Table of Contents

Welcome………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………….3

How to Overcome a Difficult Piece of Music (Part 1) - BY TIM WOOSLEY………………………………………………..………….….4

How to Become a Songwriter – BY GARY EWER………………………………………………………….………………………………..…………5

The Secret to Making a Guitar Easier to Play for Beginners- BY CHAD FITZPATRICK……………………………………………….6

How to Overcome Your Fears on Stage – BY ADAM LEVY…………………………….……………………………………………….…………7

How to Get Better Results on Guitar in Less Time - BY ERICH ANDREAS..………………………………….……………….……..……9

How to Get on the Same Page as The Beatles and Jimmy Page– BY WOLF MARSHALL………………….……………….…….10

How to Transcribe Music for Guitar - BY ROBERT RENMAN………………………………………………………………….………….…..11

12 Kinds of YouTube Videos to Promote Your Music Career – BY CHRIS ROBLEY…………………………………………..…….12

What to Look For in a Guitar Teacher - BY DONNIE SCHEXNAYDER………………………………………………………………………14

Tips from a Supertramp - BY CARL VERHEYEN………………………………………………………………………………………………………17

How to Prevent Boredom on the Guitar -BY DEREK WEBB……………………………………………………………………………………18

How to Overcome a Difficult Piece of Music (Part 2): The Rule of Seven- BY TIM WOOSLEY………….……….……………19

How to Become a Session Guitarist- BY RON ZABROCKI…………………….………………………………………………………………….20

How to Get More Tips and Strategies to Improve Your Guitar Playing…………………………………………………………………21
Welcome
What if you could learn several different aspects of guitar faster?

What if you could peer into the minds of some of the most successful people in the guitar industry and ask them
their biggest strategies?

What if you could quicken the learning curve about songwriting, session recording, live performance , promoting
your career and more, all within the guitar industry?

Welcome to Guitar Hacks and Input Jacks: Stuff Every Guitarist Should Know.

In this guide, you’ll learn about some of my favorite little “guitar hacks” that I’ve done. I’ve also invited a number
of special guests to share some of their best tips, strategies, and successful approaches in their music careers.

Enjoy,

- Tim

www.openheartteaching.com

3
How to Overcome a Difficult Piece of Music (Part 1)
Do you ever watch your favorite guitarist play a flashy lick with such blinding speed
that you are filled with equal parts jealousy and hopelessness? Me neither.

So you sit down and try to learn what they are playing, only to be overwhelmed
with the amount of notes you will have to learn. What now?

Quick tip: cover the parts of the page except for the first bar. I use Post-It notes.

When you see a page full of notes or numbers so close together, they can seem overwhelming. That’s because you
are looking at the whole page. The only real concern is the first step; bar one.

I feel like I can’t play a blistering solo when there are so many notes glaring back at me. However, when I cover the
page and focus on the first bar of music, I know that I can play just those few notes.

Once I feel like I am comfortable with those few notes, I can move the post it notes to reveal the second bar. I
cover the bar one and bar three on down, exposing only bar two.

Next, I learn the notes in bar two to my satisfaction, and then remove the sticky note to reveal bar one and two.
Finally, I try to play both bars.

See? You CAN do it.

The trick is to not to become overwhelmed with the whole picture, but instead focus on the small details, one at a
time, and slowly piece everything together to create the finished product.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither is someone with a six-pack of abs. If it was easy, everyone would be walking
around with a washboard stomach and the abilities to shred on guitar.

No, remember that anything that’s awesome takes time to become that way.

Think of a piece of coal. Coal has value. It can create energy. It is valuable, yet it’s not very desired. A diamond, on
the other hand, has incredible value. Why?

Because of its scarcity.

There are only a few diamonds in the world, and they are all beautiful. The difference between a piece of coal and
a diamond is simply an amount of pressure placed onto the coal.

So think of yourself as a piece of coal. All that separates you from the other pieces of coal is just a little pressure.
But once the pressure has been applied long enough, you will be a scare and beautiful commodity.

So, can you take the pressure?

Tim Woosley is a guitar instructor, performer and singer-songwriter. He has taught hundreds of students how to be the guitar
player they have always wanted to be. He has been teaching guitar for over 16 years and been playing for three decades. His
site concentrates on helping every guitar player achieve their full potential. You can find him at www.openheartteaching.com.

4
How to Become a Songwriter
If you have a strong desire to make original music – to take
musical ideas that exist in your imagination and create
completed songs – and to do that on a daily basis, the exciting
world of songwriting awaits you!

Everyone has to start somewhere, so what are the first steps to

becoming a songwriter? We can skip the first obvious one for now, which is that you’ve actually made an attempt
to write something. That attempt, even if it sounded lame to your ears, proves that you want to make music. Don’t
get discouraged if it didn’t measure up. Every songwriting attempt you make will get better.

