Playing guitar solos using the Minor Scale: 2006

Developing Good Timing

As per previous post, I've been trying out the great new resource from Chris Standring - GuitarMadeSimple, which is mainly aimed at the learning to intermediate guitar player, but is certainly setting me straight on some things I 'thought' I knew, and helping me correct some bad habits I've acquired over the years

You could do yourself a huge favour by checking out Guitar Made Simple (click on the link), it could be the best Christmas present you ever give yourself, if you want 2007 to be the year you become a 'Guitar Player'.

I've asked Chris Standring, the brains behind the course, to supply another article for my Blog readers for December, and he has given me this insightful article on 'Developing Good Timing', which is a critical asset for any guitar player, and one that doesn't always come instinctively, but needs to be learned.

As it's coming up to Christmas, he has also offered a chunky discount to my site visitors and Blog family, so click on the GuitarMadeSimple link to take advantage of this kind offer.

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Guitar Made Simple - an article from Chris Standring

I've recently discovered a great new resource, mainly aimed at the learning to intermediate guitar player, but also really useful to those who, like myself, are self taught, and need to revisit the basics to understand what we already 'kind of' know, and correct some badly learned habits.

The course is called Guitar Made Simple (click on the link), and you could do a lot worse than treat yourself to this really focussed learning program this Christmas, if you want 2007 to be the year you become a 'Guitar Player'.

I've asked Chris Standring, the brains behind the course, to supply an article or tip for my Blog readers, and he has given me this insightful article on 'How to Seriously improve your guitar playing', aimed mainly at those who are considering playing live gigs.

As it's coming up to Christmas, he has also offered a chunky discount to my site visitors and Blog family, so click on the GuitarMadeSimple link to take advantage of this kind offer.

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Video Lesson - G major scale

Andrew Koblick, who has just released the new and much improved Version 2 of his AmazingGuitar lessons DVD has supplied another great tip for my Blog and newsletter readers - this time it's a great video lesson, showing you how to play the G major scale all over the fretboard, using tapping techniques.

Click on the link: G-Major-Video-Lesson to check out the video, click HERE to visit Andy's AmazingGuitar website. The video will take a few seconds to load on broadband, probably a minute or so on dialup.

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Creating Your Own Band ( part 3 )

Chris Elmore ( who runs the Guitar Tips and Guitar Songs websites, has supplied another useful tip for my blog readers, the final article in a series of three on how to create ( and sustain! ) a band, from the formation stages thru to the world-acclaimed stage performances! Check out the article link here:

Click on the link: Creating your own Band(3) Click HERE to visit Chris's GuitarTips site

Acoustic Guitarists - you should check out the latest site especially for the 'unplugged', Kenny Mann's great JustAcoustic.Com

If your a learning guitarist in the 'beginner' to 'intermediate' stages, there's a great new resource from Chris Standring at Guitar-Made-Simple

( I just wish these resources were available when I was going thru the pains and frustrations of the early learning process ! )

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Creating your own band ( Part 2 )

Following on from my previous post, Chris Elmore ( who runs a great Guitar Tips site and has recently launched a fantastic new Guitar Songs site, as well as co-designing Guitar-Backing-Tracks with yours truly - he's a busy guy! ) has supplied another useful tip for my blog readers, this time it's the second in a series of three tips on how to create ( and sustain! ) a band, from the formation stages thru to the world-acclaimed stage performances! Check out the article link here:

Click on the link: Creating your own Band(2) Click HERE to visit Chris's GuitarTips site

Acoustic Guitarists - you should check out the latest site especially for the 'unplugged', Kenny Mann's great JustAcoustic.Com

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Creating your own band

My good friend and partner from 'down under', Chris Elmore has supplied a really useful tip for my Blog readers, this time it's the first in a series of three tips on how to create ( and sustain! ) a band, from the formation stages thru to the world-acclaimed stage performances! Check out the article link here:

Click on the link: Creating your own Band(1) Click HERE to visit Chris's GuitarTips site

Also a word to the wise on the most complete and comprehensive guitar course I've ever seen online, check it out at GuitarSecrets.

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Free Ibanez Ozfest guitar in my 10 million Giveaway!

As notified in the last blog post, I have been preparing an event, with a load of guitar and music goodies to give away to say 'Thank You!' to my supporters at PJs Guitar Chords and Lyrics, and my Blog visitors here and at www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com, who have all helped me reach the 10 Million visitor mark with my website.

