Several inquiries lately as to whether or not I exist!

Yep, it's actually me, Frank Foxx, founder of the Guitar-eze guitar method, based on the alternate guitar tuning of open-D.

Browse the pages to find the history of Guitar-eze, but to tell you a bit more about me...musically, that is.

I developed the system because I wanted to play guitar. I played bass successfully since I was 17 (along with trombone and baritone since age 10), and although I had access to a guitar since about age 6, nothing came of it - I didn't get it.

Once I discovered the secret I am now sharing, a whole new musical world opened up for me. Though it took me several years to develop the chops and self-confidence to actually play guitar in a band, for money, I eventually made it. By the time I was about 21 or 22 I had the rudiments of my system down. I practiced like heck and by the time I was about 28 (yeah, it took about 6-7 years!), I felt confident enough, and knew enough material (instrumentally and vocally) to front a band. This happened 1993, in Toronto. For the next seven years, I led the Highway Hepcats, a 3-piece roots rockabilly band. I also did side gigs on both guitar and bass, in many different styles of music.

I relocated to Windsor, Ontario in 1999 and struggled to form a new band in this smaller town. I bounced from side gig to side gig, but finally got a 3-piece band together in 2003, whiched evolved into my present outfit, the JumpKatz.

In 2004-2005, I revved up Guitar-eze and started offering private lessons, which allowed me to refine and develop my system further.

So there you have it. A real person. A real music lover. A real guitar lover. Frank Foxx.

To get a real rock and roll or blues (or country for that matter) sound, string bending becomes necessary. It helps give that "twangy" sound so many guitarists are after.

My favorite bend in Guitar-eze open-D is on the four (off the one-finger major chord). This bend is different from the typical standard tuning bend, in that you are using two fingers instead of just one.

With your second and third finger, at the same time, bend the two strings upward, to make the pitch go higher. Then bring them back into regular position, to get the original notes back.

Now, practice doing this in a fluid motion, up and then back down. That's one way to get a real twang in your sound.

Guitar-eze makes it so easy to play guitar, you can actually put your frets to work for you in learning the system.

For beginners (and anyone else actually) it is useful to mark your frets with the major chord they represent. You are tuned to open-D, so when you move your finger up the fret board (holding down as few as three strings) you have a new major chord each step along the way. For example, fret 2 is an E major chord, fret 3 an F major and so on all the way up the neck of your guitar. When you reach fret 12, you are back at D again.

I suggest taking a small square of tape (about a quarter inch or so) and mark the following on the top of your guitar neck so you can see the letter names as you look to your left and down onto the top of your guitar's neck:

fret 2 - E
fret 3 - F
fret 5 - G
fret 7 - A
fret 10 - C
fret 12 - D

This will help you memorize the major chord positions up and down the neck of your guitar. You'll also soon master the non-marked frets as the various sharp and flat chords.

The book has diagrams outlining all the frets and their respective major chords.