But one of the hardest parts of writing songs is figuring out how to improve on what you’ve written before. That
requires understanding a bit about how most pop songs are constructed. Here are just a few tips to get you going
in the right direction.

1. Verses tend to be lower in pitch than choruses.

2. Chord progressions in pop music don’t need to be adventurous or complex. A short, strong progression,
something like C G F C, works well in both a verse and a chorus.
3. Lyrics in verses usually describe people, situations and circumstances, and don’t display a lot of emotion (“Went
to a party, looking for a good time…”). Lyrics in choruses usually display emotions and reactions to whatever the
verse was about, more so than adding to the story (“Ohh, tell me why, why, why/ Why did I ever leave you?...”)
Lyrics in bridges tend to move back and forth from narrative-style additions to a story, to an emotional release
(“And every time I walk past your door/ oh, I just don’t know what to do…”)
4. Melodic repetition is a vital part of songwriting success. Repetition can be exact, like you hear in various phrases
of The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence,” or Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” Or it might be approximate, where the general
direction and shape of a melody is the same, even if specific notes are changing. A good example of this can be
found in the chorus of “Just Give Me a Reason” (Pink, Jeff Bhasker, Nate Ruess).
5. Musical energy should increase from the beginning to the end of your song. Energy comes from many different
elements all working together: volume, instrumentation, musical tension, melodic range, and so on. And though
music gets more energetic as it proceeds, that’s not usually a straight line. It moves up and down, kind of like a
good stock market chart, where the line moves higher more than it moves lower.

The best activity any songwriter can do, whether that writer is a newbie or a pro, is this: listen to music every day.
Get curious! Find out why something sounds the way it does, and then look for original ways to incorporate those
ideas into your own music.

And remember that any activity worth doing will frustrate you from time to time. When you find that frustration is
taking the fun out of songwriting, take a break for a day or two. Listen to some music, read books, talk to other
musicians – that sort of thing. You’ll find that the desire to write will come roaring back and the fun will return as
well. Good luck!

Gary Ewer is a composer, arranger, conductor and music clinician. He is the author of "Beating Songwriter's Block: Jump-Start
Your Words and Music". He writes daily songwriting articles for his blog, “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting”, which you can
read at http://garyewer.wordpress.com

5
The Secret to Making a Guitar Easier to Play for Beginners
I set up a lot of guitars for beginners. And the main thought people think is usually; put .009’s on it, using light,
light strings.

And I recommend doing the opposite.

You can put your strings lower with heavier strings. I always setup beginners with really, really low action and
heavy strings.

What happens when you put on .009’s is that you are not experienced enough to play .009’s on, let’s say a Gibson
scale length. You can have tuning issues because when you strike that string as a beginner you tend to hit the
strings too hard.

So the oscillation of the string makes it rattle on the frets. Or it makes it go out of tune because you’re fretting it so
hard that you’re not getting to hear the instrument in tune because you’re pulling it out of tune.

As far as a heavier gauge, I use .011’s in general. On a Fender guitar, .010’s minimum, but .011’s pretty much
across the board. On a Gibson guitar, it’s kind of the same, but
really it’s a shorter scale so it all feels a little bit different tension.
But again, .011’s.

The normal action I usually set up guitars at the twelfth fret with
a dead straight truss rod is 3/64 on the treble side and 4/64 or
5/64 on the bass side.

Using heavier strings, I would bring it down by 30% and go down

to 2/64 on the treble side and 3/64 or 4/64 on the bass side.

This way beginners can press the strings down with less pain and
tend to stay in tune more.

Because when you’re starting your heavy handed with your fretting hand and you’re heavy handed with the pick as
well. So with.009’s you end up with just tuning your guitar more frequently. By playing heavier strings you’re not
going to bend that string over the fret and make it go sharp or strike it too hard to make it sound sharp. It all just
holds better. It might hit a little sharp when you strike the strings but it returns so quick that your ears don’t hear
it.

It’s kind of like skateboarding. When you have loose trucks on your board you’re not going to be able to skate. But
if you have stiff trucks, it makes your balance more.

Chad Fitzpatrick has quickly become a rising star in the world of guitar repair and vintage guitar restoration work. He’s quickly
gaining a national and international reputation as one of the best in the business and receives regular work from all over the
country. You can find him at http://cfrestorations.com/ and on Instagram at https://instagram.com/cf.restorations/

6
How to Overcome Your Fears on Stage

Live performance is definitely the main reason we do what we do. You’re playing music that you love. I guess if I
had to say why do I do what I do I’d say that I like creating and writing music all by myself. And if no one ever
heard it, I guess I could live with that. But the real desire is that you are playing music and singing and talking about
things that you hope will somehow resonate with other folks.

