I listened a little closer

As I was uploading the short, I watched it one more time watching the thumb. What do you know? There were some pauses in my playing that I was sure didn’t exist. I’ve worked for years and years to get that thumb consistent and independent but sometimes one falls back into old patterns..

You gotta record yourself

I make it a habit to record myself quite a bit and this is why. We have plenty of resources so there isn’t an excuse to not record yourself. You can make up excuses like I did to not record like “It’s too much to organize after awhile” “I don’t have the time to listen” ” I don’t like hearing or watching me play” . The list goes on and on but there are more reasons to record than not.

• The tape doesn’t lie: Every note, every dynamic, every nuance is going to be on the recording. you can’t ignore it. You can, however, improve upon it.
• A great way to document progress
• You can’t rely on your memory or impression of your practice session:
  • An inflated sense of how well you did can mask the mistakes you did make. Like I said, the tape doesn’t lie.
  • Conversely, maybe you had a bad day and your playing sucks and practice was a waste of time. (I’ve had this happen to me). The next day, I’ll listen to the session and I’m like “wow” that was pretty damn good!
• A repository for song ideas to come back to when you’re stumped

The list can go on and on but the reality is that there isn’t an excuse in the world to not record yourself. I have found that recording for YouTube has been a great way to stay consistent. I have to review each video to cut out what I want to post which means many times over I listen. Just like with the short I posted, I find something to improve upon and/or work on more!

Below is the YouTube Short in question: see if you can spot the anomalies in my thumb

You’re dedication to the guitar is unmatched. You’ve practiced and practiced; yet it seems like you play the same old lick, the same old song over and over again. You’re time with your instrument is just a waste of time lately. Sound familiar? I’m coming out of a stint where my playing was pissing me off to be honest. I felt stuck and frustrated and when I’m in this state of mind, I am left uninspired and not wanting to pick up this six string addiction. I have found ways to break free from the repetitive guitar playing rut and thought I would share with you and maybe you’ll find them helpful.

Record Your Guitar Playing

This suggestion sounds cliche and it works! I’m going to throw a bit of a curveball here and suggest not to record just the audio but video as well. Why you ask? I have found that seeing me playing the guitar gives me insight on more than just what I’m playing. It’s giving a view of how I’m playing it. Do I look comfortable playing or do I look strange? How’s my posture? Do I look cool? These questions will give you insight and inspiration in your guitar playing.

Grab your phone, record yourself and then get a notebook and take notes. Critique and compliment yourself in the process. You’ll be surprised on what you will get from this. I usually come to find that I’m playing better than what I give myself credit for.

Jam With Pandora and Train Your Ears

Yes, I said Pandora! Yes It’s still a music streaming service and for this purpose my go to. I don’t want you to play along with songs that you know but also with songs you don’t.

• Pick a song on Pandora and seed it with a song/style your like. This will start an interactive playlist where you have to listen and play.
• Play along. Take note of the progression, minor/major and how the melody works with it.
• Do whatever you like but try not to look up the tab because this is to train the ears. If I’m truly stumped, I’ll look up the tab.
• You don’t have to know the song completely. Let the playlist guide you like a teacher would if you were in a lesson. If you like something, make a note and add it to your repertoire.
• Extra Credit: record yourself doing this.

I chose Pandora because in my experience, the song suggestions are more diverse than Spotify. Even though Spotify is the #1 streaming service, their dynamic playlists tend to play songs you have already heard or the same old stuff you already listen to. They goal here is to get outside the box and Spotify really sucks at that.

Walk Away For a Couple of Days

Maybe you’re just burned out and setting down the instrument might be the best choice. When you come back, your head will be fresh and new ideas will come. Take notes mental and physical on what you might like to work on once you get back on the horse. Technique, songs, theory, etc.. You’re hands will also benefit from a rest as well.

Getting out of a playing rut is a frustrating thing to overcome. However, it’s doable and finding ways out of the slump is a good way to improve in the process.

I’ve been playing guitar for close to 40 years and have played many arrangements of popular songs, but I had never fully created my own arrangement until now. The process came naturally once I dove in. The song I chose was White Lion’s “When the Children Cry,” and after many months of working out the arrangement, changing voicings, and practicing it over and over, I finally posted it to my YouTube channel. Along the way, I uncovered some insights about arranging for guitar that I thought I’d share with you.

