Guitar Lessons - Scotty West's Music Instruction Blog

Our New Free Guitar Instruction Site!

2008-08-23T13:30:06-04:00

Greetings,

I just wanted to remind you about our free guitar resource website www.guitar-lessons-free-instruction-online.com . We actually created this some time ago but are just getting around to promoting it now. It contains some longer essay pages that you will find very interesting. It also has a good sampling of our excellent COLOR CODED guitar scale and chord finger charts. These are the best charts on the market as our unique color coding shows you much more than just where to put your fingers. It shows you how each note FUNCTIONS within the pattern and how it relates to the other scales and chords in the song. This is an absolutely crucial concept when it comes to song writing, improvising and learning songs by ear. We give you tips on how to integrate this into your EAR TRAINING strategy as well.

The site also includes an online version of Scotty's Famous Musical Sliderule. Learn to "spell" any scale, mode, chord and arpeggio IN ANY KEY! So cool it even blows Berklee faculty members minds! The sliderule itself is included with our complete guitar home study program on DVD check it out at www.absolutelyunderstandguitar.com .

All the best, Scotty West

The Greatest Guitar Player Of All Times!

2008-08-22T13:13:08-04:00

Greetings,

I saw a forum recently where all these guys were arguing about who was the greatest guitar player of all times. They were beating each other up over whether it was, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughn etc ... on and on and on.

I thought to myself "Don't these guys have anything better to do with their time ... like maybe go home and PRACTICE THEIR GUITAR PLAYING?"

The simple fact is, the greatest guitar player who ever lived could be YOU. There is so much media hype about Rock n' Roll guitar that one can easily loose sight of the fact that these are just guys who play the guitar ... just like you. They had to start somewhere. They had to learn about music ... maybe take some guitar lessons. They had to practice their craft. Yeah, maybe they had some talent to give them an edge, but in the end, they'll all tell you that you only get out of it what you put into it and there is no reason to suspect that, with hard work, you couldn't play at least as good as any of these guys.

Don't get me wrong. I love Jimi Hendrix ... but I'm also able to put him in perspective. His record company wants you to believe that he was the greatest guitar player of all times so you'll go out and buy his recordings ... end of story! But I can name ten guys in my town who, on some level, play as good or better than ol' Jimi ... and I just might be one of them! Sure there were things that he could do that I can't do ... but there are also things I know that I can do that he couldn't. We're both artists trying to do the best we can. You can come and join us if you allow yourself to believe that it is possible.

I'm not telling you this to tear down your great idols or pump myself up. I'm telling you this to EMPOWER you to rise above the hype and realize your own musical greatness. It takes knowledge and hard work to become a great player, but you can do it. I swear it's true.

All of us at AUG are here to help you any way we can. I might humbly suggest our home study course as a great tool to help you get there. Check it out at www.absolutelyunderstandguitar.com . We also have a lot of free information at our companion site www.guitar-instruction-free-lessons-online.com . There are some fascinating articles as well as loads of free theory information and finger charts.

All the best, Scotty West

Add Pandora To Your Guitar Lessons

2008-08-20T11:17:23-04:00

Greetings,

One of my roles as a guitar teacher is to expand my students understanding of different styles of music and the history of the instrument. We used to get this stuff in Music Appreciation class at school, but as more and more school systems opt out of providing music and art education, a lot of students are stuck with only what they can hear on their local pop music radio stations or cable/satellite music channels. This can often be rather narrowly focused and commercially driven. Where can you go to broaden your musical experience? In the past, I have always recommended NPR (National Public Radio) stations. Their programming is non-commercial, education oriented and you can hear music there that you wouldn't get from any other source.

I still recommend NPR, but I've recently discovered another source. Have you heard of Pandora.com? It's this cool site where you set up your own personal "radio station" based on a particular song or artist. Pandora plays tunes by that artist but also plays tunes by other artists that play similar music. You get a mix of your favorite songs but also new music that you're guaranteed to like because it has common characteristics ... and it's all FREE!

Pandora is connected to an organization called the Music Genome Project. They collect popular music and analyze it, assigning each song a list of criteria ... style, sub style, instrumentation, rhythmic structure, harmonic structure etc. They then enter it into a data base. Pandora then uses this information to send you a stream of music that closely matches the music you built your radio station around.

They also provide information about the artists and songs on your screen. I keep Pandora on in the studio here while I'm puttering around and I'm constantly hearing cool stuff that I never heard before. I'll go running into the office to see who is playing. I've discovered many new artists this way.

