without having to play them. Go beyond memorizing chords and move into creative application!
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Changing chords can be difficult at all skill levels. Work through several changes and learn some tricks to get to the chords you need to... On time!
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Look specifically at chord function and chord numbering in this lesson. This will further your ability to use the right chords in the right situations and actually help with your chord transitions because you'll be preempting your decisions by what the chord progressions logically and musically suggest.
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For the next three lessons, we'll be talking about the fretting hand. We'll whip it into shape and point out some good habits to start and some bad habits to stay away from.
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We're going to spend some time moving around the neck with an exercise aimed specifically at helping you develop accuracy with your fretting hand. Stick with this exercise as it makes a great warm up too!
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You probably saw this lesson coming. This lesson full of specific exercises, when taken as a whole will wrap together the previous lessons as well. Proceed with patience!
We've spent some time on this in previous lessons, but in this segment, we get to focus specifically on alternate picking mechanics. Down... Up... Pick hand position and posture... It's all here!
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Moving from string to string can be challenging. Here, we continue working with picking hand coordination and look at arpeggios as a way to practice getting better at changing strings during a sequence.
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In the last lesson we worked on picking individual notes in the context of arpeggios. Here, we're going to look more closely at picking single notes in the same way one might do when they play lead guitar. Dynamics are often an overlooked aspect of alternate picking, but this is not the case in this lesson!
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The guitar is not as linear of an instrument as a piano is. Because of the tuning and the multiple strings, it can be difficult to visualize scales. David's approach to single string major scales will help us bring some uniformity to our guitar and better understand basic major scale theory.
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You'll want to learn these exercises note for note and when you do, you'll benefit from seeing just how "pattern-like" the duplicate notes on the guitar actually are. Knowing how to use the duplicate notes on the guitar is HUGE for phrasing opportunities.
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In this lesson we'll be combining several things from previous lessons. We will be working with scales in multiple positions and we'll be capitalizing on chord tones vs. non-chord tones and how to use each for maximum musical enjoyment!
Finger coordination is a core skill that will influence every aspect of your playing. Going through this lesson will put you on a path to feel better about how your fingers feel on the neck specifically with Barre Chords
In this lesson, we're going to continue working with barre chord forms and shapes. This lesson is aimed at those who know how to play barre chords but are still struggling to apply them and get in and out of them.
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Here, we're work shopping the complete chord forms. We're reviewing each shape and continuing to work on practical chord changing tips and technique.
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How do you go from playing scales to making music? The short answer is this: You learn how to phrase. We'll be talking about the all important role of rhythm in developing your lead prowess.
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Continuing on in the exploration of phrasing and lead playing, we get to incorporate the familiar and comfortable Pentatonic Scale. This is a great place to start when beginning to look at how your rhythm playing influences your lead playing.
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In the last lesson, we worked with the Pentatonic Scale. That scale is only 5 notes but you can make a lot of music with it. Here, we look at a simple way to incorporate the Dorian Mode into your lead guitar phrasing.
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We'll do some more ear training here and explore how you learn songs by ear. Learning by ear doesn't mean you don't have your guitar in hand. It does mean that your ears start to guide your fingers and not the other way around.
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Continuing with ear training, we're going to look at chord sequences and chord qualities primarily focusing on major, minor and dominant sounds.
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Moving forward another step with Ear Training, we're going to focus specifically on the sound of 7th chords, beginning with a bluesy example.
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So far in our quest to improve our ear training, we've been working with simple, streamlined progressions. In this lesson, we get to step it up a notch and work with some sequences and progressions that may not be quite so typical.
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In this next set of lessons, we're going to look at articulations. These are ways to approach notes that add a bit more flavor, color and interest. This lesson will focus on Slides and Slurs as a means to add interest.
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Continuing on with articulation, we're going to talk about the world of string bending. Bending is one of those articulations that sticks to certain players. You can identify great players by their bends!
Using many of the articulations covered in the last few lessons, David will be teaching a simple solo to show how they can be used together to create combined interest and emotion.
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If you're not a singer, you might be tempted to think that this lesson may not apply to you... But it does! You can use your voice as a tool to help you improve in your guitar playing. David is here to tell you how.
We're going to look at a simple song that is basically centered around the Pentatonic scale and practice effectively using the voice while singing. It can be challenging, but practice will make this a lot easier!
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Over the next month, we’re going to work through a series of exercises and lessons that will gradually train your hands to finally master barre chords once and for all.
The Mindset for Better Barre Chords
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This is a simple chromatic scale exercise in the open position, working all four fingers as you move across this strings. You may have done something like this before, but there is very different.
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This is an application of the dynamic hand position concept. Think of it as cross-training for your hands.
In this video we take a closer look at the mechanics of the 4-string simple F chord, including the position of the wrist, hand, and barre finger.
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Flexibility of the tip joint is essential to playing many barre chords. This exercise works you through a series of melodic patterns in the key of Bb that require flexing the tip segment of the index and ring fingers to cross strings.
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The goal is to really get to know your fretting hand, how one finger feels relative to another, and how the wrist and forearm assist each movement.
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If you’ve been working with the smaller 4-note F chord form up to this point, you may be surprised to find that the 6-note form is easier, because now we’re really starting to use leverage to our advantage.
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Now you’re going to apply everything we’ve done up to this point to play C, full F, and G barre chords in time with a backing track. There are two versions of the track, slower and faster. Pick the one you feel most comfortable with at this time.
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This lesson is all about paying attention. Keep in mind that most people play barre chord exercises like this blindly and much too fast. Concentrate on the right things and there’s enough to think about to keep your head in the game.
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The exercise starts with building the chords one finger at a time, NOT worrying about holding down every note to start with but staying focused on hand position. As always, slow and deliberate is the key!
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Another exercise in finger independence but a big step closer to the big barre chords. This one uses power chord shapes to outline chords. As mentioned in our previous power chord exercise, these forms are part of the larger shapes and are great for gently developing your reach.
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In this exercise you’ll be working primarily on the three treble strings, using forms that will become familiar if they aren’t already. We’re now looking to treat these shapes as ringing chords, so the notes should be held and played together. The index finger will hold down two and sometimes three strings, depending on the chord and the proportions of your fingers.
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Here we are at the next of the essential big barre chords! This form builds on the 4-note shape you practiced on day 9, but adds a low bass note.
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This one is another essential shape, and a big challenge for most people in the beginning. You should recognize the now-familiar building process, adding fingers one at a time at first but keeping them on the strings as you go.
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Welcome to another milestone…today we’re putting some pieces together with a backing track! Looking at the onscreen tab or the pdfs, you’ll notice how we start with the power chord shapes played as individual notes, and build gradually into the full chords.
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After all that intense chord work of the last couple of days, it’s time to take a step back and return to some simpler finger exercises. This one is in the key of E minor, and you may find it a little easier than some of the previous ones. The main point is a little different, though: this is an exercise in applying the balance concept in different places across the neck.
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Today we’re adding a different part to yesterday’s backing track. This one moves across the neck, using mostly three and four-note barre chords derived from the larger barre shapes you learned as B minor and B major.
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One of the reasons barre chords are so challenging is that they require asking your fingers to hold two different positions at the same time. This is why finger independence is so important. It might not seem obvious at first how this exercise relates, but as you work through it you’ll see what we’re doing here: working with a moving part against a stationary one.
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As we’ve already seen, a barre chord doesn’t have to cover all the strings. Mastering partial barres is essential to a well-rounded chord vocabulary. This exercise uses mostly three-note forms, working on a three-note partial barre on the inside strings.
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Building on the chord work in the previous few lessons, this one introduces a new four-note shape that might be familiar to some of you. It’s not a barre, at least not the way it’s used here, but it’s a very useful alternative to the shape you learned as B major a while back.
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This next exercise mixes several of the barre forms you’ve learned so far. At this point, you do need to be able to sustain the chords, so this is a good time to take inventory.
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Today’s exercise is a two-fer! The track has two distinct guitar parts and two pdf charts, one played on acoustic guitar and one on electric. You can use either type of guitar on either part, just as we’ve been for the entire course, but the parts themselves are meant to be examples of how each instrument might be used in a song like this.
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In this exercise we’re going to complete our set of the four primary barre chords. We’ve looked at the idea of classifying them in categories, and today we’re going to add the one primary form we haven’t covered yet, the 6-note minor form.
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3.5 Difficulty
At this point, you should be clear on the process we’ve been using as each new chord is introduced. We covered the six-note minor form last lesson; today we’re using 4-note partial barre chords in conjunction with larger six-note forms.
Today we move into a new key and a new combination of chords. This time, the chords are played one note at a time as arpeggios. You have the option of building the chord as we’ve done before, or you can try to grab the entire form at once.
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Today we complete the set of our four primary barre forms, building on what we’ve done so far. Remember that we can classify the chords by quality (major or minor) and location of the root note (5th or 6th string). In this exercise we add the complete 6-note minor barre form by adding the 6th string root to the shape.
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Today’s exercise presents a new challenge. Sliding the same barre formation along the same strings is a little more dicult than the release-and-glide technique we’ve been using. Releasing the strings stops the sound, which under most circumstances is what we want.
This one might seem really simple, and in some ways it is. We’ve explored how partial forms can give us different sounds to play with, and new ways to play familiar chords. In this case, we’re using two-note chords entirely, all played with a single finger on two strings – the now familiar bent-knuckle partial barre.
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Congratulations, you made it! If you can play exercise 28 all the way through, you have successfully completed the 28 Day Barre Chord Plan.
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A great guitar hook or solo can be the emotional peak of a song, especially for a guitar player! Great players have the touch, tone, and vocabulary to make a guitar speak and sing. Learn the basic vocabulary and musical concepts behind rock and blues lead guitar, and how to make the most of working with backing tracks.
Dave introduces us to his course, Learning to Lead, where we will learn things like the basic vocabulary and musical concepts behind rock and blues lead guitar, and how to make the most of working with backing tracks.
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Simply put, phrasing is learning to organize your ideas in time. When fleshing out this concept, learning how to play various note groupings, rhythmic subdivisions, and rhythm 'cells' is key. In this lesson, Dave starts us out by showing us how to execute rhythms on a single note in time against a track.
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What is a pentatonic scale, and why does it work so well in so much of the music we play? The answer to these and other questions are found in this lesson, as Dave shows us how to execute pentatonic fragments in time against a track.
