Guitar Lessons with Tune in, Tone up!

Website - https://tunein-toneup.com/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC80JJZ1RRZ5bxEiphLVi_Jw In guitar lesson 18b we look at further jazzy ideas to add interest to solos and improvisations in any genre. During this episode we record Dan demonstrating this over a YouTube backing track. The video of this demo you can find on our own YouTube channel.

Website: https://tunein-toneup.com/ Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/08/14/guitar-lesson-18a-jazz-improvisation-for-blues-and-rock/ The backing track featured: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy9j101wuu4 Dan's Youtube improv: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp-f7Qd72Ic In this lesson, 18a of our podcast, Dan showed me some useful Jazz ideas to better inform my improvisation skills, including playing outside the box (using notes essentially out of key), rhythmic swing phrasing and how to think of chord changes in terms of one or two notes.

In the second part of our lesson about playing acoustic guitar, Dan answers my question about how best to develop dynamics in an acoustic band.  Clearly much of this is down to good communication and familiarity with the people who you are playing with, but Dan comes up with some really interesting techniques and advice for being heard when soloing and having interesting dynamics for your audience.

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC80JJZ1RRZ5bxEiphLVi_Jw Website: https://tunein-toneup.com Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/07/24/guitar-lesson-17a-playing-acoustic-guitar-with-rhythmic-tricks/ In this lesson Dan and I look at the topic of playing acoustic guitar. In particular, Dan comes at this topic from the perspective of viewing the acoustic guitar as an entirely different instrument to an electric and then from this how to play rhythm to the strength of the acoustic instrument. Our next podcast – 17b – will tackle the question I ask of Dan which is how to add dynamics and include a punchy solo when playing in a group setting. The last thing you want is to get to the solo and require a massive volume decrease from everyone in order to be heard. 5 mins 40 – Dan has just explained how he views the acoustic as a different instrument to the electric guitar and at this point introduces his aim for the next section where he hopes to have a look at some of the main things which people do, how these can be improved and some techniques which may be employed. 8 mins 15 – start to consider what differences there may be between an acoustic player and an electric guitar player over a simple chord progression: [Em – C – G – D]. An electric guitarist will most likely sit back on his sustain and his gain and if he’s just rocking out to it he may simplify the chords to power chords (otherwise known as 5 chords – e.g. the root and the 5th only, missing out the 3rd which denotes whether the chord is a major or a minor). 10 mins 25 – Dan shows how this kind of electric guitar line, translated directly over to the acoustic guitar might sound and then asks what we can do to improve this playing. 10 mins 45 – First suggestion from Dan is to play the full chords (12 mins 40 secs). 13 mins 15 – Second suggestion is to arpeggiate the chord and break it into notes. 14 mins – after struggling to get in speed on the picking pattern with my right hand for this arpeggiated version, I change to using fingerstyle. Dan picks up on this and how it changes the sound and tone and so can become another variation to bear in mind when choosing how to play a progression. 14 mins 40 – getting dynamics between a driving chorus and an arpeggiated verse. 15 mins 50 – open strings and how on an acoustic it is good to aim to allow the open strings to ring. Also a demonstration on how this softens the tone at 16 mins 40 secs. 16 mins – a reminder to use a Capo in different keys. This can work really well with more than one guitar playing chords and one guitar can have the progression transposed for a set of open chords in one position while another guitar can use the Capo on a different fret and, as such, have some different inversions playing over each other. This can be very effective. 17 mins 5 secs – a swing feel to the same four chords. Piano-style, using the thumb on the bass notes and the other fingers to pluck the higher strings together. Slapping the strings percussively also works. 19 mins – some advice on how to insert some recordings of acoustic into an electric track. 19 mins 20 secs – extend the bassline to connect chords together. 22 mins 50 secs – extending chords in the right key; e.g. Em can become Em7, C can become a Cadd9, G can become a Gadd9 and D can be a D7sus4 25 mins – using a Capo to gain a 12 string effect. More on playing different inversions for two different guitar parts 27 mins 40 secs – using hammer ons and pull offs to different chord shapes to create some further rhythmic dynamics; alongside chords rephrased in different positions using the Capo. 28 mins 40 secs – revoicing the chords using the Capo at the 7th fret. The remainder of this podcast involved some hints and tips for playing dynamically with others and getting the most out of your alternate tunings. Keep listening for next week’s advice on soloing in an acoustic band.