I've been playing music for a long time and have been privileged to have some awesome teachers over time (starting with my Mom, a symphony violinist) and I have explored styles of music that my peers have been unable to access. Chief among these is Modern Jazz. Many of my students are unaware of just how far the guitar has advanced in this area as they have been unable to find a convenient venue to provide them tunes to listen to in these more advanced styles. They're just stuck listening to Rock and Pop.

Now is your chance to break out of your rut. Go to Pandora.com and set up a radio station for yourself based around the Jazz guitarist Pat Metheny. I chose Pat because he isn't generally too far advanced and experimental for most folks taste. He's just a good, solid modern player. His band is excellent as well (his keyboardist, Lyle Mays is one of my all-time musical heroes). You'll get to hear the true cutting edge of modern, fine art guitar and keyboard playing.

You can also set up multiple stations so you can listen to different styles at different times ... or you can merge them all into one giant station! It's amazing what you'll hear. Some other modern players you might like to try are John Scofield, Larry Coryell, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Frank Gambale, Ralph Towner and Alan Holdsworth.

You can open Pandora's box at www.pandora.com . You can also check out more about modern guitar at our website www.absolutelyunderstandguitar.com .

All the best, Scotty West

Our Downloadable Guitar Lessons

2008-08-19T19:34:04-04:00

Greetings,

A few months back we launched a new version of our guitar instruction program ... a downloadable version where folks could get the video lessons delivered right to their computer from the web. We were somewhat surprised by the result. Very few of you opted to receive the program that way. I'd love to know why. If you could drop us an email or comment that would be great.

The advantages to the download is that you have instant access to the guitar lessons instead of waiting for your DVDs to arrive via snail mail. Overseas customers should particularly appreciate this. Also, the lessons are right there on your hard drive ... no fumbling around with discs. We can also provide the guitar instruction program for less because our costs are less.

I think many of you prefer the DVDs because it is something tangible. The downloads just seem a little too ethereal? Perhaps you lack confidence in the download process? You're not confident that the video will arrive OK and in a timely fashion? These are large audio/visual files after all. Are you afraid of viruses or spyware?

Any information you can give us would be appreciated. We were thinking that this is the future of web media but perhaps we're just a little too far ahead of the curve. You can check out our excellent guitar instruction program any time at www.absolutelyunderstandguitar.com .

In the event that you really want the download - go to http://www.guitar-lessons-online-instruction.com/

All the best,

Scotty West

Guitar Lessons - Get Yourself A Beat Machine.

2008-08-15T20:26:22-04:00

Greetings,

I was reminded once again last week how much pure FUN rhythm can be in music. Kathy and I saw the Return To Forever reunion concert as I mentioned in my previous post. It fascinates me to this day how these guys can play such complex music so fast and tight. The shifting tempos and time signatures that these guys can control gives their music a depth, breadth and expressive majesty unavailable to less accomplished players and writers.

How can one hope to attain this level of rhythmic control? The answer once again is "PRACTICE MAN, PRACTICE" ... and ya' gotta practice SMART. I try to get all my students to understand that practicing without some kind of MECHANICAL time keeper is kinda' like wasting your time. There is this myth that some folks are born with rhythm and others are not. It is true that it comes easier to some folks, but the truth is, the only players that ever develop a professional STAGE PERFORMANCE control of rhythm are the ones that work out with some kind of beat machine.

Back in the day, we were all advised to use METRONOMES ... but let's face it. They're BORING! That stupid thing clicking back and forth could drive you out of your mind. Most of us blew it off and fooled ourselves into thinking we could do without. The result? Sloppy, fuzzy playing. Those of you who are into these modern 'SHREDDING" monster guitar players ... how do these guys get to play like that? Two words ... DRUM MACHINE.

We live in a marvelous age of music technology. These days there are awesome alternatives to the old metronome. Ya' just gotta' make sure you take advantage of them. Get yourself some kind of drum machine. Not only are they superior time keepers, they are actually FUN to use! How often does that happen? The FUN thing to do is the RIGHT thing to do?

There are lots of different kinds of drum machines you can consider ... but for most folks I say keep it SIMPLE. I recommend getting one of those plastic, department store KEYBOARD instruments ... Casio or Yamaha ... in the $100 range. You want to get a machine that has good sound quality (so you'll actually ENJOY using it) and a wide variety of different beat PATTERNS (often referred to as STYLES) to choose from. The keyboards also have a built-in SPEAKER system so you won't have to plug it into an external amplifier.

You also know how much I stress that all musicians should have at least some knowledge of how keyboards work. Music theory concepts are often easier to see on a keyboard and then you can translate it to your guitar fret board. So when you buy the keyboard, it's like you're buying the drum machine and they're giving you the keyboard free!

