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Creativity leads to well being, How to play the guitar articles

how to play the guitar

Do it right from the start

I want you to be able to experience music, with the same enjoyment it inspires in me every day. Let me share with you some tips, on how to learn to play the guitar.

Guitar learning will be your life time adventure. I want to create a track for you,  where you can jump on, follow and learn, but, I want you to avoid the typical mistakes all students fall into, especially now-days, due to mass distribution of meaningless learning on the net. 

how to play the guitar

Follow a structure and succeed

I want you to have fun but also to understand that music learning requires time, work, repetition,  in other words: discipline.   All the hard work is definitely a rewarding experience, if we set a goal with practical exercises, to help us in the process of how to learn to play the guitar.

At the Creative Guitar School I have designed all my courses to help you develop your well being through creativity and self expression.  However, we need structured learning to make sure we learn with fun, and also in a meaningful manner, where we can at the end of each journey, be able to play meaningful music from start to end.

Book a free 30 minute assessment;  discover your guitar skills and the most adequate Guitar Course for you.

Work hard, be patient and enjoy the results

We study guitar to open the door to have more fun in our lives. Personally,  I study guitar because it allows me to have more and more fun everyday, as I am able to express and flow with my feelings, to the utmost satisfaction.

The real joy occurs, when we are to be able to perform a piece of music, from start to finish, with love and especially if we do so, for an audience. Here I include some tips on how to learn to play the guitar.

Avoid frustration

I find that studying can be a frustrating experience, if we do not target, what we need to do, to emulate the final performance. Thus, we must find a learning pathway, that reduces repetition and increases our effectiveness in our goals. We need to have fun by reducing, frustrating learning pathways. 

Read more on all guitar courses offered based upon contemporary structured learning.

Nine tips on how to play the guitar and get results

Nine tips on how to play the guitar and get results

1-Sing

As a general rule, if you can imagine what you wish to play in tempo, and can also sing it, then your learning will be by far, much more efficient, and satisfying, than what students achieve by solely repeating mechanical movements, or in other words,  practicing frustration. Learn more.

2-Emulate the live performance

Only practice in a manner that emulates the final performance. Try to do it right the first time, and at the slowest speed possible. 

3 -Do not think

Do not think while you play, but rather sing the music in your mind. The more you think,  the more non musical, you will play.

4- Feel

Feel what you want to express, and produce the feeling in your music. If you are bored with your playing, it might be because you are bored in wishing to feel good, and have fun.  

Seek the desired articulation, notes, chords and silence, that will allow you to pinpoint, your personal feel for the music. Do not be a spectator of your feelings. Decide and portray. Feel is one the best ,tips on how to learn to play the guitar.

5-Do not judge, but create

Make sure the music, the sound is in your head, before you play and not after. If you do not do this, you will always be judging yourself, and only concentring on the final sound, and not on the enjoyment of the process of creating it.

6-Play soft

Play more soft than loud. In the loud, you will have less room for for increasing intensity. Remember, intensity does not come from playing loud,  but from choice of register, harmonic tension, and also rhythmic density.

If you play loud, you will tire your muscles out soon and will perform poorly; You might feel you are expressing yourself, but in the end you are only shouting. 

7-Practice what you know

Practice what you know and also what you do not know. You practice what you know, to enjoy yourself, and practice what you do not know, to further enjoy yourself in the near future.

Please consider that a new musical concept, will take up to 6 months of learning, before it becomes fluent, and part of your personal expression. So, if you just practice only what you do not know, you will end up on a journey, into the world of frustration.

8- Refresh your repertoire 

Build up a repertoire, but never forget to refresh it. This is fun and rewarding.

9-Do not stop

Once you start playing a song, do not stop. If you do stop, this means you have not imagined what you have to play, the tempo, and how you play in relation to the tempo. 

Personally, I need to have a clear understanding of the beat,  and the subdivision, to make sure I can coordinate efficiently, especially at quick tempos.  This advice, is also one the most important tips on how to learn to play the guitar.

Five common mistakes guitarists make

1- Students learn bits and pieces of music, and not the whole song. 

When a musician plays a song, they will interpret the melody line, with or without accompaniment, from start to finish, of the full structure.  If you can do this, then you are ready to say, that you can play a song.  At the Creative Guitar School you will learn to play full songs, in a group or solo situation and with fun.

