Downloadable Video Courses

(All Courses Come With Links to Associated Powerpoint Teaching Materials)

Rhythm Study

Strumming and Fingerpicking Techniques and Exercises

Download a 2 hour guitar strumming & rhythms class for beginner and intermediate players, although advanced players may also benefit from this thorough and systematic review.

Learning the guitar can be divided into two hands. The left hand deals primarily with melody and harmony while the right hand focuses on rhythm (opposite for left-handed players). Strumming and fingerpicking are the two main techniques guitarists use to generate rhythms (as well as using picks). Learn how to use a metronome to practice patterns that improve your rhythmic confidence, flexibility and creativity.

If you’re feeling limited in your rhythmic vocabulary, this course will give you access to an infinite variety of rhythms to express in any style (i.e. Spanish, Folk, Gypsy, Blues, Reggae etc.). The principles taught in this course apply to all genres and will help you play more authentically whether alone or with others. 

Arpeggios

Harp-Like Textures and Harmonic Outlines

Download this class in which you will learn how to arpeggiate major and minor chords in different positions and begin to explore the guitar from a new perspective. Learning arpeggios will help you deepen your knowledge of how chords work, what notes belong to them, and develop a more sophisticated technique for the right and left hands.

Chord-Scale Relationships

Practical Application of Theory for the Guitar

Download What do you think of when you hear “C Major”? Do you picture one of the first guitar chords you ever learned? Do you know why it’s called that, or what notes belong to it?

This class will teach you the deeper connections between notes, chords and scales and reveal how music literacy can empower your creativity. Together we will learn the C Major scale in one full position and practice the seven chords that come from it.

From there we will explore the relative minor key, “A Minor”, and how the interplay between Major and minor creates so much intrigue in the music we know and love. Finally, we will apply these ideas to a song and experiment improvising with chords, scales and rhythms to open up new worlds of creative self-expression on the guitar.

Barre Chords

Moveable Structures that Don’t Require a Capo

Download Most beginner guitar players memorize a dozen or so essential chords called ‘open position’ chords, so named because they make use of ‘open strings’, or strings that are sounded without a finger pressing down on any frets. Often times guitarists rely on capos in order to change keys, making use of the same basic chords on a different part of the neck.

Barre chords are an important next step to mastering the guitar. These ‘moveable’ shapes do not require open strings, and thus can be played anywhere on the guitar without a capo. Barre chords also serve as a basic framework for understanding 7th chords and other beautiful colorations that will take your playing to the next level.

Scale Positions

Vertical and Horizontal Approaches to Guitar Scale Positions

Download Scales are the connective tissues that unite chords and melodies. Of the 12 notes in the chromatic scale, most songs are composed using 7 notes of the diatonic Major/minor scale. By learning scales on the guitar, you will be better able to find melodies and improvise over chord changes.

In this class we will practice the 5 main positions of the C Major scale (this scale has the same notes as the A minor scale, so you will effectively be learning both). These scale positions can easily be moved up or down to transpose to other keys.

We will also practice patterns and exercises to apply to the scale. These melodic sequences will make the scale more melodic and interesting to practice. Finally, we will take a look at how scales can be used in an improvisational way to play over simple chord progressions.