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Phrasing sometimes involves the shaping of intervallic contours in a line or scale. In this lesson, Dave takes a look at the rising and falling of intervals and the steps or jumps in scale degrees.
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Now we take a look at a new pentatonic formation, and how to duplicate melodic figures in different positions.
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When it comes to phrasing, the call and response technique is certainly foundational. In this lesson, Dave takes a look at the technique, specifically at how it is used in blues playing.
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Let's take that same call and response technique and use it across different positions. This helps create contrast in your lines, and an overall variety in your playing!
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The major pentatonic is where we're headed now. Dave will show us two different ways to find this scale, as well as some variations between major and minor 'flavors'.
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And now yet another pentatonic pattern! This lesson will focus on moving up the neck with more E minor pentatonic fragments.
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When learning to improvise, it's wise to learn to use fragments of scales in multiple positions. This gives you the most options when traversing the neck.
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Don't let the word 'theory' scare you away! This lesson is a simple, practical, useful way to learn how to relate chords to scales, and it will serve you well down the road!
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In this lesson, Dave introduces us to the 12 bar blues. This 'slow change' pattern can be used in many situations. The 1-4-5, bass riffs, and offbeat shuffle are some of the concepts that we'll cover in this lesson.
Now Dave shows us some moveable chord voicings that we can use in this 'quick change' 12 bar blues.
Let's move to our first major scale. In this lesson we will learn the C major scale and concept of key, and the intervallic contruction of the scale. As we walk through the fingerings and patterns, we'll see that this scale give us more options for tension and release.
What is a melodic sequence? Dave explores this concept by looking closely at note groupings, and using repetitive sequences to organize melodic ideas.
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Now let's apply what we learned about melodic sequences and use it over chord changes. We'll find that the opportunity to use chord tones and tension tones will add another dimension to our sequencing.
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In this lesson, Dave takes a look at the chord tones found in blues music. We use the slow change blues track again to learn our 7th chord arpeggios.
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The ultimate goal is to learn all of our scales in any position. That means 6 forms and variations, with multiple fingerings from any bass note. Whew! This may seem daunting, but Dave gets us going in this direction with this exercise where we will learn to climb the neck in the key of F.
Dave shows us how to map the neck by identifying scale degrees within each fingering. This helps us to use the scales in a practical way, improving our ear.
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With the availability of more chord tones with different fingerings, this now allows us to explore transposing. We start with transposing the exercise from lesson 17.
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The 'blue note' is a classic tonal variation that allows for great tension in a line, or use as a passing note. In this lesson, Dave shows us where this note is located, and how to use it best.
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Now it's time to look at the G major scale. Dave explains the concept of forming a cycle up the neck of the guitar, as well as using 3 scale forms from a single bass note.
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Chord tones can be played as arpeggios derived from the scale. Dave shows us how to map out the arpeggio fingerings, and how to use the arpeggios in a melodic way.
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In this lesson, Dave shows us how to derive melodies from chord tones by identifying the connecting notes. Then we wrap up the lesson learning a melodic use of those chord tones.
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Tones found outside a given chord or scale can help create tension, and subsequently release when resolved. This can help create more interesting movement in our phrases and lines.
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Articulation techniques add nuance and dynamics to our guitar playing. In this lesson, Dave gets us started with some key articulation movements: slides and slurs.
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Dave takes a look at the natural minor scale, it's fingerings and it's parallel and relative relationships.
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By combining pentatonics and the natural minor scale, we arrive at the minor blues. Dave shows us the minor blues progression, and how to add these scale combinations to get a great, classic sound.
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The next step in our articulation development is string bending. Acclimating our ear to quarter, half and whole step bends is key to mastering this technique.
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The harmonic minor scale can be easily played by slightly altering the natural minor scale. In this lesson Dave shows us that alteration, as well as some practical uses for this scale.
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Now let's take the harmonic minor scale and apply it to chords. We'll identify key chord tones, then learn how to place it properly in our backing track.
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It's time now to explore the modes! Dave starts us with the Dorian mode. We look at two different ways to dervive the modes as well as analyzing some practical ways to improvise over Dorian.
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Next up is the Mixolydian mode. Derived from dominant 5th degree of the scale, Dave shows us how to access this scale and the best ways to use it in our improvisation.
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Dave now shows us a very cool way to mix Dorian and Mixolydian, creating unique tonal opportunities!
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In this lesson, Dave shows us yet more melodic ways to use chord tones. Arpeggios are the key in this lesson!
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Chromatics work great as passing tones and connectors in our playing. They also lend themselves to creating a 'jazzier' sound in our improvisation!
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In this lesson, Dave teaches us the 'Abacus Concept' of changing keys.
A good solo tells a story as ideas unfold. We can use the scales and concepts that we've learned in previous lessons, but it's HOW we put them together that ultimately decide how good the solo will be! In this lesson we will learn to use rhythm, texture and dynamics, as well as a number of the melodic concepts we've learned in the series to create a cool solo!
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Free Improvisation is just that - you are free to move around the neck and the rhythmic universe without constraints. Learn how to organize your ideas through rhythm, dynamics and texture to create something that is uniquely yours!
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The human body is essentially a machine, and like any other machine - if used improperly it can start to break down. Join David Isaacs as he gets down to the nuts and bolts of chording and chord progressions. We'll get under the microscope and break down open position and Barre Chords - finger by finger, while discussing the ergonomic benefits of proper hand positioning. We'll also cover the minimalist movements required to create fluid, accurate chord changes that can help avoid injury and maintain fretting hand stamina.
Welcome to 'The Beginner Rhythm Guitar Practice Plan, Vol. 1 : The Fundamentals'.
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Many times a chord change can be accomplished with minimal movement. Let's dive right into the fundamental mechanics of guitar playing by covering parallel and oblique finger movements.
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Now let's practice the minimalist approach to chord changes that we learned in the previous lesson.
Efficient movement is key to cleanly making quick or numerous chord changes. In this lesson, Dave will cover one of the most useful movements in guitar playing - 'The Flip'
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In this next lesson, we'll run through some repetitions of the 'The Flip' in order to commit it to muscle memory.
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True mastery of our chords comes not only from memorizing the names of the chords, but by being able identify the actual sound of the chords. Here, Dave will discuss the importance of positioning and efficiency in order to create quality recognizable chord sounds.
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Now lets run through some repetitions of the previous exercise in order to really polish the quality of our chords.
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The relationship between chords and scales are one in the same, being that typically the scale resides within the chord itself. In this lesson, Dave will cover how to use the scale of a chord to identify alternate versions and placements of well known chords.
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Alright now let's commit the scales within the chords to memory with the goal of being able to create a melody derived from our chord progression.
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We've all heard chords that sound like they were made for each other. In this lesson, David will cover some of the chords that work best with a D chord, as well as how to identify them alphabetically and numerically.
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Ok. Now let's practice the chord progression provided by David in the previous lesson.
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Let's take things up a notch and apply the same concept that we covered with the D chord, only now with more difficult F chord.
Now it's time to practice the F chord progression provided in the previous lesson.
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Time to get real. Barre Chords are a real challenge for many players. Many times this difficulty stems from less than optimal finger placement, as well as 'over-gripping' the guitar. In this lesson, Dave will discuss using some ergonomic finesse when utilizing the full bar 6-note F Barre Chord.
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Alright, now let's put in some repetitions and practice the full bar 6-note F Chord.
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Continuing down the rabbit hole with our Barre Chords, Dave will now discuss the correlation between the A shape and B Barre Chord.
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Here's a chance to put in some repetitions of the A-shape and B Barre Chord covered in the previous lesson.
Let's continue our exploration of Barre Chords and dive into the realm of Minor Barre Chords. In this lesson, Dave will cover the ergonomics and placement of the B Minor Barr Chord.
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Now it's time to practice the construction and application of our B Minor Barre Chord.
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Continuing with our Barre Chords, Dave will now discuss the the E Minor Barre Chord as well as the four primary shapes that are prevalent in modern music.
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Ok. Now let's practice committing the E Minor Chord Shape from the previous lesson to muscle memory.
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We previously mentioned the four primary Barre Chord shapes. Now let's follow Dave as he covers how to ergonomically combine these shapes into a single chord progression.
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In this lesson, we will run through some repetitions of the chord progression provided in the previous lesson in order to commit the four primary Barre Chord shapes to muscle memory.
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Coming down the homestretch! In this review, Dave will cover the open-position and fretted Barre Chords which, when committed to memory, will allow us to play all twelve major and minor chords in two positions!
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Congratulations! Here we are on our final exercise of the course. Let's bring it home with some repetitions of the extended chord progression from the previous lesson.
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Welcome to volume two of Dave Isaacs' Beginner Rhythm Guitar Practice Plan. With the fundamentals under your fingers, it's time to start looking at concepts that drive groove and pocket. This is an essential course for any aspiring rhythm guitarist.
Welcome to volume two of David Isaacs' Beginner Rhythm Guitar Practice Plan. Before moving to volume two, you should have a proficient understanding of the concepts and techniques taught in volume one. This series will focus on strumming, counting rhythm and creating good groove and pocket.
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To kick off this series, David defines a few terms such as pulse and meter while discussing some basic written notation ideas. You'll get going with some basic rhythmic counting, then move on to practical application in the next lesson.
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Now let's apply the concept from the previous lesson in a practical manner. You'll be strumming rhythm to basic rhythmic subdivisions along with the supplemental content provided.
The metronome is never wrong and that may be why many people loathe it. In this concept lesson, David talks about working with the metronome and using it as a reference instead of following it. You'll be working on different permutations of playing on a beat.
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Now let's apply those beat permutations that you worked on in the previous lesson, to a practice exercise. Remember, you're reading from the supplemental content and using the metronome as a tempo guide.
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As you start to strum patterns in 8th note or further subdivisions, you need to be able to strum in both directions and as efficiently as possible. In this concept lesson, David will help you create even strumming in both directions.
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Now that you've got your strum mechanics down. Let's practice several combinations of rhythm that include up-strokes.
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David introduces the idea of dynamics, specifically how they relate to the backbeat in the groove.
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Now let's practice accenting the backbeat in this practice guide based on the previous lesson.
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In this lesson, David talks about the three levels of sound that you're already producing and introduces the concept of syncopation. You'll also briefly start to look at targeting specific strings in your strum instead of playing all six strings.
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Now it's time to practice the syncopated rhythm. You'll be starting at a slightly faster tempo now, so if you're falling behind a little, bring out your metronome and start a bit slower.