2-Students think they know how to play a song because they can play the chords.

A song has a melody,  for example: what the vocalists sings. This is what makes it recognisable.

If you can play the melody, then you are starting to play a song. However,  if you can only play chords, then you are simply playing a progression of chords, that can be found in hundred of others songs.

3 – Students learn the chords, but do not know how to fit them, or sync them to the original track.

Only, if you can play the chords of the song, along with the original recorded version, from start to finish, then you can say to yourself, that you are starting to understand how to play them. 

If you get lost while playing along the track, then you might not be aware of the structure, or be familiar with the melody. You might also have coordination issues. You might not be aware of the tempo , or how to subdivide such. 

If you can play the chords, but when you try to play them with the original track, you get lost, then you do not know how to play the chords.

 Also, If you can only play a verse and not know what comes next, then you do not know the chords.

If you cannot explain how many bars each section of the song has, and how the sections repeat, then you do not know the chords.

At the Creative Guitar School you learn to play songs from start to end. You learn how to play the melody, how to play the chords and develop them to create variations in intensity. You learn how to play in tempo, anticipate and sync your movements with the desired beat.

Book a free 30 minute assessment;  discover your guitar skills and the most adequate Guitar Course for you

4- To learn a solo or lick, with no tempo associated.

Students believe they have learnt a solo,  or a lick of a song, because play it in a sort of recognisable manner.  If you cannot play it, along with the original  track, that you can slow down,  then you have not learnt the solo or the lick, and you have wasted your time.

All learning must be conclusive. Learning fragments of music, without structure, may tend to create more frustration than well being, and have a negative impact, on the method of how to learn to play the guitar .

5 – You think you can play a solo, because you can play a few notes that sound ok .

You will be able to solo, only when you can sing what you want to do, know where you are in relation to the beat and the chords.  If you can play the chords, and sing a solo, even if you sing out of tune , then you are ready to start soloing and have the required skills to develop a good one.

If you have difficulty in understanding what to sing on top of some chords,  then you need to learn the basics. You need to learn full melodies and songs. Also, you need to internalise a musical library, that will be the foundation on which you will base all your creative output.

Consider music as a language.  You need to know the alphabet, words, how to combine them and make sentences, and paragraphs.  How can you do that in music ? Well, you need to learn songs in a efficient manner.

Please read through the six different levels of guitar learning. Throughout each level you will acquire and develop the necessary skills, to be able to play songs, create them and vary them either as lead, rhythm guitar, or in a fingerpicking manner, in all styles of contemporary music.

Give me a call. I would love to share your musical journey with you. 


Creativity leads to well being, How to improvise on the guitar articles

How to improvise on the guitar

How to improvise on the guitar  

Five reasons why it feels good to learn to improvise on the guitar.

1. Create fresh replenishing emotions

To improvise on the guitar, is a creative way of telling a musical story. Let´ s imagine we have a paragraph of 24 words that we narrate, with the objective of explaining a feeling. Consequently, we may also keep on repeating the paragraph, but with different degrees of variations, to further develop the emotion.

To improvise on the guitar is to create variations of the musical story. It gives you the pathway to extend the interpretation, to modify, adapt and change it to your needs and on the go.  As a result, improvisation on the guitar, can produce extremely satisfying emotions, as I believe it is the true gateway for personal expression. 

2. Interaction with others

We all know how much fun we can have, when we play with others. Music can also be a lot of fun, and improvising can be the ultimate game of enjoyment.  

I relate guitar improvisation to the perfect communion of souls, in all possible conscious dimensions. Furthermore, our musical interaction just fills up the space around us, as we bond with fellow musicians and the audience.

Music and guitar improvisation is another humble path to an experience, where we all come together, to share our beloved human values. When we improvise on the guitar, in any style of music as blues, jazz, funk, rock, flamenco, we create the opportunity to interact emotionally with others, without the need of words, nor values, nor judgements of any kind.

Guitar improvisation will make you feel extremely unique, because you freely express yourself in a context, where you are accompanied and heard.

3. To explore ones inner self

I believe life can feel good when we break the rigidness of daily obligations. Therefore, a bit of controlled chaos feels good; learn to improvise on the guitar and you will enjoy a refreshing musical adventure of colours, sounds and emotions. When we improvise, we take on this adventure our dreams and souls.

