Guitar Serious Fun

Enjoy the chart below, with transcript…Have you ever seen the abbreviation “Sus” in a chart and thought, “What does that actually mean?”  Today we’re going to talk about…suspensions with music on the guitar.I encourage you to catch the video version of this article while it’s available. This way, you’ll see and hear everything demonstrated. You can find the video right here: If you’ve ever seen a suspenseful movie, or if you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of having an account suspended, or your driver’s license suspended, you have experienced suspense.But what do all of these scenarios have in common? They are all temporary. A suspenseful movie can’t be suspenseful the entire time – it just wouldn’t work. A suspended account is usually restored to good standing when the balance is paid, and a suspended driver’s license can eventually be reinstated.So, I’m not talking about something being permanently taken away – I’m talking about something being temporarily suspended, and eventually – wait for it – resolved.So, let’s take a moment to discuss what suspensions can look and sound like on the guitar, and why they’re important.So, when we see the term “sus” in a chart, that’s short for a SUSpended chord. First of all, the most common chord we’ll find suspensions for is going to be on the Dominant, the V chord in a Major key. And second of all, the most common type of suspension or “sus” chord we’re going to experience is the “sus4.” We could go in all sorts of additional directions, but for now, let’s keep things pretty simple.So, let’s say we’re in the key of G Major, a very guitar-friendly key. The Dominant or V chord in G is D.  But today, we’re not just going to play it as a D Major chord, we’re going to play it as a Dsus4 chord.Now, my background in music began with a classical degree, which included several years of collegiate music theory, so I’m going to offer you an additional level of musicality here. It involves a three-word process.  That process is: “Preparation,” “Suspension,” and “Resolution.”Because, if we think about it, it’s nice to be able to prepare ourselves for suspense, so we can anticipate it just a bit. The plot thickens in a movie. We get a warning notice that our account is about to be suspended. The cop car behind us fires up the lights on his roof to let us know we’re about to be pulled over, which could lead to a suspended license.So “Preparation” is the first step. The second step is the actual “Suspension.” This is where things are in a temporary state of suspense that is typically not restful. The suspenseful scene happens in the movie, putting us on the edge of our seats. Our account is suspended, so we can’t have access to it. Our license is suspended so it’s temporarily taken away.So, with this suspension, there’s a bit of tension. There’s tension, but in this musical scenario, this is a good sort of tension. But as I mentioned, we aren’t going to stay in suspense indefinitely. Eventually, we get to the third step, “Resolution,” where the Suspension ends. The suspense in the movie plot winds down, if only temporarily, as it comes to a resting point in the story. The account is restored. The license is reinstated.So, again, think through those three words as we continue - “Preparation,” “Suspension,” and “Resolution.”So here we are in the key of G Major. The I chord in G Major is…G Major, right? The IV chord is C Major, and the V chord is D Major. Now, to bring this right to your fingers in an easy manner, I’ll actually use some “color” chords, so the chords will actually be easier to play, and they also won’t be pure Major chords, but they’ll still totally work for this exercise.The most important note in this suspension exercise is the high G note on the 3rd fret of the 1st string.  I want you to watch this note carefully, because it’s going to remain for three chords, but it will have a different identity in each.I’ll analyze the first chord as a G5 chord with no 3rd.  So, in the G chord, this high G is the root, right? But then, when we move to a C2 chord for the IV chord, we still keep that G up on the 3rd fret of the 1st string, and now it’s the 5th of that chord. It’s at this stage that we start to feel the “Preparation.” In other words, we’re ramping up to the Suspension.Next up is the V chord, D, but we’re going to keep the high G note on that 3rd string, thereby rendering this chord a Dsus4. Why is it a Dsus4? Because the high G is now the 4th degree of the D chord.Now, typically a D Major Chord won’t have a G in it, but rather an F#, right? But here, with this chord, the Vsus4 is providing the Suspension we’re after. Right now, it’s not a Major chord.So now we’ve been put in suspense. It’s not a restful chord. It’s a chord where we’re temporarily “on edge” just a bit.But what follows a Suspension, ideally? You know it – Resolution.All we need to do is take that high G note that we’ve had with us all along, and let it resolve down to the F#, thereby establishing the D Major chord, on its way back to…the G chord. See how the Vsus4 chord moves to a Major V chord, and finally back to the I chord?It’s actually quite pleasing to the ear. (Catch the video for the demonstration of this.)Is there more? Always. Can we create a Sus2 chord? Yep.Can we create suspensions with 7 chords? Yeah buddy. Can we play suspensions as bar chords? Of course.Can we play a suspension without preparing or resolving it? We’re technically not playing them functionally as suspensions, but…sure.Can suspensions resolve to minor chords? Yes, but that tends to sound a little more “Foreign” in some cases (catch the video for my music reference.)As you can see, we can go much further. But it all starts here with this simple process of KNOWING what a suspension is, and then experimenting with the intentional approach of Preparing, Suspending and Resolving. Want to go deeper and transform your guitar journey? Check out what we offer at www.GuitarSuccess4U.com. Keep showing up, and I’ll see you next time.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Enjoy charts and tables below, with transcript…If you play an A Major chord like most people, you’re missing out. I’ll show you why, and what to do about it.I encourage you to catch the video version of this article while it’s available so you can watch me demonstrate these concepts. You can find the video right here:Chords exist in context. Am I right? We typically won’t play a song that consists of a single chord, because that would be…boring.So, if we want to play chords well in context, this begs the question – do guitar chord fingerings really matter? Let’s find out.I’m going to list three Major keys that are pretty common with guitar players: the keys of A, E and D Major. Which chord do all of these keys have in common? The A Major chord.In the key of A, the A chord is the Tonic, the I chord.In the key of E, the A chord is the Subdominant, the Major IV chord. And in the key of D, the A chord is the Dominant, the Major V chord.It’s a pretty widely-used chord. And yet… a lot of guitar players are really making more work for themselves with the fingering they use.  Now, when we fret a note, it’s best to press down as close to the fret as we can, for a clean articulation.Unfortunately, some of the guitar educational materials I’ve come across teach the A chord with fingers 1, 2, and 3 in a row. Even if we slightly adjust to fingers 2, 3, and 4, the situation is not improved by much, because there’s not quite enough room for our adjacent fingers to be well-situated on the second fret in these configurations.So, what do we do?  For almost 30 years, I have taken the approach I’m about to show you, and it is truly a game-changer. And it’s actually really simple. Check it out.I use fingers 2, 1 and then 3. A better way to get situated is to place 2 and 3 on the 2nd fret, like you’re voicing an open A7 chord and then drop in the 1st finger, wedging it right between those other two fingers.Again, not all three notes will be right up next to the fret, but this is still a vast improvement to what we had before. Remember, even if a finger is not right next to the fret, it can still sound clean; it just needs to press harder, the further it is away from the fret. So now that you’ve been exposed to this new fingering for the open A Major chord, what can I do to validate its usefulness?That’s right – I’m going to place it in context.Remember how we talked about the keys of A, E and D? Let’s say I wanted to move from A to E and back, whether that’s in the key of A or the key of E. Both scenarios apply here.Watch what happens if I use the “old” way of fretting the A chord.  If I start with the less optimal fingering, I have to lift all three fingers to move to the E chord.  Then when I go back, I again have to lift all three fingers. Doable, but not ideal. (The accompanying video demonstrates this clearly.)What if I tried our new and improved fingering?The first finger stays on the 3rd string and provides an anchor point because although it slides down a single fret, it doesn’t have to be lifted from the string. Way better. (Watch the video for the economy of movement.)Ok, how about the transition from A to D and back? Even though I do have something of an anchor note on the 2nd string with my 3rd finger, the other two fingers have to re-locate entirely both ways.It works, but is there a better way? Yep. Our new way.Try it, and then watch with delight as only one finger needs to lift up to relocate as the other two fingers provide anchor points both directions.So, not only is it a cleaner articulation to play A Major this way, we have a much cleaner transition to and from a couple very closely-related chords.  So yes, I believe guitar chord fingerings do matter.This may be significant to you, or it may not.But if we’re going to play this chord a few thousand times in our lifetime, wouldn’t it be better to play it more effectively? And wouldn’t it be nice to gain even more visual independence from this chord in context?Hopefully this gave you a window into my approach to teaching the guitar, and how I like to zoom in for more precision and artistry, which enhances our musicianship and just helps us PLAY better.Side note: here at GuitarSerious Fun, I published an article/video called “Do Guitar Chord Voicings Matter?” I encourage you to check that out as well.You can find us on social media with GuitarSuccess4U on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. But if you want the real experience, join GuitarSuccess4U. We have a 30-day money-back guarantee.See you there!Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Have you ever made a mistake onstage while playing your guitar? What’s the best thing to do in the moment, and afterwards? I encourage you to catch the video version of this article while it’s available. It takes our discussion to the next level. You can find the video right here:It’s happened to all of us. We’re playing our guitar in a worship or performance setting, and somehow, we play something differently from how we’ve rehearsed it. And by differently, I mean wrong. It’s clearly not what we planned to play.So, what do we do? I’ll offer several options for what we can do, and then I’ll let you decide which option is the best course of action. I can’t promise not to “lead the witness,” but I think it’s important to see what the options are. These are six options I can choose when I make a mistake.#1. Visibly express my disappointment.Body language is the most powerful form of communication.So, if I make a mistake and then I…shake my head, frown, smile awkwardly, roll my eyes, or simply look surprised, I’ve just nonverbally communicated to the people I’m serving that I’ve made a mistake.#2. Ignore the mistake and never speak of it.This is the extreme opposite. If I know I’ve made a mistake but I not only ignore it, I actually never take time to think through what happened, this doesn’t allow me to benefit from the experience. And if I try to convince myself that I haven’t actually made a mistake, I just might be avoiding reality.#3. Visibly show no response, but internally combust.Some of us wear our emotions on our sleeves, but others keep them all inside.If I’m visibly displaying that I’m doing fine, but inwardly, I’m having a conniption because of a mistake I just made, it just might not be the healthiest choice for my emotional or mental state.#4. Keep thinking about the mistake even while playing the song.Once a mistake has happened, there can be a temptation to look back at the spot in the chart, or think back to the spot in the song, even as we’re trying to complete the song.But to use an analogy, if I drive over a bump in the road and I look back at that bump while I keep driving forward, I may encounter even bigger “bumps” ahead, if you know what I mean.