TITU supporting article: https://adamharkus.com/search-perfect-guitar-tone/ YouTube video of Dan with this guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp-f7Qd72Ic&t=101s Website: https://tunein-toneup.com Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/07/14/guitar-lesson-16d-prs-with-thornbuckers-tone-pedals/ In this lesson Dan demonstrates the range of tone available just using the tone and volume controls on his PRS.  This guitar is the latest to Dan's collection and I'm sure that you agree, it sounds phenomenal.  Part of the reason for this, other than the superb workmanship that goes into Paul Reed Smith Custom 24 guitars, is the fact that Dan changed his 85/15 humbuckers for Suhr Thornbuckers - so named because they were inspired by Pete Thorn, a truly incredible player, a lovely guy and a real guitar geek. I have to agree, listening to this podcast that these pickups create a different flavour of tone on Dan's PRS.  I'm tempted, but can't really justify the expense, so I am sticking with the 85/15s which are lovely pickups, but possibly a little too boomy in the lower tone settings. You can hear and see Dan using this guitar on our YouTube Channel where we have uploaded our first video - this complements a lesson on Jazzy and Funky improvisation which should come out at the start of August.  Don't forget to subscribe to this channel as we are anticipating much more content to come out like this in the future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mp-f7Qd72Ic&t=101s This is the room where all of our podcast episodes are recorded: Notice the cot on which a PRS case is resting, the other cases to the right and the size of the room.  This is Dan's daughters' bedroom, which we acquire the use of for our lessons; you may have heard some of the background noise of children playing and making sounds?  We hope that this, rather than detract from our podcast, adds to the authenticity and rawness of our content.  We often laugh at the setup which we use and wonder who would guess it was like this. Once Dan has demonstrated the range of tones he can dial in, again only using the controls and pickup switching on the guitar, we finish this episode with some discussion about clean boosts, volume pedals and EQ pedals (the Boss GE7 is the only pedal we use here for some more oomph) In these lessons, Dan demonstrates to Gary how you can use these controls on different guitars with the setting on the amplifier left untouched. It really is incredible how with a little understanding you can dial in such a range of tone from the controls which are always under your fingers. For example, knowing that the ‘treble bleed circuit’ will decrease the bass from your signal as you lower the volume means that you will realise that with a low volume you will get a thinner twangier sound and diminish the boom of the bass. Likewise, adding volume will increase the thickness, distortion and crunch which you have already dialled into your amplifier.   Covered in this mini-series: 16a) Dan demonstrates the versatility of Gary's PRS without touching the controls on the amp 16b) Dan shows us that it is possible to get a thick, humbucker-type tone on a single-coil stratocaster 16c) Dan gets a twangy tone with his Les Paul 16d) Dan puts his own PRS through its paces See this extra detail from other players via our question on Quora: https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-use-your-volume-and-tone-controls-on-your-guitar

TITU supporting article: https://adamharkus.com/search-perfect-guitar-tone/ Website: https://tunein-toneup.com Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/07/07/guitar-lesson-16c-controls-les-paul-twangy-bright/ In this lesson Dan demonstrates the range of tone available just using the tone and volume controls on your Les Paul.  He concentrates on the middle position, where you can make the most of your chimey bridge pickup by mixing it with your more boomy neck pickup and by adapting the amount of volume and tone for each open up the tonal variety of your Les Paul.

TITU supporting article: http://adamharkus.com/search-perfect-guitar-tone/ Website: https://tunein-toneup.com Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/06/30/guitar-lesson-16b-get-rock-tone-stratocaster/ This is the second part of a four-part mini series covering the topic of tone. The aim of this lesson was to see how better to use only the volume and tone controls on the guitar in order to dial in a wealth of different tones and to dispel some myths about stratocasters. In this second part we gain a distorted sound on the amp and then from there Dan demonstrates the different sounds you can get on his stratocaster without touching the amp at all or using footpedals. Everyone can learn something from this lesson and I, for one, wish I had known this sooner. Learning to control your tone from your guitar is hugely beneficial and you will become a much more versatile and confident guitarist by understanding this better. As a basic rule, the more distorted/compressed your tone the less you'll be able to dial it back using the guitar’s volume control. Mid gain tones allow for a huge amount of dynamic variation from solely the volume control. In these lessons, Dan demonstrates to Gary how you can use these controls on different guitars with the setting on the amplifier left untouched. It really is incredible how with a little understanding you can dial in such a range of tone from the controls which are always under your fingers. For example, knowing that the ‘treble bleed circuit’ will decrease the bass from your signal as you lower the volume means that you will realise that with a low volume you will get a thinner twangier sound and diminish the boom of the bass. Likewise, adding volume will increase the thickness, distortion and crunch which you have already dialled into your amplifier. In the other episodes: 16a) Dan demonstrates the versatility of Gary's PRS without touching the controls on the amp 16b) Dan shows us that it is possible to get a thick, humbucker-type tone on a single-coil stratocaster 16c) Dan gets a twangy tone with his Les Paul 16d) Dan puts his own PRS through its paces