When we play music knowing exactly what is ahead, and what we have to do, then it feels like we are on a road, set by others to achieve a boxed goal.  However, if we are able to explore other pathways, other boundaries, other colours along the way, and interact with joy with others,  the creative guitar experience will be emotionally rewarding.  This non programmed road trip will become the real musical adventure. We will arrive at the same destination as the programmed road trip,  but  feeling very satisfied, and eager to wake up the next day to jump on board and explore another pathway. 

4. Satisfaction

From my experience, when I improvise and create variations,  as a consequence of my interaction with my other band members, I feel very satisfied afterwards.  Satisfaction is not an easy feeling to come across, and it is the feeling that most will regenerate my whole body and soul. 

Also, the more I improvise, understanding the emotional goals, choosing the right harmonic melodic tools for the job,  the greater the final satisfaction.

Let’s improvise together. Come and join us at the Creative Guitar School, in Melbourne, and learn to play the guitar, to improvise in contemporary musical styles on electric guitar, acoustic guitar or nylon string Spanish guitar

5. To be unique

Music is not a visual experience, nor a competition, it is an auditive experience, that you can enjoy with your internal rhythm, soul and with your closed eyes, unless you are driving. 

However,  there is a lot of guitar music our there,  that is a reflection of what we can do, and not what the musician is trying to express, tell or convey. Music is the gift we can use to develop a virtue, to share with others; our uniqueness, our story. 

A story is not about how quick you can run, or how much you can scream. A musical story is really about sharing an emotion.  Yes, when we scream we portray an egoistic feeling, but the true virtue would be to make the audience feel the need of this excitement, and get them to scream with you. 

It feels good to improvise on the guitar and to be unique in our story telling,  as we can accomplish a very special human interaction, that no other musical form of expression will allow. 

What tools do we need to improvise effectively 

As a guitarist, you will need to master all the musical tools required to know inside out, the melody and harmonic structure of the song. This means, that at any time and moment, you are playing a song, you can effectively,  switch from the role of the soloist to the accompanist, or vice versa.

Once you have the song mastered,  then you are now ready to start creating variations, to keep the song flowing, based upon the interaction with other band members, the audience and your feel, either as the soloist, or the accompanist of the lead guitar.

In order to improvise on the guitar efficiently, you need to learn specific melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic tools, to create variety in tension, in dramatic intensity, as the song develops.

For example, let ´s say you have played your song once, and you want to be able to play the melody, (the lyrics of the song) with more intensity the second time through. A change of octave,  an increase in rhythmic intensity or harmonic tension, will give you all the desired momentum, to produce your climax. 

There are literally hundreds of tools at your disposal, to help develop your creativity on the go, but all you need is just a few, to get going, and to start feeling the flow of creating music.

Improvisation and Guitar Courses

All students, in all guitar courses, I impart at my Melbourne Creative Guitar School, learn to improvise. At a guitar beginners level, you will learn to create basic variations of melody and harmony. As you progress throughout the levels, you will master a vast array of tools, to accomodate all your emotional needs.

I encourage learning through group interaction. Therefore, I teach all basic courses in Group environments . These classes have a maximum fo 4 students per class.

I further encourage the group interaction with the concerts I schedule throughout the year. All students perform live every 3 months. Before the performance, we also organise a nice barbecue to get the stomachs activated and the energy levels up high.

Students will also have the opportunity to enjoy feedback of all their musical accomplishments, since I hold the classes in my recording studio.  Therefore,  we are able to record the group progression, and enjoy how much we have learnt, at the different stages of the musical journey. 

Creativity leads to well being, Melbourne Guitar Lessons

Guitar Songwriting lessons

Online Guitar Songwriting Courses

The Guitar songwriting courses forms part of the songwriting module of guitar lessons at the Creative Guitar School. Please follow this link to view next available group synchronous online guitar songwriting learning course: The Pivoting Techniques

Module 1: The Birth of the Song

For all songwriters and performers who wish to explore through advanced harmony, the ultimate feel for a song .

Advanced harmony can be made simple if it is explained without complicated terminology. These  guitar songwriting lessons and courses, will give you an in depth harmonic melodic knowledge of the guitar, that will transform how you perform, compose, arrange  and produce your performance of your desired song.

