Tag Archives: blues

Guitar learning, a life time adventure

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.

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.

9 Tips on how to learn to play the guitar and avoid a frustrating learning experience

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

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

How to study guitar

Let’s have fun

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.

Reduce 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.

9 Tips on how to learn to play the guitar and avoid a frustrating learning experience

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Refresh your repertoire

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

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.

5 Common mistakes Guitarists tend to make in their learning.

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.

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.

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

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

More mistakes guitarists make in their learning

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 .

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.

Melbourne Guitar Lessons

Guitar Scales. The 1-4-2 Chords

October 14, 2018 Thomas Lorenzo

Cool Jazz Guitar Soloing techniques. Advanced Jazz Improvisation.

This is an introduction to my jazz improvisation course. This course will soon be available online, but at present, you are welcomed to learn in person, at my Creative Guitar School in Melbourne .

In my Jazz Guitar courses, you will learn how to develop melody and harmony of a given song, to the limit of your creative abilities.

You will learn to choose what sounds good or bad, and there fore, maintain the flow of your creative dialogue. This is an extremely rewarding experience.

I love to improvise, to flow, and create constant variations of a motif a song of any musical idea. It feels great.

It did not feel good

At first, in the 80s, when I started playing professionally, I was not comfortable improvising, since even though I was playing the correct notes, I did not like what I was doing. It did not feel good.

I knew I needed more information on how to choose, how to be aware of what sounds good or bad. I needed more options to express those feelings, I had an urge to scream out.

Berklee College of Music

So, I went to Berklee College of Music, Boston, U.S.A for 3 years, and I was bombarded with practical good and evil. I loved it.

While at Berklee, I came across Jon Damian, who taught one of my favourite guitar players, ( Bill Frisell ). I soon discovered an amazing pathway, to harmonic and melodic variation, to cover, for the rest of my life, all my creative and artists needs.

Guitar Scales: The 1-4-2 Combination

Did you know there are 24 ways of creating chords on the go and you can combine them, play them any way you wish as long as it sounds good for you.

Listen to the guitar scales

In the intro of the video on this page, I used a combination of sounds based upon the 142 pattern of a scale but, applied only to one chord. There fore, imagine the colours that can pop up, in a song with many chords and with all guitar scales.

Check out the video to hear this combination of a G scale.

one string
in one position

But, more magic occurs when you apply the 1-4-2 sound to a more complex harmonic structure.

Since this combination creates a lot of tension, we can then use it, when we need tension on a note, or area of a chord in relation to the guitar scale.

The 142 sound in a more complex harmonic setting

This is the melody of the Standard: All the things you are.

The red lines are the places I have decided to play with more tension, than what the chord will give me. If I play without the red feeling I produce a static sound, boring.

See video

When I play, and apply the 1-4-2 pattern to the red section, I get more movement, more excitement and it just feel great.

See video

You can apply this sound also to a solo.

See video

So come along and let´s explore together more of these sounds . Send me an email, get in touch. Book Your Course now .

Melbourne Music School, Melbourne things to do

Creative Guitar School Concert September 22

September 27, 2018 Thomas Lorenzo

On September 22, 2018, we celebrated our 8th Creative Guitar School Concert.

Congratulations

I must say thank you, to all guitar students that participated and shared with the audience, their love of music and guitar at our Creative Guitar School Concert. It was wonderful to hear so much hard work come to life, with music that touched all our hearts.

I am looking forward to our next concert, and to hear your progress and compositions. Definitel, I am eager to join your journey, to self discovery, through music and the guitar.

Join us at our next concert, sign up for a interview and learn more about music yourself and playing with others

Concert Objectives

The objective of all Guitar Courses, at our music school, is for students to interact in group settings, to develop melody, accompaniment and spontaneous compositions, which is referred to as improvisation.

In all courses, we learn to understood the skeleton of a song, and the skills required to create variations in the melody, background and accompaniment. Students play solo, in duos, trios and quartets; we play jazz, pop, funk, flamenco and blues styles.

We understand how songs can be played in different styles as we learn to modify melody and accompaniment, with the appropriate chord scale relationship.

