YouTube Guitar Blog

Here another great lesson on the minor pentatonic scale by my buddy Justin. The minor pentatonic scale is used in almost every popular blues and rock song. It is a great scale to learn to be able to jam with your buddies. The Am pentatonic scale is my favorite.

Hey, have you signed up for my newsletter yet? It’s FREE and you get 2 super exclusive lessons that you cannot find anywhere on the net. I would love to have you aboard so I can send you the best videos and  private lessons. 

I’ve also been in talks with the company eMusic. In trying to get more people to view this uber amazing blog, I’ve worked out a deal with them that let’s my readers download 50 FREE songs, with no commitment whatsoever. You can join and download more or you don’t have to, it’s up to you. Well, I hope you take advantage of this offer, because they said they can only do it for a limited amount of time. Here is the link for it:

And here’s the video:

Here’s a great beginner lesson from yours truly. Finger exercises and pointers for YOUR success!!

Ok so the guy teaching this lesson reminds me of a child pedophile (is there even such a thing) but he does a great job explaining and breaking down the Coldplay jam “Don’t Panic” off their Parachutes album. Have a go at it and let me know what you think.

Here’s a lesson for you to learn how to play Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads” from his Cream album. If you didn’t already know, Clapton was inspired to play guitar by blues legend Robert Johnson, so much so that he covered an entire album of his tunes called “Me and Mr. Johnson.”Clapton has basically carried the torch as far as guitar playing, song writing, and innovation goes for almost 3 decades now. I had the privilege of seeing Mr. Clapton live and it was an experience for sure! Old, young, fat, slow, black, while…. the place was packed. My favorite from the night, “Before You Accuse Me” and “Down and Out.”Who knows, maybe we will get to those lessons later…. But for now, turn up the amp, pump out some distortion and get ready to rock!!!

Have you practiced that Clapton yet?? Don’t worry, I haven’t got it down either, but I know we can get it soon. Anyways, here’s a little easier tune from Fleetwood Mac called “Landslide.” Just get the picking pattern down and you are on your way!

The first picking pattern is 542534. The second picking pattern is squeeze the 5 and 1 strings together (5/1)42514

It is always best to really loosen those fingers up before really getting into a new (or old) song. It will stretch and strengthen your fingers and allow you to play progressively harder and harder pieces…..

You can check out Mike’s lessons by clicking here

A good lesson for all the beginners out there! Enjoy!!

You can check out Next Level Guitar (David’s lessons) here

Wanna learn to play the 100 Best Songs Ever Recorded? Click here!

Hey guys,

Hope everyone is doing well!! Here’s my latest youtube vid. It is my playing Ben’s “Morning Yearning.” The video is a collection of pictures I have taken/collected of Ben and crew over the years. If you want me to make a video showing you how to play it, just drop me a comment and I will see what I can do

• It is easy to write the lyrics for blues if you keep the following things in mind:
  • Blues generally begin with ‘woke up this morning’.
  • If you really cannot avoid it and want to begin the Blues with ‘I got a good woman’, follow it up immediately with something bad such as ‘with biggest belly in town’.
  • Repeat the line twice and then write a third line that ends with almost a rhyming word. Now, it may read like this – ‘I got a good woman with biggest belly in town, I got a good woman with biggest belly in town, She has legs of an elephant and weighs 500 pounds’.
  • You will hardly ever find colors like ‘violet, beige and mauve’ being mentioned in Blues as it is difficult to find rhyming words for them.
• People devoted to Blues use car like Chevies, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks or may use Greyhound buses and southbound trains. The only other transportation that they use fairly well is ‘Walking’.
• Blues are sung who are fixing to die, so teenagers normally have nothing to do with it. Singing Blues is the domain for adults.
• Hard times are called Blues in New York City, Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City but they are just depression in Vermont, Tucson or North Dakota are just depression.
• Blues are confined to places where it rains often.
• Blues can never take place in a well-lit office or a shopping mall with sparkling lights. You need to sit in the parking lot or by the dumpster to have Blues. Other options can be the highway, a jailhouse, an empty bed or even the bottom of a whiskey glass.
• There are three steps to Build Your Own Blues Singer Name:
  • Choose Name of physical infirmity to precede your name such as Blind, Cripple or Lame.
  • Choose a name of Fruit to be your first name such as Lemon, Lime or Kiwi.
  • Choose Last name of a US president such as Jefferson, Johnson or Fillmore.
  • So now, your Blues Singer name can be Lame Lemon Clinton.
• Blues singers cannot have computers and for them, the three R’s are not Reading, Writing and Arithmetic but Railroads, Running and Rehab.
• Name your guitar.

Wanna learn to play the blues? Click here!