On Guitar: Recent Episodes
Rev. Kenn Blanchard
On guitar is a weekly show for beginners and enthusiasts of guitar and bass providing information, motivation and encouragement. Hosted by Rev. Kenn Blanchard and Dr. George Hess.
Its not hocus pokus its focus
My secret to the recent gains in my guitar playing has been focus. The End.
To become better at anything not just guitar /bass is not magic.
Dr. George talks about how to play the guitar in a band well.
- Foundation
- Rhythm
- Lead
- Fills
- Pads
https://Instagram.com/fret.con
https://GuitarCare.Co
Fret Con in 2024
www.fretcon.org
To contact George - george@georgehessmusic.com
.https://lessons.jumpstartjazzguitar.com/freepdf-1
Want to support the show?
Https://buymeacoffee.com/kennblanchard
Kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
Listening to become better
Dr. George Hess shares how listening is important for musicians.
Active listening allows you to process the compositional structure and nuances in a piece of music. Active listening may help you notice the different instruments within a particular piece of music or appreciating its complexity.
Active listening brings you into the music unlike anything else. It gives you a whole new sense of a song or piece and your appreciation of it. For this reason, active listening is an essential skill for any musician – one that will bring you closer to the music you hear, play, and write.
https://GuitarCare.Co
Fret Con in 2024
www.fretcon.org
To contact George - george@georgehessmusic.com
.https://lessons.jumpstartjazzguitar.com/freepdf-1
Want to support the show?
Https://buymeacoffee.com/kennblanchard
Kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
Resources you’ll need for your online guitar lesson
- Your guitar
- Video and audio enabled computer or device
- Strong internet connection
- Headphones (optional but recommended)
- USB/XLR Microphone (optional but recommended)
- Music Stand
Electric Guitars: If you use an electric guitar for your online lesson, you’ve got two options to help your teacher hear you. These guitars usually are not loud enough on their own.
Use an amplifier. Play your guitar through your amplifier on a low setting so that your sound is picked up by your microphone. Amps can get loud rather easily. Be careful not to make it much louder than you speaking voice.
Use an audio interface. There are several audio interfaces that you can purchase that will allow you to connect your guitar directly to your computer.
Position yourself far enough from the camera on your device so that your instructor can see both your hands, plus the entire fingerboard of your guitar. It’s not necessary to see the headstock or the tail end of the guitar.
A wider view also gives your teacher the ability to help you with your body posture and with positioning your instrument.
A strong internet connection
Check your internet speed before you get started to avoid having a slow and choppy connection. Run a free speed test here.
Once you know how fast your connection is, compare it to what is recommended for a solid live video lesson experience. Below you’ll find some recommendations for the best internet connection to use for your online guitar lessons.
OBS Studio is a free and open-source app for screencasting and live streaming.
https://obsproject.com/download
Sweetwater example: PreSonus AudioBox 96 Studio Hardware and Software Recording Bundle - 25th Anniversary Edition | Sweetwater
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PodMic-ScrSl--focusrite-scarlett-solo-3rd-gen-audio-interface-rode-podmic-podcasting-bundle
GuitarCare.Co
www.fretcon.org
To contact George - george@georgehessmusic.com
.https://lessons.jumpstartjazzguitar.com/freepdf-1
Want to support the show?
Https://buymeacoffee.com/kennblanchard
Kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
Under the Influence
Who influenced your guitar playing?
Who are your heroes?
Let me know, and how we are doing? kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
https://GuitarCare.Co
https://www.fretcon.org (coming in 2024)
To contact George - george@georgehessmusic.com
.https://lessons.jumpstartjazzguitar.com/freepdf-1
Want to support the show?
Https://buymeacoffee.com/kennblanchard
Thank you for listening, downloading, and sharing-- as I ask the dumb questions to a seasoned professional musician and to become a better guitarist.
I hope it helps you and I love the music, play our instrument more and enjoy this thing we call life.