You learn to play in time by starting off slow and then gradually increasing the tempo until you get to the speed you want. You will , of course have to know something about how rhythm works and our Absolutely Understand Guitar Home Study Program can help you with that. Check us out on the web at www.absolutelyunderstandguitar.com . We'll get you to understand TIME SIGNATURES and how they relate to the songs you like.

The rest is all practice and experience. You could eventually play as tight and fast as your great guitar heroes!

All the best, Scotty West

Return To Forever Reunion Concert Is A Blast!

2008-08-12T11:03:23-04:00

Greetings,

Kathy and I had the privilege of attending the Return To Forever reunion tour concert at the Bank America Pavilion in Boston last Wednesday evening and it was another of the great musical moments in my career. I was a big fan back in the day but these guys play better than ever so it was like Return To Forever on steroids! To top it all off, the opening act was Bela Fleck and The Flecktones with Victor Wooten on bass! To see him and Stanley Clark on the same stage was a bass players dream.

For those of you who don't know, these are the guys that virtually invented Jazz Fusion back in the mid to late '70s ... Chick Corea on Keyboards ... Al DiMeola on Guitar ... Stanley Clarke on Bass ... Lenny White on Drums. I remember I wore the grooves out of my Romantic Warrior album trying to figure out how those guys played such incredibly complex music so tight and fast. They have all gone on to become household names in the Modern Jazz community. Kathy and I have already seen Chick twice before this year ... once in a duo with Bela Fleck. Al DiMeola is still listed among the fastest "shredders" on guitar even though he's a "dinosaur" in his 50s.

The Flecktones were quick to pay homage and point out that they simply couldn't have existed without RTF pointing the way. Stanley Clark invented many of the styles and techniques that Victor Wooten has gone on to further so eloquently. The Flecktones were awesome in their own right. I was particularly impressed by Jeff Coffin on Sax and Flute. He had just the right balance of technical precision and wild abandon to totally knock me out.

RoyEl, known as Futureman, was fascinating to watch and listen to. He plays percussion on an instrument he invented called a "Drumitar". It's some kind of MIDI trigger device that looks like it might have started out as one of those old SynthAxe controllers. It allows him to use each of his fingers as a separate drum stick to trigger all sorts of drum and percussion sounds. Fascinating!

Return To Forever took the stage to an extended standing ovation. They launched into the classic Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy. Al DiMeola came charging out of the starting gate with some ferocious shredding and the crowd went wild. Both Stanley and Chick also took extended solos. It was a blast from the past to hear those old retro keyboard sounds.

Pharaoh Kings was the band's second number ... one of Chick's extended pieces from the album Where Have I known You Before? Each band member took a swipe at this one including an awesome bass solo from Stanley employing many of those classic techniques he pioneered.

Next came Vulcan Worlds by Stanley Clarke once again featuring incredible interplay between Stanley, Chick and Lenny on Drums. Chick's angular synth solos were particularly outstanding while Stanley contributed another stunning solo here. It was interesting to hear how each players personal musical evolution effects their performance of these classic 70s fusion tunes.

Sorceress by Lenny White was next. Al had several awesome solos in this complex piece and Lenny took one of his all-too-few drum solos of the evening.

Possibly the high point of the evening was an acoustic version of The Romantic Warrior by Chick Corea. This Spanish tinged tune featured extended acoustic guitar and piano solos from Chick and Al but Stanley blew everyone's mind with his extended acoustic bass solo. He bowed, plucked, slapped and beat that poor thing into submission (even doing some "windmill" strumming a la Pete Townshend). These are techniques you generally associate with electric bass but Stanley has masterfully integrated them into his acoustic playing. He's a BIG guy (6' 3" I think) with huge hands and was able to do these awesome bass chord voicings with his extended reach. It was just too much.

The crowd just wouldn't let the band off the stage. I know I was screamin' and hollerin' for an encore as was the whole crowd. The guys came back and did a kick ass version of Duel Of The Jester And The Tyrant. I couldn't believe they had such energetic chops left after almost two ours of smokin' jam. Al tore the place up with several over-the-top solos.

I'm 54 years old. I watched this whole Jazz Fusion thing evolve. Even after 30 years, so much of this material remains timeless. These players just get better with age. If you get a chance to see this tour, don't miss it. Who knows when and if you'll ever get a chance to see this classic line up again.