Online Guitar Songwriting lessonsThe outcome of all modules ( Making advanced  harmonic textures accessible to all guitarists and songwriters)

This guitar songwriting course is divided into three modules:

  1. Module 1: The Birth of the Song. In this module you will learn tools/strategies to make sure your song has the most unique : chords, melody and the most powerful and uplifting structure.

You may apply these tools to compose your song, change it to make it feel better or simply to deliver a more in depth interpretation of your song,  live or in the studio.

    1. Module 2: Pre Production.  All the creative tools, at a basic level, you can play with, to define the most adequate rhythm section, melodic- harmonic backgrounds, counter lines; and to reinforce the melody of a song.
    1. Module 3: Music Production. The Final Recording.

Each module will give you access to over 50 audio examples,  three hours of videos, a 45 page self explanatory e book and a power point presentation of the ebook where all files are interlinked.

These  guitar songwriting lessons and course, is an extension of my book on arranging and orchestration in the Spanish Language: El Arreglo un Puzzle de Expresión Musical

The need of relating emotion to music

In all my years as a guitar teacher and writer, I have always pondered about how to learn music in a manner that we find the balance between thoughts and feelings. In music, if we think a lot we will not play efficiently , also if we just feel the music, and not establish a conscious understanding of what we are doing, and why, we all end up in deep chaos and frustration.

I believe, in our music learning , we must first feel, then put words to the feeling , classify it, in a manner that when we have the need for such emotion , we will automatically revert to our conscious classification.   However, if we learn to play the guitar , if we follow any  guitar course, that shows, explains concepts through words, with no context and related feelings, we will never understand, nor remember how to make sense of it all.

In my new  guitar courses , especially  my  Guitar Songwriting lessons, I will share with you a conscious understanding of emotion that will definitely  open up a new way of hearing music , learning , playing and songwriting.

Module 1 The Birth of the Song 

Who is this module for

Songwriters and guitarists of all levels,  that wish to deliver a more emotional interpretation of a song, by applying advanced melodic harmonic concepts used by major composers and performers; this course makes these advanced concepts accessible to all without the need of traditional in depth study of harmony and arranging skills.

You do not need to know how to read music, nor know all the scales and chords available. However,  you must have an understanding of basic open string chords.  It will also be beneficial if you can sing songs and play chords at the same time,  and  can play along the recorded original tracks of your favourite songs.

This modules will develop exisiting songs, however once completed, you will be able to compose your new songs, bearing these new emotional tools from scratch.

What will you learn

In this module you will learn tools/strategies, to make sure your song has the most unique chords, melody and the most powerful and uplifting structure. You may apply these tools to compose your song, change it to make it feel better, or simply, to deliver a more in depth interpretation of your song, live, or in the studio.

Available harmonic melodic tools to achieve your unique sound

A song is made up of a melody and chords. We use the chords to accompany the melody. Both melody and accompaniment are glued together by rhythm. Your essential tools to interpret, change your song will be to know:

  • All available diatonic chords, inversions and their chord scale relationship. There are only 7 diatonic  chords to choose from. If you are also aware of the feeling they produce in relation to the melody, you will then have the ability to choose the most adequate and unique harmony.
  • How to create excitement with chords, shifting the harmonic tension of a chord , by varying the melodic line and bass lines.  I refer to this as making chords move, making them come alive,  and therefore produce, with the guitar, an accompaniment that not only makes your melody shine even further, but makes the song extremely engaging, with variety of intensity from beginning to end.
  • How to vary your melody to outline and reinforce the final harmonic context, and achieve the desired impact you need to deliver your song to the audience,  in the most expressive and engaging manner possible.  Once you have chosen the most adequate chords, and how to play them with intensity, you will then have the need to modify your melody, to make it sound even more unique .

How to apply them with satisfaction in context

These tools will now give you access to the second part of the module, where you will apply the concepts to a given melody, to achieve the 100% satisfaction goal ; so you can say aloud,  Yes, this is what I was looking for !

On completion you will have practiced :

  • To choose the most appropriate key for your voice to shine.
  • To analyse the harmonic tension you feel at each moment, and choose the adequate chords to reflect such.
  • To create variation in this harmonic tension by creating bass lines, inversions and reharmonisation, or adding melodic lines to the top of Existing chords.
  • To alter the melody of the song to achieve the desired emotional impact.
  • To control the intensity you want to produce at each section of your song.
  • To finalise a satisfying relationship of chords, melody and structure; ready for the pre production stage, where other musicians will interact with you.
  • To say I really adore my song; the final melody, chords and lyrics.

