The Guitarist Blog

If you're looking for lots of practice switching from G to Cadd9 to Em and D, this is the song for you!  Notice that the Cadd9 and D change on the up beat (up strum).  Have fun! Get the song here

Before we get started let me remind you that we will be using GarageBand for Apple iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.  We will not be using GarageBand for the Mac.  While many of the features you will see in these blog posts are also on the Mac version, the iOS version has some special features that won't be available on the Mac.  This is because of the unique touchscreen interface found only on the iOS version of GarageBand. Also, I'll be posting screen capture images taken from an iPad.  So, iPhone users may have to hunt a bit more to find the same features, but they are there. One last thing, I'm assuming you know nothing about GarageBand, so I'm going to take this form the very beginning.  For those of you who catch on to this kind of thing quickly these posts may go to slowly for you.  If so just skip ahead to another blog post (or wait for another one), otherwise stay with us as we walk through this. GarageBand Basic Functionality OK, lets...

On April 24th of this year The Guitarist hosted a workshop focused on using GarageBand (for iOS devices) as a practicing tool.  The objective of the workshop was to familiarize the participants with some of the features of GarageBand (of which there are many!) and to show how easily the GarageBand app can be used as a practicing tool. The workshop was well attended and was taught by (yours truly) Mike Mckenna, former teacher at The Guitarist, co-author of "I've Always Wanted To Play Guitar", guitarist, and GarageBand user.  We had a great time going over the key features of GarageBand and how it can be used on both the iPhone and iPad to greatly enhance your practicing time. Let's face it, practice time with your guitar can be, shall we say...less than inspirational when playing alone.  This is especially true if you have only your handy-dandy, but not so personal, metronome's relentless tick-tocking away.  I don't know about you, but prolonged expos...

Here is a fingerstyle arrangement of The Beatles "Here Comes the Sun."  I always look forward to teaching this song in my group classes.  Be sure to practice and stick with your classes.  This song is worth the wait! This arrangement consists of melody with an alternating bass line.  To match the key of the song, play it with a capo at the seventh fret.

"Handle With Care" is a song by the supergroup the Traveling Wilburys.  Here is a video of the main riff.  You here this riff played as the intro and for the first four measures of the verse.  Played slowly, of course! Download "Handle With Care" here Handle With Care - The Traveling Wilburys Collection

"Home" is a great "travis picking" style song by Philip Philips.  The song is very, very fast so here is the verse played slowly.  I hope it's slow enough for you to play along! Be sure to download the song here  Home - The World from the Side of the Moon (Deluxe)

Here's a quick tutorial on the popular Bollywood song "Pani Da Rang."  I am playing the song very slowly, so hopefully you can follow along. 1.  The intro alternates between two chords, Em7 and D add4 (this is just a C chord moved up two        frets).  Then strum a C chord and Dadd4 once each. 2.  The main groove to the song starts with an Em chord.  The strum that I am using goes like this:       D DD U  D  DD U   DDU  (D=Down, U=Up).  Get it?? 3.  After this, I simplify the strum to more of a "campfire" type strum that you can use for the rest of the song.  I'm alternating between Em and D and then between C and D (main chords to the song).  I am repeating this pattern:  D DD UDU 4.  Finally, there is a simple melody that gets played after the verse.  It's pretty easy, and I think you could it up by watching the video. If you notice something that I am missing, pl...