Top prize is a rare Ibaneze Ozfest guitar, and there are also guitar lessons, keyboard lessons, guitar backing tracks, voice lessons, guitar tips and other tasty musical packages. Thirty prizes in total will be awarded over the next 6 weeks or so. Well, it's now up and running and you can enter at the link below:

10 Million Visitor "Thank You" Giveaway Page - Click Here!

A really big Thank You to my partners who have been incredibly generous in donating great prizes to help make this a landmark celebration to remember!.

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster: PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics - http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Backing Tracks - http://www.guitarsongs.info/guitar-backing-tracks.htm

Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com/
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com/

Calling all Acoustic Guitarists!

Regular readers of this Blog will know that my website recently welcomed it's 10 millionth visitor - yup, you read it right: 10,000,000 visitors!!

I'm preparing a celebration event, at which there will be a load of goodies to give away - guitar lessons, keyboard lessons, backing tracks, voice lessons - top prize will be a shiny new guitar!! More about this very soon.....

As my own content is free, the 'goodies' were obtained by putting the squeeze on my partner sites ( actually unfair, as they all volunteered very generously ).

First to 'capitulate' was Kenny Mann, the GuitarAlliance guru, and he has kicked off the party with a special offer ( after a little extra pressure - a REALLY special offer ) for my Blog and newsletter subscribers ONLY.

To take advantage of this opportunity, you will need to click on the link below. You will be asked for a username and password.

http://justacoustic.com/pj

Username: acoustic
Password: guitar1

To be perfectly honest, I surprised myself with my own powers of persuasion on this. Please don't miss out on this genuine opportunity for acoustic guitarists!

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster: PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics - http://www.guitarsongs.info/

Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com/
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com/

Summer Blues Party

My good friend Andy Koblick, who runs the AmazingGuitar r lessons program, has really gotten into the Summer Spirit! He has a whole series of events planned for June and July - tips, interviews, jam sessions, competitions and generally good musical fun at what he is calling the "Summer Blues Party".

Participation is by invitation only, but I've persuaded him to give me a link for my blog visitors to grab their invitations! Click on this Summer Blues link, to be part of the "Summer of 2006". You might want to wear a flower in your hair ....!

Enjoy your music, and your summer!
PJ

If you haven't already, you really should check out the most complete and comprehensive guitar course I've ever seen online, at GuitarSecrets. Don't forget to sign up for the free 6-part mini-course!

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Amazing Guitar Lessons relaunch - ends today!!!

June 16th 2006 - Update

*** This promotion ends today, June 16th

If you want to take advantage of the really valuable bonus items available during the launch, and guarantee getting your copy of this great guitar lessons resource at the old price, you should click on this link: AmazingGuitarSecrets now, while the offer is still open (ends midnight tonight)

*** See below for details

Part of my mission with www.guitarsongs.info is to find other
really useful guitarist resources and pass them on to my website
and blog visitors.

Back in November, I published a post singing the praises of a great new resource - AmazingGuitarSecrets, and have had dozens of kind emails thanking me for the 'heads-up'. It is still the most complete and comprehensive guitar lessons course I have seen anywhere on the net.

So this is to let you know about an 'event' - the relaunch by Dan Denley of this great learning program with more functionality, more material and, for the duration of the launch ( June 9th to June 16th ) a really valuable and 'amazing' set of bonus items ( some of this are time-sensitive, 'earlybird' offers ). The old pricing structure is being maintained for the launch period too - with that kind of value for your buck, I would strongly advise checking it out at:

AmazingGuitarSecrets.Com while the special deal is still live.

( Note: there is a lot of copy on the promotion page, I think Dan is a fantastic guitar teacher, but is maybe over-enthusiastic as a promotor!. He has a lot of audio testimonials from happy subscribers - you might want to take these 'as read' and skip down to see what the course really can do for you - and which bonus items are still available. )

The link again is AmazingGuitarSecrets.Com
You really should check it out, but don't wait too long, event ends on June 9th.

Enjoy your music,

PJ

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Extended 11th Chords

Dan Denley( who runs the superb AmazingGuitarSecrets website has supplied another great tip for my Blog and newsletter readers - this time he introduces you to the wonders of extended 11th chords. Too technical for you? - don't be put off, Dan explains exactly how they look, play and sound, in an easy to follow manner. These chords are essential learning if you want to play blues, jazz or funk music.

