This topic came up at our seminar in the midst of the tune “Avalon.” Many folks don’t know what a ‘half-diminished’ chord is. Before I explain it, let me teach you an easy way to play one: In standard tuning, play a simple first-position D-minor chord at the end of the neck – first position. Slide this shape three frets up the neck to the 4th/5th/6th frets, maintaining the open D in the bass. Voila! You are now playing a D-half diminished, also known as a Dm7flat5. (Don’t include the open fifth and sixth strings!) These chords are often used […]

If you have a moment, please read this from the NY Times. Then take your guitar and play for someone in need. Mark

CARRY-ON: Like most of you, I do my best to get my guitar on the airplane when I travel. If I know I can get the guitar on with me, I use my well-padded gig bag, which is easy to carry once I reach my destination. To ensure overhead space, I try to get on the plane early by sitting near the back, or (on SWA) by getting an early boarding number. CHECKING IT: If I must check the guitar – if I’m flying on a small plane with limited overhead space, for instance – I use the hardshell case. […]

As you no doubt know, many great players wear a thumbpick, and many great players don’t. I used a thumb pick for some years early on, and now use one only occasionally. Some reasons to use one: 1) the angle of attack with your right thumb (assuming you are right handed!) may be very low – nearly parallel to the strings – especially if you are trying to mute the bass strings with the base of the thumb/palm, like Chet Atkins. If you use this low hand position, a thumb pick protruding at a right angle from the thumb provides […]

As you know, there are several ways to hold the guitar. The classical position is more stable, since you contact the guitar with both legs, your chest, and both arms. It provides a good angle of attack for the picking hand, allowing for close to a 90- degree angle of attack with the fingers without bending your wrist to the side. It also provides a good angle for the fretting hand, and, for near-sighted guitarists, the neck is close to your face! Having said all that, when I sit, I prefer the ‘folkier’ horizontal position, with the guitar on my […]

Here is a little exercise moving up the neck that may open up some new sounds for you: In standard tuning, finger a C chord. Now, move it two frets up the neck. Play the five treble strings one at a time. This is a beautiful D chord (with an added 4th and 9th) that many folks have used to great effect, in particular Paul Simon in “Kathy’s Song.” He fretted the sixth string instead of the fifth on this chord, producing a second-inversion D chord (A in the bass), which sounds great. Now, move the C shape up one […]

On occasion I joke with my guitar maker friends (Bill Collings and Steve McCreary at Collings, James Goodall at Goodall Guitars, and others) about why the dots on the side of steel-string guitar necks are located where they are. “Tradition” is the answer I hear most often. Tradition is great in many instances, but I believe slightly altering the location of these dots would greatly facilitate learning the notes on the guitar neck. On a piano, a key-of-C scale is apparent at a glance – it consists of the white notes. But seeing these same “white” notes (no sharps or […]

Students ask me how to learn the names of the notes all over the guitar neck. The system I have devised uses certain frets (5th, 7th, 10th, 12th) as guideposts, from which I suggest my students extrapolate to find other notes. Here is how to get started using my system for standard tuning: