South African Music Magazine
Welcome to our first tutorial in 2013; I have decided to tread on new territory and will take this lesson and the rest of this year to try demystify and unlock the modes of the major scale. We will begin by looking at their names and looking at some of the players that utilise the Read More »
In this article I carry on with the country style and explore some more rhythm ideas and getting the correct tone. I was lucky enough to have spent time with both Albert Lee and Jerry Donahue back in 2003 whilst I was studying at the Guitar Institute in London. Both these guys are absolutely at Read More »
As I mentioned last time I wish to carry on with our country style of music and look at various rhythm styles for the different genres. We will begin with Ballad country style and look at what we can do to make the rhythm part interesting. Once again this is aimed at the guitar being Read More »
In this issue of Play Better Guitar I have decided to talk about technical facility. So what does that mean? Technical facility would mean in music the ability to play your instrument, physically without any tonal and or tempo loss. So how do you attain this measure of technical facility? That’s easy to answer; PRACTICE!!!Practice Read More »
Welcome to play better guitar. I have decided to choose a topic that many beginners battle with and to be honest I have seen experienced guitarist also struggle with this; I am talking about bending and vibrato and the combination of the two together. Let’s start with vibrato. What is Vibrato? Vibrato is a musical Read More »
In this latest installment of the Play Better Guitar series we’ve decided to look into the lives of a couple of seasoned professional guitarists to see how they got to where they are as working musicians today. In this article we spend some time with Michael Bester who plays for Mango Groove and Loyiso Bala, Read More »
Tutorial Play better Guitar Escape the Shape Welcome back to play better guitar. I have thought long and hard about what I should cover in this article and have decided to look at the aural aspects of music and how to escape the trap of shapes. Let’s begin with shapes since as you learn guitar Read More »
Play Better Guitar “My question is, how much about sound lies in the ability of the player?” In this article I have decided to talk about the journey of sound, and the reason I call it a journey is because the pursuit of sound never ends.I think there is a huge lesson to be learnt from using Read More »
Welcome to Play Better Guitar, and yes we are going to talk about the metronome although many people might say “what’s that?” I have been teaching guitar for many years as well as producing guitar in the studio and the one common flaw I find amongst guitarists is the weak rhythm playing and the inability Read More »
Welcome to 2010. I trust everyone had a good break and practiced everyday in the holidays, or maybe just took a break. Sometimes it is a good way to refresh your creative side; never play through frustration, rather take a break and get focused before carrying on. Theory : So we are going to take Read More »
