How I Got My Guitar Cover Featured In The "FRIENDS" Reunion
You may have heard that my arrangement of the Friends theme song was used in the recent Friends Reunion episode on HBO Max.
It still feels pretty surreal to say that...
Today, I'm sharing the story with you of how this happened. And the reason I'm sharing this, is because I learned a very important lesson from the experience - that can be...
My Student FIXED My Guitar Arrangement
One of my students has been practicing my "Ancient Stones" arrangement from the video game Skyrim and, because he was struggling to reach a certain stretch - he made a really creative (and honestly suprising) change to the arrangement.
I think part of him was nervous that I wouldn't like him making changes to my arrangement...
But when I...
Reharmonization - Stop Playing BORING Chord Progressions
Today I'm teaching you a simple reharmonization technique for guitar that will help you completely transform the chord progressions in your guitar arrangements and compositions - so you can stop using the same old boring chord progressions!
Ever wonder how some guitarists can make happy songs sound sad?
Completely changing the mood of a song in...
The Villa-Lobos Effect: I stole this idea from a famous guitar composer
When you find yourself playing the same melody over and over - whether it's in an arrangement you're working on, or an original composition - you need to use creative variations to keep the melody fresh and interesting.
In my latest arrangement of the Davy Jones Theme from Pirates of the Caribbean, I found myself in this exact...
How I Create Guitar Mashups - Seamlessly Blending 2 Different Songs
If you're ready to up your game as an arranger - you're gonna want to learn how to make your own mashups and medleys.
In a mashup - you take 2 or more different songs and find ways to creatively blend them into 1 cohesive arrangement.
Like I did recently with my Mandalorian / Force Theme mashup. Or one of my personal favorites - my Star...
5 Beautiful Chords To Spice Up Your Guitar Arrangements
Today, I'm going to show you 5 beautiful guitar chords to give you some ideas and inspiration to spice up your own guitar arrangements or compositions. Some of them I love simply because they're drop-dead gorgeous, and others I love because they work very well functionally - freeing my fingers up to still be able to play an...
Ear Training 101: My Favorite Ear Training App
Most ear training apps are just... bad.
Ever since I started teaching arranging and ear training myself, I've been on a quest to find the perfect ear training app to recommend to my students...
And I think I've found it!
Most ear training programs rely heavily on teaching you how to recognize "intervals," which I never really agreed with....
Make Better Guitar Arrangements Without Changing A Single Note
“Light Of The Seven” Example Tabs/Sheet Music
“A good arrangement performed poorly might as well be a bad arrangement…”
What if I told you that I could teach you how to make your guitar arrangements better without changing a single note?
Throughout the arranging process, we’re constantly thinking about...
Ear Training 101: How To Identify Chords By Ear (Part 2)
Believe it or not, there is a method to the madness that is ear training. You don’t have to rely entirely on your ear to figure out what notes you’re hearing. In fact, like we established in my last video, with just a little bit of music theory and trial and error, you can figure out an entire chord from just one note!
We’ve...
Ear Training 101: How To Identify Chords By Ear (Part 1)
To make your own classical or fingerstyle guitar arrangements, you need to be able to identify notes and chords by ear.But so few people develop that very necessary skill! Why is it so hard for us to pick things out by ear?
Other than the obvious reasons (practice ear training!), it’s because we often don’t...
