Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues Guitar Chord Lesson

I've finally had some time to sit down and record a few new guitar lesson videos, so they will be on Youtube over the coming weeks.

Here's the latest one I have created -  a classic country/blues track that's really good for beginners, and lets face it, just one that everyone should know.  I hope you find the lesson useful.

How to master licks and riffs on your guitar

Mastering licks or riffs on the guitar isn't straight forward. The most important thing to remember is that getting something to sound good takes time, practice and lots of patience.

I have found through my years of learning licks and riffs that starting slow is the best approach to learning. Start slow and get it RIGHT...and by this I mean no fret rattle, no dead notes or anything; be hard on yourself! Your brain can interpret information much easier when its fed slowly, so take your time at first and make sure you submit the correct information to your brain, not you playing the riff in a sloppy manner!

Once you have the riff nailed at a slow speed, slowly start building up the tempo ensuring you can play it perfectly before you move on to a faster speed. If you want to practice to a metronome, try this one online - http://www.metronomeonline.com/

Learning to play something at a pace you feel comfortable will come back to haunt you when you try and play with others. Practising at all tempos ensures the riff is transferred to muscle memory and means you can play it cleanly in any song.

Good luck and never give up. Even if you only nail a riff at a slow speed at least it means you can use it in slower songs. This is how I practice and its worked really well for me over the years.

Learning to flatpick - I'll Start with Salt Creek

Having been a 'strummer' for more than too long, I've decided that its time to really start learning how to flatpick.

Instead of going through the process of learning hundreds of licks and combining them all together, I decided a good way to be able to monitor my progress would be to learn some bluegrass tunes.

I've been listening to a great little album called 'Edgar's Blues' by Andy Ratliff and Eric Lewis and the first song happens to be Salt Creek.

It sounded like a fairly simple melody so I decided to start with this tune on my long journey to becoming an awesome flatpicker.

I found the sheet music and an audio file here which was really useful - http://flatpick.com/lessons/may2010.html

Wish me luck!

A 'Must Learn' Bluegrass Guitar Riff

I got a new camera so thought it was time to do another bluegrass guitar lesson for Youtube.

In this lesson I show you how to play a 'must learn' riff that as soon as you hear you'll want to be able to play!

Happy Pickin'

The Rusty Cadillacs - Miner's Refrain

Thought I'd share another video that my band recently recorded. I say recently...thinking about it this was a good few months a go now!

We originally found a version of this song by the 'Dry Branch Fire Squad' but after a few months of playing it in a waltz style we figured it needed a fresh feel to it.

Hope you enjoy what we have done with it, feel free to leave any comments or constructive criticism.



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Big Time in the Jungle Guitar Chord Lesson

Finally I've got around to recording a new video lesson. This will take you through playing Old Crow's Big Time in the Jungle, which is from their album titled OCMS.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave a comment below.

Rusty Cadillacs - Boll Weevil

Here's the first post of many showing you my band. We've been totally inspired by the sound of Old Crow Medicine Show and have covered many of their songs in the past. Boll Weevil is a nice catchy up-beat song that always goes down well. This is 2/3rds of the band performing it.