My Steps in Arranging Songs for Fingerstyle Guitar

1. Know the song forward and backward

• Listen to the piece over and over until you can play the whole song in your head. It helps with arranging/voicing and gives you the ability to work on it without having a playback device with you; you won’t always have your phone handy when inspired.

2. Learn the chords first

• Just stick with the base chords and recognize what they are and where they go in the songs. This is the foundation of your arrangement. Learn the root. Once you know the base chords, then you can move to alternate chords like adding a 6th, 11 or a borrowed chord, etc.. to add some color.

3. Be able to play the melody in more than one way

• This is the essential part of your arrangement so the listener will be able to identify the song. It’s a good idea to learn it in different positions as well; more options for when you bring it all together. Once you are know the melody forward and back, you can then add your own flair to the song and make it your own

4. Mess around and keep it simple at first

• I’ll go through the chords and start to incorporate the melody. Kind of like a jam session of sorts; playing it by ear and along with the original song.
• Playing the melody with only the root of the chord as the accompaniment. Keeps it simple and a good base to build from there.
• Once I get that base I’m happy with, I start building upon it; different chord types, variations on the melodies, etc… I want to make it my own without taking away or losing the vibe of the original. Tommy Emmanuel is the king of arranging a song that you recognize but when he plays, you know it’s him and the song stays true to the original sogwriter.

This is just a small list of what I’ve found useful in tackling guitar arrangements. As I continue developing this skill, my approach will evolve—but the key to creating original arrangements is consistent practice. Arranging is a craft that must be honed and polished over time. I know I’ll look back someday and cringe at my earlier work, but that’s okay—each arrangement represents the best I could do at that moment. Keep playing, and let me know what you’re working on right now!

My First Complete Guitar Arrangement:

I recently saw an add on Youtube claiming there is a secret guitar scale that no one knows and the pros won’t show you. Of course this add will lead you to their website and for a “small fee” you can get access to the secret and unlock your playing!

Snake Oil Salesman

New methods and contraptions that will get you playing the guitar in 24hrs like the Guitar Buddy. This guitar buddy is device you put on your neck and by the push of the button you’ll be able to play basic chords; I’m assuming most major chords and minor? For $34.95 you get this and for just a bit more, you get a song book.

Hell no!

Is this really playing the guitar?

A gadget like the Guitar Buddy doesn’t make one a guitarist anymore than Guitar Hero does. Truth be told, there isn’t a quick way to learn the guitar. Anyone who bought an Esteban guitar on QVC can attest to that notion.

I’ll have to admit that I’ve tried a few “programs” that I thought would miraculously unlock my talent, like a magical “aha!” moment. Unfortunately, that scenario only exists in the movies and maybe if one is a savant. You can have all the gadgets, programs and subscriptions in the world but they all amount to nothing without one thing….

Practice

It’s that plain and simple, you will need to practice. Playing the guitar is not just an art but also a craft and in order to master a craft, a player needs to put in the hours. The one thing these programs don’t say in the click bait is that you’re going to need to practice everyday. It can be a great blue print or guide to becoming a better player but you’ll need to practice it for hours. It can be hard work and it’s a grind, it’s necessary and worth it. I’ve been playing since I was 10 and I hope that I will continue to get better each day, each week and every year. Guess what I’ll have to do to achieve that goal?

Yup, practice.

I’ve heard and read many artists state that some of the best performances that they have given were ones that can’t even remember.  By this, I mean they give into the music/performance and go into a sort of trance, I guess you can say.  I’ve seen this in many guitarists that I admire from Eddie Van Halen to Bruce Cockburn and the result is usually a performance that strikes awe in my heart.  I say to myself, “how can I play like that?”

Let the music take control:

I’ll be honest, this is something that I still struggle with.  Two reasons:
1.  I want to remember my performance so I actively think about it while playing.  This hinders me because then my mind isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do; play the guitar.  The outcome is that I will either have a brain freeze and forget a passage or my playing because sloppy.  Either way, it’s a performance that I would rather forget rather than remember.
2.  I want it to be perfect so I over think and critique myself as I play.  Same result as above.