To contact George - george@georgehessmusic.com
.https://lessons.jumpstartjazzguitar.com/freepdf-1
On guitar is a listener supported podcast brought to by https://GuitarCare.co a veteran owned business that provides personal attention and care for your guitars. I fix guitars so that you can play your best.Now serving string pickers, pluckers, slappers, and benders.
Kenn.blanchard@gmail.com
Wanna be a guest?
Got something you want answered?
How about a shout out?
kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
Music Theory Explained
Thank you listening downloading and sharing as we try to be come better musicians and guitarists. I don’t know where you are on yours but along my guitar journey, I found a a really nice, gifted and professional guitar professor to answer all my dumb questions and get on this podcast with me. I hope it helps you and I love the music, play our instrument more and enjoy this thing we call life.
We are all on different roads leading to the same place. No matter where you are from, everyone loves music.
How can you tell a guitarist is worried?
He frets a lot.
Mentioned in this episode:
https://www.musictheory.net
Session wire:
https://youtu.be/TbTG9OXqyW4
To contact George - george@georgehessmusic.com
Jumpstartjazzguitar.com
On guitar is a listener supported podcast brought to by https://GuitarCare.co a veteran owned business that provides personal attention and care for your guitars. I fix guitars so that you can play your best.Now serving string pickers, pluckers, slappers, and benders.
kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
The music used on the show is from GEORGE HESS and the GEORGE HESS Esemble
The Light Ahead
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Ahead-George-Hess-Ensemble/dp/B07P5H7WH7
One day I was playing a high end custom guitar and for the first time my frets felt sharp. It wasn’t fun to play. I wondered if I had missed something now that I am playing more now than ever before. Was the honeymoon over? Why did I notice it now? All of a sudden the guitar felt different.
Guess what?
It is because of humidity. These changes can happen overnight, especially in the winter. Cold, dry weather brings low humidity and that causes cracked guitars. Winter is my busiest time of year for structural repairs, and most of these repairs are preventable with an inexpensive humidifier. I’ve been preaching this message for more than two decades: Preventive measures are the key to keeping your guitar in top condition.
Dealing with humidity.
Humidity is the amount of moisture or water vapor in the air. The more moisture in the air, the higher the humidity. Lesser amounts of moisture results in lower humidity.
Kenns Sexy Six Takeaways.
- Buy a guitar humidifier.
- Keep your guitar at between 40–50 percent humidity.
- Use a hygrometer.
- Keep your guitar in a consistent environment (one that’s comfortable for you).
- Keep it out of direct sunlight and out of the car trunk.
- These simple steps can save you hundreds of dollars in repairs.
Thank you for listening, downloading and following us as we grow this show. Feel free to let us know you are listening.
Jump start jazz guitar dot com.
George@georgehessmusic.com
The music played this week is from our on Dr. G from “The Light Ahead”
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Ahead-George-Hess-Ensemble/dp/B07P5H7WH7
Contact me at:
Guitar Repair in So. Maryland
https://guitarcare.co
kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
240-471-1117
Why Jazz?
This may have been a stupid question but why should anyone want to learn to play Jazz? This is a continuation of a conversation about jazz guitar with Dr. George Hess. Last week I say he was in Viet Nam. I was wrong. He is somewhere in Cambodia. And across the miles and oceans he breaks it down.
Thank you for listening, downloading and following us as we grow this show. Feel free to let us know you are listening.
Jump start jazz guitar dot com.
George@georgehessmusic.com
The music played this week is from our on Dr. G from “The Light Ahead”
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Ahead-George-Hess-Ensemble/dp/B07P5H7WH7
Contact me at:
Guitar Repair in Maryland
https://guitarcare.co
kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
This week On Guitar...
Features a conversation with Damon Foreman. He is a local musician, composer that I accidentally ran into 15 years ago. Damon has toured throughout the world playing many styles of music with major artists such as Ashford and Simpson, Gladys Night, Sista Monica,Mary Wells and Parliament Funkadelic.He has major label production credits on Sire Records. Warner Brothers and others. He is now leading his brand of Funk Rock that combines Hendrix, Prince,Parliament with a tinge of Jazz in his performances and recordings.Damon loves to perform and leaves listeners with a knowing that they have experienced something different and awesome.