And we have a lot of fun, as we create on the go. This feels good.

Every 10 weeks a Creative Guitar School Concert

Guitar courses last for 10 weeks. As a result, at the end of the course, we all get together, have a nice lunch and celebrate a two hour Creative Guitar School concert, at a public venue.

At the concert, we have performances of present and past guitar students, on electric, nylon and steel strings guitars. The variety of styles performed , reflect common contemporary urban musical expression as Blues guitar, Jazz guitar, Funk, Rock and Flamenco ( Spanish Urban )

Live showcase of compositions

As part of the guitar course requirements, all students must compose a song. A composition would be similar to an essay in a written language. This essay is proof of understanding, of the topic, the students has learnt.

Not only will you develop, a deeper understanding of the musical knowledge, when you compose, but, you will also learn to explain to others how to play your composition. There fore, all students must learn to use the appropriate language to explain the actions; all students must learn to read and write.

Fun and Practice

This is all great fun, since while you are learning you can hear immediate results of your progress, at our concerts.

But to really enjoy yourself , you are required to practice daily, to develop aural, rhythmic and performance skills, to help you develop further your creativity. These will not come naturally but only through constant practice.

For example: You will not be able to play a song if you cannot hum the melody. If you cannot hum or sing, what you wish to play, you will spend many hours finding your way through the guitar, with the uttermost frustration.

You must sync all movements to a pulse, the beat. Therefore you must practice with this objective, always in mind

Creativity and Well being

At the Creative Guitar School you will learn the underlining skills required to play songs, develop them and be expressive in your task. Creativity is the tool of our expression. The final consequence is that you will feel good about your playing,

Sign up

Join us at our next Guitar School concert, sign up for a interview and learn more about music yourself and playing with others

Melbourne Guitar Lessons

Romance Anonimo, How to play on the Spanish Guitar

September 2, 2018 Thomas Lorenzo

Background on courses

This composition is part of the level 1 guitar course. In each level, at the Creative Guitar School here in Melbourne, we learn to play the guitar in different scenarios or situations.

We learn to play along with the original tracks

We learn to play along to the original videos of songs we love, but focusing on our role as a guitarist. A Guitarist can play rhythm, fills or lead guitar. Throughout all levels, we learn new skills to help us develop our functions, or roles, in live music situations.

We learn to emulate the live context in our study, to increase learning efficiency

However, music has to be learnt in a musical context, that must have a beginning, end, and a tempo. We need to coordinate, to develop our motor skills, anticipating what we have to do, in relation to a specific time frame.

We learn to sing what we hear, to memorise the sound and note positions more efficiently

We will remember what to do on the guitar at all levels, because we are anticipating the sound of what we will play. The rule is that if you can sing it, you will be able to play it. There fore, we sing, even if we are out of tune, what we play. We cannot learn to play the guitar by visually memorising what we have to do, which in popular terms in called muscle memory. This is very time consuming and foments dangerous repetitive moments .

We learn to play songs together as in a band situation

In our guitar courses, we also learn to play songs, together, in groups. That is, since we are learning in groups, we can then distribute the functions of the song between us. In a band there is a bass player, a drummer, a guitarist defining the groove with chords, and the lead vocalist.

In all our group learning , we also play songs, where one guitarist defines the groove in a manner as a bass player would, another defines the chords, as a guitarist would do in a band situation, and the other plays what the vocalist would sing.

That is why the importance of setting the exact context correctly: to learn efficiently and achieve the most satisfactory results in the shortest time possible. This exercise, as detailed later will guide you through this learning process.

We learn to play songs as a solo guitarist

Romance Anonimo falls into the category of playing both the lead, the vocal line and the chords at the same time. Some guitarists call this classical guitar, and it can also relate to fingerstyle guitar. This is another form a playing, we learn in all my structured learning courses.

Romance Anonimo

This is the sheet we will use to learn this song called Romance Anonimo. The numbers represent the fret, where one of your left hand fingers, must be placed on. The numbers also give the cue: when to play the note.

We will learn the song slowly, always at a constant tempo, and singing what we are playing.

