Guitar Nine Columns

How studying other instruments will make you a better, more creative, and superior acoustic guitar player.

Tired of spending so much time practicing without ever seeing big results? Check out this article from Tom Hess.

Music industry guru Christopher Knab offers concrete information on booking contracts with venues.

I run a small production company and we are learning the ropes as we go. Someone once said you`re either learning or dying. I prefer to learn.

Guitar Nine's April-May 2016 newsletter.

These exercises and examples will help you to improve your finger independence as well as your picking.

Improve your guitar technique while learning the proper way to sweep those licks.

Ensure that you don`t come across as an amateur in a situation where you`re trying to impress the people who hired you.

The octave pattern is not as user-friendly for learning to play the notes on a fretboard as many teachers would like players to think.

Three cool ways to approach the rhythm of a 12 bar blues - take to your next jam and blow everyone away.

But if you want to keep progressing, you have to make the decision to grind it out.

My music a mix between the aggression of metal and the madness and extravagance of prog-instrumental-rock, I don`t close myself in within just a single genre.

David Sertl thinks it time that guitarists move beyond "Satryngvai Shredblues".

It`s much more difficult to attract the audience without vocals. For that reason, it`s very important to build some nice and attractive themes and melodies in instrumental music.

Guitar Nine's June-July 2016 newsletter.

Music is the only thing that transcends this realm. It`s the one form of communication that does transcend everything else in the material world. That`s probably why everybody loves music so much.

I was a typical Sixties kid. We always had Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley records, because my sister was into that. Then, along came the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones, and that changed everything.

To easily play with greater speed, you`ll need to use the most effective picking technique possible.

Mike Campese teaches you short snippets from some songs off his brand new album "Chapters".

When I started playing guitar I was very fortunate to have all the great guitar players in the prime of their career to look to for inspiration.

My favorite bands were AC/DC, Motorhead, The Stray Cats, The Sex Pistols and so on, so mainly hard rock, heavy metal, punk rock, and rockabilly/psychobilly stuff.

Examining the problems of CAGED starting from the effect on your picking hand.

With the right approach, Practice will be enjoyable and something you look forward to.

A dissection of "Not Of This Earth" and "Surfing With The Alien".

You maybe missing out on a massive range of sounds that you just can`t get otherwise.

Guitar Nine's August-September 2016 newsletter.

Here are Mike`s technique to help spice up your solos, instead of just running up and down arpeggios.

All of your favorite guitar players play in a way that looks amazingly easy.

Scales are important to learn, but most instructors have put them emphasis on learning them by heart and simply playing them up and down.

Harp harmonics never fail to immediately grab the attention of those who hear you play them, leaving them spellbound by what they just heard.

Knowing I would fund the project myself, I felt that I would demonstrate more credibility to labels and other industry heavy-weights by investing in myself prior to asking them to invest.

The music I write and record under my own name is just the kind of music I`d like to listen to and therefore has no commercial consideration whatsoever, which means it`s a bonus if other people like it!

The main reason I started to play the guitar was Randy Rhoads. He had the biggest influence on me and my playing. When I first listened to him I couldn`t believe what I`d heard.

I love creating things, so putting my project together myself, while it was a lot of work, was very rewarding and also a good learning experience.

Guitar Nine's October-November 2016 newsletter.

But there is a risk with being an independent musician, and that is that you get so lost in your own freedom that you end up with a career that isn`t going anywhere.

How to develop a lightning fast tremolo picking guitar technique.

Read about new ideas for using perfect 5ths in your playing.

Integrating scales and arpeggios mechanically.

Drastically improve your acoustic guitar playing with these easy to play, advanced sounding chords.

Guitar Nine's December-January 2016 newsletter.

These 2-string scale fragment examples will increase your speed and your picking technique.