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In this lesson, David discusses the sixteenth note subdivision and clues you in on a wrist-snapping technique that will help you keep time and produce great sound!
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Now that you've seen the wrist-snap in action, lets practice the sixteenth note exercises you learned in the previous lesson.
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It's time to take another look at syncopation. This time we're going to be adding notes and figures that carry the music across the bar line.
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Now that you're familiar with crossing the bar line, lets practice that skill.
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One way to add dynamic interest to your playing is to add non-tonal elements that fit within the groove or pocket. In this lesson, David discusses muting and percussive techniques to do that.
All right, now lets apply those muting and percussion techniques to practice.
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Mixed in with straight and sub-divided rhythms are other layers of movement commonly referred to as Shuffle and Swing. These layers push and pull the notes in various ways around the musical grid and add additional life to your playing.
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With the idea of Shuffle and Swing in your brain and under your fingers, it's time to test it out with some practice!
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Ghost strumming is a technique where you keep an eighth or sixteenth note grid going with your strumming hand, but only sound the strings on the beats that you want to. This is a great method for keeping time while playing complex rhythmic figures.
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Now let's put your knowledge of the ghost strum to the test in this practice session.
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In this lesson Dave dives deeper into syncopation, this time subdividing in sixteenth notes.
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Now that you're familiar with 16th note syncopation, let's get it under our fingers with practice.
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In the previous lessons, we've been focused almost completely on chord-based rhythms. In this lesson, David takes a look at rhythm while using single notes.
Now it's time to wrap up this volume of the Beginner Rhythm Guitar Practice Plan by practicing the sixteenth note rhythm you learned in the previous lesson.
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In the beginning of your guitar journey, you probably memorized shapes. This “geometric” approach is very helpful early on, but real command of the neck comes from knowing the relationships inside those shapes. We’ll do this by exploring the intersection between scale and chord forms, and how we pull chord tones from scales to create different sounds we can learn to recognize by ear as well as by formation.
Dave gives you a description of the course and what you need to know to get going.
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Dave helps us understand string and note relationships across the neck as a way to understand the fretboard. Specifically, we are going to look at octaves from string to string.
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Dave shows us an exercise using those octave shapes to really cement them into place for us, breaks it down, and then we practice it together.
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Now we are going to look at scales. Why scales in a rhythm course? Because it will inform how the chords in a key relate to each other. So we will first learn how the scale degrees sound.
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This exercise walks us through the scale degrees and helps us familiarize them with shapes on the neck.
The first step to understanding how chords work is learning about triads, or three note groups that form the basic building blocks of chords.
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In this exercise, we use the triads we just explored in the previous lesson to outline melodic figures in a progression.
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In this lesson we are going to explore the primary, or diatonic, notes in the major scale. These are the notes that we will use to build the diatonic chords to a key.
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Now Dave will show us an exercise that will use the triads to build a scale of diatonic chords across and up the neck.
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Dave is going to explore two note forms, stripping chords down even further so that we can become familiar with implying full chords and modifying intervals.
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Let's learn an exercise that uses those two note forms to build another melody. This will help you understand how these two note shapes fit into chords. Then, like usual, we practice.
Dave is going to start breaking down two note forms into intervals, and specifically what makes intervals major or minor.
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Now Dave with show you an exercise that uses two note chords that use voice leading and chromaticism to outline a descending melody, and we practice together.
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Let's talk about seven chords, or dominant chords, which that use the flatted seven scale tone.
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This Dominant 7th exercise uses scale tones and chords to explore the relationship between the scale and the dominant sound, and how it pushes to resolve.
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Dave shows you a major 7th chord and shows you how it relates to the dominant, or flat 7th, sound. We then explore some shapes up and down the neck.
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Now let's try an exercise that explores this major 7th tonality and how it can be used to lead the chord progression into interesting places outside of the key.
Let's explore the minor 7th sound, and learn the various shapes we can use access to this sound all over the neck.
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Dave is going to show you an exercise that uses several minor 7th shapes. As usual, we then practice together.
Once we establish the 7th chord, we can add scale tones above the seven to create more chord colors. In this lesson, Dave explores nine and eleven chords and some of the main shapes.
This exercise explores nine and eleven chords, exploring how they can be used to create voice leading and how some tones are implied by context. Then we practice.
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Common to Jazz, diminished chords are very dissonant but also have a very strong drive to resolve. Dave shows you various diminished shapes in this lesson.
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This diminished exercise is fingerpicked, for a different kind of challenge. But using our fingers allows us to voice lead our chords in a more interesting way.
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If we include all of the notes in the scale, not just the diatonic ones, this is referred to as a chromatic progression. In this lesson we explore using voice leading and chromaticism together.
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This final exercise brings together all of the concepts we have discussed in this series and ties them together with chromaticism.
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The guitar is predominantly a rhythm instrument. Just like lead guitar, there's a certain vocabulary that a rhythm guitarist should have under their fingers. David Isaacs breaks down 30 common rhythm grooves and delivers them to you in this groove pack!
To get started, David introduces us to this rhythm grooves pack and discusses how you'll move forward.
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To get us started off, David delivers a straight-up rock groove.
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This one, like the last you'll be emphasizing that backbeat. You'll add a shuffle to make things interesting.
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Against a pulsing kick drum, you'll be playing a running eighth note pattern, in what is one of the most common rhythmic grooves in Pop and Rock.