So when you put recorded music out in the world, the assumption is that somebody’s going to hear this and it’s
gonna move them somehow. But when you are playing a live performance, it’s just a very immediate way to do
what you are doing. And you hope that you have a decent sound person that’s transmitting the performance the
way you want it to sound back to the audience.

The job you’re doing on stage I always see as, your brain is sort of existing on a couple of different levels. You’ve
have the issues of, “Am I delivering this thing ,pitch-wise right?” “Am I singing in tune?” “Am I remembering my
lyrics?” “Are my hands moving the way they are supposed to?” All the muscle memory stuff. And that can bog you
down if your electronics assistance isn’t working the way it should be. You're just not able to functions as well.

And that’s always a reality. Sometimes something breaks. How do you do what you do in spite of maybe the sound
person that’s working for you that night doesn’t know your music as well as raising or lowering the cues in terms of
volume for the audience.

7
Or maybe it’s just a completely god-awful sound that you have to soldier through. These are the things that we
have to deal with. And I’ve learned that you always have to have a poker face. No matter how horrible things
might be going or seem on stage, you have to at least give the illusion as a performer that everything’s okay.

I can remember some shows I’ve seen where I was having a great time and it was like electric to see this person
that I was absolutely enamored of on stage. And the perfromer starts yelling at the monitor person or something. I
was thinking, “Holy mackerel! What’s wrong? Why is this person such a jerk?” You know, you’re having such a
good time.

There is this headspace that you get in where everything has to be really perfect and you have to remember that it
isn’t about you. At a certain level really, it’s about the fact that you are there, and hopefully giving somebody some
level of entertainment. So no matter how bad things are, I really think it’s important to soldier though it. But I
would say in twenty, I don’t know how many years I’ve been doing this 25 years or something of live performance
touring all over, I have never thrown a show because either a mistake was made onstage, or because the sound
was abysmal.

Believe me, I have played shows where the sound was so bad. When you are on stage and you can tell when you
are playing and it’s not translating . The furrowed brows or what I like to call the gas face, where they’re looking at
you and you feel like, “Man, I really put out on that song, what the fuck is wrong?” They didn’t hear what I did. And
you have to just keep doing it. And to me, that is the distinction between an amateur and somebody who realizes
this is for their life because the level of professionalism that you have to exude.

And you have been able to hone that for over two decades. So you are probably getting pretty good at it.

I don’t know, you know? At times I think, “Man that was awful! I played horribly.” And I get offstage and
sometimes you don’t get any feedback from any people. And that reinforces your thoughts of, “Man, that was
terrible.” Nobody’s gonna tell you, “Man, that was a bad show! You were horrible.” Sometimes people aren’t going
to be as enthusiastic. But occasionally, at your worst moment, when you think you sounded so terrible, somebody
is, like, “man, that second song you played, just blew me away. Those lyrics are so amazing!” or “Man, the guitar
sounded great.” Remember you have no idea what people are hearing. You really don’t.

You can shepherd that process as much as possible with smiles on your face and with complete perfect execution
and with an attitude, but the reality is you really have no way, once that music leaves the P.A. system and your
amplifier. It’s the rooms that interpret. And more often than not, even when you think you suck, somebody is
getting something positive out of what you are doing. And so always remember that is really an important part of
playing live instead of panicking about how bad you think you sound.

Adam Levy is regarded by many to be one of the great American songwriters of his era. His newest solo endeavor might be his
best and most original work to date. Levy is probably best known for his nearly 20 years of work as lead singer-songwriter for
The Honeydogs. Paste Magazine once said Levy's songwriting captured "the zeitgeist of our time." Adam’s first truly solo
project, Naubinway, is now available. He can be found at http://www.adamlevymusic.com/

8
How to Get Better Results on Guitar in Less Time

You can't practice too much; you can't learn too much, you can't play too much!
If you want to be good at the instrument, eat, breathe and sleep with your guitar. The great thing about today is
that there are so many different tools to learning the guitar that makes the whole process much easier than say
10, 20 or 30 years ago.

If you can afford a one-on-one teacher, get one. But get a good one! There are some hacks out there that should
not be teaching. Get involved with a good online course as well. One-on-one teaching is typically very pricey but
great for getting immediate questions asked.

Supplementing with a great video course is a win-win because you can always move as fast or slow as you want in
the course.

The number one thing that I

could share that can truly
help every guitar player, is to
slow things down and break
things down when learning
them.

If you're learning a new song

with many parts, break each
part down and do it very
slowly.
Whatever you practice you
will get good at, that
includes mistakes.

So, slowing things down and

breaking things down get
you practicing the right stuff
not the wrong stuff.

Erich Andreas has taught hundreds of students for thousands of lessons, teaching nearly 70 lessons a week at some points. He
started teaching song tutorials on YouTube back in 2005. To date that channel has received over 40 million views. He has also
have authored several books and developed his own beginners to advanced online course . To contact Erich online, visit:
http://www.yourguitarsage.com/.

