In a previous post, “Learning chord shapes on the guitar” we talked about learning some basic chord shapes. As noted in that post, learning these shapes only takes you part of the way towards playing a song. Once you’ve learned various chord shapes you then need to learn to transition from one chord to another. Each…… Continue reading Transitioning between chords on a guitar
A while back I came across the following video detailing a flamenco style uke strum I’ve seen Shimabukuro and others use. In the video, Jake breaks down the whole strum step by step. When I first watched the video I thought that it would be pretty hard to get the strum up to speed but…… Continue reading Jake Shimabukuro Triple Strum Technique (video)
I was working with a student recently and was reminded of all the subtleties of uke strumming. For instance, I use my index finger, sometimes supported by my thumb, to strum. When I do a downstroke, my index finger is curled upward and the nail part of my finger drags against the strings. When I…… Continue reading The nuances of uke strumming
I talked, not long ago, about the process of strumming chords on a guitar. That post focused on what the right hand does while playing the instrument (presuming the player is right handed.) Let’s consider the what the left hand does while fretting different chord shapes. We’ll focus on what are called open chords. Open…… Continue reading Learning chord shapes on the guitar
I’m pretty impressed with the web site fingerstofrets.com which generates visual diagrams for fretting most of the essential open chords. It shows both the notes to fret and fingers that should be used to fret those notes. I’ve been using it to create charts I print out for students. I’d love to see them add more…… Continue reading Handy online chord chart generator
I recently noticed that someone had come to this site via a search for the term “circle picking.” Circle picking is a technique I’ve heard of but it’s been something of a mystery for me. I set out to find out more and am glad I did. It’s a cool little technique I want to play…… Continue reading Two types of circle picking
I thought I’d throw together a list of blues tunes I consider classics. These are as much fun to play over as to listen to so I offer some tips on what part of the neck you can play the first position blues scale for each song. Here’s a diagram of the first position blues…… Continue reading Blues classics to play over