All the best,
Scotty West

Updated Guitar Lessons and Music Theory Instruction

2008-08-05T00:08:42-04:00

Greetings friends of Absolutely Understand Guitar! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. There have been a lot of exciting changes in our video guitar lesson program and we've been pretty busy. I'm hoping to begin a period of more frequent posts.

We're looking into having our video guitar lesson program available as a DOWNLOAD direct from the web! It's the future of web media and we're getting in on the ground floor! Overseas customers will particularly appreciate getting instant access to our guitar instruction videos without waiting days or weeks for our DVD guitar lessons to arrive via snail mail. We can also lower our price since our material costs will be significantly reduced! Email us if you're interested in trying one of our guitar lesson downloads.

We've invited a new friend into our AUG family. His name is Geof Day and he's going to be helping us with our marketing and promotion. I've known Geof for years and we're proud to have him on board. He's a great guy with a lot of energy and integrity and an expert on all phases of web marketing.

Having Geof helping us is excellent as it will free me up to do some much-needed improvements in our video guitar lesson package. I hope to make improvements to our guitar chord fingering encyclopedia, create many new jam tracks so folks can practice jamming with their scales and modes over a greater variety of chord progressions. I'm also expanding our EAR TRAINING program with a new CD filled with ear training exercises. Many of you have been asking for these improvements and you'll be pleased with these new additions.

Keep an eye out for our new YouTube video guitar lessons as well. We're going to be talking about some really interesting subjects that we didn't get a chance to explore before.

Our band, The Experimental Ensemble of Cape Cod has been doing great. We've had some personnel changes but we hope to be playing out again soon. We'll also be getting some tracks up for you to listen to on YouTube and at Scotty Wests MySpace page. We play all-original modern instrumental and vocal music encompassing a wide range of different styles including Jazz, Rock, Blues, Funk, Fusion, Avant Garde, World, New Age and Classical influences.

Kathy and I are going to Boston Wednesday evening to see the Return To Forever reunion tour concert and we couldn't be more excited! These guys are my heroes and had a HUGE influence on me in my early career. They have all gone on to be household words in the Jazz community ... Chick Corea-Keyboards ... Al DiMeola-Guitar ... Stanley Clark-Bass ... Lenny White-Drums. It don't get no better than that! I'll post my review of the gig on Thursday. If you all get a chance to see these guys, don't miss it.

That's all for now but we'll be back real soon. Thank you all for your continued best wishes and support. It means the world to us!

All the best, Scotty

TRUE MUSICIANSHIP

2008-01-27T19:15:43-05:00

It happened again just the other day. A new guitar student began lessons with me. He had some experience with the guitar ... but not much. He was there for his first lesson and I asked him what he would like to do. He said "Show me how to play like Eddie Van Halen. Show me how he does that thing with the drill." I thought "OH NO. Here we go again."

For those of you who don't know, in a famous Van Halen tune, Eddie found that if you hold an electric drill up next to the pickups on an electric guitar, you can hear the "whirrrrrrrrr" of the drill motor coming through the speakers as you squeeze the trigger. It made for a cool effect ... one of many that Eddie has thought up throughout his career. I'm no fanatic Van Halen fan, but I say give the man his due. He is an inventive player who has changed the language of Rock guitar forever and deserves his place in it's history. It's impossible to contemplate modern Rock guitar without seeing Eddie's finger prints all over it.

Eddie's spectacular solos are indeed filled with some unique techniques (dive-bombs, finger tapping, pinch harmonics etc). What concerns me is the notion that the "gimmicky" parts of his guitar playing is the real essence of his style. This does both Eddie and guitar students everywhere a disservice as it keeps us from understanding the true nature of his contributions. If you're really listening, you see that these finger tricks are just the "frosting" on the cake. Eddie is a real musician who knows his stuff and practices his butt off. That's what makes Van Halen great ... TRUE MUSICIANSHIP.

What do you really like about Eddies music? Is it just the funny stuff he does in his solos? NO. You like how the chords flow. You like the melody that the singer sings ... those funky lyrics. You dig the bass line, those rippin' riffs and that driving beat. Ya' gotta' see that it's a total package. Those cool solo tricks he does might take up a total of 20 seconds out of a 5 minute song! If you think about it you'll see that you have a lot more to learn from EVH then finger tapping ... and that drill thing.

I can't say I've learned every obscure lick from all those Van Halen tunes. I just sight Eddie as an example of how great the gap between the reality and the myth can be. I happen to know that he started taking piano lessons quite young and was considered very talented. He learned how to read music. He said this is where he also started to learn music theory and began developing his ears. He used to walk around with his guitar strapped on ... practicing all day! His songs are filled with complex melodies (a guitar SOLO is just an improvised melody), interesting chord sequences, lush vocal harmonies and some of the most awesome riffs in guitar history. So where does that stuff come from? Two words ... TRUE MUSICIANSHIP.

