Note: I'm not an instructor ... nor do these articles attempt to comprise a course of study. I only wish to present a series of articles that convey things I have garnered through my own personal experience, which may be considered to be of some value to other players.
~Alan
So ... You Wanna Play Guitar, Huh?
Alan shares his experiences, philosophies, and advice about learning to play the guitar ... where to begin ... how to Tune Your Guitar ... and how to go about Purchasing A Guitar.
Have you ever noticed, after putting a fresh set of strings on your guitar, that it takes a couple of days before all the strings stop stretching? It's a real pain, ain't it? Well, let's put an end to that, once and for all. Here's where to go for notes about Cleaning Your Guitar and also, for notes about Tuning Your Guitar.
Part One: "Getting Started" tells you how to begin your studies for playing in time, without overloading a "beginner's" practice schedule ... and Part Two: "If Bach Had A Drum Machine..." gives you Alan's philosophies and techniques for using a simple drum machine to perfect your timing and performance skills.
Alan talks about Open and Modal tunings ... and gives you an overview of the Open G Tuning style he plays in.
Explains and catalogs over 20 different modal, open, and dropped tunings ... including transposed tunings, and the so-called "Nashville Tuning" ... with chord-charts for the most popular tunings used.
The fine art of finger picking, and how to do it well ... using Alan's favorite patterns.
This short tutorial explains how to use the Nashville Number System - a simple formula for easy chord referencing. The coolest thing about this system, becomes obvious when you change the very key that the song is in ... and realize that you don't have to rewrite the music sheets for all your musicians!
Feeling Appreciative? Put Some Cash In Alan's TIP JAR!
Here are Alan's tips for getting your feet wet at local Open Mic Nites. Feeling ready to try your stuff out on stage, in front of a live audience? Be prepared!
Here's a short note about discovering the proper fretting technique - how much pressure you need to apply - when playing any stringed instrument. Note: This is important info for playing 12-string guitars.
Want to be able to make a C chord (or any other chord - right out of your head!) in any position on the fretboard? Or, would you like to be able to make a C chord (or any other chord - right out of your head!) using any alternate tuning? Or even be able to make a C chord (or any other chord - right out of your head!) on any stringed instrument? Alan shows you how!
Here are all of Alan's ChordCharts for the most popular guitar tunings.
If you want to create a custom string set to match an alternate tuning, check out my handy (hard-to-find) chart!
If you're looking for the best guitar books ... books for musicians (including health books about practicing and avoiding things like tendinitis) ... books for recording and performing artists ... or just something new to read ... here are all of Alan's choices - including his own personal library-list.
To search Amazon.com, type in the search tool below - enter keywords like "songwriting, copyrighting" or " folk guitar, instruction" - and get the best price on the planet ... and help Alan make a little cash, too -- Amazon.com will donate 5% of whatever you spend there to AlanHorvath.com -- THANKS for using this search tool!
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