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For this groove, you'll be taking ideas from the last lesson and adding a shuffle to it.
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This groove has a push on the three which is shifted an eighth note early.
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Like the previous groove, you'll use a pushed three, but add a shuffle feel.
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This riff surrounds a classic stomping rhythm and makes use of some satisfying crunch on the tone.
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This riff like the last will surround a stomping rhythm while adding a shuffle feel.
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We're now getting into more complex grooves and riffs that will be incorporating syncopated elements.
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Just like the last riff, this one introduces the shuffle feel.
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This riff is an R&B-influenced rock riff with an accented backbeat.
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This riff adds a shuffle feel to the offbeat rhythm in a Blues/Rock genre.
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This groove harkens back to Country and Americana with the classic Boom Chick rhythm.
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This groove is not only a shuffle, but it's designed to really accentuate the offbeat snare in the track.
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This riff is designed around the classic country train beat.
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This riff has a very familiar down south "swamp" vibe in a shuffle rhythm.
This groove has a repeating pattern on the hi-hat that you'll be grooving around.
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This riff makes use of the "half-time" groove.
This riff should be familiar. It takes advantage of the classic "Bo Diddley" beat.
This groove is designed around a street beat you might here in New Orleans.
This groove moves around a straight quarter note kick drum known in musical circles as the "Four on the Floor" beat.
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This riff is all about that crazy surf rhythm from days gone by!
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This one gets funky with syncopated chords that flow with the strong beats of the drum section.
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We're once again working with pushed rhythms, like we did previously. This one has a smooth riff built around it.
This groove goes back to the stomp rhythm you tackled previously, this time with a half time feel.
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This riff is a blend of classic blues with a Caribbean Rumba flavor.
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This riff gets funk with some rock influence that harkens back to the jam band era.
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This soul-influenced riff takes advantage of a triplet feel.
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You'll once again be working with that rock stomp feel, but this time you'll be syncopating the riff.
This groove is a classic rock staple in the time signature of 6/8.
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Let's hit the reset button and join Dave Isaacs as he uses his years of experience on the instrument to provide us with the tips and tricks needed to radically improve our playing technique and mechanics. One by one we'll break down the barriers of old and incorrect habits in order to unlock our true potential and play with more ease and creativity!
Dave introduces the concepts and techniques that will be learned throughout this course.
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Dave introduces us to the approach of relaxed body mechanics as the foundation of effortless playing.
Dave explains how to build confidence in how your fretting hand interacts with the guitar neck.
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Building on the mechanics of the previous lesson, Dave explains the best angle to use with the fretting hand and how it relates to the forearm.
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Barre chords can be intimidating at first, but Dave breaks down how to mechanically approach this technique.
Using rotation in the fretting hand, a lot can be accomplished in reaching the notes you need to hit.
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Incorporating concepts from what we've learned about the fretting hand, this approach to the picking hand can revolutionize how you feel the notes.
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For many players, many bad habits can form around strumming. In this lesson Dave teaches how best to approach this fundamental skill.
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Using intuition, Dave teaches how to move the picking hand in relation to what a drummer would feel while playing.
Building these skills in each individual hand is useless unless they are coordinated together, Dave teaches how to bring it all together.
Dave illustrates how to bring out the beat and accent your playing.
Fluid movement across the strings is essential for any skilled player.
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Using the strum technique from earlier, Dave explains how to incorporate a syncopated rhythm.
Dave explains how to have synchrony between the picking hand fingers to bring the best out of your playing.
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Dave demonstrates how to bring a basic chord structure to life with different picking patterns.
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Being able to play rhythms against a steady thumb pattern will add dynamics to your expression on the guitar.
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Expanding upon previous lessons, Dave demonstrates more ways to add flair to your picking hand's rhythm.
This added percussive element brings a simple chord structure to life.
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Just like exercising, playing guitar requires warming up the muscles required for playing.
Dave explains the best way to learn a long piece of music; by breaking it up.
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Switching between chords can be tricky, Dave explains how best to accomplish this feat.
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Feeling the rhythm is essential if you wish to find the groove. Dave explains how to accomplish this.
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Dave plays a song that has two distinct parts played by the thumb and fingers.
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This song requires quite a bit of technique, but using everything learned up to this point you can play it with ease!
Dave explains how to add dynamics to your playing by changing the volume of the notes.
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In this final lesson, Dave recaps everything learned up to this point and what to do with it next.
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Looking to dig deeper into various acoustic styles such as acoustic blues, bluegrass, and country-blues fingerpicking? In this expansive course, David Isaacs presents us with 30 licks that will enhance our musical repertoire to help us become more well-rounded players!
David Isaacs introduces us to "30 Acoustic Roots Licks You Must Know"!
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Let's kick off this lick series with a simple fingering pattern in the key of E!
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In this lesson, David takes us through this fun bluegrass lick in G where we essentially walk up the pentatonic scale.
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For this swampy lick, we will be working off of the E minor pentatonic scale.
Now let's cover a great lick that utilizes a moveable bass in the melody!
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Let's kick up the energy with this rockin' lick in the key of A.
For this next lick we combine a few different elements; double stops, minor 3rds, major 3rds, hammer-ons, and pull-offs!
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For this lick, we work off the A five power chord.