I was just reading an article about Jimi Hendrix's 1967 gig at the Monterey Pop Festival. The author seemed more interested in talking about the clothes Jimi wore than the music he played! He went into ecstasy retelling every minute detail of Jimi setting his guitar on fire. I'm thinkin' "This is a GUITAR magazine. Save this crap for the National Enquirer. Tell me something about his guitar playing".

A lot of times people seem to want to avoid the topic of true musicianship because they think it's the difficult, boring part of becoming a guitar player ... but the truth is, learning theory, technique, notation and ear training doesn't have to be a chore. Music is actually interesting and easy to understand if it's explained the right way. It ain't brain surgery. It's just taught really badly a lot of the time. Students get turned off and intimidated. They might even get defensive about maintaining their ignorance. "What the heck do I need to know that crap for?" I've been known to describe RAP and DEATH METAL as "pay-back" for the administrators and parents that couldn't figure out how to continue paying for music classes in the school systems! What did you expect? If kids aren't expose to true musicianship, this is what you get!

In our profit hungry society, music isn't an art form anymore. It's a COMMODITY. The record companies need a steady stream of new acts to promote so the profits keep flowing and their shareholders get paid off. How about all these cute teen actresses. They make a couple of movies ... wind up in the tabloids. Suddenly one day, WOW. She can SING too! Next thing ya' know she's a multi-platinum recording artist. Give me a break!

I think that if you ever want to do anything truly CREATIVE with music, you have to know something about how it works. You have to understand it's history. You need to rise above the narrow constraints of peer group culture and embrace the broader context of music as art. Only then can you appreciate true musicianship.

One last example. I was 10 years old when The Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show. That's when I began to seriously persue music. I still hold a fondness for the Fab Four even though I feel I've moved on beyond Pop/Rock in general. Students often ask "Were The Beatles really as great as people say or was it all just hype?" After much consideration, I always say "YES ... they were that great". I often call them the original "PROG-ROCK" (progressive rock) band.

But to truly understand The Beatles, you have to understand that there were actually 5 of them! There was John ... Paul ... Ringo ... George ... and GEORGE. The Beatles would have probably remained just another garage band from Liverpool if they hadn't been fortunate enough to hook up with their producer, GEORGE MARTIN. Sir George (he was knighted for his work with The Beatles) was a bit older then the four lads and was a genuine, degree carrying, classically trained (piano and oboe) REAL musician. He wasn't happy at first to be assigned to work with these 4 crude Rock n' Rollers. They finally won him over with their talent, charm and determination. They also loosened him up a bit ... and the rest his Rock n' Roll history.

Sir George's influence on The Beatle's music can not be overestimated. Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band is, in many ways, a George Martin album! If you go back and look at those recording sessions, you see Sir George right there in the thick of it ... creating many of the most forward-thinking aspects of that masterpiece. That's just one example.

One of my own favorites is Eleanor Rigby from Revolver (the album just before Sgt. Pepper), one of the most amazing pieces of popular music ever written. Hauntingly brilliant lyrics ... the story it tells of two lost and lonely souls and how powerless the church can be. Is my life also that pointless? Won't God save me from despair? There must have been a lot of that going around in England in the years following Word War ll.

And the music so brilliantly compliments the lyrics. But wait! Think back. Can you hear the INSTRUMENTATION behind the vocals in Eleanor Rigby? Is it that Rock band sound we hear in most Beatles tunes? Is it the old 2 guitars, bass and drums?

NO. It's a CLASSIC STRING QUARTET ... and a brilliant one at that ... 2 violins, viola and cello ... and NOTHING else could have expressed that feeling of total despair in quite that same way. Metallica, with all their doom, gloom, and distortion couldn't have touched it. It's just brilliant.

Do you think those four kids from Liverpool wrote that string quartet? They wouldn't have even known where to start! It was Sir George Martin ... the nerdy guy with the music degree hangin' on the wall ... and that's true musicianship.

Oh ... and by the way ... I did show the kid the drill thing.

Greetings and HAPPY 2008!

2008-01-08T09:45:28-05:00

Hope you all had a great holiday season! I got one of those little mini guitar trainers from Tascam. It's pretty cool! Hope you all got some cool new toys.

I had hoped to get my first real blog entry up during the holidays but I'm a couple of days behind. It should be up by January 10th and then we'll be posting new info just about every day. Keep in touch!

All the best,
Scotty West