9
How to Get on the Same Page as The Beatles and Jimmy Page

I would say that for the biggest hack you could do for yourself that opens up the doors for almost everything else is
to learn the harmony that’s on the guitar. In other words, learn the chord structures. Because from that you get all
of your information about what kind of soloing you do. It helps set up the harmony of transcribing, because usually
that stuff is played over some sort of chord progression or tonal center. And so there’s always harmony applied,
even if it’s modal. That sort of harmony that you might find in a heavy metal song that doesn’t have a lot of chord
changes, you will still find that. But certainly with pop, country, any kind of today’s pop and rock music.

You should probably learn as many chord shapes as possible and be systematic with how they work within a genre.

The easiest way for people to get to it is not to go through those books that say, 4,400 guitar chords because that’s
just like an encyclopedia or a dictionary.

Instead what you’ll do is you’ll go to the

music you like and notation, usually
they have even given us grids, of the
kinds of chords that belong in a given
set of chord changes in a Metallica song
or a Led Zeppelin song.

The idea is you glean as much info from

that as you can from the chord
structures. Then when you see what
people are doing when soloing over
chord structures, the whole concept of
melody and harmony comes together.

The biggest thing I’ve noticed between

those who are successful and those who
have been struggling is their fluency
with chords. It all begins with the music
you like since you have to learn as much as you can from the chord structures that you listen to. Those chord
structures in the music you listen to are the ones that will first start your ball rolling. And then, as it gathers more
momentum, you start picking up more unusual voicings, like something you might hear in an odd intro to a
Metallica song.

The biggest hack a student could give themselves would be to just get as much into the different chord structures
as possible. And that means learn the chord structures of the genre you are interested in, but then you’ve got to
go beyond. I mean, if you want to get on the same page as the Beatles and Jimmy Page and all the players that
have gone beyond the stockpile they are in something really phenomenal, that’s what has to happen.

Wolf Marshall is internationally acclaimed as both a guitarist and educator. Through his many products and publications, Wolf
has gained an enormous worldwide following and status usually accorded only to “famed players” in “name bands,” and has
been listened to on his recordings by more aspiring fretboard enthusiasts than most so-called guitar heroes. For more
information, please visit www.wolfmarshall.com

10
How to Transcribe Music for Guitar

I learned how to play by listening to cassettes on my tape player. I remember I would "loop" difficult sections by
holding down the "rewind" button a second or two, so I could hear it over and over. Sometimes I could sit an hour
and press that button hundreds of times. Eventually I got close to what I heard, but I didn't have a teacher, so
often I learned it the wrong way. However, this was a great way to improve my ear. In other words, I started early
with ear training and transcribing, before I even knew what that was. This has really helped me as a musician, and
these two topics are in fact some of the most important aspects of becoming a good player.

Start transcribing things you think sounds cool and interesting. This means if you are not able to transcribe, then
you should start learning how to do that! If you have trouble transcribing on your own, there are so may tab and
Guitar Pro sites out there, and these can often help a lot (even though they are sometimes wrong).

Learn some jazz and theory, as well as digging deep into the wonderful music of the past. Learning different styles
of music has also helped a lot. Another thing that really helps is playing in bands. I thought I was pretty good at
playing guitar as a teenager until I started
playing in bands. That's when I realized I
need to improve my timing and groove!

Another thing that worked for me was

transcribing and analyzing what I
transcribed. Anything I learn, I try to learn in
different keys, at different tempos, over
different styles, etc. I make sure I
understand the "hows" and the "whys" of
the piece I learned. My goal is to be able to
reuse what I learned with as little effort as
possible.

One key thing is realizing the benefit from

recording yourself playing over a backing
track, or to a metronome or drum track. The
benefit is you can listen back in a relaxed way, and you'll much easier notice sloppiness with timing and execution.
I'm not talking about advanced recording techniques either - anything that will let capture how you play will work -
smartphone, tape recorder, computer - it doesn't matter.

Now just recording isn't enough. You need to set aside time to really listen closely to what you recorded. Take
notes on what is good (positive feedback for you) and what can be improved upon. Work on those weak areas and
record again. This way of recording and listening back critically will help a lot for improving your playing, and also
for isolating areas of difficulties - areas which you can then work on together with your guitar teacher. Then record
again! ;)

Robert Renman won TrueFire's Next Top Guitar Instructor Competition in 2013. His YouTube page is one of the 50 top guitar
lesson sites. You can find him a t www.MasterGuitarAcademy.com.

11
12 Kinds of YouTube Videos to Promote
Your Music Career
Whether you’re a session player, a touring musician, a guitar
teacher, or the leader of a local bar band, there’ll come a point
when you want to reach new students, clients, or fans. One of the
best ways to establish your expertise and build an audience is to
boost your presence on YouTube.