All the above concepts can be applied to any given form of guitar playing as flamenco guitar, jazz guitar, blues guitar and also all types of guitars as electric guitar, acoustic guitar or nylon string Spanish guitar.

How to play the guitar articles, Melbourne Guitar Lessons

Guitar Lessons, How to learn effectively?

Guitar Lessons. Enjoyment and self expression

I wish to take you on a journey to explore the secrets of this magnificent instrument, the guitar. Furthermore, open an extended gateway for your ongoing personal development and well being in your life.

Music is the language of emotions and the guitar is the tool we will use to tap into those unique, beautiful, inner feelings, we all have.

I wish to guide you on your journey on how to play the guitar.  Our learning experience will produce a tool box which will give you the skills you need to play whatever you wish, and how you wish. The ultimate goal of your guitar lessons is enjoyment, through self expression.

Guitar Lessons Courses What will you learn?

The guided pathway

At the Creative Guitar School, I cater for all levels of learning in a  diversity of styles through your guitar lessons. I would now like to address the learning goals of those who are just starting out.

All musicians need to start out. Furthermore, we all deserve the right to reach our goals. However, we may find obstacles along the way and crash into them. When this happens, frustration may settle in and the guitars may end up on our walls.

I want all guitar beginners in a years time, from when you start your guitar lessons, to be able to play, off by heart, the following or similar tracks.

We generally learn three tracks,  per course, of similar material.

Students learn a total of 6 simple songs of their choice in two levels in their guitar lessons.

    • Compose a few songs like the following:

Students compose one song per level

Play three concerts. Please follow this link to see the 2016 and 2017  Guitar students and teacher concerts

.

Play along , off by heart  tracks by: Police, Ed Sheeran, Justin Beiber, Paco de Lucia, Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Norah Jones, Bb King, and James Brown.

How to study and progress with joy

We will learn to play on the guitar all the above, off by heart and with joy. I must insist, that you have to feel good about what you do,  every step of the journey. You have to have fun.

A students needs to understand what they know, what they do not know and how to get to the next step of their learning, with care and patience.

The more we are able to feel what we are doing, the quicker we will learn. We will only remember physical movements for a short period of time. But, we will remember a song and how to play it for life, if we  relate movements to specific sound and emotion.

Structure

I assume you have listened briefly to the above material.  How do we go from knowing nothing, to playing all the above material?

We need to first establish that everything we play, must be related to  a structure: it must have a beginning, an end and a tempo.  We learn to play the guitar swiftly, only if we reproduce the same scenario that occurs in the professional world,  in a simple musical context.

In your guitar lessons ,you will start off by learning chords and rhythm. If you follow the exercises correctly,  in 3 weeks time, you will be playing a song from top to bottom.

Aural training

In order to learn efficiently, you must be able to hear what you do , feel it and know where the sound is to be found on the guitar.  You need to memorise melodies and the corresponding harmony associated.

You need to hear the harmony in advance, so as to anticipate the desired emotion. In order to hear, you must sing or mumble and you need to create. Only when you create, will you be able to make sense of melody, harmony, rhythm and structure.

You cannot memorise a mechanical movement outside a musical context. There must be a targeted desired sound and emotion so you may memorise what the movement is for.  I will guide you, with specific exercises to help you hear and find the sound on the guitars.

Goals

In a short period of time,  you will be able to play simple melodies, solo guitar, play in a group setting, play bass lines, counter lines, create diversity in rhythm and have lots of fun.

You  also need to follow discipline which is based on repetition with love and respect for your limits.  There should be no need for frustration or negative thoughts in your learning.

Very soon you will experience positive results and find the joy of sharing music in a group setting, creating your own melodies and hearing how they come life.

Technique

You will notice that I have not mentioned the word technique, as such really is only a consequence of all the above. We need movement to create music and all the above exercises, require solid technique,  for us to be able to feel them and enjoy the experience.

How much do I need to dedicate per day for my guitar practice ?

I have designed the courses so that if you dedicate 20 minutes, every day, during 20 weeks you will have accomplished all goals.

Guitar learning requires constant dedication and work, but the results are extremely rewarding.

Group learning

I have designed a series of exercise to be completed in group settings,  to encourage guitar students to interact and get together outside classroom hours. This will help you in your training .

