Sunlight over clouds

Harness the Power of Your Mistakes

When I’m practicing something on the guitar, I often like to think of myself as a scientist doing lab work. I experiment with things, observe what happens, modify the experiment, and eventually zero in on what needs to be done. Mistakes are one of the main forms of feedback I receive during this practicing process....

A guitar on a bed with sheet music

How to Develop an Organized Practice Routine

Back in 2006 and 2007 I went through a period of intense practicing and musical growth on the guitar. Most serious musicians go through a similar ‘wood-shedding’ period like this at some point, where they hole up and put in consistent days with numerous hours of practicing. During my wood-shedding years, I managed to sustain...

Thoughts on the Creative Process

I’ve always found the act of composing to be one of the most difficult and complex activities in music. When composing, I feel that I’m calling upon everything that I am–not only as a musician, but as a person. There was a time when I felt I just wasn’t good at composing, or that I...

The Murphy’s Law of Gigging

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. This statement is otherwise known as Murphy’s Law. Any experienced musician with more than a few gigs under his or her belt would probably agree that Murphy’s Law applies to the world of playing gigs. For some reason, things have a greater tendency to go wrong when...

sheet music

Should You Learn to Read Music?

There are a lot of different opinions out there regarding the value of learning to read standard music notation for a guitarist. I’ve briefly talked about my opinion of this topic elsewhere on my website, but I thought it deserves a more thorough treatment since it’s a somewhat complex issue. At this point, I’ve done...

Yamaha f335 guitar

Recommended Guitars for Beginners

I’m occasionally asked by students who are getting ready to start lessons what kind of guitar I would recommend for them to get. These are my recommendations for various kinds of guitars: electric, acoustic (both steel and nylon stringed) and kid sized guitars. Since they don’t know how well they will take to the instrument,...

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