Play For Yourself:

Why is it that when we practice, we are at our best?  If I had a dollar for every time I said, “why can’t I play this now?  I was nailing it in practice…”  The reason is that when practicing, I’m playing for myself and no one else.  It’s just the three of us: Me, my guitar and the music.  Throw a crowd in there and the nerves kick in and all of a sudden the piece is harder than expected.  Why can’t we play for ourselves when we are in front of people?  For me, it’s that I don’t want to come across rude or narcissistic and I fear that the audience is judging me harshly.  But these notions are all conjecture and speculation that I have put out there with no real proof that it is true. I’m hindering my ability to play to my full potential.

Let the Music/Life Guide You:

A dear friend of mine Robin Easton (blog here), recently wrote a post suggesting that we should trust our hearts and trust life to teach us in life.   This can be applied to our playing as well.  Trust our experience, our training and our hearts when we play. Play for yourself and let your heart and music guide you into a great performance.  Note, that doesn’t mean that every note will be perfect,it might even be a bit sloppy but some of the best performances that I have ever witnessed weren’t technically great but the passion; the emotion was there.  The musician let go and let the music guide him/her into something that I felt privileged to watch.  This I suggest to you sounds scary to even me because this requires an act of faith and to embrace the unknown and dare I say relinquishing control.  But the idea of control is a myth because we can’t control things like if the PA goes out or if a crying baby is in the audience, etc… Giving in and letting go of the control is probably the biggest act of control that you will do.

Like that old cliche’ I’ve heard over the years: “Play like no one is listening.”

*Note: Thank you Robin for inspiring this post!

If you have followed Guitar Musings in the past, you have probably stopped reading the blog because there hasn’t been a post in months.  This has been for a number of reasons; some personal and others professional. Anyway, I’m trying to get myself back on track;  with my playing and my writing.  

Surround Yourself:

I have found that, even though I play for many hours, I don’t practice.  I’m just noodling on the guitar but not learning or polishing my craft.  Some of that has to do with me being a bit lazy/uninspired and not knowing what to do.  That is why I signed up for lessons with a local teacher and am completely excited for my first lesson.  I have heard great entrepreneurs say that if you want to keep the energy of your new venture going, surround yourself with other entrepreneurs.   Doing this will keep the energy up and you will be more likely to succeed.  I’m doing the same by surrounding myself with other guitar players.  Just the thought of playing on a regular basis has gotten my creative juices flowing.  I can’t wait.

Are you surrounding yourself with other players to keep you going?  Reading this blog or going to a guitar related forum isn’t the same.  We need to have the contact of other musicians.  Whether it’s a lesson, jamming with friends or just going to a concert, try feeding your guitar soul a bit and the music will begin to flow.

Find a place in your home with decent acoustics.  The most popular places are bathrooms but my favorite is a small hallway between my kitchen and dining room.  Once you find a good spot, just play.  It would be a good idea to have your guitar strapped on so you can walk around to find the “sweet spot.”   You will know when you hit that spot because the sound of the guitar suddenly surrounds you.  There, you have a place to provide real time feedback on your playing.  A wonderful practice tool, as well as an experience.  Try this from time to time, not only to critique your playing but to enjoy it as well. 

What I suggest isn’t anything new but can be forgotten, especially when we can plug in to an amp at almost anytime.  Give being truly unplugged a shot and here your instrument’s true sound.

Top 5 Mistakes:

1. I don’t sight read the whole piece when initially getting to know the song.  This keeps me from getting the full picture and I tend to have trouble putting it all together. I can’t tell you how many songs I learned where all I could perform was the first minute or so.
2. Try to play it at full tempo too soon.  This tends to create mistakes or bad habits like poor fingering or timing issues.  I’m getting better at playing slower tempos and then working my way up but still “fall off the wagon” every once in a while.
3. I don’t give it a rest when needed.  I get so obsessed with the song, I think the more I practice, the faster I learn and the better it will be.  I have found that the opposite can be true. Sometimes stepping away for a day or two gives me a fresh perspective and I tend to play the piece better when coming back.
4. I focus on the “fun” or challenging parts or a piece but neglect the rest. The result is that I might be able to play certain parts well but the rest of the piece is sub par and in turn, the performance suffers.
5. I don’t warm up properly.  I sometimes jump into the song without any warming up which can result in me playing like crap.  This is especially true when the song is technically difficult.

