https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-W71VqMp_o&feature=youtu.be This piece evokes a feeling of spring for me. It’s to be played with a very gentle sense of perpetual motion. It is also a wonderful study in left hand slur technique. This is the finale prelude from my first set of Preludes for solo guitar. You can purchase this prelude as a single [...]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UdayIxMZs&feature=youtu.be This piece has a storytelling, Latin American feel to it. The variation also works great as a study in strengthening your “a m i” arpeggio technique while at the same time making it more expressive and musical. This is the 2nd prelude from my first set of Preludes for solo guitar. You can purchase [...]

This is a short but fun little piece. It’s got the bucolic feel of a little Irish brook, dancing a jig, so I called it “Brook-rolick”. It also works great as a study for developing your pull-offs. bu·col·ic byo͞oˈkälik/ adjective of or relating to the pleasant aspects of the countryside and country life. “the church is lovely for its bucolic [...]

This is actually one of the most important secrets to being in control of your playing both expressively and technically. It’s the first video in Module Five of Conquering Technical Hurdles, which is about Coordinating the Two Hands. In the rest of the videos I walk you through all the essentials and some of the [...]

I started out this piece as a simple study for one of my students to practice left hand finger independence. But while it does have a bit of that, it’s really more of a study in delicacy of expression and bringing out both musical voices to create a whole picture. As I wrote more of [...]

Here’s a short excerpt from the Conquering Technical Hurdles Video Course. Enjoy! [leadplayer_vid id=”52C75AC6D592D”]

Here’s an excerpt from the Conquering Technical Hurdles Video Course, Set 2: What the Hands Have in Common. In this video I show you from three different angles what’s going on when you angle your wrists what’s going on when you angle them wrong or bend them too much and how to know whether and when [...]

One issue that I run into a lot is barre passages that exhaust the hand—making it difficult to really get them practiced properly. Here’s a little video I put together about how you can kill three birds with one practice session: 1. Learn this kind of passage really, really, really thoroughly while…. 2. keeping your [...]