Concerts

All  guitar students will get a chance to play at the School concerts.  Ee celebrate the events every 10 weeks.

You can do it

There is no secret in learning to play the guitar. We only need dedication and above all, to understand what we are doing and why. Music is not just about playing  chords, it is about playing a song in a tempo, with a beginning, an end, with changes, sections, and intensities.

You tube videos, generally,  show us how to play a songs with chords. But, not what to take into consideration to be able to coordinate all the movements, in a sequence and in relation to a specific tempo.

All songs are glued together by tempo. All the exercises you will enjoy in your guitar lessons are based on playing in tempo. Which would be like feeling a constant heart beat to your playing.

Interview

Please call me to schedule an interview for your guitar lessons. I need to asses your skills and recommend you the appropriate group for your learning, based upon your musical knowledge, aural and visual learning skills.

The next level

Once you have completed your first two levels, you will be ready to understand how to learn any style or music of your choice. You will have all the tools you need to undergo further challenges and the resulting joy of such.

You may read about all guitar lesson levels offer through guitar lessons at the Creative Guitar School through this link.

Times

All courses are scheduled during the evenings. Private guitar lessons are scheduled during  morning and afternoon hours. Please refer to guitar lesson prices and conditions through the following link.

More info

If you would like to learn more about my professional activities, outside the educational scenario, please refer to my Melbourne Concert Latin Flamenco Guitar Site.

Melbourne things to do

Melbourne Creative Guitar School Concerts

Melbourne Creative Guitar School Concert December 9

Every 10 weeks, all  my guitar students get together, enjoy a nice lunch and perform  a memorable concert.

I just love how music lovers can join to share their passion of life through music. As always, it feels just great to see everyone having such a good time with music,  and all our friends.

Guitar lessons and the baby chair

In the picture, we have the baby chair,   which unfortunately did not fit any of our sitting postures.

In the following picture we can see, and really get the feeling of how hard a student has to think, to remember the name of the song they  have to play. memory test with phong guitar lessons

The concert was a great success  and once again I must say thank you for making the Creative Guitar School the place to be.

Melbourne Creative Guitar School Concert September 23

We all came armed with our guitars, marching like true stars!

Congratulations to everyone. What a delightful day having you all play at our regular Creative Guitar School Concert. We held the concert on September 23, at the Armadale Uniting Church Hall.

The warm up lunch and the aftermath, truly justified all the hard work you have put into your guitar.

We all know that guitar playing requires discipline. It is a daily journey exploring,  enjoying aspects of who you are, that are hidden behind layers of our constrained emotional adulthood. Music brings out the child inside of us, who wishes to explore and enjoy life with true happiness.

On September 23, we heard songs from Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Bach,  Paco de Lucia, Beatles, Adele, MGMT and many more. Students played solo, in duos, trios and in quartet.

Guitar Lessons Structured Learning

The objective of the Creative School Music Curriculum is to encourage guitar students to learn songs in a manner where they can play them live, in a group, or an ensemble.

We play all contemporary music styles as: jazz, pop, reggae , blues, funk, and especially flamenco which is one of my guitar passions.

We require all students to understand concepts of structure, harmony, melodic variations, rhythmic variations, improvisation and composition. All students learn to hear a melody and play it on the spot. They also learn to identify the chord sof the songs they wish to play,  by understanding the tonal centre, and the chords derived from such.

Our creative self expression will benefit from structured learning. I also set guidelines to help achieve our musical objetives with true satisfaction.

 

Melbourne Creative Guitar School Concert group ensemble

Melbourne Guitar Lessons, Must Read

Writing on the Guitar-Songwriter Exclusive

WRITING ON THE GUITAR – SONGWRITER EXCLUSIVE

I am currently finalising my new online course for songwriters and guitarists who need more emotion from their songs and music productions, and uniqueness in their melodic and harmonic choices.  Especially, for those who wish to deliver the most powerful live performance of their song  and  record it with others.

What do you need to know to get the most out of a song  ?

Module 1 Harmony

  • What chords do I have to work with the song I have in my head ?
  • What other chords can I use for variety ?
  • What chords can I choose to create more excitement?
  • Is my voice shining ? Do I need to transpose?

    Songwriter

Module 2 Structure

  • How can I choose a flowing structure ?
  • How to add a surprise to the structure?