I’ve been working on a piece that I’ve toyed around with for years but was never really comfortable with it.  I learned the it using tab and a recording that came with the songbook.  At first glance, the piece appears to be easy learn but it has to be played at a fairly high tempo (200bpm) so frustration began to kick in.  No matter how much I practiced it never sounded or felt right.

So what did I do?  I decided to look at the standard notation part of the transcription and noticed something that the tab doesn’t show.  I was not separating the melody with the bass line completely.  In short, my index and middle were playing notes my thumb was supposed to be playing.  The result of this mistake was the melody was getting muddied up with notes that weren’t supposed to be there.  So I made my thumb do it’s job and the song began to fell better; there is now a clear separation between melody and the bass line.  Only problem is that I now have to re-learn a bit a of the song to un-learn some of the bad habits I developed.   A small price to pay to get it right.

What’s better? Tab or standard notation?  For me, it’s both.  I can learn a song much faster using tab but the musicality comes out using the standard notation.  The separation of voices, dynamics subtle nuances that only standard notation can provide.  Tab is ideal with the help of standard notation but if you can read music well, then there is no need for tab, theoretically.  So maybe the edge goes to standard but that takes nothing away from tab because I owe of ton of my repertoire to tab.

Meet My Friend

I’d like to talk about my good friend, the big red button. By this, I mean the Record button. Now, I’m not talking about recording in the sense of producing CDs, videos or demos. That comes later. For now, I’m talking more along the lines of creating a progress report.

In the Beginning

When I was a young lad, one of my favorite things to do was plug my amp into a dual cassette recorder with a mic input, play anything, record it, then take the tape to school to generally irritate all of my friends. Later, I figured out if I took the tape and put it in the other deck, recorded its contents onto another blank tape with a drum machine plugged in and going, I could multi-track. After I repeated the process with multiple guitar tracks and a borrowed bass, the line noise had built up so much that you could barely hear the instruments. Plus, it was a one shot deal per recording so I learned to either live with the occasional mistake, or just don’t make mistakes. But I had a recording that not only captured a song idea for later use, but also a small snapshot in the development of my technique.

Monitor Your Progress

Now I’ll shift gears for a second. One thing that I find as I practice is that day to day, I never get better. It’s like a body builder who lifts, looks in the mirror, and sees no change. This can be very discouraging. But one thing that body builders are encouraged to do is have pictures taken of themselves periodically during their development. Over time, the changes are more noticeable. The same is true with playing and developing technique. This is why I highly recommend getting a big red button.

Resources are Everywhere

These days, with a computer in every home and a plethora of affordable recording hardware and software, there is no excuse not to push the big red button every now and then. That is, except for one; nerves. Very few things, save for live performance, can bring sweat to palms like knowing that the button has been pushed and it’s time to do your thing. Just remember this; it’s just you and the button. The button doesn’t judge, it just captures. You be the judge. But you have to put something down to judge.

Mistakes are OK

Also with most systems, along with a big red button comes a big Delete button. There’s no shame in using the big Delete button. You want to capture your best effort at that time, so don’t be afraid to try again and again and again until it’s as good as you can get it. If you can’t get it as good as you want it, step away from the button, work it out, come back, and push the button again.

It Gets Easier

The two things that I’m thankful for after years of using the big red button are, one, that I have something to listen to and say “Wow, I actually have progressed since then!”, or “That’s an area I’m still not happy with, I should focus on that”. The other is that I’ve become proficient and confident enough with the recording process that I can create real projects, make my own CDs inexpensively and on my terms, and help others with their projects.

So like The Chemical Brothers say “Don’t hold back, the time has come to galvanize, push the button”.

Links:

www.herculescastro.com  (Home page of our guest writer)

List of Cockburn Tabs: (updated Sept 2025)

Sunwheel Dance:  I’m not a fan of ASCII tab but it’s fairly accurate/close to the version I have in my “All the Diamonds” songbook.  This version has you tune to open E(EBEG#BE) but I believe it’s tuned to open D (DADF#AD).  Both with the capo on the second fret.  The song is surprisingly easy to learn but incredibly hard to master, especially at the correct tempo.