#5. Move on, but beat myself up for weeks or months afterwards.If I make a mistake, but finish the service or the concert on a strong note, that can be good.But what if I focus on my mistake, hold it over my head, maybe even apologizing profusely when I talk to my collaborators, the congregation, or members of the audience afterwards?What if, for weeks or months at a time, I belabor the mistake and keep reminding myself of what happened, speaking self-critically the whole time? Profitable? I don’t think so.Lastly…#6. Recover gracefully…but evaluate objectively later.This last option, if you haven’t already decided for yourself, is my preferred approach, because it’s only by learning from our mistakes that we can truly grow.Some would say that mistakes are easier to learn from than successes. If we know something worked, but we don’t know exactly why, it can be more difficult to learn from the experience.However, if we make a mistake, we can examine it from a few different angles objectively, and decide how to better prepare for a similar experience in the future. This will help us avoid making (or at least reduce the possibility of making) the same mistake. Having an intentional time set aside, sometimes with fellow team members on what might be called “Honest Monday,” can be a good opportunity.The key is not to be too hard on ourselves. If we skirt the edge of 100% negative self-talk, it can be pretty damaging. It can even make it hard for us to keep the joy of music alive.If we can separate ourselves from our musical offerings and be objective enough to say “That was a mistake, and here’s how I plan to avoid it in the future,” this simple approach can be tremendously effective.The more specific we can be about our recovery strategy, the better. If it’s a chord transition, we can work those chords. If it’s a tuning issue, we can practice tuning every time we get ready to play (and this is a great habit for any guitarist.) If it’s a tempo issue, we can practice with a steady drummer or percussionist who keeps us honest, or at least practice with a metronome.And the next level is to play the song (with the challenge spot) for an “audience.”  By the way, have you heard my definition of an audience?  Here it is. An audience is: one or more people who are listening, giving their undivided (or even divided) attention, thereby compelling us to finish the song we’re playing.This puts us under a healthy amount of pressure, much more so than practicing on our own. If you’re having a hard time convincing someone to listen to you play, become your own audience.Put your smartphone on a tripod, spin it to “selfie” video mode, and hit “record.” The pressure will go up, and the added blessing is that you can go back and watch yourself play.Hopefully, these insights have given you some tangible strategies, as well as some behaviors to avoid, the next time you make a mistake with your guitar onstage. Mistakes are inevitable. But every mistake can be an opportunity to learn and to grow. My hope is that you’ll take those opportunities. Keep showing up, and I’ll see you next time.Interested in going deeper? Please check out www.GuitarSuccess4U.com.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Do you know how to transpose chord progressions on the guitar? If you don’t, please spend a few minutes with me.If you think you’ve got it figured out, you still might learn something new here.I encourage you to catch the video version of this article while it’s available. It goes much deeper than I can with my typed words, and you’ll be able to hear the chord progressions too. You can find the video right here: Here are three tips to make transposition smooth and effective.1.       We need to know all the diatonic chords in our starting key. Do you know all seven chords in C Major? Wait for it…2.       We need to assign numbers to the chords.Now, my background began in classical music, so I trained with Roman numerals.  But just as effective is the Nashville Number System.As you’ll see from my chart below with chords in C and A Major, there are specific cases and indicators for degrees that the Roman numerals and Nashville Numbers can guide you along with.With Roman numerals, capital numbers are Major, and lower-case numbers are minor. With Nashville Numbers, we just use Arabic numerals, and we indicate the qualities of the chords with just a number to imply a Major chord, and a number followed by a lower case “m” to indicate a minor chord.Using numerals or numbers, we need to be able to identify each chord as a number, but then also to identify each number as a chord.  So, for example, in the key of C Major, what is the number for C? What about the number for F? Check the chart above to confirm your answer.Let’s go the other way. In the key of C Major, what is the name of the minor vi chord? How about the minor ii chord? Again, you can check your work.So, if I wanted to play the progression I V vi IV (or 1 5 6m 4) in C, what would the chords be? C G Am F. It’s a very popular progression. Let’s do the reverse process. If I played the progression C Em F G, what would the chordal analysis be in terms of numbers? I iii IV V (or 1 3m 4 5). Another very useful progression. Lastly,3.       We need to know the chords and numbers in our destination key.If we have a destination key we want to transpose to, it would be helpful for us to know those diatonic chords, and to be able to familiarize ourselves with them in the same fashion as numbers. For our purposes today, I’ve chosen the key of A Major (also reflected in the chart I’ve provided).Now let’s put this knowledge to practical use.Let’s go back to our first progression of chords in C with C G Am F and let’s transpose that progression to the key of A. If we know the corresponding numbers and chords in the key of A, we know that the chords for that progression would be…A E F#m D.  Transposition accomplished!Now let’s create a new progression in A with I IV ii V (or 1 4 2m 5). Those chords are A D Bm E. Based on how well we know the chords in C, we use numbers and transposition to crank out C F Dm G. Transposition accomplished again! The accompanying video will add much more dimension and understanding to what you’re reading here.Now there are a couple subtle ways to check our work. If we know the distance from A to C, which is up a minor 3rd, we can take each chord in the key of A, and move “vertically” to its corresponding chord in the key of C. (The video has more.)Another method is to think “horizontally” from the tonic to the other chords within each key. The tonic is the home I chord, so this would be the A Major chord in the key of A, or the C Major chord in the key of C. (The video again has more.)As you can see, this process is going to help us a lot. It’s just a matter of some simple memory work and repetition.Want to go deeper? Please watch the video for a more advanced progression with some borrowed chords.Are you ready for some application to validate these tools? Let me ask some questions, all of which end in a positive answer. Can we transpose from the key of A back to the key of C? Of course!Can we take a progression in a less guitar-friendly key that either requires lots of bar chords or a capo, and transpose it to a guitar-friendly key with fewer bar chords and more open chords? Yeah buddy! Can we transpose from one minor key to another minor key? Yep!Can we transpose from the Dorian mode with one key center to a Dorian mode with another key center? You betcha!As you can see, there are all kinds of possibilities when we know how to transpose.  If you have a worship song and you want to transpose it, you can use this method. You can write out the transposition with numbers, or verbally call it out on the fly as you play with your band. There are digital tools that can do this for you, but if you want to grow in your ability to transpose, I encourage you to try some of this mentally and manually.I’ve transposed more charts than I can count. And if you can analyze and learn a song by number, and you’ve got a good grasp of several keys, you can quickly transpose that song into any of those keys.Transposition facilitates easier fingerings, preferred chord voicings, better vocal ranges, and more. See the relevance?Want to go deeper? Check out www.GuitarSuccess4U.com.Really serious about next steps? Check out our new free web masterclass at www.GuitarSuccess4U.com/formula.Thanks for checking out today’s episode of Guitar Serious Fun!Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to here.You can also watch the video version embedded below (psst - did you know that GuitarSuccess4U has a YouTube Channel? Please subscribe! 😊)This video will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.Abbreviated transcript included below…Looking for an intentional process to help you memorize your songs on guitar? You just found it.Having led worship for almost 3 decades, many of my recent years have been spent leading from memory. This has really helped me have a better connection with the band, the techs and the congregation.And as a touring performer all over North America for about the same amount of time, all my performance songs have been memorized.But how do we get to the point where we can confidently play and sing a song from memory? Let’s take a few minutes to unpack 10 helpful strategies.1. Stare at the chart.Assuming you have a visual representation of the chart for your song, print it up or have it ready on a tablet. Look closely. What do you notice? Whether you’re looking at a lead sheet or a chord chart, there are little clues waiting to be discovered. Maybe there are specific rhyme schemes. Maybe each verse starts with a slightly different lyric. Maybe the chord progression is more involved for the verses, but gets simpler for the choruses. Maybe the harmonic rhythm is different between the verse and the chorus. 2. Mark up the chart.Using a pencil to make the chart our own makes a huge difference, because we can make notes that will remind us of tricky spots the next time we open up the chart.An extra measure of care is to use different colored highlighters to mark up verses, especially if you have a lead sheet that includes repeats, different endings, and sometimes the incidental D.S. al Coda markings. If you’re working with a tablet, you can use an app and a stylus to make notes, and you can color-code them as well.  But make the chart your own.3. Get your prep materials all in a row.If you’re the worship leader, a great way to serve your team is to supply them with the chart that speaks their language (lead sheet, chord chart, or even a Nashville number chart). But then, a great way to help their ear along is to purchase the audio mp3, rip it into some recording software and then transpose it to the actual key you’ll be singing in, to make it match the printed charts as closely as possible. The reality is that some members of your band will reference the recording as the main guide for their preparation, so be thorough in this regard. Again, if you’re preparing lead sheets, chord charts, and mp3s, it’s important that they are all congruent with each other.  Side note: there’s a specific CCLI license that’s available to churches who want to distribute audio recordings amongst worship team members in whatever form – CD, or mp3s uploaded to Planning Center, etc. It’s called the CCLI Church Rehearsal License.  Click here to be directed to a page that tells you more.https://us.ccli.com/what-we-provide/rehearsal-licenseNow comes the intentional process that gives us momentum towards memorization.4. Type up the lyrics.Although we might be able to find lyrics on the web that we could copy and paste, that’s not going to serve us as well as typing them up.Will it take longer? Yes. But will it reinforce the lyrics in our minds? Also, yes. 5. Save and print the lyric sheets.I print up the lyrics to songs with one song per side of a piece of paper. And then I keep them handy, folded up in my pocket, when I’m out and about. I can also keep them on my phone as screen shots or PDFs in a folder. 6. Listen actively to the recording.The more focused and undivided our attention for this, the better. Listen closely, with and without the chart nearby.Really consider the chord progression. Can you analyze it numerically? Do you know the progressions in Nashville numbers so that you could play part or all of the song in any guitar-friendly key?7. Play along with the recording.With your guitar in hand, play along to the best of your ability as you feel the cadences, holds, chokes, and dynamics.  Let the guitarist on the recording guide you as you play.8. Make a recording of yourself playing the song.There’s something about playing a song and knowing that the “red recording light” is on. This adds a healthy amount of pressure, but wait for it…you can now go back and listen to, or even watch yourself playing the song (if you’ve captured it on video) and get a clear picture of your accuracy, tempos, words, pitch, and you can also see what you look like as you play.9. Test it out in front of a safe audience.Try playing the song for a loved one at home. This raises the pressure from just being in your practice space, to where someone else is actively listening on some level. They can give you their undivided attention, or listen while they’re cooking dinner, etc.  