If you do not play in tempo, you are learning how to play without tempo. If you do not sing, even if such is out of tune, you will relate the position to a number, to a visual cue, and you will loose the opportunity of memorising sounds, which is what music is about.

Context, what to do , instructions.

The context defines what, and when we play.

We will set the metronome at 6o bpm. This indicates that we have to do something with this pulse. The initial instructions are to say a number every 3 pulses or beats.

Remember, from now on and for the rest of your musical life, you must establish the beat before you play. This will save you hundreds of hours of learning.

Please count three, and on very one you will say the number, in sequence, as you will hear in the video, all the way up until, you read the word Am.

Now that we have read the numbers, anticipating what comes next, we need to relate these numbers to the fret board. Please place one of your left hand fingers, on the fret board, on the first string, on the fret indicated. This first number indicates that we will place our finger on the 7th fret.

Let’s count three beats, in sync with the metronome, and play these numbers, one every three clicks.

Remember, you are creating the sound by both placing your finger on the corresponding fret and hitting the string with your other hand, to actually produce the sound.

We play Romance Anonimoas follows:

Please say what you are doing, sing what you doing , and keep in sync with the metronome.

The common error is not to for-see the following fret number we have to play. We solve this by looking at the next number, we have to play on the guitar, on the third beat of each bar or click of the metronome.

Checklist

Use this check list to judge if are you learning Romance Anonimo:

Have you counted it in?

Are you saying what you have to do ?

Are you singing the notes you are playing ?

Are you not stopping ?

Are you checking every third beat what you have to do ?

If you are not following these instructions, you will not learn and possibly repeat endlessly with frustration.

If you follow these instructions, you will play the sequence in three repetitions.

However, sometimes we have trained ourselves in our lives, to not follow a specific thought process and you will find this process hard to achieve.

Do not worry

Just do it, and only ask yourself the outlined questions .

Distractions

At this stage there is no need to worry to much about the sound , or what fingers to use. We will work on other variables as we progress.

I find a lot of students, that when they play in my suggested manner, get distracted by other thoughts. These other thoughts are valuable, but they should not be a distraction to achieve a goal,

What are we learning

With this simple exercise on Romance Anonimo we are learning to think in music, which means to choose what we focus one.

We also learn to play and synchronise to a time frame, which is a beat.

We learn to only develop our skills based upon a time frame.

You are also learning to avoid unnecessary repetition.

You are also learning to anticipate sounds and their location.

This is the first lesson of how to play Romance Anonimo

In our next lesson, we will learn how to play the second part of this guitar composition, and also learn how to further acquire guitar skills which will make us independent in our learning, and avoid frustration, with the consequence of developing personal well being, which is the ultimate goal.

Creativity leads to well being

How to improvise on the guitar

July 17, 2018 Thomas Lorenzo

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

How to practice the guitar with joy

April 28, 2018 Thomas Lorenzo

How to practice the guitar with joy

Guitar Accuracy

When we are learning a song, we all try to achieve accuracy in it´s chords and melody; the what we will do, when and why, at all levels and at all stages, of our musical life.

However, I believe accuracy is the consequence of hearing the sound before we place our fingers on the guitar fretboard or strings. We must understand the sound, hear it and be able to sing it, before the final finger placement.

If we miss this step of hearing, singing, we may engage in a non stop practice schedule. The more you can hear and sing, what you want to play on the guitar, the more satisfying the experience will be, and the quicker you will learn.

Accuracy in the melody and accompaniment, is an important goal in our practice routine. Try not to guess where your fingers have to be, but first sing the sound, then find it. If you cannot sing the sound, you will need to imagine it first.

When we imagine a sound, we engage in the process of understanding. This process should be done at a comfortable speed, at which you can accomplish your goal. Once this process flows, then you will be able to apply the accuracy to the tempo, and play the musical phrase on the guitar, or any other instrument, at the desired speed.