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For this bluesy lick, we'll hone in on our fingerpicking skills.
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In this bluegrass-vibed lick, we will combine our modes to get a well-versed full sound!
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Switching gears, Dave takes us through a Boom Chick lick in the key of G.
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Let's kick up the tempo a bit with this pentatonic shuffle lick!
Here's another Swampy lick to add to our musical toolbox, where Dave walks us through a hybrid picking technique!
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Switching it up to some country tones, Dave walks us through a lick that could be used for an intro to a song or a turnaround.
Working in the A bar for this lick, Dave gives us some tips on how to incorporate some extensions.
We move on to another stomp lick, where we focus on getting that stomp sound from the bass strings.
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For this swampy lick, we work in D minor pentatonic.
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For this lick, Dave walks us through Drop D tuning.
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In this fun shuffle lick, we find all sorts of hammer-ons and slides!
In this lick, Dave gives us some tips and tricks regarding rhythmic playing.
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In this next "train" lick we will be in the key of A.
Let's pick up with pass with this boom chick-paced bass lick!
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This next swampy lick we practice our fingerpicking skills.
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Dave gets us comfortable with the key of F in this next lick.
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In this next lick, we touch on fingerings that we have yet to come across in this series!
We tackle another boom chick pace within this stride lick.
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Switching it up a bit we get into some droning elements. In this lick, Dave breaks down the definition of drone notes and how to incorporate them within this lick.
Let's add another boom-chicka lick to our musical toolbox!
For this lick we get back to some country vibes in the E major pentatonic.
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Let's add an upbeat swampy lick to our toolbox, where we will be working on the G form.
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For our last lick of the series, we tackle a train feel lick!
Have you gotten the basics down on your guitar and are now looking to hone your skill set in a specific musical direction? Dave Issacs invites you to hop in the car with him as he takes you on a road trip to experience the different styles of blues! From the Mississippi Delta, Chicago, New Orleans, Texas, and even some British Blues in the 1960s, this course will give you an overall feel of the Blues genre as a whole and what it has to offer!
David Isaacs introduces us to "Blues Roadtrip"!
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For this first lesson Dave gets us acquainted with the stomp rhythm.
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Lets add 3 new licks to the stomp chord we just learned in the previous lesson!
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In this lesson Dave starts to unpack the Chicago Shuffle, starting with a blues bass pattern also called a 5/6 pattern.
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We dive into some rudimentary lead guitar using the pentatonic scale!
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Dave breaks down some blues theory for this lesson, giving us a stronger grasp on how to artistically converse with other musicians.
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Over this course we gotten an arrangement of parts under our fingertips, now lets combine some of these parts together!
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We make our way to Memphis, TN with this swing feel urban blues piece.
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For this lesson, we lock in on the bass line of an ensemble band.
Ready for some string bending? Dave guides us through the mechanics of string bending.
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For this lesson we dive into a track that is a 12-bar blues in A minor.
Let's jump back to focusing on the bass groove as we take a look at this bass riff that partially follows the bass guitar in an ensemble setting.
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For this lead guitar lesson, we come back to working with the minor pentatonic scale in the key of A minor.
We arrive in New Orleans for this lesson! Dave walks us through a shuffle that is in 12/8 time.
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For this lesson, we will follow the same 12-bar blues in C but we will move up the neck and use some partial chords and new voicings!
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We venture into some new territory for this lesson and use the major pentatonic scale for this melody.
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We dive into a different "straight feel" of the blues which uses 16th notes to create the primarily rhythm.
Let's take that 12-bar in D from the last lesson and add a riff!
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For this lesson, we are going to slide up and down the neck using triads, sixths, and a 7th chord to create a signature rhythm riff!
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Lets go back to the shuffle feel with the Texas shuffle! Dave walks us through some different aspects of this shuffle one of which is the emphasis on the off beat.
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In this lesson, we get our fingers moving to an SRV-style bass string riff.
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Let's dig into some lead guitar with some string bending and slides sprinkled throughout this riff.
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For our last section of this course, we head on over to the British Isles in the 1960s where notch on the blues genre was really amped up! Dave walks us through a riff that includes a bit more distortion on our guitars.
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We continue working with our Minor Pentatonic scale for this lesson, but this time instead of open strings we will use some fretted notes.
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For our last section of this course, we head on over to the British Isles in the 1960s where the notch on the blues genre was really amped up! Dave walks us through a riff that includes a bit more distortion on our guitars.
Dave Issacs goes in depth on different techniques and styles of The Grateful Dead. From Jerry Garcia to Bob Weir, you gain insight into the diverse style of The Grateful Dead.
Series Introduction to "The Style of Grateful Dead"
In this lesson we will take our first look into Bob Weir's approach to rhythm and voicings.
In this Lesson we will take a look at Jerry Garcia's use of the pentatonic scale and ways you can pull melodic ideas out of this scale. You will play over A, G, an E chords and gain an understanding on how Garcia fit them into his guitar playing.
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In this lesson we will take our first look into how The Dead would put different melody guitar parts together, to create counterpoints. Dave will guide you through different techniques on how to accomplish this.
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In this lesson we will take a look at a counterpoint part that can go along with the lower register melody we looked at in Lesson 4.