Module3 Groove

  • What is the groove of my song ?
  • How to make even it more groovy, especially in the most exciting parts?

Module 4 Intensity

  • What and where is the climax of the song ?
  • What rhythmic, melodic, harmonic tools do I have  to create intensity and feel that uplifting energy surge ?

Module 5 Variety in the melody 

  • How can I make my melody more interesting ?
  • How can it stand out more ?
  • Does my melody reflect the emotional content of the words ?
  • What tools do I have to achieve the desired emotion?

Module 6 Variety in the accompaniment

  • Do I hear backing vocals?
  • Can they help my melody stand out ?
  • What type of vocals lines do I have to choose from ?
  • Do I hear background lines? How can I translate them to the guitar?

Module 7 Enhancing bass lines 

Can I make the bass line more interesting and therefore make the harmony even more powerful? And the melody more emotional ?

Module 8

Decide how the song is be played by others to enhance the final product. Think and define the roles of each section and how you would like them to play, to accompany your desired emotional goal.

  • What is the outline of bass I need to define the chords and the groove of the song  in each section? And the climax ?
  • What is the rhythm I need, to  define the groove and pulse in each section, and the climax?
  • How should the accompaniment be played in each section ?
  • What is the background line of the accompaniment in each section and the climax ?

This course is to take your music to the next level and make it sound totally professional.

Creativity leads to well being, Must Read

Creative guitar improvisation

Creative guitar improvisation

Does creativity thrive from the need to organise the chaos in material life?  Our lives are structured in a manner where improvisation, sometimes,  cannot fit into our daily schedules.  I personally,  just feel great when I am able to sit down with the guitar, play what I wish, and express what comes to my mind.

I invite you,  to share with all of us, your creative guitar improvisation at our Guitar Social Club.

Creative guitar improvisation

All students, including beginners at the Melbourne Guitar School,  can participate in group ensembles. You will be immersed in creating music in a social environment, sharing your musical thoughts with other like minded music lovers. The Creative Guitar Social Club organisers frequent retreats to further develop musical skills and consequent creativity.

Students learn skills by completing the course outlines that may be found on the website.  At present, courses are in their 5th week; new courses will be starting on the 2nd week of June. There are still two openings for Thursdays at 6 p.m and 7 p.m,  for level 1 , and on Thursdays at 8 p.m,  for level 4.

Please send me an email, if you would like further information on all our courses and creative guitar improvisation.

How to be creative in your single note guitar solo

In a guitar solo, we may outline a chordal progression, or reharmonisation of such.  One way of approaching a solo is to create a solid learning method focused on the aural understanding of the harmonic context.

I love to get acquainted, with any given tune or harmonic progression, by creating melodic lines that are a diatonic step away between them. These lines define the harmonic intention of my solo.

I also love to sing the bass lines and at the same time play these melodic lines.  After a few  practice sessions, I reach a point where I have a thorough understanding of the harmonic content. I am then able to modify, define, anticipate, delay or reharmonise such based upon the intention I wish to portray in my solo.

At the Melbourne Creative Guitar School I cater for all levels of learning. I believe music should help our thoughts flow. This ease of emotions will produce great personal satisfaction.

Please join us .

Melbourne concerts and events

During the following months,  I will be producing my yearly Melbourne Concert 2017 series, at the Armadale Uniting Church. At these concerts, I will share with the audience my latest musical creations, in an intimate musical setting. Please take a peek at my latest releases.

Book Full Melbourne Concerts: Thomas Lorenzo  2017

  • July 28 at 7pm
  • August  25 at 7pm
  • September 29 at 7pm
  • October 27 at 8pm
  • November 24 at 8pm

Where:
Armadale Uniting Church 86A Kooyong Road, Armadale, VIC, 3143 (03) 9509 8958

Tickets: $ 30 ( General)

Melbourne flamenco guitars for sale

Back in the year 2007, I spent a few days in Madrid, Spain,  auditioning all the guitars, available at one of the Hermanos Conde Guitar Shop.

In the end , I finally selected the flamenco guitar model which I have on sale now. I selected this model,  based upon its timbre,  projection and the overall spectrum, in relation to the room sound.

This guitar emanates sound in all directions. The luthier created a guitar with extremely well balanced mid frequencies . They allow for extreme clarity,  in the projection of sound, in an ensemble setting.