Lastly…10. Bring the song to rehearsal - memorized. Come to worship or band rehearsal ready to play it from memory (but have it nearby on a music stand, just in case.) See how much you can work without the chart. Remember, “memorized” means acknowledging every measure and being consistent. Your band will be following their charts, so make sure you’re right on track with the charts you’ve given them.If you’ve never done something like this before, start with just one song and see how it goes. And give yourself enough ramp-up time to truly memorize it. But watch how much more freedom you’ll have as you interact with your team, the congregation, and ultimately the Lord.I hope today’s discussion was helpful. It’s very possible that it could lead to some serious fun on your guitar journey if you take time to apply what’s been offered here. Will you? David Harsh is a nationally touring worship leader, songwriter and performing artist. He is passionate about equipping guitarists to discover their potential. Learn more and join now at www.GuitarSuccess4U.com.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Transcript included below…I’m coming to you today with a bit of an announcement and update, as we continue forward.When I began creating this blog and podcast two years ago, I wasn’t sure exactly how far I would take it, but I’m very pleased to celebrate the fact that for two solid years, I’ve been able to release an episode every single week, with today being episode 105.I have colleagues who are podcasters who sometimes take a few weeks off, but thanks to the blessing of the opportunity to batch content, as well as the Lord’s provision of a lot of creativity and perspectives on how to encourage you, I can celebrate that I’ve been able to consistently churn out some pretty encouraging and practical stuff, without a single break.I don’t claim the glory for this – it’s all glory to God.  I just want to celebrate.  Two years is a significant achievement for content creation on such a consistent basis.  I also want to give a shout-out to my podcast guests, who include Dawn Jones, Erin Pakinas, Mo Higgins and Jerry Chambers.  Their insights have added much more depth to what I’ve put together, because they’ve provided outside perspectives that have really enhanced this experience.In 2019, we launched GuitarSuccess4U, our online paid offering, which I’ve mentioned after many of these episodes here at Guitar Serious Fun.  And if you haven’t learned about it yet because you’ve only recently subscribed, I do cordially invite you to consider joining us.The website for this experience is GuitarSuccess4U.com.  As you’ll discover if you explore the website, we have a lavish, yet accessible offering for beginning and intermediate Christian guitarists. This means that it’s not for everyone…but the people it’s for really resonate with what we’ve put together.  And it’s so much more than a guitar learning experience; it’s the opportunity to go deep with our passions for the Lord and music and how they intersect.In the process of building out GuitarSuccess4U, my wife and I studied under Stu McLaren through a training experience called Tribe.  They’ve since changed their name to The Membership Experience.  Based out of Ontario, Canada, they’ve offered some solid counsel that has launched us forward into our teaching process of taking my 30 years of experience and imparting it through the portal and community that GuitarSuccess4U provides.One thing Stu is famous for saying is “Do more of what works, and less of what doesn’t.” Which brings me to the change that’s coming here at Guitar Serious Fun.  We’ve had a steady increase in followers and readers, but as we’ve checked our analytics over the past two years for how many folks have read the blog or listened to the podcast, the increase has not been as “up and to the right” as we would have liked.I love to create long form content, but in the case of this podcast, it’s a lot like a journal.  As one of our Guitar Successors shared with me, some of what I’ve put together here has likely been for…me.  And it’s been a great way to process my thoughts and journey.It has also, of course, been for you – my listeners or readers. Now, I know from our list of subscribers that a significant portion of those who follow Guitar Serious Fun are already members of GuitarSuccess4U.  Which is awesome. Perhaps you are not yet a member but are considering GuitarSuccess4U, and I sincerely hope you do.  I challenge you to find as meaningful and affordable of an experience as what we offer.So, this podcast and blog, Guitar Serious Fun, has been exactly that.But the avenues that seem to be gaining more traction and momentum for our ministry in this season are our GuitarSuccess4U YouTube channel and our GuitarSuccess4U Instagram account. You can find us on YouTube at youtube.com/@guitarsuccess4u.You can also find us on Instagram at instagram.com/guitarsuccess4u.We are posting almost daily on both YouTube and Instagram, and some of our shorts, vids and reels are getting some pretty good reach.  As of today’s episode of Guitar Serious Fun, we have almost 900 followers on YouTube and almost 600 followers on Instagram.  Contrast this to just over 60 followers here.Now again, hear me when I say how grateful I am for your willingness to experience what I’ve put together.  Your investment of time and attention is a huge blessing to me.  But it is indeed time for a change. So, the change that’s going to happen is this: at this point, I will be doing less of these episodes. Not that it’s “not working” – but it’s working less than I’d like, and as you know, we’ve all only got so much time to allocate to creating content, especially free content.  I love to create content.  It’s something that gives me a lot of joy, and I have a working list and folder of concepts that are steadily making their way into the light.  People are loving a lot of what I’m putting together, and I’ve never experienced writer’s block, which I guess is something that many people have struggled with.So I have no complaints.  Instead, a lot of gratitude!My wife and I serve under a 501(c)(3) non-profit ministry, appropriately called “David Harsh Ministries,” and our Board of Directors has graciously counseled us to take the new approach of a monthly episode of Guitar Serious Fun, so for the foreseeable future, that’s what we’ll do.The episodes that will be forthcoming will be audio versions of mini topical guitar lessons.  So, you can look forward to practical, encouraging episodes that will all link to a video version of what you’ll hear, sometimes accompanied by some charts and tables.Speaking transparently, my intention is not to turn the Substack for Guitar Serious Fun into a paid experience, at least not at this stage, but instead to help you gain more awareness of how we can serve you inside GuitarSuccess4U. So…what do I need from you? Well, I think the best thing you can do is comment after today’s episode.  Share your thoughts.  Let me know which episode or episodes of Guitar Serious Fun resonated with you and provided encouragement or wisdom.And then, consider providing some topics we could expand upon for future episodes of Guitar Serious Fun, future videos on YouTube, or future reels on Instagram.Will you do this?  Will you grab 5 minutes to share some feedback with us? Believe me, some entire episodes of Guitar Serious Fun have come to life as the result of a single question.I want to thank you for your time today and for however long you’ve been experiencing these episodes.  I do look forward to our monthly connection here.And I again hope to serve you inside GuitarSuccess4U, where I’m serving our members with most of my time and energy, as we desire to impact the Kingdom of God through a legacy of learning, as our members fulfill their callings in worship leading, songwriting, and the enjoyment of music at whatever level this season calls for.Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time!Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to www.GuitarSuccess4U.com/10AlternateTuningMyths. It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.Abbreviated transcript and table included below…Have you always wanted to play in alternate tunings, but felt a little intimidated by the process? Not anymore.Let’s dispel 10 myths together and find some hidden treasures when it comes to alternate tunings.The 6 machine heads on our guitars are like a 6-digit combination lock, and the alternate tunings we can access with them can be incredibly enjoyable. Here are 10 myths I’m going to dispel about alternate tunings.  You ready?Myth #1 – “Alternate tunings are too difficult to get into.”By definition, an alternate tuning is any tuning that’s different from standard tuning, so even Drop-D can fall into this category. This is the best place to start. All you do is start with a standard-tuned guitar and then tune one string down – your 6th string, until the 12th fret harmonic matches the open 4th string D (watch the video to see how.)Myth #2 – “Alternate tunings can be achieved with a partial capo.” If were to take a standard tuned guitar and place a partial capo on strings 5, 4, and 3 on the second fret, and play those notes open, they would sound an Esus4.If I tune another guitar to DADGAD and place the capo on the second fret, I’ll have access to the same open notes that sound an Esus4. And although some of the chords might sound similar on both guitars (see the video), that’s where the similarity between the partial capo and the alternate tuning end.Look at this closed voicing A Major scale on a standard-tuned guitar with a partial capo, and contrast it to a DADGAD capo 2 guitar.Myth #3 – “You can figure out the tuning of a guitar from an audio recording.” Sometimes. Not always. I wrote a song in DADGAD and recorded it on an album with my capo on the 3rd fret. Later, a friend liked the song so much that he taught it to himself from the recording, and played it in standard tuning, but with a lot more fretted notes. Myth #4 – “The tuning dictates the key.” Not necessarily. I actually learned a beautiful fingerstyle song by Pierre Bensusan in DADGAD while studying with him in France called “L’Alchimiste,” and that song was in DADGAD but in the keys of C and F Major…without a capo. Pretty wild.Myth #5 – “Alternate tunings require a dedicated guitar.” I think it depend on how quickly you can re-tune. I caught Michael Hedges in concert a couple times and he had two 6-string guitars for the whole show – one he played onstage, while his technician re-tuned the other one offstage. He must have played in upwards of two dozen tunings with just those two guitars. At my concerts and when I lead worship, I use at most, three guitars. I try to keep my guitars in neighboring tunings as well, and to plan my sets accordingly.Myth #6 – “Each tuning takes a long time to learn to play in.” Actually, once you’ve re-tuned, you can be creating great music in minutes. There’s something sweet about exploring a new tuning for the first time, and finding chord voicings that are just not possible in standard tuning or even partial capo positions.Myth #7 – “Once you re-tune, you have to re-learn the instrument.” As I mentioned, you don’t have to re-learn everything in a new tuning. Some strings, if they remain in their original pitches, can allow for some of the same figures we know, like three-string chord voicings or melodic fragments. Some tunings are nice for specific textures, drones, or certain keys. But a new tuning doesn’t necessitate re-learning the entire guitar from square one. Myth #8 – “Alternate tunings require special string gauges.” If we keep the same strings proprietary to their standard locations on the guitar, I recommend medium gauge – 13 to 56, from high to low, because a set of these strings splits the difference between the heavy gauge strings and light gauge strings.Myth #9 – “Your tunings drastically affect your collaborators’ choices.”As long as you’re in concert pitch and playing chords or melodies, this really doesn’t affect your collaborators in a major way.You might have a little fun mystifying your bass player who thinks they know which notes you’re playing, especially on your low strings, but no, tunings don’t affect other musicians, at least not logistically. They may actually inspire your collaborators artistically, which could be really cool. Lastly…Myth #10 – “There are only a limited number of alternate tunings out there.”  Think about my analogy of a combination lock for a moment. There are lots of possibilities, especially if there are six digits on your lock. If we were to compute each string as having a combined range of an octave (in other words, each string could theoretically be tuned down a Perfect 5th and up a Major 3rd), how many alternate tuning possibilities could there be on a 6-string guitar?  Answer: 2,985,984 tunings! A six-string acoustic guitar in good shape is primed and ready for exploring alternate tunings, so I encourage you to step out and take the risk. Who knows? You might write an arrangement or a brand-new song in a new tuning…today. Maybe you’ll find a way to arrange a worship song you love, in an alternate tuning, perhaps combined with a capo across all 6 strings for the key where it works best for your voice, your band, or both. I hope you do.As we wrap up, without going too deep into a discussion about gear, I will say that there are automated tuners, tuning levers and pegs that can be added to a guitar to customize the precision and speed with which someone can re-tune their guitar.  