Click on the link: http://www.guitarsongs.info/Extended-11ths Click HERE to visit Dan's Amazing GuitarSecrets site. ( Actually, right now the site is being prepared for a major upgrade, and you can download a free 40 page e-Book on Pentatonic scales at this link - but get it quick! Hint - if you visit now you can get the free e-Book, but it might be worth bookmarking the page and re-visiting later, say.... June 1st..... when the new and improved Guitar Secrets program will be launched. As a friend and partner of Dan's I couldn't possibly say that there will be free stuff for the early birds, but.... )

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Playing Extended 9th Chords

Dan Denley( who runs the superb AmazingGuitarSecrets website has supplied another great tip for my Blog and newsletter readers - this time he introduces you to the wonders of extended 9th chords which feature in more songs that you'd think. If you haven't been exposed to extended chords before, don't worry, Dan explains exactly how they look, play and sound, in an easy to follow manner. These chords are essential learning if you want to play blues, jazz or funk music.

Click on the link: http://www.guitarsongs.info/Extended-9ths Click HERE to visit Dan's Amazing GuitarSecrets site.

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Changing chords by using a Capo

It seems like a simple piece of springed metal ( and it is! ), but it can be the most valuable tool in the guitarists kitbox.

Chris Elmore, mastermind behind GuitarTips, and GuitarSongs has written a great article showing you how to make best use of the Capo, with some helpful hints, including which type of Capo to go for. Check out the link below

Using a Capo

Click HERE to visit the great Guitar Tips site

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Extended 13th Chords

Finding chords and lyrics on the net

I received several requests each day to locate chords and lyrics for specific songs, which I may not already have on my website. Generally, I am always pleased to help out, but as the volumes increase, it does take up quite a bit of time, and I only do what the requester could easily do for themselves.

For instance, I received this e-mail request for help recently:

"I request the lyric and Guitar Cord for the song Only Love by Tredemark, Without You by Mariah Carey, Goodbye by Air Supply.I also request the Indonesian song Teman Tapi Mesra by Ratu. It is the latest one. Also Jujur by Radja. TQ."

My response is the advice I would give to anyone searching the web for playable versions of songs they like:

"You should be able to locate these songs quite easily yourself, by searching on Google. If you use the following search terms ( including the quotes )

"guitar chords" "trademark" "only love"

"guitar chords" "mariah carey" "without you"

"guitar chords" "air supply" "goodbye"

you should find at least one version of each song - the advantage is that you will probably find a few versions, and some might suit better than others, perhaps have easier chords, or be in a key that suits your voice.

If you don't have any success, try the same search without the song title - "guitar chords" "air supply" - in some cases google will have indexed a site for the artists they include, but not for all of the song titles, so you may still find a site with the song you're seeking.

The Malay Olga is probably the best place to locate Indonesian bands and artists' music : http://malayolga.name.my/malayolga/. You might also have some success at http://indonesian.lyrics-collection.com"

I hope this helps all of you who would like to play songs by your favourite artists, but haven't been able to locate any help on the net.

Enjoy your music,
PJ

Mixolydian scale - key of C

Andy Koblick ( who runs the great AmazingGuitar website has supplied another useful tip for my Blog and newsletter readers, this time round he teaches you how to understand and play the Mixolydian scale. Don't be put off - it's a lot easier than it sounds!

Click on the link: http://www.guitarsongs.info/Mixolydian Click HERE to visit Andy's Amazing Guitar site.

Enjoy your music,

P.J. Murphy
webmaster, PJ's Guitar Chords & Lyrics
http://www.guitarsongs.info
Guitar Chords Blog: http://www.guitar-chords.blogspot.com
Guitar Tips Blog: http://www.guitar-tips.blogspot.com

pjmurphy@guitarsongs.info

Request for help with strumming

I received an e-mail request for help today:

Hi PJ

On your website It doesn’t show how the chord should be played. Can you please tell me how I find out The Way in which the chord should be played example If I played the G chord should I play it Down Up Up Down or Up Down Down Up?

My response is below:

Hi,

I'm afraid there's no single way that any chord should be strummed - it depends on the song and on the player's interpretation of the song. This is the main reason I don't put strumming patterns on the songs on the site.

The best advice I always give to anyone learning a new song is to learn the song in three stages. Firstly learn to play the song with just down strums, so that you get familiar with the song structure, chord changes, etc. Then, while listening to the original song, mute the guitar strings with your left hand, and practice strumming along to the song with your right. This will allow you to concentrate on the strumming patterns, without having to think about chord changes, picking out nifty runs etc.

When you've mastered these, the third stage is joining the two parts together, you should find the strumming just comes naturally now.

Enjoy your music,
PJ

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