Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Happy Spring from Guitar-eze
Finally, the weather starts to get nice in our part of the world.
Hope the weather's fine where you are too. Hey, if one of your ambitions for this year was to learn to play guitar,
it's not too late - get going, easily and quickly with Guitar-eze.
I've gotten in a lot of picking and strumming over the last while. On acoustic guitar, I've dropped the pick altogether,
actually, and am working on fingerpicking. Tricky, but I have to say - it sounds just amazing in Guitar-eze open D.
If you know about Guitar-eze, you know that I am no technician. But I do know one thing - I can finger pick songs now,
that I could NEVER do in standard tuning.
Have a nice time surfing the site.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Happy New Year from Guitar-eze
Hi everybody.... hope you had a wonderful holiday season, with lots of goodies. But if one of your Christmas wishes did not
come true - "I want to play guitar", or, if you have a New Year's resolution - "I really want to learn to play
guitar, easily", - HEY! You've come to the right place.
With Guitar-eze, you not only have found an easier
way to learn to play guitar, but you join an exclusive group of guitar enthusiasts, who play guitar the easier way.
It's
more, however. Guitar-eze is no "cheater's" method - one strum and you'll hear how wonderful it sounds - and as
you'll read in other parts of our site, it's been used and utilized for decades, by some of the guitar greats.
So thanks
for dropping by, have a look around the site, e-mail any questions or comments, and learn to play guitar the easier way!
9:38 am est
Monday, June 4, 2007
So many guitar-loving inquiries - Easier Guitar
Thanks for the load of inquiries of late; if you have not got yours yet, sorry - there's been tons!
Easy Guitar - truly Easy Guitar - that's what you get with Guitar-eze.
Absolute beginner -
Frustrated novice -
Parent with guitar-crazy kid -
Singer who want accompaniment -
You have arrived at the place to learn guitar the easier way!
Enjoy!
Monday, April 2, 2007
Learn to Play Guitar this Spring
Spring has sprung! What a time to learn to guitar. Now that all your New Year's resolutions are broken - I mean
accomplished... there's still that nagging desire in the back of your mind. I want to play guitar. God I wish guitar was
easier to learn. What a waste, that guitar sitting there in its case, unplayed.
Well, make a spring resolution to
learn to play guitar. If you've had difficulty in the past, or if you think guitar is too complicated to learn, think again.
You've found Guitar-eze - the truly easy way to learn to play guitar.
Take a look around the site for all the info
you'll need to get playing guitar the easy way.
Take a moment to fill in the Evaluation form...
Send me an e-mail
with any questions...
Most of all, have fun!!
6:56 am edt
Monday, March 19, 2007
Hate Pop-ups and Banners...
That's why you'll never see any trashy stuff like that at Guitar-eze. So far I have resisted the temptation even
for Google ads, which seem to be ubiquitous these days (doubt you got here from one, because I don't run Google adwords).
So, no banner ads, no pop-ups, no cookies... at Guitar-eze. More and more, Guitar-eze is an information website,
moreso than just a multi-page ad for a great guitar system.
This blog is updated with information regularly, so you can keep up with it and also check the Guitar-eze blog archive.
My hope is that guitar lovers appreciate the lack of intrusive and distracting advertising here at Guitar-eze.
Hopefully, you're here because you're searching for a different, but wholly effective way to play guitar - that's what
guitar-eze is. Whether you are an absolute beginner guitarist, a frustrated guitar wannabe, a parent with a child who
loves guitar, or anyone else who just loves guitar - hope you enjoy your look around. There's lots of info here at Guitar-eze,
spread out over many pages - so don't be shy - browse them all. Of couse, you can
e-mail me any time with questions. Or, take a minute to
fill out the Evaluation Form - its
FREE. I'll respond with a custom reply for you.
Cheers.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The Left Hand/Right Hand Relationship in Guitar
It's incredible how much time and energy is devoted to the development of left hand (or chording hand, for southpaws)
on guitar.
All guitar learning systems, including Guitar-eze, spend a lot of time, a LOT of time, describing patterns
and technique for the left hand. Obviously there is a lot to master - scales, chord positions, licks, memorization of where
the notes are, and on and on.
In fact, most guitar books, websites, even teachers I've spoken with and watched in action,
focus on "how to play it", on the left hand.
My take on the left hand/right hand relationship in guitar is
this:
The left hand represents the technical, and the right hand represents the musical.
Of course, both hands
have to be both for one to become an accomplished guitar player. But I believe there is a tilt in favor of one over the other
with respect to each hand.
Technically, for example, it's a lot harder to learn a run or a difficult chord position
on your left hand, than it is say, to strum a downstroke with your right. But how you do that simple downstroke will often
determine how the chord or run will come out sounding - good, or not so much.
There are fewer subtleties with left
hand work - in order to get it right, the lick or chord has to be executed just so, every time. The opposite is true with
right hand work. There are a thousand ways to play that downstroke pattern, in intensity, volume, speed. That, to me, is
what adds the musicality to the technique one works so hard to master on the left side.
Add to that, the old saying
that simplicity is beauty, or perfection, or whatever cliche you care to name, and suddenly you might start to wonder why
you spent so much time learning all those complicated scales, licks and chords.