Guitarist Adrian Legg is a prime example of someone who has leveraged these kinds of tools. But a six-string acoustic guitar in good shape is primed and ready for exploring alternate tunings, so I encourage you to step out and take the risk.  Who knows?  You might write an arrangement or a brand new song in a new tuning…today.  Maybe you’ll find a way to arrange a worship song you love, in an alternate tuning, perhaps combined with a capo across all 6 strings for the key where it works best for your song, your band, or both.  I hope you do.And if you’re looking for more insights into discovering some hidden treasures that the guitar and music have to offer, I would be honored to be your guide in a one-of-a-kind online experience called GuitarSuccess4U.  I’ve never seen anything like what we have, therefore, I had to create it.  We have a 6-stage Success Path, proven strategies for multi-modal learning, a collection of hand-picked guest experts, and a community of like-minded Christian guitarists who just might be on a similar journey to you.  Will you discover what we’ve worked so diligently to create? Please take a moment to visit GuitarSuccess4U.com and see what we’re up to. It could change your guitar world, and transform your musical world.I hope to see you inside GuitarSuccess4U. Keep showing up, have serious fun as you play your guitar, and I’ll see you next time.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Transcript below…Today we’re going to talk about what it means to love our listener as we play the guitar. At the school where our children attend, one of the values that is consistently brought forward when writing papers is the idea of “Loving your reader.”This means writing clearly, and writing well.  In fact, they even give out penmanship awards for the younger students to affirm their work in this area.I’d say that as guitarists, loving our listener is tremendously important, whether the listener is enjoying our guitar live in person, over a live stream, or on some sort of audio or video recording. Today, during this brief discussion, I’ll offer five ways to love your listener.  There will always be more, and your suggestions are welcome in the comments, but let’s start with these five.1. Tune your guitar.I offer this suggestion because a significant portion of the song offerings I’ve heard over time have been played well, but on guitars that are slightly out of tune. This actually undermines the entire offering. There are a variety of ways to tune, from using a tuner, to a tuning fork, to referencing a piano, to using the highly advanced method of equal temperament with harmonics and beats. But even a simple smartphone app can act as a bridge from being out of tune to being in tune.  People may not know which string is out of tune, but they’ll know intuitively if a guitar is not in tune. Your listener likes to listen to guitars that are in tune.2. Want to play well.What does this mean?  I basically desire to inspire you to play your guitar well.  Some folks I’ve heard are basically “phoning it in.” They grab their guitar, start strumming, and are generally ok with what comes out. But here’s the thing: they may be playing some unnecessary strings with their chords (E.G. the low open E under a D chord.) Or they may be strumming too aggressively for the interpretation of the song. Or they may be ignoring the opportunity for dynamic variation.  So, I encourage you to play cleanly, accurately, and artistically.3. Desire variety within limitations.Within the scope of artistic interpretation, we can vary our chords, strumming patterns, and picking patterns, even within the song.  Some folks default to just a handful of strumming patterns for their entire worship repertoire, rather than thinking through what the song might need. And color chords or different voicings can add so much.  Think about what the limitations are of the song, and work within those, but bring variety and elegance, based on what you can offer in this season.  This applies to worship leading, but also songwriting.4. Wave the flag of quality over quantity.In GuitarSuccess4U, I teach my highly unique “Chord Kite Diagram” strategy, where my members are able to zoom in on just four chords and their combined transitions, for clean movements between them. This translates to a much more pleasing offering.  Contrast playing four chords well, with someone who can play 40 chords…sloppily.  I think you know what would show love to your listener here: quality over quantity, especially with music.  Lastly…5. Don’t be a perfectionist.Perfectionism can be the enemy of progress.  If we refuse to offer our gifts until they’re “perfect,” we could be missing out on all sorts of opportunities.  But if we stay “human” in our delivery, considering these other ways of bringing quality and elegance, we’ll provide something very enjoyable.People enjoy hearing music from people.  Not machines, not A.I., not something mechanical, but real people playing real music.Tom Jackson, a gifted performance coach with whom I have studied, once said that “Going from bad to good is easy; going from good to great is really tedious.” Basically, to really buckle down and work towards a quality delivery with your guitar playing won’t necessarily take hours, days, weeks, or even months.  It may take years or even decades.   But the good news is that we’re in this for the long game.  We’re going to play our guitars for many, many, many, many years, Lord willing.So, will all this hard work be worth it? Yes.Don’t let the long game discourage you.  Think about how well you want to play, and do what you can today to love your listener.  And enjoy the process.And then, more opportunities will open up for you to play your guitar, and you’ll get better, and better…and better.And then more doors will open.Proverbs 22:29 says: “Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.”And Psalm 33:3 says: “Sing to the Lord a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.”And yes, there will be joy.I hope these thoughts gave you some ideas for how to enhance your playing.  If you’re ready for the next level and a clear, battle-tested success path that leads to loving your listener even more, as you discover the guitar and the joy of music in a Christ-honoring community, please check out GuitarSuccess4U.com. Trust me – there’s more wisdom, encouragement, and inspiration waiting for you here than you can imagine.Keep playing your guitar, keep having serious fun, and I’ll see you next time.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Today, we’re going to talk about five ways to “die to self” as worship guitarists, and the beautiful blessings that can result when we do.My wife and I are blessed to have two amazing daughters.  But with the privilege of having kids comes the need for sacrifice.  In saying “yes” to having kids, we inevitably say “no” to some other things, at least for a season. Can we both just head out on a road trip for a week?  Not without making arrangements to have the kids looked after.  Can we both work on ministry tasks straight through dinner and late into the night? Well, with our family culture, we don’t usually do that, because we value the privilege of sharing a meal to debrief the day, and we also spend a few minutes with our kids at bedtime praying together.These sorts of intentional sacrifices involve a certain amount of what could be called “dying to self.” And because of our examples, our kids discover what that’s about as well as they wait for the fun activities while prioritizing academics and chores.  We also eat nutritious food for our meals, and sometimes follow with dessert.  We don’t typically eat dessert as a meal, right?So much of what I’m about to share with you today boils down to refining and sharpening our characters.  The symptom is how and when we play our guitars.  The real issue is the flesh, whether we want to talk about it or not.So, let’s courageously talk today about some ways we can intentionally “die to self” for the glory of God and the benefit of others, as well as the maturity of our souls as worship guitarists.1. Delayed GratificationDelayed gratification is a huge missing component of our culture in today’s world.  We want fast food.  We want overnight shipping.  We want instant results.   Food that is cooked fast might taste decent, but it’s often less nutritious. Overnight shipping has ruined us in some ways.  I’m old enough to remember sending a check in the mail to order something, and reading the fine print on the order form that said “Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery.” If our Amazon Prime order were to take even a week to arrive, we’d probably get a little antsy and frustrated, right? You’re probably sensing where I’m going when it comes to music and guitar.  Many of us really want instant (or close to instant) results with the songs we want to play. I had one student come to my teaching studio who had never played the guitar before.  He said that the first song he wanted to learn was “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix, and he wanted to learn it in its entirety during our first lesson. I cautioned him and encouraged him to be a bit more realistic at the beginning…and after that conversation, I never saw him again.Some guitarists want to learn songs or develop skills, but they don’t want it to take a lot of time.  They long for shortcuts and hacks that reduce practice time to a fraction of what it might normally take.And unfortunately, some guitar products or sales people promise all sorts of instant results in the short term.  This might provide some momentum, but long-term, it’s been my experience that these students will lose momentum when the more intermediate music comes along…because it will take more effort and more time to get results.Now, there’s something to be said for practicing smarter, with greater focus, and at an optimal time of day after having good rest and with good hydration.  To that end, practice sessions can be shorter, and results can come more quickly.But the reality is that quality practice will still take some amount of time.  To expect to learn a significantly difficult guitar song in a matter of, say, 15 minutes total, is not a way to set ourselves up for being able to play the song well.So, we can “die to self” as we flex our “delayed gratification” muscles and wait patiently as we practice diligently. 2. Hard WorkI remember cramming for tests in college.  But it’s my conviction that effective practice cannot be crammed, for the very reason that we won’t have the songs under our fingers long-term, even if we can summon parts of them right away.And complete songs are much more of value than fragments of songs.  Have you ever heard someone start a song, and then trail off as the song just kind of falls apart?  We all have. So, as we wrap up this section, let’s remember that diligent, consistent practice is a way for us to “die to self.” My father taught me the value of hard work throughout my entire childhood, and it has served me well, and also the people I’ve served and served with.Many blessings, including good musical execution, are waiting on the other side of good old-fashioned hard work. 3. Setting Aside Personal PreferencesI have some very specific musical tastes.  And believe it or not, as a worship leader, some of the songs I’ve led over the course of my career have not been my absolute favorites.A person I served with on staff at a church was absolutely baffled to learn that I wouldn’t always choose songs that were personal favorites of mine.But here’s why – and you may already know this.  The songs aren’t just for my worship journey.  There are many people in the congregation I'm ministering to who might have a deep appreciation for some of those songs that aren’t my personal preference.The only hard line I need to draw is that the songs I lead must be Biblical.  To lead songs that don’t reconcile with Scripture is to lead people astray.  And so, I’m always vigilant about the message of the songs I sing (and even write.)So, if a worship guitarist is on a team (whether in a leadership or support position), and a song they are playing on is not a personal favorite, can they “die to self” and still diligently prepare and lead that song well?  That’s my hope as I share these words.4. Being a Good ListenerIn our membership in GuitarSuccess4U, I’m privileged to host multiple guest expert interviews with some of the most gifted musicians I’ve ever collaborated with.And they offer some real pearls of wisdom in these interviews.One expert, a multi-instrumentalist and producer named Brian Reding, stated that a musician who has less experience will often play more during a song.  In some ways, it’s a sign of insecurity or immaturity.  