TITU supporting article: http://adamharkus.com/search-perfect-guitar-tone/ Website: https://tunein-toneup.com Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/06/23/guitar-lesson-16a-getting-better-tone-using-only-the-volume-and-tone-controls-on-the-guitar/ This is the first part of a four-part mini series covering the topic of tone. The aim of this lesson was to see how better to use only the volume and tone controls on the guitar in order to dial in a wealth of different tones and also to dispel some myths about certain traditional types of guitar. In this first part we gain a distorted sound on the amp and then from there Dan demonstrates the different sounds you can get on a PRS pickup setup (i.e. with a selection of both humbucker and single coil settings) without touching the amp at all or using footpedals. Everyone can learn something from this lesson and I, for one, wish I had known this sooner. Learning to control your tone from your guitar is hugely beneficial and you will become a much more versatile and confident guitarist by understanding this better. As a basic rule, the more distorted/compressed your tone the less you'll be able to dial it back using the guitar’s volume control. Mid gain tones allow for a huge amount of dynamic variation from solely the volume control. In these lessons, Dan demonstrates to Gary how you can use these controls on different guitars with the setting on the amplifier left untouched. It really is incredible how with a little understanding you can dial in such a range of tone from the controls which are always under your fingers. For example, knowing that the ‘treble bleed circuit’ will decrease the bass from your signal as you lower the volume means that you will realise that with a low volume you will get a thinner twangier sound and diminish the boom of the bass. Likewise, adding volume will increase the thickness, distortion and crunch which you have already dialled into your amplifier. In the other episodes: 16a) Dan demonstrates the versatility of Gary's PRS without touching the controls on the amp 16b) Dan shows us that it is possible to get a thick, humbucker-type tone on a single-coil stratocaster 16c) Dan gets a twangy tone with his Les Paul 16d) Dan puts his own PRS through its paces

Website: https://tunein-toneup.com/ Contact: https://tunein-toneup.com/blog/tune-in-tone-up-guitar-lesson-podcast/ Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/06/16/guitar-lesson-15a-advice-on-learning-scales-on-one-string-and-further-modes-with-a-metal-focus-on-the-phrygian-2/ In episode 15c, there follows an in-depth study of the Lydian mode.  We use a modal drone and play over this one note.  This is one of the main points which Dan makes about using the Lydian mode: It requires a section of a song where the backing does not change around too much or to be written into an intro or part of a song, particularly if the Lydian chord is momentary.  A droned note is one of the best ways of stabilising the background chords and they are available all over YouTube in every key to get used to creating a Lydian sound. Lydian Mode: Major Scale: W W H W W W H Lydian Mode: W W W H W W H

Website: https://tunein-toneup.com/ Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/06/09/guitar-lesson-15b-advice-on-buying-a-mid-range-guitar-and-some-more-on-the-mixolydian-mode/ In episode 15b, We look again at buying guitars, with a focus on the PRS SE range – also reviewed by Adam Harkus – http://adamharkus.com/prs-se-245-spalted-maple-review/ – because one of our listeners is considering this make. After this, we return to look again at the mixolydian mode and how to play through the changes. To experiment with these ideas we improvise over a country backing track.

Website: https://tunein-toneup.com/ Dedicated post: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/06/09/guitar-lesson-15b-advice-on-buying-a-mid-range-guitar-and-some-more-on-the-mixolydian-mode/ In episode 15b, We look again at buying guitars, with a focus on the PRS SE range – also reviewed by Adam Harkus – http://adamharkus.com/prs-se-245-spalted-maple-review/ – because one of our listeners is considering this make. After this, we return to look again at the mixolydian mode and how to play through the changes. To experiment with these ideas we improvise over a country backing track.

