Introduction:

As a result of some feedback we have decided to break our lessons up into two parts, releasing part 1 each fortnight and part 2 the following weekend.  Hopefully, this will make the length of the lessons a bit more digestible and bite-size.  This may mean that there are references in each part to the other, but we will try to ensure that our lessons have two sections.

This lesson is mainly as a result of some of the feedback which we have had from listeners, namely that they found lesson 5 on rhythm playing really useful and wanted more of this.  As a result I showed up to Dan with the two questions:

PART 1 – as my rhythm playing still needs some work, I asked whether we could look at some ideas and fills from the playing of Jimi Hendrix. Particularly, how to mix rhythm and lead in his style.

PART 2 – does Dan have some advice about jamming and playing with others in a private or live session?  (We will address this question in part 2 of this podcast – lesson 12b on Jamming etiquette).  Keep listening next weekend for this to be released.

Listen to the podcast here:

PART 1:

This clip is of Dan demoing this style using sus chord additions and fills:

PART 2:

This clip is of Dan demonstrating how the volume pot can be used to change from clean to crunch:

Breakdown of lesson and shownotes:

PART 1:

1. First, we discuss the time in which Jimi Hendrix was playing and what was in his situation which pushed him towards playing rhythm and lead together.
2. Now Dan shows me some fills of a Bm barre chord.
3. Next we look at a progression Bm, A, G, D
4. Then Dan looks at Jimi’s popular chord grip, using an F shape chord moved up the neck with the bass note played with the thumb.
5. Finally we finish with discussion about different approaches you can take to your guitar learning and how what we have done fits into this as something accessible for most types of player.  Lastly, some discussion about our podcast.

http://www.guitarplayer.com/artist-lessons/1026/jimi-hendrix-the-five-rules-of-his-powerful-rhythm-style–tab–audio/53274

PART 2:

1. Dan gives me some great advice about jamming after asking me some questions about problems I have come across in my experience.
2. Finally, we have a go at improvising over some backing tracks.  Including some guitar swapping and totally shredtastic – when Dan’s up anyway 🙂

You can hear a clip of the final round of this improvisation session here.  In this clip over a Blues in E, Dan and I have swapped guitars so Dan is playing my Custom 24 PRS and I’m playing his Suhr Strat.  Be forgiving of all of my playing – 

Useful YouTube videos for further studies:

Here’s a cool video which picks up some of the things Dan and I also talk about in 12b on Jamming.  1) Dynamics, 2) Know your role (this has an excellent bit where they consult the John Petrucci Handbook) and 3) No surprises:

This really echoes Dan’s advice about listening to other people who you’re jamming with:

Our philosophy:

Our podcast and blog has organically grown and I do appreciate all feedback, follows, likes and suggestions.  It is now meant to be used as a way of introducing some ideas and themes which are useful to be aware of as you develop your practice on your guitar.  Hopefully, you’ll find them useful in the audio format which we release them in as this way you can listen while doing another task and then use the suggestions we raise in each episode to do some extra research and practise of your own.  It is my hope that you find this a useful listening exercise, to support the development of your musical ear.  It is good to think that you, our listeners, are not immediately looking for tabs, but rather using your ear to find the notes yourself.  This is so important to develop your feel,phasing and dynamics and can be lost if you spend too much time relying on tabs.

The way I myself find these lessons useful is to study in great depth what Dan introduces me too, including guidance on who or what to listen to, and I feel lucky that I can return to each lesson and not forget all his excellent advice as was the case prior to the recording of our lessons.  I also find studying my own mistakeshugely valuable, I hope you do too 

I plan to continue producing posts for each podcast episode, linking in some guitar lesson videos from online tutors and guitar covers from players out there.  I hope that you will find our lessons and blog useful and that we help you to see the big picture.  I certainly think that I could have organised my own practice to be more effective earlier in my own learning and if this had been the case, then I would have developed my skills more quickly and easily.  For further ideas about this I would encourage you to spend some time looking at my article on guitar practice, apps and software and then dedicate some time NOW into learning to recognise intervals, rhythms and chords by ear.  This will hugely fast-track your learning.

I hope you enjoy this lesson as much as I did and that you keep listening.  If you want to support us further, then like us on Facebook, follow us on SoundCloud, Twitter or Google+ and subscribe, rate and review on iTunes  to help us conquer the Apple algorithms.  You can also follow my online magazine: Lessons and Gear for Guitar Geeks and Fanatics

Good luck on your musical journey!

Gary and Dan