In this free flow conversation we talk about what he considers an artist, paying dues, and his influences. I really liked the conversation because it reminded me “My why” for this podcast.
https://www.reverbnation.com/damonforeman/videos
Call 4438120184 for booking information for Damon Foreman.
Blue funk
Damon Foreman music academy
Business website
http://www.dfmamd.com
Phone number
(410) 988-2992
Https://guitarcare.co
Jazz is a uniquely American musical genre that emerged in the early twentieth century. Many Afro-American ethnic music cultures are rooted in spirituals, labor songs, and blues.
Historically, Jazz was created in the 20th century, by African Americans in New Orleans, Louisiana, and has since expanded into different forms. One distinguishing element of jazz over other conventional musical forms, mainly classical music, is that the jazz artist is primarily creative. Jazz is primarily created spontaneously, and it necessitates many specialized and unique procedures. In other words, Jazz breaks rules.
Originally it was improvised over ragtime and blues standards. It is uniquely and wholly American. The rhythmic and structural elements of jazz derive primarily from West African traditions. At the same time, European influences can be heard in its use of conventional instruments such as Trumpet, trombone, saxophone, string bass, and piano.
On this podcast, we have a guy that loves, plays and teaches Jazz guitar. And this week he is back and settling in his new home in Viet Nam. Dude is a world traveler. And I am blessed to have him here.
You see, this podcast is still in its infant stage. On Guitar is going to be smashing baby. Things are going a little rough for me now so I can’t groove like I want to yet, but if you stay with me, and you aren’t careful, you might learn something.
For me, this is a journey. I believe in starting ugly. So many of us wait until we got it all together before they do anything. I ain’t got it like that. I’m trying to do this thing. Learn my guitar, learn how to crush it, to my satisfaction.
I hope to get information and entertainment you can use as we go on in 2023.
George is going to share why he thinks Jazz is the thing you should get under your fingers.
Join us now – in conversation about Jazz.
Jump start jazz guitar dot com.
George@georgehessmusic.com
The Light Ahead
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Ahead-George-Hess-Ensemble/dp/B07P5H7WH7
Guitar Repair in Maryland
https://guitarcare.co
kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
https://guitarcare.co/how-to-successfully-use-youtube-to-learn-the-guitar
Guitarcare.co 240-741-1117
You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. – C.S. Lewis
I want to introduce to some for the first time the guy that taught me and still gives great advice on podcasting, Dave Jackson from the School of Podcasting. Dave is a friend and actually a really good guitarist. https://schoolofpodcasting.com/about-the-school-of-podcasting
This week we were talking about how playing the guitar is good for your soul. I invite you to eavesdrop on a conversation about how he got started in guitar. He was talking about his Positive Grid Mini Amp. I have a full size one for sale. https://guitarcare.co/for-sale/
Dr. George is traveling but will return.
In a round about way through asking dumb questions about music theory and chords, Dr. George reminded me it’s about the music not playing or practicing an instrument.
The music used on the show is from the George Hesss Esemble,
The Light Ahead
Give back:
Https://buymeacoffee.com/kennblanchard
thank you,
Kenn
Https://Guitarcare.co
Thanks for coming back. I ask more dumb questions of the good Dr. and we cover using pic (plectrums) correct holding the guitar and the importance of the right hand. At the end I share tips for buying a used guitar. Sponsored by GuitarCare.co
https://guitarcare.co/buying-a-used-guitar/
If you want to support the show
Https://buymeacoffee.com/kennblanchard
Continuing on the theme to motivate you to get back to your guitar. Don't forget to look at the post from last weeks shownotes from George.