Website: https://tunein-toneup.com Support page: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/06/03/guitar-lesson-15a-advice-on-learning-scales-on-one-string-and-further-modes-with-a-metal-focus-on-the-phrygian/ In episode 15a, We look at theory again, specifically with a focus on the benefit of learning scales on one string and the advantages of spending time gaining a good musical knowledge. After this, we examine the Phrygian mode and the Phygian Dominant, which uses the major third instead of the minor third. To experiment with these ideas we improvise over a metal backing track from YouTube. Lesson 15a brief breakdown: 1 minute 30 seconds – start, covering the validity of learning scales on one string. 5 minutes 30 seconds – quick thank you to a couple of our SoundCloud listeners who got in touch with us with some very nice feedback. 11 minutes 10 seconds – Gary’s exercise playing each of the seven modes starting on the 3rd fret of the A string (C), then doing the same for ‘G’ on the E string, then doing the same for ‘D’ on the A string, then the same on ‘A’ of the E string and so on through the circle of fifths to E, B, F#, C#, Ab, Eb 13 minutes 27 seconds – Recommendation of NGIS – No Guitar is Safe. Thanks to Jude Gold of Guitarplayer magazine for such an inspirational podcast. The Episode which is mentioned here is Jude’s interview with Rusty Cooley – https://soundcloud.com/guitar-player-magazine/episode-48-rusty-cooley. There are some superb episodes of this podcast. 15 minutes 30 seconds – start of study of Phrygian and Phrygian Dominant modes. 16 minutes 30 seconds – metal backing track linked below – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8TcuOvmK6Q 20 minutes – quick discussion about the difference between Phrygian and Phrygian Dominant modes. 21 minutes 45 seconds – backing track again demonstrating the difference between Phrygian and Phrygian Dominant modes.

Website: https://tunein-toneup.com Support page: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/05/19/guitar-lesson-14-understanding-and-using-modes-a-dorian-and-b-mixolydian/ After looking at the scales and the notes of the scales in detail, I wanted to return to look at how modes are constructed and the feel that they give when used well. PART 1 – The first of a four-part lesson of modes. Lesson 14a includes an introduction and rationale, followed by a focus on the mixolydian mode, including some hints and applications and some playing by Dan and myself over backing tracks. PART 2 – In Lesson 14b we look at another very commonly used mode – the dorian mode. As the rationale and use of this mode is slightly more accessible than the mixolydian we tend to get stuck straight into improvising over relevant backing tracks this time round. Keep listening for Guitar Lesson 15 – where Dan and I will return to look at the other modes which we have not covered in Guitar Lesson 14.

Website: https://tunein-toneup.com Support page: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/05/19/guitar-lesson-14-understanding-and-using-modes-a-dorian-and-b-mixolydian/ After looking at the scales and the notes of the scales in detail, I wanted to return to look at how modes are constructed and the feel that they give when used well. PART 1 – The first of a four-part lesson of modes. Lesson 14a includes an introduction and rationale, followed by a focus on the mixolydian mode, including some hints and applications and some playing by Dan and myself over backing tracks. PART 2 – In Lesson 14b we look at another very commonly used mode – the dorian mode. As the rationale and use of this mode is slightly more accessible than the mixolydian we tend to get stuck straight into improvising over relevant backing tracks this time round. Keep listening for Guitar Lesson 15 – where Dan and I will return to look at the other modes which we have not covered in Guitar Lesson 14.

Our related post on the Blogging Musician's site: http://adamharkus.com/unlocking-fretboard-understanding-key-signatures-guitar/ Our website: https://tunein-toneup.com/ Our dedicated post for lesson 13: https://tunein-toneup.com/2017/05/05/guitar-lesson-13-how-to-practice-without-a-guitar-and-further-rhythm-ideas-and-alternate-tuning/ Guitar Lesson 13b: PART 2 - Here, Dan really helped me out by giving me some superb ideas for what to do while unable to practise and how to develop my musical understanding of keys and the fretboard without needing to use the guitar. Very helpful as I currently have some tendonitis making it difficult to play. Check out this post on this topic by TITU: http://adamharkus.com/unlocking-fretboard-understanding-key-signatures-guitar/