Here’s a simple soloing/harmonic thing you can use to ‘bring a little joy into your hum-drum lives‘. ;) Plus I show you how this leads…

Hey, just a heads up that I recorded a couple of lessons with internet overlord Justin Sandercoe :) In the first one we talked about…

Donna Lee is a classic jazz tune, nice chord changes, challenging melody, and tons of classic recordings to pore over. So last week my buddy…

I’m always fascinated by the process of making things, and the internal struggles to overcome. One such example is reaching out to other musicians you…

INTRODUCTION **SOLD OUT** We’re running the first Creative Guitar Weekend Course, and for this time the theme is “Interactive Duos”. Two days of lessons, playing,…

In this post I’m going to show you a BURNING line from John Scofield’s Rhythm Changes ‘Flat Out’. And you’re going to learn how to use it…

I’m a massive fan of Brazilian music. [thrive_2step id=’14167′][/thrive_2step] The rhythm, the guitar playing, the melodies, how everything blends together, the lyrics, the feeling… It’s…

Hey, Mike here.. In the last lesson I showed you how to use Delayed Resolutions to get a bit of the unexpected into your playing. This time I…

Hey, Mike here.. In this lesson I’m showing you how to use Delayed Resolutions to get a bit of the unexpected into your playing. Try this next time…

So you’re writing a tune, you’ve got an idea or two but now you’re stuck! Here are some ideas to try to help you move…

The London Horns is one of my favourite bands to play in. It’s led by trombonist Barnaby Dickinson and features tons of stellar musicians. The…

Thought I’d share these videos of a recent gig: Good man Rob Palmer of the excellent gig Soundcellar asked me and Pete Callard to come…

You know that feeling when you spend A-A-A-A-a-a-a-a-a-g-e-s working on something, only to get to the gig with all those good intentions of using your…

Hi, wanted to tell you about one of our courses at ElectricCampfire.com It’s called ‘Chord Tone Improvisation’, and it’s a video based course about musical…

One of the most common laments I hear is along the lines of, ‘I’m really busy, how do I organise my practice routine’. So today I’m going…

TODAY I’m going to improve your soloing. Plain and simple. In the next 10 minutes. You’re going to find out if you can play a good idea. You’ll…

Here are my 10 favourite solos. They’re also the 10 most beneficial solos I’ve learnt from. I keep coming back to them for inspiration again…

In this article you’ll learn 3 ways you can use ‘wrong’ notes to transform your usual bread-and-butter pentatonic playing into the colourful chromatic kind of sounds you hear…

So, do you want to get good? Do you spend ages working out patterns for jazz? Are you learning your scales? II V Is? STOP…

In this lesson you’ll learn the fundamentals of how and where to use 7b9 chords. Say you’re playing a tune in a minor key. The…

Here’s a playlist for an old practice tape I just found. A drummer friend of mine used to play along with records all day. That…

In this lesson you’ll learn four types of feedback: no feedback, negative, positive & specific. And I’m going to make the case for turning everything into…

Here’s how you can simply frame and focus your practice routine so you don’t waste your time doing pointless things. I’ll also show you how…

These are some of my favourite books and articles about music, musicians and the creative process. Drawing on the Right Side Of The Brain –…

Here are my personal recommendations for instruction books that I’ve found very useful. These are the ones (out of the hundreds I’ve used) that I…

Play in time – All the time. And that means exactly that. You can write it out in ALL CAPS, or add ‘loser’ to the…

At the universities I teach at, I get to see the development of a student over the course of three or four years. Here’s a…

**UPDATE – I totally abandoned the GigPress plugin ages ago, so all this post doesn’t work now, and I don’t send out a gig list…

The answers to everything are in the experiences you have playing with, and for, people. And on records. So: Get better at listening. Get more…

There are several examples of people transcribing voices and then orchestrating that somehow. Steve Vai did it with Frank Zappa on The Dangerous Kitchen, Hermeto…

  Imagine, when you next have a gig, stepping into someone else’s shoes. Be them for the next forty minutes. Choose well.

Try this: Improvise, but have it so that at no point are you not fretting a note. It could be any finger, but there must…

Locrian Chords “What the hell else can I do with a Minor 7 flat 5 chord? Locrian Mode? Ok, that sounds weird, I’ll maybe stick…

So you have an audition. Nailing it means you can get into college, or maybe you get to tour the world… But ARGHHHHH!! Curses! You…

I’m thinking about the environment in which I work: it should be about utility. If I don’t use whatever’s in there, then I don’t need…

Are you bored of using the same voicings/sounds every time you play a blues? Well here’s an easy way to explore some new sounds. Change…

There’s a way of motivating yourself to go running: Instead of willing yourself to go, make it your goal to put on your running shoes…

Play these alternating major and minor barre-chord shapes all the way down the fretboard. Use them to play a chord-melody version of the first eight…

Here’s a nice little cheat for the B section of Inner Urge. You can just play descending minor pentatonics starting from C# minor. Here’s the…

1. Experiment. 2. Limpets. 3. Mentorial nudge. 4. Next. 1. Mess around. 2. Focus. 3. Edit. 4. Move on. 1. Gather. 2. Exclude. 3. Decide….