Category: Stories

Turn Your Amp Around for a Better Concert Sound!

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Announcements, Stories, Tips from Mark

If you are performing with a small personal amplifier, consider this: Turn the amp around so it is facing the wall behind you. The reflected sound off the wall adds to the richness of the overall sound, and distributes the sound well around the room. And the folks in front don’t get the direct output from the amp. Tommy Emmanuel does this in some settings. Bose designs their reflective speakers this way, so that some of the sound is bouncing off the wall behind the player. In December, 2018, my trio Acoustic Guitar Summit performed for the Sacramento Guitar Society […]

Which Fingerpicking Book Do I Start With?

Posted on Mark Hanson7 CommentsPosted in Stories, Tips from Mark

Folks write to me on occasion asking which of my fingerstyle books to start with: Contemporary Travis Picking or Beyond Basics Fingerstyle Guitar. My response: •    The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking is strictly alternating-bass (“Travis Picking”), using pretty basic chords until later in the book. It is largely about training the PICKING hand. You get two actual guitar solos amongst the 14 pieces in the book; the other 12 are accompaniments to a melody that is played/sung by a second instrument. The techniques in this book allow singer/songwriters to beautifully accompany their songs, but it also provides all […]

Right-Hand Muting Without a Thumbpick

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Stories, Tips from Mark

Several people have asked recently how I mute the bass strings without the aid of a thumbpick, as heard in my tune “Easy Virtue,” which we published recently in the 30th Anniversary Edition of Art of Solo Fingerpicking. Video. I learned this approach from the late, great John Renbourn, who picked with skin and nails (glued on ping-pong balls, actually!) – no picks. Above is a bird’s-eye-view photo of my right hand for the section of the tune that mutes the bass strings. From my normal “classical” picking-hand position (high wrist; palm parallel to the top; nothing resting on the […]

Mark’s Three New Books Released!

Posted on Mark Hanson1 CommentPosted in Announcements, Press, Stories

Mark was busy in 2018: Two 30th Anniversary Editions and a new Repertoire book! Relaxing Songs for Fingerstyle Guitar includes 15 new Hanson solo guitar arrangements of well-known tunes, from a spectacular new version of the classic “Sleepwalk” to Ed Sheeran’s recent “Photograph” and “Hallelujah” from Leonard Cohen. Notation/TAB/Online Audio. Lower-Intermediate to advanced. More info. The Art of Solo Fingerpicking 30th Anniversary Edition includes 20 new/updated pages and four cool new tunes, including Mark’s “Cast Away” and “Easy Virtue.” Notation/TAB/Online Audio. More info. The Art of Contemporary Travis Picking is the perennial best seller, having trained scores of thousands of […]

More NAMM Photos, 2019

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Stories

“Flying into Los Angeleez” to quote Arlo. Disneyland just below. The Traveling Wilburys – part of photographer Neal Preston’s gallery: Some really BIG guitars were on hand. Collings head Steve McCreary with Greta. Martin displayed these, along with dozens of others. Gator’s mascot considering masticating… And a view of the crowd.  

NAMM Trade Show Anaheim, January 2019

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Press, Stories

We made our annual January trek to Anaheim, Calif., for the music merchants’ trade show. Here are some photos: Holding some of my books in the Hal Leonard booth: In the Collings Guitars booth with (L-R) Peghead Nation’s Teja Gerken, Portland fingerstyle virtuoso Eric Skye, L.A. session guitar ace Mark Goldenberg (Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, etc.). Greta at Laguna Beach during the Upper Midwest Arctic Vortex.

Scales for Warm Up

Posted on Mark Hanson3 CommentsPosted in Free tabs, Stories, Tips from Mark

CAGEDScalesEndOfNeck Warm Up Correctly & Shoot 100% As I shot baskets at 24-Hour Fitness recently, I was thinking about my old coach’s advice about warming up and shooting accurately, and how his advice might pertain to guitarists. He said to start by shooting easy shots – close-in layups – to get your mechanics going, your muscles loose, and your confidence level up. You should shoot these at close to 100%. Then gradually increase the distance from the basket, shooting easily, being as relaxed as you can. His comment: If you can’t make the easy close-in shots, you won’t make the […]

STOP READING THE MUSIC!

Posted on Mark Hanson1 CommentPosted in Announcements, Stories, Tips from Mark

Great musicians are able to think ahead, hear the music in their heads as it approaches, and anticipate what their hands need to do in the moments to come. To do this best, I highly recommend you MEMORIZE your music. To memorize your music: STOP READING IT.  My suggestion for memorizing: play each passage of a tune you are working on copious times while reading it, but then CLOSE THE BOOK, or turn the music over so you CAN’T read it. Now play it without looking. If you stumble, go back to the notation/tab to ensure you are playing it correctly. […]

Mark in a Fretboard Journal Video!

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Announcements, Press, Stories

I visited Jason Verlinde and his cohorts at Fretboard Journal‘s office in Seattle a few months back. They filmed me playing my arrangement of “Water Is Wide” and  my alternating-bass warhorse “Key to the Kingdom.” Although I brought my own guitars along, they requested that I play a guitar that the magazine had commissioned from local luthier T. Drew Heinonen. Below is the “Water Is Wide” video. The “Water Is Wide” notation and TAB are available three ways in hardcopy from us: 1) as a stand-alone piece  2) in my publication Great American Tablature Songbook (57 tunes in all), and 3) […]

“Tri-Tone Substitutions” Made Easy!

Posted on Mark HansonLeave a commentPosted in Announcements, Press, Stories, Tips from Mark

Understanding “Tri-tone Substitution” Note: This article references my bluesy rave-up fingerstyle arrangement of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” A video of me playing it in Santa Barbara in August, 2017, has been posted here on YouTube: The actual music starts at about 0:35. Perhaps you have come across the term “Tri-tone substitution” in your studies, and had a hard time understanding it. Here’s an easy way to understand tri-tone substitutions: Think of them simply as dominant-seventh chords resolving down a half step – F7, instead of B7, going to E, for example. Most of you use B7 to resolve […]