How To Create Solid Guitar Practice Habits
You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” –C.S. Lewis
THE 5-MINUTE PRACTICE SOLUTION
AN EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE METHOD THAT GETS RESULTS
In the early 80s, I taught guitar at a music store owned and operated by the great jazz guitarist Johnny Smith. Johnny was there every day and was always playing his guitar, and I learned so much just watching him. One day he was playing, and he looked up at me and said, "You know, I hate practicing." That surprised me, and I said that he was always practicing. He replied. "Oh, that's not practicing. That's learning something new."
Learning something new is fun. Playing music is fun. Practicing is work.
Practicing is reinforcing things you've already learned. It's developing muscle memory, hand-to-ear coordination, learning the neck, and so on. It's repetitive, and frankly, it can be a little boring.
Still, there's only one way to get better at playing guitar, and that is to practice. But practicing itself isn't the answer, and in fact, it can do as much harm as good. You see, practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. You have to know what and how to practice if you are going to start playing better. Because in the end, you'll play what you practice.
There are generally two problems with practicing. Some of you are practicing a lot but not really getting anywhere. Usually, this is because your practice is random and inefficient. It's not you that's the problem, you just need a better plan.
On the other end of the spectrum, if you're not practicing, it's not because you're lazy, so you can stop beating yourself up. We procrastinate when we don't know what to do, either because we are overwhelmed by the task or simply don't have a clue. You need a better plan, too.
KNOW YOUR GOAL
The first step is to understand your goal. As young players we often have dreams of stardom; I know I did. If your goal is to become a professional musician, you will need to practice. A lot. And there's no time like the present to get started.
For the rest of us, dreams of fame and fortune were traded for career and family a while back. We lead busy lives. The days when we could devote hours to practicing are behind us. It's a hobby and while it may be important to you, it's not your top priority. We also have less patience and aren't willing to learn things just for the sake of learning them.
The bottom line is that we play music for fun and pleasure. Playing by yourself can be rewarding, but when was the last time you had fun doing anything by yourself? Face it, to have real fun playing guitar, you must do it with others. It doesn't matter whether it's one person or an orchestra, music is team sport.
And there's another reason. The best way to improve your playing is to play with others, especially if they are better musicians than you. There's no substitute for this experience and you can't get it in the practice room, not even with backing tracks. So we need to get you out of the practice room and into the band as quickly as we can.
The solution then, is to learn to play songs you love and only practice what you need to be able to play them. You'll focus more on learning something new and less on practicing, yet each song you learn will add to your skills, knowledge and abilities and you'll be able to use that when learning the next song.
©2022, George J. Hess, Jr. all rights reserved
FINDING THE TIME
Since we don't have hours to practice, we need to make the most of the time we do have. Practice needs to be effective and efficient and it needs to show results.
The good news is that you don't need to know everything at this stage, only the things that will transform your playing now. So you don't need as much practice time as someone training for a music career.
The first thing we need to do is establish the habit of picking up the guitar and doing something productive and enjoyable when we do.
Consider this scenario. You decide to practice. You go to your practice space, get the guitar out of the case, plug it in, turn on the amp, and then tune. After that you probably noodle a bit and play a favorite lick or riff. Then you finally start to work on something. But you've just wasted 15 minutes that you could have used to practice. Does that sound familiar?
This is where I generally sit in my living room. One of my guitars sits on the sofa, and I pick it up a lot. But usually only for a few minutes at a time. An idea will pop into my head, and I'll work it out. Other times, I'll practice something I've been working on.
THE SOLUTION:
LEAVE THE GUITAR OUT OF THE CASE
AND WITHIN EASY REACH
You might be thinking that you can't learn anything in five minutes. Let's take a look at how it works.
Say you just learned a major scale pattern. If you play it non-stop for five minutes ascending and descending at any tempo, you will start to develop muscle memory. If you do that every day for a week, you will have it pretty well under your fingers at the end of that time. I use four major scale patterns, so in one month, you can have all of them under your fingers in just five minutes a day.