Therefore, ff you would like to audition this guitar,  please send me an email.

Pro Session Guitarists for hire 

Enhance the lyrical character of your music by adding the Spanish guitar to your arrangement. Your musical creations will over shine others.

Check out my music production services, Pro Session Guitarists for hire, for songwriters; my past and present projects. Experience how the flamenco guitar can enhance your desired emotions, that your compositions truly deserve.

Libros de Música

My textbook on  arranging and orchestration, in the Spanish language is called:  Libros de Música,  El Arreglo Un Puzzle de Expresión Musical. This book compiles, in it’s 483 pages, contemporary arranging techniques , which I classify as  tools,  to help the arranger and composer,  understand their creations and deliver them to the audience,  with the utmost harmonic and melodic expression, in relation to the chosen  style .

Must Read

Single note guitar solo

How to be creative in your single note guitar solo

In a guitar solo, we may outline a chordal progression, or reharmonisation of such.  One way of approaching a solo is to create a solid learning method focused on the aural understanding of the harmonic context.

I love to get acquainted, with any given tune or harmonic progression, by creating melodic lines that are a diatonic step away between them. These lines define the harmonic intention of my solo.

I also love to sing the bass lines and at the same time play these melodic lines.  After a few  practice sessions, I reach a point where I have a thorough understanding of the harmonic content. I am then able to modify, define, anticipate, delay or reharmonise such based upon the intention I wish to portray in my solo.

At the Melbourne Creative Guitar School I cater for all levels of learning. I believe music should help our thoughts flow. This ease of emotions will produce great personal satisfaction.

Please join us .Single note guitar solo

Melbourne Concerts and Events

During this upcoming month of March, I will be performing at the Paris Cat Jazz Club, in Melbourne CBD at 8 pm. I will have as special guest: Ben Robertson on Bass.  This will be my major Melbourne Concert during this month of March.

Please enjoy some of my new compositions. They are available for download through I-tunes.

Libros de Música

My text book, on arranging and orchestration,  is available for purchase through Amazon International. This book is in the Spanish language under the category of: “Libros de música, arreglos y orquestación.” A must for all professionals and students, who wish to broaden their knowledge of harmonic textures, timbres and acoustic balances between instruments. You may download all musical examples through this link.

Flamenco Guitar for Sale

I have been asked by students to extend my  selection of handmade flamenco guitars, for purchase. These flamenco guitars I have for sale, are part of my collection, bought while living in Spain until 2012. I have enjoyed collecting such beauties. We have decided to sell some of them, to make room for new arrivals that I may purchase on my regular trips to Spain.

Melbourne Guitar Lessons, Must Read

Bass lines

Guitar level requirements

At the Melbourne Creative Guitar school, students specialize in contemporary styles of music, that allow their inner voice to flow freely. I believe that it feels good to be able to reinterpret a composition in a different manner, each time we perform it. The interpretation will be a consequence of what was heard before, and of how we choose to feel, when each new note is played.

Music should makes us feel alive and joyful. There fore, if we can create our own pathways of expression, then we will have greater enjoyment In our lives.

Developing Bass lines

One of my favourite bass players is Ron Carter. Bass players create melodic lines that define chords. The more lyrical the bass line is, the richer the overall arrangement of the composition will be. The better it will feel.

Guitarists also play bass lines and therefore we can harmonize them. I would recommend all students to transcribe a bass line of Ron Carter and to harmonize such.  I would suggest the first twelve bars of Billies Bounce, that he performs with George Benson on the album: Blue Benson.

Once you have transcribed,  harmonise the strong beats  with standard blues chords and inversions. Harmonize all passing tones, or those you would like to create the feel of passing, with secondary dominants or substitute chords. Once you have all this down and are able to play it, you will never want to play a blues again in any other manner.

Bass lines on Guitar

More news

I would like to invite you all to my Melbourne flamenco and jazz Concerts. My next concert will be this coming Friday, August 26 at 7pm. It will be held at the Armadale Uniting Church, in Melbourne. For more info and Melbourne concert ticket sales, please follow this link.

 

I am also happy to announce the new release of my first 2016 single. Please follow this link to take a peak at: Tico Tico no Fubà. My new flamenco rumba jazz release.

I invite you to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on guitar courses, masterclasses, cd releases and upcoming tours.

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