Guitar Music Theory

In my latest audio podcast, I answer listener questions about guitar modelers, PRS guitars, scales, beginner struggles, slide, Drop-D tuning, and playing acoustic guitar gigs.

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do in order to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

Guitarists often use octave shapes to play rhythm guitar parts, riffs, and lead lines. In this podcast episode, I explain how octaves are formed on the guitar fretboard and which popular guitar songs use them.

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do in order to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

Music with changes or accents that fall on something other than the most predictable beats is said to be syncopated. I discuss this in episode 148 of the Guitar Music Theory podcast. Listen to song examples from Neil Young, KT Tunstall, Herbie Hancock, Adele, and more.

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

In episode 147 of the Guitar Music Theory podcast, I interview Carrie Underwood keyboardist Scott Sheriff. Scott is a veteran touring musician who was also the musical director for Kenny Loggins and the bandleader for Steven Curtis Chapman. Scott has other projects on the side when he's not on the road, including the Huey Lewis & The News tribute act, The Heart of Rock and Roll. I recently began playing with this act and sharing the stage with Scott. This podcast talks about touring, playing live, arranging background vocals, music theory, our love of yacht rock music, and more.

In episode 146 of the Guitar Music Theory podcast, I answer listener questions about chord tones and extensions, the song White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, playing with injuries and hand limitations, keeping track of measures while soloing, applying pentatonic scale patterns, reaquiring your chops after time off, and more.

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do in order to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

In episode 145 of the Guitar Music Theory podcast, I have another installment of How Does This Song Work? featuring "Satellite" by Dave Matthews Band. I discuss the key, scale, chords, and progression, plus explain the 3/4 time signature.

View the video, tab, and neck diagrams on my website here: https://www.guitarmusictheory.com/dave-matthews-satellite-guitar-riff-tab/

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do in order to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

Which scales should you learn if you want to play popular styles of music on guitar such as pop, rock, blues, and country? I tell you in this podcast episode and play examples from familiar songs.

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do in order to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

The ii chord in music is naturally minor, but here I explain how it often gets switched to major to produce a bright, uplifting sound. This happens in songs such as "Eight Days a Week," "American Girl," and others.

Watch the video version of this lesson on YouTube. https://youtu.be/JylyPkwhn34

Check out the song "Headin' to the Beach" by Carl Wayne Meekins. https://youtu.be/Lc3xvRHBJx

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do in order to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

The music of Huey Lewis and the News frequently features the modal scale Mixolydian mode. In this podcast episode, I discuss the songs "I Want a New Drug," "Back in Time," and "If This Is It."

View the related blog post, videos, and tabs.

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.

In episode 141 of the Guitar Music Theory podcast, I answer questions about chord recognition, chord fills, Halfway Gone by Lifehouse, online versus in-person lessons, purchasing a looper pedal, sharps and the circle of fifths, playing faster on an Ibanez guitar, flat sevenths, learning songs, and more.

🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do in order to play guitar better? Visit https://GuitarMusicTheory.com - answer the questions about your playing and get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level.