Guitar Nine Columns

I`m getting an audience that want to hear my original compositions as opposed to seeing me play covers which has been flattering! All with no manager, no agent, no label, no representation, no producer - nothing!

Indie marketing guru Tim Sweeney discusses how to move on when it`s time to move on.

Start learning this winter how to mitigate the usual summer slowdown in your guitar teaching business.

Mike Campese is back to help you out of the box - the scale pattern box, that is.

Learn awesome guitar techniques in the style of Chet Atkins and how to apply them to your own acoustic playing.

Don`t be clueless about what you must do to become a successful guitar teacher.

It`s always difficult to label your own music, but I think of it as instrumental classic rock. I like to compose actual songs, not guitar exercises or improvisations which will only appeal to other guitar players.

Guitar Nine's October-November 2015 newsletter.

When you use an effective guitar practice approach, you gain a lot of confidence and excitement for your improvement. However, if you are like most guitarists, this excitement fades over time.

Sad but true: almost 100% of guitar instructors choose `mediocrity` as their standard of achievement.

To grow your music career fast, you need to understand which questions you are asking that are leading you down the wrong path.

You must figure out why these fears exist in you and what you can do to prevent them from controlling your musical future.

Get your music career going on the right track by following the same approach used by Olympic competitors who succeed on the highest platform in the world.

I find that you must have constant activity to create and maintain the interest of people. Facebook is a great way to share new projects with friends and fellow musicians but it doesn`t reach people outside your circle.

Mike Campese will help master your triads in all 12 keys, focusing on the sharp keys for the major triads.

Most likely, your lack of progress is the result of years of bad playing habits. Let`s correct those habits.

Guitar Nine's August-September 2015 newsletter.

Six points that will help you understand what you must do to clearly demonstrate your overwhelming value as a guitar teacher so you can attract more students.

Here you`ll learn several creative blues guitar techniques that will make your blues phrases sound much more expressive.

People tell me that my music sounds unique for this day and age. I don`t know if that`s actually the case; but I will tell you that I`ll try to sound as differently as I can, for as long as I can.

Chords have the potential to bring a whole new element to your soloing providing cool, unique, and contrasting textures amongst the single note lines you play.

In order to be a great guitar player you must develop mastery over the fretboard.

Learn the differences between guitar teaching business `myths` and `reality`.

I have been getting great feedback and a huge growth on social media, though. To me this proves quality is still the most important thing and can go a long way on its own.

The majority of guitar players unconsciously ruin their potential for improvement by learning `too fast` in some areas of their playing and `too slow` in other areas.

Tom Hess takes you through the exact steps needed for cleaning up unwanted string noise in your blues guitar licks.

I use a lot of variety. I swap between acoustic and electric, alternate tunings, slide, and various techniques. This CD features dobro, eBow, talkbox, even a cigar box guitar!

I decided to release these EPs of 5 songs every 6-8 months - it`s a big enough body of work to allow the listener to get involved in, and it keeps the people interested in my music always engaged in new songs.

Guitar Nine's June-July 2015 newsletter.

Without a strong sense of melody and phrasing your music will never have that magical sense of wonder.

Look deeper, and find the overlooked value that makes John Petrucci a much greater guitarist than other players.

Do you feel like you are at a dead end with your guitar playing? Here are three additional killer ways that will totally change the way you play your acoustic guitar from now on,

Mike Campese covers the flat keys moving around the circle of fourths.

If you are wondering how modern metal players use all these "wrong" notes and still sound great - here`s how.

Stay alive. Stay sane. Stay healthy. There are methods to achieving compositional greatness that do not involved personal pain.

Maximizing your on-stage guitar tone so that you can make every gig an enjoyable experience.

Guitar Nine's April-May 2015 newsletter.

Without a strong sense of melody and phrasing your music will never have that magical sense of wonder.

Reynaert takes you on a journey through the possibilities of blues rhythm guitar playing.

Before you will become a highly successful professional musician, you need to get rid of several false beliefs that will cause you to fail in your music career.

Awesome tools, tricks and techniques that you can use again and again to create your own killer sounding, unplugged acoustic guitar song.

A guided tour of the 2015 album by the Scott Allen Project.