YouTube is the most popular online tool for music discovery and
music education. It’s also the preferred listening platform for
younger music fans (18- ). YouTube is the new radio, the new MTV, the new record store, the new music magazine
— and it’s easy to see why: there’s no better way to beam your music, brand, and personality directly into
someone’s imagination than through engaging music videos. In fact, many artists have built their careers on
YouTube and have earned a living through ad revenue generated by their videos.

But you don’t have to pump out big budget music videos or be a brilliant videographer in order to have success on
YouTube. Affordable video and editing technology now allows DIY artists to get creative when it comes to making
content for YouTube.

Here are 12 different approaches you can explore:

1. The standard music video – You know, like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.” This would be anything
staged, with props, lights, costumes, scripts, and extras — all synced to the studio recording of your song.

2. Live concert footage – Just like it sounds — a video of you playing a song live, or that splices together
multiple performances from a concert or tour. It could be shot on film like The Last Waltz, or captured by
a fan with an iPhone.

3. Takeaway show – This is kind of guerrilla-style music video, named for the Take-Away Shows shot
by Vincent Moon for La Blogothèque. Think of it like field recording. Your band goes to a strange location
(outside of your normal rehearsal room, studio, or performance space) and performs for the camera, for
the passersby, for whomever. The intention is generally to capture the whole performance in one
uninterrupted take, and often with a single camera.

4. Interviews – People love to hear about the inspiration for songs, the meaning behind lyrics, the band
chemistry, the drama, the highs…so give it to ’em. Get someone you know to interview you, or interview
yourself (ala David Byrne or Cee-lo Green)!

5. Mini-documentary – Document the story of your music life. Not much of a story to tell yet? Then
make it a very short mini-documentary. People don’t have the attention span for much more these days
anyway.

12
 6. Video press kit – A quick (1-5 minute) movie that sells the story of your music career, your latest
studio work, your achievements, or an upcoming tour. You want to include any information that would be
vital for a journalist to know before they cover you in their paper, magazine, or blog.

7. Behind the scenes – We all love to get a glimpse inside the creative process. Keep your YouTube
subscribers invested by showing them behind-the-scenes snippets of you writing, recording, teaching,
putting up posters, fixing your gear, eating at your favorite taco cart, or practicing. These can be very
short and very informal. Frequency can be more important than slickness with this approach.

8. Put your songs on YouTube with a slide show – Add a photo slide show to your studio
recordings and post them so fans can “listen” to your songs on YouTube. No time to make a fancy slide
show? Create an album art video by simply adding the album cover, band name, album name, song title,
and your website address.

9. Encourage fans to record covers of your songs – Why not? It worked for Steve Winwood!
Maybe the next Justin Bieber will perform your song in his living room for millions of tweens.

10. Tutorials — Teach us a song. Show us how to rewire your amp. Explain your signal chain. Give your best
advice on how to get started as a studio musician. Again, the production value doesn’t need to be high as
long as the information is clear and valuable.

11. Stock/archival footage – Filmmaker Kristiana Weseloh made a music video for my band THE SORT
OFs using only free archival footage from the National Archives. If you have video editing abilities, this is a
great option when you want to create a video quickly and cheaply.

12. Video songs and lyric videos – Video songs, popularized by Pomplamoose, are music videos that
show actual footage of the song’s recording as if it were a unified performance. You hear the finished
song, but all of the visuals are of individual tracks being recorded, edited together at a fast pace to keep
things interesting. A lyric video is just what it sounds like: a video that displays the lyrics to the song as it
plays. Sometimes there’s fancy animation, but a simple approach is okay too, as long as the song is good.
-----

Those are just some of the ideas you can try to promote your music career on YouTube. I suggest alternating
between these approaches for variety’s sake, and also to give you the chance to figure out works best for you.
Happy YouTube-ing!

Chris Robley is a producer, songwriter, published poet, and a purveyor of jittery, pictorial pop music. He is the marketing
coordinator for CD Baby and BookBaby (distributors of independent music and books) and DIY Musician Blog which sees over
100k unique visits per month, as well as the BookBaby Blog. You can find him at http://blog.chrisrobley.com/.

13
What to Look For In a Guitar Teacher
A big roadblock most people face when they want guitar lessons is trying to find the RIGHT teacher to work with.
There are lots of people out there who call themselves “guitar teachers”, but all teachers are NOT created equal.
Just because someone is a great PLAYER, that doesn’t automatically make them a great TEACHER! This guitar hack
will give you the right information you need to filter out all the teachers who will only make things worse for you,
and help you find the teacher who’ll be the perfect fit for you.
A good guitar teacher will LISTEN to you, tailor the lessons to YOUR needs, and do whatever it takes to help you
reach your GOALS for the guitar. A bad teacher will RUSH you in and out of the lessons, be all about taking your
MONEY and will usually OVERWHELM you with a bunch of information that you probably don’t want to learn in the
first place. I’ve taken lessons from a bunch of teachers in all the years I’ve been studying guitar, and I learned a LOT
about how to find a good one along the way. Here’s what to look for (and what NOT to look for) when you’re
trying to find the right guitar teacher:

1) A good teacher will keep

things FUN
If you’re like most people, you work hard all
week at work or at school. You’re interested in
the guitar because you love music, you want
to play the songs you love and you want to
express yourself creatively. The last thing you
need is a teacher who will load you up with all
kinds of complicated material to work on and
then fuss at you the next week because you didn’t master it all. That’s a sure-fire recipe for making a student want
to quit. This is supposed to be fun!
A good teacher knows how to manage how much information gets presented in a lesson so you won’t get stressed
and overwhelmed. They will know how to keep things interesting, challenging and fulfilling for you so you stay
motivated, stay excited and keep making progress on the guitar.

2) A good teacher will focus the lessons around YOUR goals

Too many guitar teachers will toss some guitar method book at you as a new student and try to force you to fit
within its pages. I’ve learned over the years that method books alone are NOT the best way to learn guitar. Every
student is different…everyone likes different styles of music, has different players they admire, and has different
reasons for wanting to play guitar in the first place.

14
A good teacher will begin the teaching relationship by asking you what YOUR goals are. They will then customize
the whole lesson experience around YOU and YOUR goals for the guitar. It’s not about the teacher and their
favorite method book…it’s supposed to be about YOU.

3) A good teacher will give you lots of VALUE for your money
Does the guitar teacher you’re considering provide additional value with your lessons? They should! A good
teacher will go the extra mile and provide extra resources and opportunities that will help you develop on the
guitar OUTSIDE of your weekly guitar lessons…and at least some of them should be included in the tuition you’re
already paying.
The best teachers will give you nice extras like public student concerts to showcase your playing, a way for you to
communicate and get help between the lessons, tools you can use to track your progress on the guitar and
opportunities to network and connect with other students so you can reinforce what you learn in your lessons. You
want to join a community of guitar students who are all working toward being the best they can be…this is a lot
more effective than just showing up for a lesson every week.

4) A good teacher will make it HAPPEN for you

This is true for teachers of EVERY subject…not just for guitar. Always remember this: you aren’t paying this person
for their TIME. You aren’t paying them for INFORMATION about the guitar, either…you can get all the free
information you want on the Internet, right? You are paying this teacher to help you REACH your goals for the
guitar.
A really good teacher will make sure you are learning the right concepts, at the right time and in the right order,
and they’ll protect you from excessive frustration and feeling overwhelmed…and the whole point of this is to help
you reach your goals: to give you what you WANTED when you signed up for lessons in the first place. Talk is
cheap…don’t settle for a teacher who will string you along for months without helping you make progress toward
your goals.

5) A good teacher will CARE!

The most important quality of a good guitar teacher is that they’ll actually care about you. They’ll take the time to
patiently answer your questions. They’ll take the time to help you find creative ways to overcome the challenges
you’ll face on the guitar. They will ENGAGE with you, CHALLENGE you when you need it, ENCOURAGE you when
you need it, and KNOW you well enough to be able to tell the difference.
This is one of the biggest complaints I hear from people about their past guitar teachers…that they just didn’t care
whether the students got better on the guitar or not.

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What NOT to Look For In a Guitar Teacher

1) Don’t look for the CHEAPEST teacher you can find

This is a big mistake people make when looking for a guitar teacher. Don’t go with the cheapest person…they are
usually also the LEAST experienced. Don’t decide on a teacher based on the price alone; find someone who will
give you the best learning experience. There’s no point in paying half the money for cheap guitar lessons if it takes
you 5 times as long to learn. Like everything else in life, you really do get what you pay for…

2) Don’t look for the teacher who’s CLOSEST to your home

This is another big mistake you should avoid. Be careful not to let the desire for convenience force you to settle for
a guitar teacher who won’t meet your needs. Just because someone is located close to your home doesn’t mean
they can help you reach your goals on the guitar. Again, find someone who can give you the best learning
experience…even if you have to drive a little farther or take online lessons and bypass your local guitar instructors

altogether.

3) Don’t base your decision on CREDENTIALS

alone
Another big mistake some people make is to look only at the
teacher’s credentials. Just because someone has a “music
degree” doesn’t mean they can give you the best learning
experience and help you reach your guitar goals. They may understand music, but that doesn’t always mean they
can help YOU understand it. Some of the most frustrating music lessons I’ve ever taken were with teachers who
had a music degree. A college degree in music is a great thing, but it doesn’t automatically make you a great
teacher. Also, just because someone has an impressive resume of bands they’ve performed with, that doesn’t
always mean they’re the right teacher for you. Again, a great PLAYER doesn’t automatically equal a great TEACHER.
Always choose an instructor who has a track record of giving their students excellent results!

