Starting on the Guitar

I've been doing a lot of teaching lately. I find myself thinking about how I started guitar and where my head was at when I started.

I remember wanting to just play for hours. I would find books from my mom's piano bench by bands my siblings liked and I would follow the suggested chords. It made playing songs really fun, especially when the chords & strums were something I was already comfortable with. A lot of times the chords would be open chords (those using the open strings) or what some call "cowboy chords".

I always wished I could find more songs like this easily. Today you can, because I'm going to introduce you to this video!

Here's a great example that can keep you practicing for hours!
Check this out!! 

(The plug in isnt working..sorry)

This Guys got a whole bunch...Popular songs...Price Tag, Perfect, Jar of Hearts & More.
All these songs actually change from these musical keys...but here he's doing great sing alongs on these songs using the same chords....so with FUN being the main ingredient, you can get to it.

 
I hope you enjoy this!  Happy Strumming!

-Marc

Playing Billy Joel, David Gray, The Who Keyboard Parts on the Guitar

There's nothing I like more than enjoying a song and being able to pick up the guitar or bass guitar and play that song. It's an awesome feeling.

This week I did some videos on how to play Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, POD (which Fear the State opened for 2 weeks ago) and The Guitar player Greg Howe. I love those songs as well, and when I want to play them, I do so. So i figured I'd share some with everyone.

The other two can be found here http://www.youtube.com/guitaroogle


In the last few weeks I find myself learning songs with a lot of Piano in them, and in doing so, how piano players, rock / pop  players mostly, bounce between chords unlike a guitarist does. I found in a David Gray song, Stella The Artist, that the keys bounce in a triplet pattern between the C & G chords. Not something we do a lot on the guitar. In Billy Joel's Stiletto, there's a lot of use of 7th chords where rock guitarists would not normally use them. I find it interesting to learn these patterns and feels so I can be a better player, but also because i like to listen to these songs. So learning them allows me to sound like these great artists I love.

Also, the who's Won't get fooled again was a song I've been working with in the last month. It came up twice in my lessons, and both times we worked on the keyboard/synth part at the beginning of the song. Ya know...the part before the big guitar/drum thing.

That's an interesting way to try and attack the instrument. Especially if you try to move the notes into different positions on the instrument. I find I can really come up with other creative things when I do these learning challenges for myself. It allows me to think differently.

Please leave your comments below, we can start a dialogue. Also please note I'm teaching through a webcam a lot more, so if you'd like to be part of a private class, write me! http://www.marcamendola.com

Happy Playing!!

Marc

This Might Be The Best New Piece of Pre-Amp Gear I've Gotten in While!

I Just got my hands on an Icicle by the BLUE mic company.

The Icicle, for those who don't know, is a microphone pre-amp, with Phantom power that can be plugged i
into a USB port. Now, I'm not normally impressed or curious to own something like this, but I'm on the run a lot, and I'm in the house a lot, just looking to lay down ideas. And what would be better than to be able to transfer the idea into the studio PRo Tools rig (@audiohotel in West Haven, CT or at Twitter). This way, that little cool 3 min idea turns into a full jam in 40 mins at the studio. A bass line, a drum loop and a 2nd guitar part or solo and away it goes! This Pre amp makes it that easy. I open up a a DAW and plug this in with a mic plugged into it, and away I can go. Track after track and then I can take it to the studio or mix it right there!

This would also be great for podcasting or voice overs. Here's a video that shows you a little more.....

 

And the icicle doesn't sound noisy (and I bought mine used, and the fella put no packing in the pack). The pre-amp gets the mic loud! I'm super excited to track some songs at home just as an experiment. If nothing else than just to be able to drop a couple ideas into a DAW on your laptop, get into this!

Enjoy getting creative!

-Marc