The objective of all practice is to have fun, and avoid unnecessary repetition, to try to emulate what we will do, when we share our performance, and music live, with our beloved audience, that is eager to listen to you. The how to practice the guitar with joy is a constant must in all daily routines,

How much discipline do we need in our guitar training

How about if we needed no discipline, only eagerness to finish a goal in a satisfying manner. If we are eager to learn, and always ask the right questions, to get to the desired goal, music will be a very enjoyable experience.

If you feel bored, distracted, then you are learning with no worthy emotion to remember. There fore, you are practising incorrectly and hot having fun. Always ask your self, how can I play what I wish, as soon as possible, and have fun along the way.

Generally, if you are not having fun on the guitar, it will be because you are playing with no tempo, your are not able to sing what you can do, you do not understand the groove of the song, and do not understand the harmonic tension of each passage you are playing.

Too much discipline and too much repetition, will create an emotional blockage. It takes a very long time to get over the feeling of disgust, or lack of desire, that this blockage will produce in you. Please learn to place a limit to all your learning, and stop much before you feel: this is to much for me. Learn how to practice the guitar with joy.

All my tips refer to all styles of guitar including: jazz guitar, blues guitar, flamenco guitar, funk guitar and all other styles.

Structured learning

A musician needs structure to be able to learn and play all styles of music. A guitar teacher should share with you the adequate educational structure to help you achieve the desired goals of the music you wish to play at a short term or long term.

Learning structure should target the question how to learn effectively with joy.

This how to learn should be fun. It must avoid unnecessary repetitions, work with solid tempos, make you sing what you wish to do; compose your own music. Also, create variations of rhythm and melody, understand the why of how to accompany on the guitar, and how emotions are portrayed, as you develop your interpretation in a song.

Structure and Guitar Improvisation

Music can be great fun when we create constant variations of a given song. However, we only can fun on the guitar if we know the song very well.

What does it mean to know a song well in any style including blues guitar. If you are able to count a song in, maintain a solid tempo, sing the melody of the whole song, non stop, and play the chords at the same time, then you know the song, and your ready to explore variations . You are on the right track of how to practice the guitar.

At the Creative Guitar School we learn how to create harmonic, rhythmic variations of the melody and of the accompaniment. We learn over 100 tools to help us create all desired emotions. We must learn to be proficient in the handing of the tools, so as to choose correctly on the go, as we in our daily interpretation of given songs.

Once you are at the stage of mastering the creative tools you will, then never want to stop playing. Music and the creative flow is like no other feeling you will experience in your life. I would describe it as pure peace of mind, as an observer of existence, in motion.

Learn music have fun. Let your self go, and see life as a viewer of emotions that colour our existence with love and pleasure,

Upcoming Guitar Courses

I am very happy that the majority of students finish courses and move on to the next. As they move on, previous levels become empty, so I schedule courses to start every 10 weeks. The next guitar course will be starting on the first week of July, from Monday to Thursday evenings, between 5 and 9 pm. If you wish to enrol, please get in touch as soon as your can, to organise an interview so I may asses your guitar skills, and put your into the best group for your learning experience, and journey in music.

As of June I announce a new price increase. However, I maintain present prices for all ongoing students, that do not take breaks in between courses and continue during the whole year.

Music Production

All guitar students have now included in all guitar courses the opportunity to record in class compositions to achieve proficiency in music production at my recording studio here in Melbourne where I facilitate most of my guitar courses.

I do hope my tips on how to practice the guitar with joy can be helpful on your music journey in life. Please also post my site for all updates on 2018 and 2019 Melbourne Concerts and Tours.

Creativity leads to well being

Guitar Improvisation lessons

March 6, 2018 Thomas Lorenzo

Guitar Improvisation lessons

What is improvisation

To improvise on the guitar is to create, from simple to complex, melodic and or , harmonic variations of a song, or a section.

We always need to create variations in the songs, to match how we feel as we play along. You might vary the melody to achieve the most dramatic climax, we might start the song playing the groove in a sparse manner, and build it up as we play along. We might need to do to the opposite and bring the song down, to less intensity, or we might create even more complex variations as we do in genres as jazz.

We all have in us, the need to flow, to express ourselves with constant changes of tension. However, we require training, guitar improvisation lessons to understand how to translate these emotions into music.