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In this lesson we will take a look on Jerry Garcia's approach to playing over a Vamp, in this lesson we will look at G7 Vamp, or a G Vamp using the mixed Lydian mode
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In this lesson we will take another look at rhythm, specifically polyrhythm and how there are different time signatures happening at once. Dave explains and demonstrates how Garcia and Weir would "talk" to each other with their guitars.
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In this lesson we will continue our look at two interactive Polyrhythmic parts in a Bob Weir style. You will work high up the neck using partial chords, octaves and melodic figures.
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In this lesson you will take a look at the way Jerry Garcia might have used Arpeggio's to play over chord changes. You will learn how to incorporate Arpeggio's into the improvisations.
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In this lesson you will get into more advanced harmony and chromatic chord changes. Dave also illustrates some of Bob Weir's chord voicings.
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In this lesson you will take a look at how to play over some more challenging chord progressions. You will learn how to move back and forth between E Major and E Minor.
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Dave explains how to explore odd time signatures. Specifically looking at 7-4 and putting 2's and 3's together in ways that you wouldn't ordinary think of.
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In this Lesson you will learn how to look at rhythm groupings and how to use an envelope filter/ Wah-wah pedal for Garcia's unique picking.
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In this Lesson Dave expands on the 7-4 and demonstrates the fluidity of shifting odd time signatures. You will also learn about techniques for better improvisation and how to keep track of your playing.
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In this Lesson you will take a look at the use of melodic arpeggios and get a taste of different Pentatonic Flavors.
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In this lesson you will take a look at a counterpoint part to the arpeggiated melody from the last lesson. You will learn how Bob Weir would utilize this in his playing.
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In this lesson you will learn a technique called "Floating the one". Dave explains and demonstrates a few ways to utilize this in your own playing.
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In this Lesson you will learn a tricky concept for "organizing" your improvisational skills. Dave will play a part, record it, and then play over that track to demonstrate how to improvise in a "free jam".
In this Lesson Dave teaches us how to apply the idea of sequences from Jerry Garcia's lead playing and goes in depth about the chord cycles.
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In this Lesson Dave demonstrates and explains how Jerry Garcia would play over chord cycles. You will learn how to play patterns while the key center shifts.
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"Angel From Montgomery" was released by John Prine in the Fall of 71' and sits comfortably as the third track of side two of his self-titled release. While the album had a lackluster performance in the American music charts, "Angel From Montgomery" would go on to be covered by a slew of A-list artists. Of these covers, none has gained more traction than Bonnie Raitt's cover on her 1974 release 'Streetlights'. This recording of the song has since become the definitive version with the most famous performance coming from her 1995 live album 'Road Tested' where she performed the track with an all-star lineup including Bryan Adams, Jackson Brown, Kim Wilson, and Bruce Hornsby!
Let's join Dave as he dissects this classic song down to it's core parts!
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"South City Midnight Lady" was the second track on the second side of the Doobie Brother's third album, "The Captain and Me" which was released in March of 1973. While it was never released as a single, over time the song became a fan favorite. Patrick Simmons wrote the song and sang lead vocals on the recording. The song features Jeffrey Baxter, then a member of Steely Dan, on pedal steel guitar. Jeffrey would become a full-time member of the Doobie Brothers the following year. Bill Payne, one of the co-founders of the band Little Feat, played piano on the track.
Let's join David Isaacs in a breakdown of this Doobie Brothers classic!
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In the summer of 1972, the Doobie Brothers released the album "Toulouse Street" which opened with the song "Listen to the Music". When the song was released as a single in November of that year, it was #11 on the US Billboard top 100 charts. The writer of the song, Tom Johnston, played guitar and sang lead vocals on the track while the bridge section was sung by the band's other guitarist, Patrick Simmons. The Isley Brothers recorded a cover of the song that was included on an album they released the following year, 1973.
Let's join David for a thorough dissection of this timeless Doobie Brothers hit!
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Written in the fall of 1970, "Friend of the Devil" checks in as the second track on side one of the Dead's fifth studio album, "American Beauty". Though a bit of a sleeper hit, the song has gone on to become one of the most covered Grateful Dead songs with acts ranging from Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Lyle Lovett to John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, and even industrial metal band, Ministry, all adding the song to their repertoire!
Let's join Dave Isaacs and Tyler Grant as they dissect this Grateful Dead classic!
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"Scarlet Begonias" was released in the summer of 1974 as the opening track on side two of their seventh album, "From the Mars Hotel". The song made its live debut on March 23, 1974, at the famous Cow Palace in Daly City, California, and has since been covered by the likes of Keller Williams and Jimmy Buffet. With the passing of Garcia and the disbandment of the Grateful Dead in 1995, the mantle was then picked up by spin-off bands Phil Lesh & Friends, Bob Weir & Ratdog, and Dead and Company.
Join Dave Isaacs as he takes us back to 1974 for this Grateful Dead classic!
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"Franklin's Tower" was released in the summer of 1975 on The Grateful Dead's eighth studio album, 'Blues for Allah'. Sitting comfortably as the third track of side one, the song was one of two singles released from the album that helped make it the highest-charting release from the band at the time - topping out at #12 on the Billboard Pop Album charts!
Let's take a trip back to 1975 with Dave Isaacs as he breaks down this Grateful Dead classic!
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Our Lick & Riff Video Library can help you break out of your standard techniques, and can inspire your creativity to move your playing forward.
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