Next, you can reinforce that by playing each of the patterns in one key every day and in two weeks you'll have covered all 12 keys (you can take Sundays off). Do that twice and in just two months, you'll know all four major scale patterns in all 12 keys. From this point on, you can pull these out once or twice a week until they become second nature.
Can you find five minutes a day?
You can break down almost anything you want to learn into bite size parts, that you can do in five or ten minutes. For example, most songs are comprised of two or three 8- bar sections, some of which repeat at least once. Start with the first section. If that's too much for one session, then break it down further. Each 8 bar section can usually be divided into phrases of two or four measures. You only work on what you can reasonably accomplish.
You may get a little impatient and want to learn more of the song, right now. That's great, you can do as many 5-10 minute sessions per day as you want. Just be sure to stick to one thing for each session.
Now that you've developed the habit of picking up the guitar, you'll suddenly find that you're practicing a lot more than ever before and even better, you're improving, because you can focus more intensely for such a short time. And it's all happening in time that was essentially being wasted, anyway.
THE PLAY'S THE THING
By now, you should enjoying your practicing more as you're learning a lot of new things and not just repeating the same things over and over. But we can't ignore the power of playing. This is where backing tracks come in. Playing over tracks is fun and great for developing skills you'll need to play in a band, like following the form, playing over changes and so on.
You should do this once a week or so as a reward for the practicing you've been doing, and to apply those new skills. For the most part, just play. Believe it or not, one of the hardest things to learn is to not think while you play. You listen and hear the music and try to let your fingers play. Some people call it "The Zone" or "The Space". Charles Mingus described it as being a "conduit from God." Or as Charlie Parker said, "First you learn your axe, then you learn your music and then you forget all that shit and just blow.”
ARE YOU LISTENING?
In order to play well, you have to hear it first. That's where the music is, in your ear. Learning to play from tabs, fake books, and sheet music will teach your fingers what to do, but it likely won't include your ear in the process.
As a developing player, you must listen to the music you want to play. You don't need to transcribe it, just listen. Get the sound in your ear. When no one is looking, sing the melody or the bass notes. You'll learn the song much faster when you do.
Listening needs to be an active process. It's ok to have the music in the background, but to learn anything, you need to focus on it, without doing anything else.
Can you find five minutes a day to listen?
THE MIND'S EAR
When you take a vacation, you might think about bringing a guitar, but it's not easy to travel with one and your partner might not think it's such a good idea, either. But you don't want to take a big step backwards while you're having fun.
You can still practice for those five minutes without the guitar. Just close your eyes and see in your mind your fingers moving along the fretboard. I was taught this when I was young and it does help with the fingers. But they forgot to tell me one thing. You have to hear it in your head at the same time. If you do that, you'll go a long way to connecting the hand to the ear. So don't just do it when you are on vacation.
Mental practice like this will help you maintain and improve your skills. And it's therapeutic and almost meditative. It's a great way to refresh.
AND A FEW MORE THINGS
1. Think about you've learned.
Just learning to play something isn't enough. Now you want to look more closely at it, so you can apply it to other songs. This is where theory will come in, either learning or applying it. Labeling things makes them easier to remember
2. Don’t practice the easy parts
Each year, students come to my school to audition and there are always a few who will sit down and play their piece and come to a challenging part and flub it. Then they'll back up and flub it again. The reason is this is how they practiced it. They start at the beginning and fly through the easy parts and when they get to the hard part they mess it up, back up, mess it up again and then go on and finish the piece which is more easy parts. They would have gotten it if they had spent five minutes a day on the hard part and not practiced the easy parts every time.
3. Don’t Practice Mistakes
Just because you've only got five minutes doesn't mean you have to play everything at breakneck tempos. Slow down and play it right.
4. Take a Break
You'll be making real progress which will motivate you to pick it up again and to play longer. But take a break after 20-30 minutes. Beyond that your concentration will wane and you'll see diminishing returns. That only applies to practice, not playing or learning something new.