How to improvise

The ultimate goal of all guitar improvisation lessons , is to allow us to understand what sounds right, how to hear it, how to sing it and how to play it.

To achieve these goals we need to understand how to compose a song, and the relationship between chords and melody; the scale. We need to be able to play a song, the melody and accompaniment. We need to know our scales and chords, all over the fretboard.

Then we are ready to improvise, to create new melodies, new harmonies. We are ready to explore creating on the go short long-phrases with more or less density. We are ready to explore non harmonic melodic notes, guide tone lines, upper structure triads, chord tone soloing, motive soloing and development, augmentation, diminution, syncopation, double time, tetratonic scales and much more.

Do I need to know all the theory to be able to improvise

Not really. Just sing what you would like to do, and play it . If you can sing it it will sound good.

However, guitar structured learning will allow you to find new ideas quicker, and also to have more and more ideas, just explode in your mind.

Theory should be a classification of what you can hear and play. I strongly suggest to explore new concepts only, once you have played them and felt them.

For example:
You love the way Stevie Ray Vaughn achieves an extreme climax in the middle of his solo. Your first step is to play it, to memorise it. Then, afterwards, as a teacher, I would give you all the tools in our guitar improvisation lessons, to choose from, to create your own; harmonic tension, melodic tension, rhythmic density and register.

I suggest that we learn to improvise, by expanding on what we hear, and what we like from others.

Generic types of soloing

I distinguish two opposite ways of creating a guitar solo in any style. We may be lyrical, like Santana , whose lines are very vocal like. Or we can create phrases , that talk in depth, about the chords, the way a jazz guitarist like George Benson or West Montgomery would play.

Electric guitars have more sustain than acoustic, nylon strings, Spanish or Flamenco guitars. We need to adapt our form of playing to the manner in which the instrument is created; an electric guitar with saturation or distortion can be even more lyrical.

At all guitar courses and guitar improvisation lessons I offer at the Creative Guitar School in Melbourne, both online and in class, students learn all the required tools to be able to improvise in all styles and with any type of guitar.

Please note that you will learn in my guitar improvisation lessons, to apply creative tools to both the solo, the melody and the accompaniment of such.

The joy of guitar improvisation

Guitar improvisation is one of the biggest thrills you can have in music. The freedom to interact live in concert with other musicians, is a skill that you will want to develop. You must learn how to improvise, from the early stages of your guitar learning.

We develop this freedom of expression, when we are able to master, the guitar tools we need, to create variations on a song. A song, in the majority of cases has a melody that can be sung. The chords accompany that melody to help it come out, and also to help underlay the groove of the song.

When we improvise, we generally maintain the same structure of the song, and the same chords. We always have in our head the melody of the song, and based upon that and the harmonic setting, we have a reference with which all members of the band, will interact with, to create the constant variations that come with the music flow.

What styles suit best

All styles can allow for varied degrees of improvisation. It will all depend on the skill of the band members, to allow this scenario to come alive.

Jazz is the style that allows most improvisation. Jazz is not a groove but a way of performing any given song.

Styles as blues, pop, funk, flamenco, all allow for improvisation. This is what makes the music come alive. The band members interact with each other, and with the audience. We create a constant dialogue based upon the tools of improvisation; the heart beat of the performance.

Some ideas to help you redevelop your solos.

I assume you have an understanding of scales, arpeggios and harmony, and are ready to get playing on the guitar.

Stretching the time
The next time you play your guitar solo, in a any style as flamenco, latin, blues, pop; try stretching the time. This means that, slightly play ahead or behind of the beat . When you play ahead you can create the feel of rushing the solo, when you play behind the beat, you can create the feeling of dragging the tempo.

To practice this technique, and incorporate it into your guitar tool box, so it automatically pops up when you need this feel, you must practice extensively.Let me give you an example of how:

Choose a section of 8 bars of a song.
Play over the chord changes, creating phrases that fall right on the centre of the beat.
Then, play over the chord changes, and create phrases that start on the beat; drag behind and then fall back on the beat.
Play over the chord changes; start playing right on tempo and finish your phrase ahead of the beat.
Do the opposite.
Play over the chord changes, start your phrase ahead of time, very accelerated and slowly bring the speed down , to play right on tempo.
Try combinations of the above .

In all styles of music, you will be able to stretch in some manner the time. This will become part fo your expression, only after practicing it on your acoustic, electric, or Spanish guitar until your are able to have fun with it.

Improvisation on the guitar can be great fun. Once we know the chords, scales, arpeggios and how they relate to the harmony form, then we only need to keep on learning new ideas on what to do, understand the why, and we are off to explore a world of surprising textures and musical pleasures.

Improvising in the studio, during recordings sessions.

The most vivid, explosive recordings, only occur when musicians and guitarists can interact, together, at the same time in the recording session.

A lot of recording sessions do not cater for live interaction of the studio musicians. In my recording studio in Melbourne, I strive to achieve constant improvisation in all guitar tracks and sessions.

A recording should be an audio photograph of what occurs in a concert. Please enjoy my live concerts and studio performances on you tube.

Melbourne Guitar Lessons

Blues Guitar Lessons- The Essence

January 23, 2018 Thomas Lorenzo

The Joy of Playing Blues Guitar

I love muy blues. I adore playing blues on the guitar, as the feel it produces, will make my day.

When I started playing blues, my guitar teachers introduced me directly to contemporary blues, with a lot of chord changes, and did not focus on the origin of the blues.

Due to my thirst for the true feel, I started listening to the classics as Muddy Waters, and asked myself how these original artists were able to achieve such clarity in the blues feel.

This way of approaching melody and chords has inspired and laid foundation for most contemporary music. In Level 2, all Creative Guitar students start mastering the beauty of blues and the joy it produces, as part of our daily playing . Blues guitar lessons are incorporated in level 2, 3 and 4 courses .

The Secret of Blues

I believe that there is more than a secret in blues guitar playing; there is a realm of delicate harmonic tension balance that we must caress to keep the magic flowing.

Blues is like a cloud of sound that floats on top of our chords. Blues comes alive when we create the contrast between the blues sound and the harmony of our tune.

The first step we must take, to feel this sound cloud, is to understand what key we are in, or the tonal center of our song. The first chord of our blues will define our tonal center. If our first chord is a G, then we can assume that we are playing a major blues in G.

Note: I assume you are aware of the blues progressions and the blues scale.

Have you ever felt that when you move away from the G chord, you need to play something else that you cannot find?

Have you ever felt that the blues cloud, the blues feel ,disappears as you play other chords?

If you do not have this feeling, then I must assume you are playing the blues correctly. However, if you do, then consider that the more you move away from the G chord, the more you will need to play the blues sound, and the less you will need to play the other chords completely.

How do we keep the feel

If you are loosing the G blues sound, when you play the C chord, then only play the root and add more G blues sound to your playing. In the same manner, when you play the D chord, avoid playing the full chord and add more blues sound to it. ( the G Blues )

In all blues styles, you will hear that the magic occurs when we contrast the sound of the chord with the tonal center blues scale.

At the Creative Guitar School, in your blues guitar lessons, I will guide you through the different blues styes and how the relationship of harmony- melody and blues scales, interact to achieve the desired sound.

Can I play the blues sound over any chord progression ?

Yes. For example; if your song is in C , you can play the C blues scale over any chord, and if done right, it will work.

As I mentioned, blues does form part of most contemporary music, we enjoy in our daily lives. In your guitar lessons, I would strongly suggest learning more of this style, as it will give you a natural advantage in achieving a unique sound in your playing. Blues is a colour that creates a special contrast, that can add harmonic and melodic richness to your playing

What to learn ?

In terms of knowledge, in your blues guitar lessons, you will learn how to define the rhythm guitar or the lead solo guitar, in various keys, 8 or 12 bar progressions, and styles.

You will also learn, in your blues guitar lessons, where to find the notes that sound blues all over the guitar neck; in various keys. And how to play a solo that creates contrast between the chords and the blues.

You will learn to create phrases, based upon logical melodic questions and answers; call and response.

You will learn to talk with authentic blues phrases; by acquiring vocabulary used by the classics.

You will learn the major pentatonic scales of all chords, the mixolydian scale, major minor arpeggios, and all harmonic- melodic tensions available.

In summary, a whole set of musical tools, to tap into , to give you unlimited resources for all your creative needs.

Your ideas will not stop popping up, and soon you will be able to find them and play them on the guitar.

As a professional session guitarist, I also heavily rely on these skills, so to be able to develop diversity and quickly tap into the different musical genres I am asked to play on .

Note

I do not recommend, a beginner guitarist, should start off only with blues guitar lessons. All guitar students need to have developed a sense of rhythm, harmony, melody and technique, before immersing themselves in this beautiful language.

That is why, at the Creative Guitar School, students must complete level one of their learning, before moving into this style. You need a good sense of rhythm , melody and harmony to enjoy the beauty of blues.

Extended listening

These are some of my favourite blues players I listen to. The list will take you through a variety of styles in this musical language.

Magic Sam Style Blues Son House, Muddy Waters, and and John Lee Hooker Styles

Elizabeth Cotton,, Tampa Red, Robert Johnson, Blind Blake, Big Bill Broonzy, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, Corey Harris, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin Hopkins, Tommy Johnson, , Tampa Red, Blind Lemon Jefferson, BB King

School Concert

Students love to perform at our frequent concerts. I also enjoy to see how students work together, play together, and develop their musical expertise; socially. It is fun , engaging and above all very satisfying.

Discipline

Music requires discipline in our learning. All my guitar courses are based on structured learning. There fore, in order to complete the guitar courses, to your own satisfaction, please allocate 20 minutes every day, during 10 weeks, for all your guitar exercises.

Group effort

All guitar courses, that develop the basic level of learning, require that the student commits to a daily practice routine so as to keep up with the rest of the group courses,

Groups also get together outside class hours ,to help each other in their musical adventure and to prepare for the concerts.

I hope to see you at one of our next Guitar Concerts . Sign up to get the latest news on all our events , courses and my specialized Melbourne Concerts.

Melbourne things to do

Melbourne Creative Guitar School Concerts

October 14, 2017 Thomas Lorenzo

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.

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.

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 Guitar Lessons

New Guitar Courses starting March

September 16, 2017 Thomas Lorenzo

Updates on upcoming courses

Beginners 1

Wednesdays at 6 p.m. starting March 6 : One opening left.

Thursdays at 6 p.m. starting March 7 : Two openings left.

Private lessons available slots left:

Thursdays at 10 a.m.

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

Melbourne things to do

Upcoming Guitar School Concert September 23

August 27, 2017 Thomas Lorenzo

Upcoming Guitar School Concert September 23

23-0-2017 Time: 13.00 – 15:00

Armadale Uniting Church
86A Kooyong Road
Armadale, 3143
VIC, Australia

Ticket price: Free
info@thomaslorenzo.com
https://www.thomaslorenzo.com.au

Join us for our Creative Guitar Experience and upcoming guitar school concert. All our guitar students will showcase their guitar arrangements and compositions in large and small ensembles. We have over 35 students ready to storm the stage and bring delight into all our lives.

At the Creative Guitar School, I focus on developing self expression through personal creativity. But this must be accomplished with the joy of sharing who we are, and what we feel with others. Not only must we express, but do so in manner where others can understand the emotion we wish to portray.

Music is a language that requires a clear exposition of melody and accompaniment.

Concerts are held at the end of a 10 week cycle. On the same day, and before each event, we organise a get together with food, drinks and a barbecue. The concert is recorded on video and shared privately with all attendants.

I would also like to invite you to my Melbourne Guitar Concert series. Please follow the above link for more information.

Please fill in the following form if you would like to know more about our School: courses, levels, prices and when new courses are scheduled to commence.

Melbourne Music School, Melbourne things to do

Upcoming Jazz Blues Flamenco Masterclass

June 17, 2017 Thomas Lorenzo

Upcoming Jazz Blues Flamenco Masterclass

Dates: November 2017.