To draw a parallel, it’s a lot like the person you might meet at a social gathering who mostly wants to talk about themselves and not really ask anyone else about their interests.Imagine a less mature guitarist who has come to worship rehearsal.  His or her mindset might be, “Well, I’m here.  I’ve brought my guitar.  I may as well play the whole time.”But here’s the problem: there’s only so much sonic space in the musical texture, and the guitar is just one part of that texture, as are the other instruments and voices.  If the guitarist is playing all the time, it could actually muddy the texture and make it hard for other instruments to artistically express themselves.Brian’s wisdom about less experienced musicians wanting to play a lot is very telling.  The flipside is that more experienced musicians will actually do something I love to observe: they will look for places not to play. Now, that might seem counterintuitive, but following my analogy, if music is like a conversation, we would do well to exchange information.  How do we do this?  By listening.I love watching a highly gifted musician play on a team for a song, especially for the first time. They’re often waiting to start playing until they’ve listened a bit to what’s going on around them.  Then they play, and perhaps they might momentarily tacet (which is a musical expression for not playing), before coming back in.And when they do come back in, guess what?  It means more.  Picture a bass player or a drummer laying out for the penultimate chorus.  When he or she rejoins the band for the final chorus, it can feel just right.  And people who don’t understand music will still appreciate it.I love the conversation of music, and I love collaborating with musical “conversationalists,” because they know when to “speak” and when to “listen.”  And then the “conversation” is much more meaningful.  It’s very honoring when someone asks me about my world, rather than just constantly talking about theirs. So, if you’re a musician, much as it may be tempting to play the whole time, consider this challenge: “Don’t just do something; sit there.” So, we can “die to self” as musical collaborators as we look for places not to play, and listen well so as to contribute more gracefully to the musical conversation.5. Putting on LoveThis last action is inspired by Colossians 3:14.  If we put on love, we’ll do all of these things well, and for the right reasons.If we don’t, we’ll do these things with some resentment or bitterness.  Any amount of annoyance that creeps into these actions will actually invalidate them before the Lord.Imagine if I verbally expressed gratitude, but wasn’t grateful.  Imagine if I stated that I wanted to serve, but served only with an agenda and frustration at having to do so.If we put on love, we are submitting to the Lord and making intentional efforts to ensure that our motivations are pure.  We “die to self” as we put on love in all these endeavors.Wrap-Up: The Flesh Must DieWhen you saw the title of this article, I wonder if it made you just a little bit curious.  That was my intent.It can be easy to maintain the status quo of what we’ve always done as worship guitarists, but sometimes we need a message to shake us up and grab our attention.  That’s been the intent of this collection of thoughts.Remember, the flesh wants what it wants, but without inviting the Lord to guide and strengthen us, it will try to get its way.  So, our fleshly tendencies need to…die.As we wrap up, I’ll re-cap the five ways we can die to self as worship guitarists:1. Delayed Gratification2. Hard Work3. Setting Aside Personal Preferences4. Being a Good Listener5. Putting on LoveI hope at least one of these has given you pause, and challenged you to make some slight change

Today, alongside our special guest, Jerry Chambers, we’re going to talk about what to say “no” to on a Sunday morning so we can say “yes” to the most important things.If you recall Episode 89 of Guitar Serious Fun called “Leading Worship Whether You’re Up or Down,” and you were blessed by it, I think you’ll be doubly blessed today, because Jerry Chambers is back one more time for a follow-up episode. If you haven’t had a chance to experience our episode “Leading Whether You’re Up or Down”, please take some time when you can to spin through it – I think you’ll be glad you did, and you’ll get a better sense of our guest’s approach to worship leading.Once again, here’s a little bit about our special guest today.  A third-generation worship leader, Jerry Chambers has a passionate heart for knowing God and worshipping Him with others, as well as helping new churches with all-things worship and tech. He holds a Masters of Church Music degree from Southwestern Seminary, and has served at churches in Oklahoma, Texas, Germany and Washington.Jerry and his wife, Judy, have two daughters and two sons who have huge hearts for serving and living alongside the needy at home and around the world.  I met Jerry in 2017 when we were both presenters at the Worship Catalyst Experience at the Northwest Ministry Conference in Redmond, Washington, and I was blessed to be able to sit in on a little bit of what Jerry was sharing with the attendees.  We’ve stayed in touch over the past few years, and in an effort to bring in some more outside wisdom to our listeners here at Guitar Serious Fun, I approached Jerry, and he graciously accepted. Many of our listeners who are pursuing serious fun on the guitar are involved with music at church, and that’s definitely something I’ve been a part of for almost three decades, whether on staff, volunteering, or serving as a guest worship leader.  So, in an effort to round out the content experience here at Guitar Serious Fun, I’ve invited Jerry back to share some more of his thoughts.One of the key phrases that Jerry shared with the attendees at the conference we were both teaching at was “Not on Sunday.”  And I can’t even begin to tell you how much this has helped me to keep my priorities aligned as I’ve served in worship endeavors in various settings.  In fact, when Jerry and I have connected over the past few years, I still drop the hashtag “Not on Sunday” to him, and he smiles, mostly because he knows it’s coming.This topic of “Not on Sunday” is a bit more on the administrative end of things, but I think it’s absolutely essential to our process.  The administrative details are meant to “undergird” the artistic and theological aspects, so that we can be even more effective in ministry.  And “Sunday” is when a lot of us worship, but I think the same thing applies to a Saturday worship service or even a mid-week worship service.  The key is to be deliberate and intentional about tasks, perspectives, and conversations on those days of worship.Because this is an interview, you will only find the discussion in the podcast audio. There’s no transcript for this episode.But that’s ok, because I believe that when you listen to what Jerry has to say, you’ll be deeply encouraged. So please stay in touch, and if you haven’t subscribed, please do.  I also invite you to like this episode, maybe leave us a 5-star review on your preferred podcast platform, and to share any of these episodes with others, so that more people can experience what we are working hard to make available to you.Lastly, if you’re a guitarist and you haven’t yet found your tribe for ongoing education and inspiration, please check out our one-of-a-kind experience at GuitarSuccess4U.com.  I’ll see you next time.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to www.guitarsuccess4u.com/Voicings. It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.Abbreviated transcript and some tables included below…What is something we all do with music, whether we are musicians or not? We listen to it.How music sounds is pretty important. And yet for some of us guitarists, we can tend to play by shape, and perhaps sometimes take for granted some of the chords we learned early on, or assume that they’re as good as they can be.I’ve got something that could shed quite a bit of light on your guitar voicing process.This is a G Major chord. It contains all the elements of a G chord, the Root – G, the Major 3rd – B, and the 5th, D. But let’s not confuse the formula of a chord with the voicing of a chord.Ready for a random analogy? My family likes to eat free range eggs. They’re healthier, for a start. This is because they’re from chickens that have more room to roam, rather than being confined to a small space.Music notes also need more room, especially if they are lower in register. With this in mind, what do you observe about this G chord I’ve just shown you? Well, the lowest three notes are all crammed together. As a matter of fact, on a standard tuned guitar, it’s the lowest Major triad possible. And to me, it sounds pretty muddy.YOU might prefer to play G Major like this.The same problem exists, though, because those bottom three notes are still very close together. It’s still pretty muddy because of that low triad.Because I’m limited by space here, I again encourage you to watch the video where I unpack open chord voicings for several other chords, and even show you what they look like on the piano.If you watch the video, you’ll discover that at the bottom of each of the voicings, we have Root, 5th, Root, and then we have the 3rd, rather than Root, 3rd, 5th, etc.Those chickens, er, notes, have room to roam.So how can we give our muddy G Major chord a more open voicing?  Would you believe me if I told you it only takes two fingers?Here’s the voicing I recommend:The notes are G, I mute and skip the 5th string, then D, G, B and G. The voicing at the bottom of the chord is now Root, 5th, Root, and then we continue with the 3rd and the Root, much like the other open chord voicings I show you on the video that accompanies this article.Want to know how to play it on the guitar? Gently curl your fretting hand pinky (your 4th finger) in toward your hand without bending any of the other fingers. Then, lay your hand across the guitar so you only fret the 3rd fret of strings 6 and 1. Let your 3rd finger mute the 5th string.  And soon you’ll have it.Are there additional benefits to this voicing and fingering? Yes. We have much more economy of movement from this new G chord to a C chord.Still not convinced? When the 1st and 2nd fingers are freed up with this new paradigm, they can play part of a C Major chord on top of this G chord. It’s called a C over G chord, which works great for folk or fingerstyle guitar.(The accompanying video has a cool demonstration of what’s possible with this chord.)I hope this has given you a sense that even something as basic as an open G Major chord can be retooled just a bit to be made much more artistic. It sounds clearer, more elegant, and more pleasing to the ear.See? We can always go back to the basics. Even those of us who have been playing for decades. So, yes, guitar voicings really do matter.  Now, I’m not asking you to completely unlearn and relearn this chord. You can still use the other G chord shapes if you prefer. But finding different voicings for the same chord gives us more options, which leads to greater artistry.And if anything I just said makes you grin and nod, you’re going to want to check out GuitarSuccess4U, where we go much deeper with concepts like today’s topic, but also color chords, fretboard knowledge, fingerstyle, flatpicking, strumming, capo strategies, scales and modes, and more.  And it’s all neatly arranged in a battle-tested format to help you get the most out of the tools, and more importantly, we talk about WHY they are important.  And you get to do all of this in a community of like-minded followers of Christ.  Hop on board and see what you’re missing.  Head on over to GuitarSuccess4U.com.  I hope to see you inside the membership.  Thanks for experiencing today’s episode of Guitar Serious Fun, and I’ll see you next time!P.S. Still reading?  I couldn’t believe my eyes, but I posted a mini-version of today’s episode in my Instagram feed and got over 3500% more views and likes than any of my other stuff.  I can’t put my finger on why.  Can you?Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Today’s episode is unlike any other I’ve offered, because it’s completely improvised.The only other episode that comes close to this is Episode 85: The Sightless Guitarist, because I literally could not see as I recorded that podcast.Speaking of podcast, today’s episode is only an audio version, and I encourage you to enjoy it with your ears. There is no transcript for this episode.But that’s ok, because I believe that when you listen to what I say and sing, I think you’ll be deeply encouraged and maybe a little inspired, especially as you observe me stepping outside my comfort zone to deliver these thoughts to you.Today we’ll talk about the art of improvisation, developing a useable vocabulary, and discovering what it means to be a good “conversationalist,” especially when it comes to the context of music. So buckle up.And please stay in touch, and if you haven’t subscribed, please do.  