And if you're struggling with something a little too long, put it down and come back when you're refreshed. You may even be surprised that the thing you couldn't possibly do after practicing so hard, will suddenly just come together. It works that way sometimes.
YOU GOT THIS
Some people will scoff at the idea that you can practice for five minutes and make progress, but it's something I've been developing for a few years. I use it, my students use it, and it works. You'll develop a practice routine that is easy to maintain and even one short, highly-focused daily practice session will produce results. And as you add more sessions per day, you'll see even more progress.
So give it a try and let me know how it works for you or if you have any questions. Contact me at george@georgehessmusic.com or visit my website at https:// jumpstartjazzguitar.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. George Hess is an educator, guitarist, composer and author. An award-winning teacher, he has taught music technology, jazz and theory at leading universities for over 25 years and has presented clinics and workshops throughout the world. As a professional guitarist, George has performed extensively throughout the United States with such artists as James Morrison, Bob Mintzer, David Liebman, Wycliffe Gordon, Jim Nabors, the Osmonds, Ryo Kawasaki and Myron Floren and as the leader of his own ensembles. His recent album, The Light Ahead is available on all major streaming sites.
©2022, George J. Hess, Jr. all rights reserved
Welcome to the first episode of On Guitar
We are still getting to know each other and I hope it’s cool with you.
To contact George - george@georgehessmusic.com
Jumpstartjazzguitar.com
Thank you listening downloading and sharing as we try to be come better musicians and guitarists. I don’t know where you are on yours but along my guitar journey, I found a a really nice, gifted and professional guitar professor to answer all my dumb questions and get on this podcast with me. I hope it helps you and I love the music, play our instrument more and enjoy this thing we call life.
We are all on different roads leading to the same place. No matter where you are from, everyone loves music.
On guitar is a listener supported podcast brought to by https://GuitarCare.co a veteran owned business that provides personal attention and care for your guitars. I fix guitars so that you can play your best.Now serving string pickers, pluckers, slappers, and benders.
Kenn.blanchard@gmail.com
kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
The music used on the show is from GEORGE HESS and the GEORGE HESS Esemble
The Light Ahead
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Ahead-George-Hess-Ensemble/dp/B07P5H7WH7
On guitar is a weekly show for beginners and enthusiasts of guitar and bass providing information, motivation and encouragement.
Playing the guitar is a passion of mine. It brings me joy. I love being around musicians and learning from them, hearing their stories, getting free tips and tricks, so that I can improve. You are welcome to join me in this journey and it doesn’t matter if you are just thinking about picking up the guitar or have been playing at it for years like me. I plan to have fun on this thing and with you we are going to learn a thing or two. I’m proof that you can teach an old dog new tricks. Actually is funny being the same age as old people.
I’m still learning but I know I guy.
The person with bass voice and featured on the album art with over 50 years of experience as a player, performer, instructor is the Dr. George Hess.
George is an award-winning teacher, educator, guitarist, composer and author. Who has has taught music technology, jazz and theory at leading universities for over 25 years and has presented clinics and workshops throughout the world.
George has performed extensively throughout the United States with such artists as James Morrison, Bob Mintzer, David Liebman, Wycliffe Gordon, Jim Nabors, the Osmonds, Ryo Kawasaki and Myron Floren and as the leader of his own ensembles. His recent album, The Light Ahead is available on all major streaming sites
https://Jumpstartjazzguitar.com
George@georgehessmusic.com
And me, your baritone, is blues loving, producer of this podcast the right reverend Kenn Blanchard of the speak life church in Maryland, voice Actor, Storyteller, Christian pastor, I am i former US Marine, federal police officer, Intel analyst, and gun rights activist once known internationally as the Black Man With A Gun.
But you can call me Spoon.
kenn@guitarcarecompany.com
On guitar is a listener supported podcast brought to also by https://GuitarCare.co a veteran owned business that provides personal attention and care for your guitars. I fix guitars so that you can play your best.Now serving string pickers, pluckers, slappers, and benders