Donnie Schexnayder isfounder of Start Teaching Guitar & host of the STG podcast. You can reach him at
http://donnieschexnayder.com/.

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Tips From a Supertramp
What’s been the biggest key to success in your guitar playing so far?

I can play more than one style. If you play just one style you can get only one kind of work out there. The more
styles you play the more you can work.

What’s been your most effective way of learning guitar?

First, learning songs. Then, writing down my musical ideas in standard notation and learning them across major,
minor and dominant chords in all 12 keys.

What helps to keep you motivated to continue when things don’t seem to be going as well as
you would like?

The sheer joy of hearing the notes in the air,

whether I’m performing in front of 80,000 or
alone in my studio.

What advice would you have for

someone who would like to get started
learning guitar?

Set a short-term goal, like: I’m gonna learn to

play a Bob Dylan song.

Can you share one tip, trick or hack that has worked for you to help get better results on the
guitar?

Listen carefully to the sound your hands are making. Is it pleasing? Is it musical? Do that each day with a clean tone
or an acoustic guitar and you’ll be a much better player.

Carl Verheyen has been voted “One of the Top 10 Guitar Players in the World” (Guitar Magazine) and “One of the Top 100
Guitarists of All Time” (Classic Rock Magazine). In his 50-plus years of playing the instrument, Carl has created a wildly
successful, multi-faceted career. He is a critically acclaimed musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, producer and educator
with thirteen CDs and two live DVDs released worldwide. You can find him at http://www.carlverheyen.com.

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How to Prevent Boredom on the Guitar
What was really helpful for me is in order for me to disrupt my potential boredom with my own instrument; the
only instrument I can really play live with any confidence.

I switched up the instruments.

So one thing I did was I tried a 12-string acoustic guitar, which has a totally different dynamic range to it. When you
strum it, it stays real flat. The hardest you hit it and the softest you hit it is about the same. But it sound like an
organ. It’s just a totally different sound and it made me play songs differently than I would play them on a six
string.

And then a few years ago, a huge revelation. I had this little guitar in my studio that was a 50’s little small body
Gibson. It’s had the same strings on it for probably 20 years. They were dull and thumpy and you couldn’t get
anything out of them. But I would love playing it in the studio. But there was no way I would ever take it out of the
studio because it was really old and not travel-worthy.

So I found that Epiphone makes this really cheap guitar. I think it’s the cheapest guitar that Epiphone makes. A
little $200 small body, OM maybe, sized guitar. And I thought that I wanted to make this thing sound that that old
Gibson because it makes me play all the songs
differently. Songs I’ve been playing the same way
for years. I can’t play them that way because the
dynamics are so different because on my old guitar
you could strum and it would sustain and it was
bright.

But on this little guitar you strum and it stops.

Thud. You’ve got to keep hitting it, so it makes you
play the songs this really different way. D'Addario
makes these flat wound acoustic strings. So I put these flat wounds and I put this sound hole (Baggs) pickup in. And
the sound of that guitar… it sounds nothing like a typical guitar when you plug it into a PA. And most people really
think it sounds horrible when they first hear it. But then you get used to it and it’s really warm and it’s dark and
kind of dull and thumpy. And it just reinvented all the songs for me.

So I had to adapt the songs to the sound of the dynamic range of that instrument. And it made me love playing
songs I had been bored with. Just changing those dynamic elements really brought those songs to life. I was
capoing songs in different places. There’s this great tonal range on that guitar up above the seventh fret that’s just
a weird sound that is has up there and it’s great. So I would put everything up there. It just made me interested
again.

At the end of the day what that proves is doesn’t matter how nice the guitar is, is doesn’t matter how much you
pay for it, you just have to find an instrument that you love to play. One that you want to pick up and play. And this
guitar is such a piece of junk, but I just love picking it up and playing it. I love the sound that comes out of it. I love
the way it disrupts the way I play the songs. And that, I’ve found has been really important.

A 20+ year veteran of the music industry, Derek Webb has sold millions of albums as a founding member of Texas-based
folk/rock band Caedmon’s Call, and ruffled political & spiritual feathers alike as a solo artist. He is also co-founder & president
of the revolutionary tribe-building platform, NoiseTrade. You can find him at http://www.derekwebb.com/

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How to Overcome a Difficult Piece of Music
(Part 2): The Rule of Seven
Have you wanted to learn a challenging piece of music, only to find yourself
in huge frustration at the task that lies before you?

Perhaps you have already given up after several attempts at tacking this
monumental task.

Fear not, dear readers, for I have a tip to get you the results you are craving.

When trying to learn any piece of music that challenges you at your level, don’t try to tackle it all at once. Take
small sections of it (a measure/bar/or even two or three notes) and attempt to play this isolated part slowly.

Blah, blah, blah… you think to yourself. I’ve already tried that! I’m still stuck!

