Here’s another installment concerning ‘half-diminished” chords. Remember that “half-diminished” and “minor-seventh (flat5)” are synonymous. So far we have used three-fingered shapes combined with an open string to produce the four-note “minor-seventh (flat5)” sound. This time let’s find a four-fingered version of it. We’ll get to the theory eventually. If you are familiar with my arrangement of “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime” (from my Great American Songbook CD and Book), you already know a B half-diminished chord. In that tune, I use it as a II chord in a II-V-I chord progression in the key of A-minor. It has an […]

I received a nice email from a student who attended a recent workshop at Dusty Strings in Seattle. The specific workshop topic involved an “easy” way to visualize the guitar neck. His post-workshop question dealt mostly with developing an effective practice regimen. I have also included some other thoughts on how to become a better guitarist and musician. Learning to know the neck of the guitar is akin to a piano player being able to play in higher octaves. This is easy for a pianist, as each octave on the piano looks the same. Not so for the acoustic guitar, […]

In the classical guitar world, fretting the bass string with the thumb is frowned upon. This is understandable for at least two reasons: classical guitar necks generally are wide, making it hard to fret with the thumb and fingers simultaneously; and Segovia figured out how to play the great repertoire without it. But with narrower neck guitars and long fingers, fretting the sixth string with the thumb can offer a guitarist a decided advantage. A main one: guitarists can fret five-note chords that classical guitarists can’t get. Another one: in ragtime styles in the key of C, a barre F […]

Fingerstyle Guitar is a great brain developer, a great motor skill developer, and a great way to enjoy life, and to help others enjoy theirs! Since most musicians spend a majority of their time playing alone, fingerstyle guitar offers the perfect multi-voiced, piano-like approach to playing solo guitar. It usually features a melody, accompanied by a simultaneous bass line and mid-range harmony notes, all played by one person on one instrument. Like a mini piano! I have written many books and DVDs helping the aspiring guitarist learn to fingerpick patterns, to subsequently break the patterns, use alternate tunings, and generally […]

In a previous ‘Tip’ we had fun moving the C-shape up the guitar neck. This time let’s slide a first-position Amajor7th shape up the neck. This creates some very useful chords. First, play a first-position Amajor7th chord. If you don’t know it, play a normal D7 on the three treble strings and move that shape one string toward the bass. Now you are fretting the second and fourth strings at the 2nd fret, and the third string at the 1st fret: an Amajor7th chord. I use it extensively in my tune “Parasol Spin”. As I recall, I first learned it […]