I also invite you to like this episode, maybe leave us a 5-star review on your preferred podcast platform, and to share any of these episodes with others, so that more people can experience what we are working hard to make available to you.Lastly, if you’re a guitarist and you haven’t yet found your tribe for ongoing education and inspiration, please check out our one-of-a-kind experience at GuitarSuccess4U.com.  I’ll see you next time.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Transcript included below…Today I’m going to provide a strategy that just might sharpen your approach to playing any song you work onToday’s episode will be one of the shortest you’ll experience here, because I want to get right to the point.And I’m going to use an analogy, like I enjoy doing from time to time.Several years ago, I was performing at a big festival, and one of the ladies who was serving the food to the musicians told me about her career.  It was an unexpected revelation.  She was a smokejumper.Now, if you know what a smokejumper is, great!  If you don’t, it’s basically a firefighter who drops into a forest fire by way of a parachute.  I would think that starting at the edge of the fire would be sufficient, but smokejumpers have been able to strategically drop in and drastically reduce the fire damage more quickly, because they target specific spots.It doesn’t make things any easier; in fact, it’s considerably more dangerous.  Just imagine it, right?Well, let’s take a piece of music for a moment – it could be a fingerstyle guitar solo in an alternate tuning with lots of ties across the bar line…or it could be a pretty standard worship song in 4/4 time with “Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus” song form.Really, the type of song does not matter for my point of illustration.  And the level of difficulty doesn’t matter, either.What does matter is the strategic approach to tackling the song.How many of us have heard someone play a song (especially a difficult one) from the beginning, and listened as the song gradually fell apart?Lots of us.Why would this be, you ask?  Perhaps because the person who had practiced it employed the approach, when running into challenges, of going back to the beginning and starting over.Now I’m not at all against playing from the beginning.But if it’s the rule, not the exception, I have another suggestion…and hear it is.  You ready?Find the challenge spot and work on that.Literally jump into the middle of the piece and work the section that needs the most help.This might feel natural, because it might be right at the chorus.Or maybe it will be in the middle of a measure.  Or the latter half of a beat.You’ll know, because you’ll be able to target the point in the music that needs work, and you can approach it from the nearest point of entry.If you’re in a worship team rehearsal, guide your band to a spot you can all find (e.g. pick-up to measure 9.) If you’re on your own, you’ll have a little more flexibility and can find a spot at a gentler pace.But do me (and yourself) this favor: avoid the temptation to go back to the beginning over and over.It will save time, it will allow you to get to know the piece better overall, and it will enable you to solidify the more difficult sections more quickly.In short, it will help you put out the fire effectively…like a smokejumper.Make sense?Conclusion and Next StepsAnd that just about wraps things up for today.  Yep, I wanted to keep things succinct for today’s episode, because sometimes, all it takes is a simple thought to get you on your way.And if you want more simple thoughts, find us on social media on Instagram, YouTube and Facebook where GuitarSuccess4U has a presence in each.  Some of our content appears in all three areas, and it includes short-form content like reels or shorts that are less than 60 seconds long. Little nuggets of wisdom, encouragement and practical thoughts.It’s been interesting to watch and see who responds more to what on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube, based on the audience.But if you’re looking for the real meat, the real feast, treat yourself to GuitarSuccess4U, a members-only experience for Christian guitarists who know there’s more to the guitar and music.If today’s analogy and thoughts gave you something to run with, just imagine what a proven 6-stage Success Path and 8 bonus guest expert interviews could do, to say nothing of the Christ-honoring community of what I call my “Guitar Successors.”We’d love to welcome you in.Learn more and join now at GuitarSuccess4U.com.And if you want to experience our new free guitar web masterclass, just include a forward slash and the word “formula” after that.  So, the URL would be GuitarSuccess4U.com/formula.  I can’t wait to see what the Lord does for you with this new Smokejumper Strategy, and I hope to serve you inside GuitarSuccess4U!Thanks for experiencing these thoughts, and I’ll see you next time!Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Transcript included below…Today I’m going to provide some gentle nudging to help get some guitar players off the bench and onto the field, and perhaps that might include you.I’m not a follower of baseball, but I definitely remember some noteworthy quotes from famous players.  Jackie Robinson, is one of those.  He is known for this quote:"Life is not a spectator sport.  If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion, you're wasting your life." Now, Jackie’s career was supported by spectators and people who watched him play baseball.  Audience members are needed, right?But for many of us, it’s super important to take the leap and play our instruments for other people. This can be as simple as taking the guitar out of its case and playing it for a friend or family member…or something on a larger scale, like on a worship team, or in a concert setting.That’s really where I’m going with today’s episode – I’m not asking my readers to do something nearly impossible.  I just want to encourage them to make music, and to do what’s needed to get there.  So, let’s keep it real again today as I share some thoughts.Sitting in the AudienceIf you’ve ever attended a concert or listened to someone play any instrument, especially the guitar, you know what it’s like to receive a musical offering, to be uplifted, inspired, or even transported in a way.Music is powerful. So, we can be music listeners…or content readers, like you with the blog you’re reading right now.  For that, I thank you!Sitting in an audience can be a passive posture, or we can actively listen, but like it or not, audience members are not typically contributing musically in that moment (unless they’re singing or clapping along.)That performance or musical offering may inspire audience members who are also musicians to go back and practice, and to make music.But some musicians do not take action.I’ve offered guitar instruction long enough to cross paths with guitar students who are more like audience members.  If that’s their preferred means of enjoying music, that’s great!  But if these guitar students are claiming to be guitar players, there can sometimes be a disconnect.  Because by and large, some folks aren’t actually playing their guitars. Not really.Some of them profess to be guitar players.  They sign up for a learning experience, some of them invest good money in tools, instruments, and education, but we’re all comes down to it, they don’t really lean into the process of developing their skills.They don’t really practice much at all.They’d rather talk about it.  They’d rather watch someone else do what they want to do, and they’d rather not be held accountable.That’s a harder place to be, because it doesn’t actually lead to results.Watching other people get results can be fulfilling in a way, because we can live vicariously through them.  I’ve heard some people say, “I don’t have a lot of talent, so I like to cheer on others who have more talent than I do.”So, perhaps they get enough satisfaction from watching someone else get results as they play.There are a lot of audience members out there watching shows like America’s got Talent, or American Idol.  These kinds of experiences can be very engaging and inspiring for an audience, especially people who are not investing time in developing their own gifts. But that’s the primary posture of an audience member – to receive what’s being shared.I’ve seen cooking shows that lay out the entire process for how to make a recipe. But if my hunch is correct, the vast majority of the viewers are just enjoying watching the cook bring their recipe to life, without any real plan for duplicating the process themselves.Now, of course, some may!  And I know people personally who find recipes out there on the web in video form and they follow those recipes and make food for their families.  But isn’t it easier to just be a consumer, an audience member, or a spectator?It sure is.I have been an audience member or a spectator, but only temporarily.I am an active guitar player, whether a creative songwriter, performer, worship guitarist, or even a teacher.  I place myself in an active posture in each of these roles as I share, sing, lead, create and teach. I am a copious producer.  I’m always coming up with content and musical ideas that I take great joy in sharing.  And for some folks, that’s contagious and inspiring for them to do as well.But for others…not so much.Why?The Obstacles We EncounterReasons for not developing our guitar skills might include the following…1.       Life is too full. Yes, I agree.  Sometimes with work, family, kids, and other responsibilities, it can be hard to make time.  But we make time for things that are important to us, right?  Even just a few minutes a day can transform our skill level over time on the guitar.2.       Fear.Believe it or not, fear can paralyze us and keep us from reaching for our goals.  For more about this, check out Episodes 50 and 51 of Guitar Serious Fun – The 10 Fears We Face as Guitarists – Part 1 and Part 2. 3.       Procrastination.We can live in the weird space that says, “I’ll get to that tomorrow.”  But tomorrow can get pushed out further and further.  Procrastination does not pay off, usually.4.       Laziness.Can guitar players be lazy?  Sure.  I’ve met them.  And you probably have as well.Hard work is not glamorous, but man, can it help us get the results we want. When people ask me how I’ve achieved the level of skill I’ve developed on the guitar, I usually respond with “Good, diligent practice and consistent hard work over time.” Some folks are looking for an easy way to learn.  But that’s not how it’s done.The opportunity to grow is there, but, as Thomas Edison is credited with saying,“Recognizing opportunity is so difficult for most people because it goes around disguised in overalls, looking like hard work!”Now, there are different seasons of playing the guitar, as I unpack in Guitar Serious Fun Episodes 17 and 18, “Guitar Through the Seasons” – Part 1 and Part 2.So, if someone is walking through a season where it just does not make practical sense to play, I understand.  Every person has their reasons. But let me encourage you to find the joy of music in your guitar playing…even when it’s not practical or easy.Wounds from a FriendIf today’s episode has been a little less uplifting and a bit more of a coaching posture, that’s not by accident.I’m a leader, but one of the main reasons I’ve become the leader I am is because I’ve literally had people in my world growing up who have said, “There’s leadership potential in you, David.  Don’t sit back.”Even if I wasn’t thankful in the moment for these exhortations, I’m thankful now.Proverbs 27:6 states,“Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.” I’m here to gently wound you in a way that might inspire you to take action.How?  Well, I’ve got a few ideas.Action Steps1.       Set some reasonable goals.Goals give us a framework, and some tangible thresholds we’re hoping to cross.2.       Share those goals.Sharing a goal gives it a super-charged amount of momentum, because others are now aware of what we’re working on, and this can provide gentle accountability.3.       Celebrate victories.When we achieve a goal, we need to celebrate what we’ve done (more importantly what the Lord has done through us.)  And if we’ve got other like-minded folks in our lives who can cheer us on, all the better. Inside GuitarSuccess4U, we call these kinds of victories “wins,” and every time we gather on Zoom, I ask if any of my members have “wins” to share, and usually, many do.4.       Remember the long game.Those who want to get real results play the long game.  They know that this guitar thing will take time.5.       Make real music.Stephen Humphries, a national Hammered Dulcimer champion I had the privilege of studying with, once said this to me:“Technique is a means to an end.  Make sure the music you want play is that end.”Mic drop, right?I’m all about techniques that lead me in the direction where I want to be playing music. 6.       Don’t go alone.One African proverb I’ve always appreciated says:“If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go together.”Journeying with like-minded folks will take you much further, even if it takes a bit longer.On that subject, if you want a way to find measurable progress on the guitar, please consider GuitarSuccess4U. And if you’re open to setting aside some intentional time to discover what we’re all about and how we can help you, I highly recommend our new free guitar web masterclass, called The Guitar Success Formula.I recommend watching it from a browser on a desktop or laptop, rather than a smartphone.  The URL for that is GuitarSuccess4U.com/formula.   But be warned – it’s not for those who want to sit on the sidelines – it’s for those who want to get in the game.These action steps could be game-changers for you, and I’d love for us both to find out.But if all that today’s episode does is serve as a catalyst for you to pick up your guitar, then that’s a win for both of us.So, go grab your guitar and play it.  Because that’s what guitar players do.And maybe set your sights on playing it for someone else, because music is best when shared.  Any music you play for anyone represents you setting aside the posture of a guitar spectator and instead becoming a guitar player.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun.  We are fast approaching 100 episodes, which is exciting.  I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you in the future, even if we – spoiler alert – decrease episode frequency and length as I lean into other content platforms like YouTube and Instagram. Once we cross the three-digit mark for this blog, we’ll be near to 2 solid years of Guitar Serious Fun which will provide a curated collection of thoughts, both practical and inspiring.And these episodes take quite a bit of time to put togethe

Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to www.guitarsuccess4u.com/CapoReality. It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.Abbreviated transcript and table included below…If you play the guitar, you probably use a capo sometimes. But is your capo holding you hostage? Do you sometimes get confused about which key you’re actually in when you use it? No more!We as guitarists make use of a variety of tools, but perhaps one of the most common is the capotasto, better known as the capo. The capo gets its name from a phrase that means “head tie,” which implies that it’s being tied to the guitar near the headstock.But when we put a capo on our guitar, what is happening, exactly? We’re shortening the length of the strings. This can allow us to play in some keys with open chord shapes to access actual chords that would normally all be bar chords. Allow me to demonstrate (see the video for a clearer picture of this.) The key of Ab Major, for example, has zero open chords, so they all need to have 100% fretted notes. The chords are: Ab Major, Bb minor, C minor, Db Major, Eb Major, F minor, G diminished, and we can come back around to Ab Major.In the video, I play all of those chords again, but with my capo on fret 1. The chords are the same, but many of them are much easier to play, because I use the shapes: G Major, A minor, B minor, C Major, D Major, E minor, F sharp diminished, and ending on G Major.But let’s not confuse shapes with chords.Because unless we’re only collaborating with a drummer or a percussionist, there are harmonic consequences to everything we do with the capo. Do you believe it?If you’re collaborating with a piano player, a synth player, a bass player, another guitar player, a vocalist, someone who plays strings or woodwinds, or any type of harmonic or melodic instrument or voice, they’re going to be playing or singing in a specific key.And if you are the guitarist who’s leading that band, it’s super important to know which key you’re all in.Here are some helpful tips so you can be sure of what’s going on. Memorize marker pointsFirst, memorize the bottom 3 strings, strings 6, 5 and 4. I walk you through these markers in the video, but you’re welcome to reference the diagram I’m including with this article.There’s more, but this can give us plenty to work with here.Which key are we in?Our first approach is to place the capo and discover which keys we end up playing in when we play shapes.Let’s say I place the capo on the 3rd fret. If I strum shapes around the tonal center of E, with the open 6th string for the low root, which key am I in? G. If I strum A shapes, which key am I in? C. If I strum D shapes, which key am I in? F.Why? Because the “open” notes at our new “nut” with the capo are G, C, and F. Right? Did you know all of those? This works best with your guitar and capo in hand.Which key do we want to play in?Let’s try the opposite approach with placing the capo for keys we want to play in.Now, let’s say I want to play in Eb Major with a piano player, by leveraging the capo. For a moment, let’s temporarily call that the key of D#. It’s a theoretical key, I know, but go with me. If I place the capo on fret 1 and play a D shape, it sounds a D#, better known as Eb. That open 4th string is our low root on Eb.If you want to think in the key of D, this can work for you, but remember, you’re accountable for actually playing chords in the keys the capo has given you access to. So if the capo is on fret 1, and we play D, G and A shapes, we’ve actually achieved Eb, Ab and Bb chords. Right?Starting with chords that have open roots like E, A, and D can be pretty attainable, because the capo at the new “nut” easily tells us what those notes are, without fretting above it.But what about chords like G and C that do have a fretted root? Don’t worry, I got you.Play an open G chord for a moment. That root on the 3rd fret is a minor 3rd above the nut.Let’s just make a new “nut” with the capo! Let’s say we want to play in the key of B. Well, a moment ago, we said that B on the 6th string is on fret 7. So, let’s fret the G shape that’s got that 7th fret B as the root, and place our capo down a minor 3rd – a distance of 3 frets, on the 4th fret. With the capo on the 4th fret, using G shapes, we’ve accessed the key of B.One more. Play an open C chord, the root for which is on the 3rd fret of the 5th string. It’s a minor 3rd above the open A note at the nut. Let’s make a new “nut” with our capo for the key of F. Where is F on the 5th string? It’s all the way up at fret 8, just above the 7th fret E we talked about a moment ago. So, we can start with a C shape with our root on the 8th fret for F, and go down 3 frets to the 5th fret and place the capo there. We can now play C shapes, with capo 5, in the key of F.This process works for any Major key, minor key, or even modes, but we have to know the real key we’re in, and at least some of the chords the capo is helping us play. Our charts, especially the ones we print up for the band, have to reflect this reality. Otherwise, we’ll have an alternate reality that leads to confusion, or at the very least, a comedy of errors.I hope this was helpful, and I look forward to next time!Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Transcript included below…In the Timothy Dalton James Bond film The Living Daylights, Bond is traveling quickly through Europe with Kara, a cellist who plays a Stradivarius.  She absolutely cannot part with her instrument, even though it’s slowing them both down as they elude their pursuers.In a moment of frustration, Bond asks, “Why didn’t you learn the violin?”There are some big instruments out there, and the cello is one of them.  Another is the electronic keyboard.I’ve had conversations with people who play 88-key full-sized electronic keyboards.  One of their biggest complaints is how heavy their instruments are to transport.The two aforementioned instruments aren’t even among the biggest instruments out there.  Some need to be brought in on wheels like marimbas, tympani or harps.  Others are so big that they need to be permanently located in a church or cathedral, like an organ.But the guitar?  Ah…what a delightfully portable instrument.  I’ve taken my guitar to many places, and some of them have turned out to be just a little bit unique.Today’s episode is mostly intended to be informative and hopefully interesting, with some stories from my travels.  I’ll share just a handful of places I’ve played my guitar that are out of the ordinary.  I’ve got 12 locations to share with you.  Here we go. I’ll start with some watercraft.1.       The bow of a fishing boatMy father and I have enjoyed many deep-sea fishing trips up the coasts of Washington and British Columbia. One fishing trip was long enough that it made sense for me to bring my guitar for some diligent practice.  So, I’d sit or recline in the bow of the boat, working on my chord fingerings and scales.  I’m glad I brought it with me, because I made progress.2.       A Ferry BoatNear where I live, in the Puget Sound, we often take a ferry over to see relatives.  After returning from a guitar seminar with Pierre Bensusan in France, I wanted to show my relatives what I had learned, so I took my guitar on the ferry.While I was on the ferry, I decided to uncase my guitar and play a little.  It wasn’t long before a roving mandolin player showed up where I was seated, and we jammed for a moment. 3.       A RaftWhen I was courting my wife, one day I made a picnic for the two of us, and drove us up to a mountain lake.  I had packed an inflatable Zodiac raft, and in addition to the food items, I had brought a guitar.  I enjoyed playing some songs for her out on the lake.  You don’t typically see a guitar in a raft on a lake, but there it was.Ok, now that I’ve talked about watercraft, let’s come back onto land.4.       A DockI’ve had the opportunity to spend time with friends at a lake, and to be able to enjoy music while “sittin’ on the dock of the bay.”  Yeah, you know what I mean.  There’s something restful about sitting and enjoying some guitar, along with the gentle lapping of the waves.  Playing the guitar anywhere near water, especially near a bonfire on a beach, can be very soothing.So now that we’re back on land, here are a few instances of where my guitar was with me in transit with wheels spinning beneath me.5.       A Chevy VanOn a trip to Montana for some river fly fishing (also with my Dad), I brought my guitar.  Interstate 90 East was relatively straight most of the way, so I sat in the back seat of the van with my seatbelt on, working through rudiments and exercises on my guitar.  Again, I was redeeming the time.I ended up writing some really good music on that trip.  Having the guitar nearby was such a blessing during those long hours of travel.  And of course, I took time to connect with my father as well.6.       A BusOn a mission trip to Mexico, a youth group I was in volunteer leadership for decided not to fly, but instead to take a bus.  It took longer, but saved some money.  I went as a translator, and I had my guitar for the optional worship leading opportunities in the villages where we visited for Vacation Bible School.I also got to have the opportunity to play it for the base camp gatherings, sharing songs in front of probably two thousand people who had gathered for the evening sessions.  It was really cool.I remember traveling to Mexico, on the way south via Interstate 5.  That highway is also rather straight most of the way.  I sat towards the back of the bus with my guitar, learning some very technical fingerstyle guitar music by Alex DeGrassi. One song in particular was the song “Window” in the tuning of ECEGCD – with a lot of very fast sixteenth notes.  I took it slow and learned to play it.  It was a good use of the time…even thought I was a little self-conscious with the youth kids listening in.  I got over it, and I got better.7.       An Impromptu Tailgate ConcertWe had lunch with some friends some time ago, and I had written a blues song that I had to share with them.  It had some Stanley Jordan “touch style” techniques and a tongue-in-cheek theme.  I knew they’d love it.I had my guitar with me at the restaurant where we met up, and after we paid the check, I invited them out to the parking lot where our SUV was parked.  I opened the back hatch, sat down in the back, and played the song for them as they stood in the falling snow, delighted to experience an impromptu tailgate mini-concert. 8.       A Shuttle StopNot long ago, I was waiting for a shuttle in a parking lot, because I was going to fly out from Seattle/Tacoma Airport. The shuttle had a covered area where I sat with my suitcase and…my guitar case.  I uncased my guitar while I waited, and played some original songs and worship songs that I was planning to play on my upcoming California tour dates.Two fellow passengers arrived and sat and listened.  I started to think that I was intruding on their silence, but when I went to put my guitar away, they stopped me, expressing how much they were enjoying what I was sharing.  So, I kept playing.And as it would logically follow, another location would be…9.       The AirportAfter arriving at the airport and making my way through security out to the gate, I’ve often found myself with a good solid hour or more to kill.I can save my reading for the plane.  What I can’t do on the plane is play my guitar.  