Once again, the beauty of Guitar-eze
surfaces. The simplicity of the left hand stuff allows the guitarist to focus on the art of the right hand stuff. It's technique
too, no question, but technique a thousand times more subtle.
1:03 pm est
Monday, March 12, 2007
Guitar Teachers
Love them! I love guitar teachers! I've never actually had one (100% self-taught, warts and all), but - I
have taught guitar, to both adults and children, in Guitar-eze, naturally. And I love to teach guitar. It's one
of the reasons I developed Guitar-eze, as a book. It was my desire to share the fruits of my guitar labor.
But teachers are only human - and they can't always save you guitar students from the frustration that sets in with slow
progress on guitar. Many teachers have so many students, it really isn't much difference to them if they lose a few
to diminishing interest or slow development.
There are so many great guitar teachers, and yet, I have found, lots of disappointed guitar students. So clearly,
if he or she is a great teacher it's not their fault. It could be the system they teach isn't connecting with the student.
And all I see out there, apart from Guitar-eze is one system, packaged many, many, many different ways. All those books.
CDs. DVDs. Websites. Online lessons. They are all teaching the same things, the same way.
Guitar-eze, on the other hand, dares to be different. We dare to suggest that, hey, if you're not making progress
on guitar, or not making it fast enough, or not getting enough out of guitar, or are simply looking for something different
with guitar, we are a different way. Happily, it's also a much simpler way, making it the perfect guitar method for
those frustrated, or slow-progress guitar players. It also happens to fit really well with children, of any age.
Not to mention the fringe, such as vocalists looking to accompany themselves on guitar.
Now, back to teachers - I say go out and find one, no question about it. The truth be told, all the guitar resources
out there, in standard tuning, will be very difficult to master on one's own. Self-taught guitar is not easy, in standard
tuning. Back to that point about teachers losing students - it's not the teacher's fault, it's the program.
Now I heavily promote Guitara-eze as a guitar system which can very readily be self taught. It is just that much
easier, especially at the front end, when all the traditional frustration typically kicks in. You actually play right
away in Guitar-eze, and you don't look back.
So my advice would be - put the two together - especially if you are frustrated. Don't give up on guitar.
Give up the system you're frustrated with. Get Guitar-eze, and bring it to your teacher. He or she, remember is
experienced in guitar. The lightbulb should come on - and you will play guitar.
...and hopefully, another lost guitar student is saved.
Friday, March 9, 2007
What's Your Beef With Standard Tuning?
You mean apart from the fact that I got nowhere with it personally? :) There's no beef at all, actually - there
a probably more similarities than differences between standard tuning and open-D. Heck there's even string duplication
(A and D). Many riffs can be transposed from one to the other (think about it - D,G,B is a major chord, as any
standard tuned slide player will tell you).
Clearly standard tuning can be mastered - as proven countless times, by the masters! ....and all the other satrianis
you admire at the local music store.
If I have a beef, it's really with myself - why the heck can't I do it - why can't I play guitar beyond the one-finger-on-the-third-fret-of-my-high-E-string-to-create-a-G-chord
phase? Why can I only get the first three notes of that Chuck Berry lick? THAT's my beef.
Occasionally I do switch over to standard tuning, thinking, hey, I'm a pretty good guitar player now, maybe the lightbulb
will come on in standard tuning.
It never does.
So I switch right back to open-D.
Which brings me to the theme of today's entry (if in a roundabout way): Tuning back and forth between standard
guitar tuning and open-D is pretty darn easy, for those of you out there who are considering trying open-D (or Guitar-eze
specifically), but fear the re-tuning process.
Consider that you have string duplication as mentioned above. So your A and D strings stay the same. Now,
consider that in open-D you have three Ds and two As. That's internal string duplication - i always start with that
middle D that's in standard too, and tune my high D and low D to it. That makes 4 out of 6 strings tuned fairly easily.
Now the high A string matched to your standard tuning low A. Which leaves the F# for last - a simple semitone lower
for your G string.
As for tuning back to standard, well... if you must... :)
Remember the A and D string commonality - start from there. Bring your low D back up to low E (which is just like
adjusting drop-D tuning), and you're half way there. That allows you to adjust your high D string from your low E, and
the remaining strings using the old finger on the fifth and fourth fret technique.
So there's no beef with standard tuning.. They're actually good friends and neighbors. Standard tuning is welcome
to play in our open-D backyard any time it likes.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Lots and Lots of Inquiries During the Guitar-eze Promotion
...which ended February 28th - thanks for all the interest!
In the last few days I have begun compiling the "guts"
of supplemental lessons to compliment what is already in Guitar-eze - the book and CD.
Will let you know when the first
sets are available...
8:56 am est
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Working on a Exciting New Additions to Guitar-eze!
Due to increasing demand, we are getting together something really big - lesson packs!
You asked and asked
- now you shall receive - individual lessons in Guitar-eze - designed to compliment the already information-packed Guitar-eze
Method and Chord Books! For those of you looking for that additional edge, coming soon, will be a myriad of lessons and lesson
packs to choose from. Additionally, we will be launching:
Kid-tar-eze!
Yep, Guitar-eze lessons and lesson packs
specifically geared toward the younger set (as if it wasn't easy enough already!).
Look forward to these exciting new
products soon, but in the meantime, as we develop them - we would love your input. Let me know what you would like to see
in your customized Guitar-eze lesson!
10:53 am est