• Pacing the Cage:  I couldn’t not find a free tab that was worth mentioning but I did find two versions that you can pay for.  Both are very accurate and are in a tab/standard notation form.
  Version 1: $5.50 to download from musicnotes.com
  Version 2: $3.95 to download from freehandmusic.com
• Foxglove:  Tuned to open C, this is transcribed to power tab and is almost identical to my “All the Diamonds” songbook.
• Wondering Where The Lions Are:  ASCII tab again but gives you the main motive pretty accurately which is pretty much 90% of the song.
• Dear Dancing Round a Broken Mirror and Water Into Wine:  Very good transcriptions, one in Powertab.  You will have to subscribe to the Bruce Cockburn musicians group in Yahoo groups and the tab can be found in the files sections.  Many other good tabs and ideas that will set you in the right direction in learning other Bruce’s songs.
• Also found the All the Diamonds Songbook on Amazon.  Expensive but if you really really want it, it’s there. However, I would recommend the following site: Granata Music. Better priced and a small biz you can support. I ordered a replacement one for me and it came pretty quickly.
• Since the writing of this post, I have found that Songsterr has some great transcriptions of Bruce’s work. Really nice that it syncs to the original recording (with paid sub). I highly recommend either version, it has helped me a great deal.

Playlist of Cockburn covers on my YouTube Channel.

I used to be extremely uncomfortable being alone up there or any place away from the distractions of technology because I was forced to face the many thoughts/ideas/rants rattling around in my head.  It could be quite nerve racking and I preferred to drown it out with iPods, computers or conversations with friends.  Over the past couple trips, I have found that this “alone time” was an opportunity to face the cacophony of thoughts in my head and I was forced to organize and purge; getting comfortable with myself and in turn, more comfortable, with my playing.

So here’s to getting more comfortable and getting better!

I will turn to the charts from time to time,  especially when I’m spinning my wheels and I find it useful.  I hope it helps you as well.

Links:

Guitar Suite Chord Progression Primer

Chord Progression Books

I’ll admit that I’ve let a few stories pass my lips.  Just recently, I caught myself telling a guitar version of the “fish story”.   I was in a conversation with another musician who plays fiddle/guitar and I exaggerated my daily practice routine.  I let it slip that I practice at least four hours a day or more.  Over the next couple days, I replayed that conversation over and over in my head and wished I hadn’t said that but no one’s perfect.  I do practice quite a bit but lately, I’m lucky to get 40 minutes of practice in, let alone 4 hours.  It’s been pretty busy at my paying job. 

So why do we let out these little white lies?  I can’t tell you why this one slipped out of my mouth.  I would like to think it was my way, subconsciously, to motivate my ass back to practicing more.  Who knows?  I’ll leave that up to the Psychologists or others to figure that out but  I can tell you one thing; I’ve practiced a heck of a lot more the last couple of days just to keep me honest.  Four hours a day?  Well… I won’t go there.  Especially in writing.

So what’s your guitar tale?  Leave a comment and get it off your chest.  You will feel better after you do.

Keep Practicing!

A couple of nights ago, I came across a site called GuitarCardio.com and I’m loving it.  It’s a scale exercise program where you choose a key (or all keys), select a difficulty level and a starting place for the scale.  A series of scales will then be given for you to work on.  It’s like a workout plan for you fingers, hence the name “cardio”  I’m thinking.  The dynamic nature of this system sings to me because I’m not getting bored with the same scales over and over again.

This program is still in it’s infancy so there are some drawbacks like the scales don’t cover the entire fingerboard, lack of customizability and no metronome, to name a few.  Brad Heintz, the creator of GuitarCardio.com addresses bugs and feature requests in his blog and  has great plans to extend the features and functionality of this program.  So maybe we’ll see scales over chord changes and modes in upcoming versions.

Check out the site and give it a whirl and let Brad know what you like and would like to see at GuitarCardio.   Brad is open to suggestions and critiques which should make this program the best it can be.

Keep Practicing!