Introduction This blog post is about improvisation, the concept of determinism, and what happens at the intersection of the two. My primary goal is to redefine what it means to improvise and to provide players with a clear way of doing it honestly. The post is set up in five chapters: (1) Introduction, (2) Determinism... Continue Reading →
In this blog post, I hope to clarify some misconceptions about the subject of improvisation. Since defining one's terms is the trench in which clarity lives and dies, I'll start there. Here is my definition: Improvisation is the act of synthesizing learned musical vocabulary with moment-to-moment, real time expression. A good analogy for improvisation is off-the-cuff... Continue Reading →
Playing guitar well lives and dies in the trench of your tone. Capturing the right sound is more than adjusting the knobs on your amp, though. Good tone requires that you be thoughtful about everything that has to do with making sound on your instrument: technique, amps, settings, guitars, pick-up selections, the weather, your mood,... Continue Reading →
Chasing the Chords 