Okay. Do you know why you are still stuck? Because you didn’t play it slow enough.

Allow me to present a challenge to you… I challenge you to play that same piece you just tried, but with a twist.

Try to play your isolated piece of music seven times in a row perfectly. If you can play it perfectly seven times in a
row, congratulations! You have officially mastered that piece of music.

However, if you mess up at any time, return back to zero. Even if you flub on the last note of the seventh
time…BOOM! Back to the drawing board, Smokey!

Here’s what typically happens when presented with the Rule of Seven. Most people hear the common advice to go
slow. But subconsciously, they feel that they can do it faster. Maybe they are in a hurry. Maybe they feel like they
are a better player than most. And so they attempt to play the part too fast. And they fail. And they get angry
about it.

But when you are challenged, something inside wants to accept that challenge. You want to rise to the occasion.

So you give it a few passes and you mess up, again and again. Then, you start using logic, subconsciously thinking
you yourself things like, “I’m never going to get this played SEVEN times in a row! Maybe if a slow down a little I
can get through it more accurately.”

And that is where the magic is.

Anyone can tell you to slow down. It’s only when you tell yourself to slow down will you actually do it.

No one is telling you to be a “slow guitarist.” And when you play something slow, it won’t be slow forever. It may
even take only a few seconds to give your brain and hands time to work together to achieve that tasty run.

So, will you accept the challenge of The Rule of Seven?

Tim Woosley is a guitar instructor, performer and singer-songwriter. He has taught hundreds of students how to be the guitar
player they have always wanted to be. He has been teaching guitar for over 16 years and been playing for three decades. His
site concentrates on helping every guitar player achieve their full potential. You can find him at www.openheartteaching.com.

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How to Become a Session Guitarist
Many guitarists think about becoming a session player. Most wonder how to get the work, what they need to
know, and what gear they need.

Let's start with what you REALLY need to know to handle the most common jobs.
1. A basic understanding of sight-reading.
2. Impeccable rhythm and the ability to play "in the pocket".
3. A great melodic sense.

If you have those three, you are on your way. Soloing like your favorite guitar God is incredibly rare. Showing off is
frowned on in today's musical climate. Better to be able to be a team player and enhance the song and singer than
worry about the solo. Having the ability to sight read will include basic chord charts most of the time. Occasionally
the serious reading pops up, so be ready. As far as rhythm, you must play in time. Perfectly. And groove hard.

Next let's talk about gear. You do not need all the gear you see other session guys using. I may own 34 guitars but
mostly use a few. You need a Humbucker, Single Coil and Acoustic sound. Sounds easy enough and it is. It will get
you started. But since it is a "tools of the trade" kind of job, as you see the work coming in, you can then invest in
other style guitars. Amps are fun and expensive but most of my work gets
done on either a Blackstar Combo or Line 6 HD500. I cover the amp and
modeling without breaking the bank. Of course I have plenty of pedals but
these two pieces cover a ton of ground. I also use an acoustic often and a
nylon occasionally. My guitars and amps are setup professionally and are
always ready to go!

Another aspect of being a session guitarist is having a basic home studio.

By that I mean a computer, the ability to receive and send files, recording
software. I always request waves and NEVER use Pro Tools. I have it, but I
find it more reliable to ask for end to end wave files instead of Pro Tools
Session files. Too many reasons why. I use Nuendo. Whatever software
you use, learn it well.

Finally we get to the big question...How do I break in and get to work?

These days it is NOT the same age as The Wrecking Crew or Muscle Shoals. Work comes into your house through
your email, website, Facebook, Twitter, etc. So people have to find out about you. AVOID other guitarists for work.
Especially if they are busy session guys and gals.

Ask them for advice, Study the sessions they do. But go to people who need you. Vocalists. Other instrumentalists.
Song writers. Film students. See what I mean? Don't worry about the money till you prove yourself. You can do
"phony" sessions in various styles and get them on YouTube showcasing your ability to be current in style and
sound. You can demo your versatility. But all that may get you nowhere. Talk is where it happens. Get the first few
dozen sessions under your belt. Accept whatever pay in the beginning. Later you will learn what your market can
handle financially. You can join the union. But remember to pay your dues before you pay union dues! Be polite.
Be on time. Be professional. Let your playing do the talking. Once trust is established you will have a client for life. I
have some clients since I started in the early 80's. I hope this helps in some small way.
Till next time,

Ron Zabrocki is a session guitarist, producer, Guitar World blogger, and composer. You can find him at http://ronzabrocki.com/.

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How to Get More Tips and Strategies to Improve Your Guitar Playing

I hope you enjoyed this little guide of hacks, tips and strategies that can change your life on the guitar.

If you know someone who would enjoy or benefit from any of these hacks, please feel free to
forward this guide to them.

Thanks for reading,

- Tim

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