So, I’ll often uncase my guitar, sit down on the floor, and quietly play something.  I’m usually competing with a lot of intercom announcements and the hustle and bustle of travelers, so it’s typically not a distraction to anyone.But if I’m thinking that my playing might be distracting, I’ll just strum with the fleshy part of my thumb and lean over to hear the strings softly humming.  I can also make my pick articulations very soft.It’s a great way to make use of the time, watching the planes land and take off…and occasionally, it leads to a conversation starter with a fellow musician, or someone who just enjoys music.10.   “Crisscross Applesauce” next to the BathtubWhen I was a young parent, my kids sometimes took baths when they were little, and they of course needed very close supervision, but also the opportunity to splash about before getting scrubbed down.So, I’d sometimes bring my guitar into the bathroom and sit an arm’s length away from whoever was having a bath…and I would strum some chords while closely observing my kid in the bath. My strumming provided a bit of a soundtrack to bath time, and when I was needed, I just set my guitar down on the floor mat, and helped bathe my kid.  It was a good mix of work and play.11.   StairwellsSome hotels or school dorms have these concrete stairwells that have lots of echo in them.  But here’s the thing; an echo chamber can serve as a beautiful impromptu acoustic space.Playing a soulful fingerstyle guitar piece in one of these stairwells (as long as it’s not too cold) can actually be a really powerful experience, because it’s like a concrete cathedral.  The music just doesn’t sound the same as it would in a carpeted room.So, whether I’ve been at a hotel far from home or needing a study break at college, I’ve found opportunities to take my guitar into the stairwell and let it sing.Last but not least…12.   The Outdoor Bass SectionalI’ve saved this one for last, because it was highly unexpected, but super practical.There are lots of outdoor spaces where a guitar can find its place, especially if the weather is nice.  But in this instance, it was more out of necessity.I was pursuing a vocal performance degree in college, and part of my contribution to the music department was to sing in the concert choir.  If you’ve sung in choirs, you know that there are typically four basic vocal parts – soprano, alto, tenor and bass.I was the bass section leader.  And every Tuesday, we’d have sectionals, where, for the majority of the class time, the four sections would break up and go find another large room in the music department to practice, ideally with a piano for “plunking” notes.But this time, there was a large group of guest high schoolers on campus for an all-day workshop, so we didn’t have a place to practice.But we still needed to have our sectional.  And we didn’t have a piano or even a keyboard.But what did we have?  My guitar was fortuitously stored in my locker that day, so when I realized what the circumstances were, and what our need was, I grabbed it.I have this clear memory of me sitting out in the seating area outside the Performing Arts Center, leading the Bass Sectional by “plunking” notes on my guitar as they sang, overlooking Bellingham Bay.It was a unique experience and setting, and we got a lot done.But there’s one detail about this that you may or may not have noticed.  Do you know what was especially unique about what I was doing?Think for just a moment about what you know about the guitar and where it resides in terms of music notation. The guitar is a treble clef instrument.Now, the notes in treble clef for the guitar are notated an octave higher than what they actually sound, so as to avoid too many ledger lines.But let’s back up even further.  Playing notes on th

Transcript and links included below…Today, we’re going to talk about the pros and cons of learning to play the guitar by watching YouTube videos.Even before we begin our discussion today, I think it would be important for you to know just a little bit about me, especially if you’re new to Guitar Serious Fun. I started playing the guitar in 1994 while simultaneously earning a Bachelor’s degree in Music with an emphasis on vocal performance. My college education gave me a solid music theory base, and I went through all 7 grades of Mel Bay’s Modern Guitar Method as I applied what I was learning. I began writing songs in 1996, recording in the studio in 1999, and since then, I’ve toured all over North America leading worship and performing concerts. Amidst all of this, there’s been a constant thread of teaching music, especially the guitar, and at one time I had a full roster of 50 students with a waiting list.When YouTube was created in 2005, I was well on my way as a guitar learner and teacher, and this new platform offered some things that had not previously existed. Someone could capture a video of themselves teaching a guitar concept, for example, and they could upload it for anyone on the planet to watch anytime.But right there I’ll pause to say that although views can be measured in metrics, there isn’t a standard in place to vet quality content (beyond it being appropriate vs. inappropriate or “likes.”) There’s grown to be such an influx of content that there’s no way to keep up with the content creators and monitor whether they’re able to unpack and teach a concept well.So, with a broad stroke, there are two basic types of guitar education content creators on YouTube… First, creators who are aiming to garner followers and views that will lead to monetization. Second, creators who have a presence on YouTube but ultimately want to invite their viewers into a paid educational offering that is not necessarily hosted on YouTube.Speaking transparently, I’m of the latter disposition.  Although I’ve uploaded content on one channel off and on since 2008, I’ve been much more consistent with our GuitarSuccess4U YouTube channel and have seen more viewer response because of this consistency.  But my presence with GuitarSuccess4U on YouTube is still modest.I don’t live on the platform; I post an average of one mini lesson every other week, with shorts multiple times a week. The mini lessons are usually around 10-minutes long and go deeper than my 60-second shorts. Posting consistently like this reminds my viewers that I’m here, that I want to provide some value, and my presence helps viewers to learn to know, like and trust me.My goal is not to gain millions of followers and to be monetized.  I also have a presence on Instagram, Facebook, and of course, here at Guitar Serious Fun, so it could theoretically be possible to choose just one of those avenues and make it a full-time job.With respect, I’d rather not go that route.Instead, I’m passionately leaning into an online offering I launched in 2019 called GuitarSuccess4U, which you may have heard of.  If you haven’t, take just a moment to check out our website at www.GuitarSuccess4U.com, and pause this recording.  I’ll wait.If you’ve had the chance to see what we offer, awesome.  We hope you’ll check out the reviews, frequently asked questions, member testimonials, and some of the sample lessons. If you haven’t, here’s the basic skinny on what it is: a self-paced online experience for beginning and intermediate Christian guitar players who know there’s more to the guitar…and who want to access fresh, proven, curated content that’s organized really well.In addition to that, though, we have multiple expert interviews and bonuses that can’t be found anywhere else. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we have a Christ-honoring community that exceeds the dynamic of a forum or discussion group in its practical and supportive nature.Some forums or discussion platforms end up being a place where there’s a lot of unconstructive criticism.  Not in our community.And again, YouTube is a powerful tool with great potential, so I’ve decided camp out on this for a few minutes today.So, let me take you into some of my thoughts as I contrast the pros and cons of YouTube with our GuitarSuccess4U model, and then you can decide what seems best for you in this season.But first, a story.The DictionaryWhen I was about 10 years old, my paternal grandmother gave me a very thick Webster’s Dictionary – about three inches thick, hardbound, 8 ½ x 11”.  This was a decent-sized dictionary, and I was grateful to receive this gift.  I’ve flipped through it a lot over the past few decades.  But I can confidently say that I have not read through it line by line, cover to cover.  That wouldn’t make sense, because there are a lot of words I’ll never use, but more importantly, it would take an exorbitant amount of time.The main way I’ve used this dictionary (other than as a weight or a doorstop) is to reference words alphabetically for definitions and spellings.And that’s the normal function of a dictionary, right?  It’s rare that someone would underline a huge portion of words in a dictionary like John Cusack’s love interest (Diane) in the movie Say Anything.  But perhaps a specific dictionary, like a medical dictionary (in that movie) has this kind of potential.But let’s draw a parallel just for a moment between a Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary and YouTube.Both are vast, and both are searchable.  If you’re looking for some answers to what you want to learn about, you can likely find a version of it on YouTube.The concept may be taught well.  It may give you some tools to grasp as you get started. And it’s also “free”…sort of.  Remember, YouTube gets paid because of ad traffic, so you will sometimes be paying for what you watch with your time as you wait for an ad to play (or at least the first few seconds.)Now, I have nothing against YouTube ads – I’m building some YouTube ads out right now as I string these words together.The Only Non-Renewable ResourceNow, did you catch the word I included just a moment ago?  It’s the word “time.”  In the movie Avengers: Endgame, Tony Stark recounts a pearl of wisdom from his father, Howard, to Howard himself many years earlier.  It really resonated with me.  The wisdom was this: “No amount of money ever bought a second of time.”Time is a non-renewable resource.  And although we can’t buy time, we can save time, which may actually translate to saving money as well.If I spend the better part of an afternoon or evening poking around on YouTube, I may find what I’m looking for.  But I may lose a lot of time doing it. Painful LearningI talked to one guitarist who learned to play on YouTube, but he described his experience as “painful.” I totally got it – there was a long slog towards finding what he wanted to learn, and much of it was disjointed and not at all progressive.This guitarist had been invited into a band rehearsal I was recruited to lead for, for a very specific endeavor that was coming up fast.  And as the leader, I had to make observations and intentional choices as I led this group.With respect, even as I interacted with this individual musically, it became clear that there were some essential music concepts he had not absorbed in his YouTube education that necessitated stopping the rehearsal multiple times, and eventually needing to do something I didn’t foresee happening: I had to seek a replacement for the endeavor we were rehearsing for. I did this in the kindest manner possible, but it was clear that this guy’s skills were not commensurate with what our band needed to put together for the set for the endeavor that was coming up in a week. I had to let this guy go.For the sake of the quality offering as a whole, I had to ask this guy to step down and to continue to develop his skills, hopefully for a future opportunity, while I sought out someone I knew could meet the standard with the time we had left.A Distilled CollectionLet me drop a word into this discussion that you’ve probably heard.  I mentioned it briefly earlier in this episode.  The word is “curated.”  In layman’s terms, a curated collection is an organized collection of things, whether antiques, art, or in this case, music teaching tools.If a collection is curated, it has been carefully reviewed for the most effective and valuable criteria.  It’s not a random, haphazard group of things.  It’s very deliberate.But to curate something, you need to have time to do so, but also the experience to know what is relevant and of high quality.Typically, a curated collection is not very large.  It’s been distilled and culled to the most essential elements.My approach to building out the GuitarSuccess4U materials in our battle-tested 6-stage Success Path is to do just that.  Having led worship, toured, written songs, and recorded multiple albums in the studio for three decades now, I’ve learned quite a bit.And as I mentioned, I had a guitar studio of 50 students a week upon whom I tested a ton of guitar concepts, to see which ones worked best.And much of what I’ve learned has been by accident or through the “school of hard knocks.”So, I’ve taken great pains to relieve and prevent the frustration of someone who is wanting to learn to play the guitar or go deeper with what they already know.Someone who accesses our curated collection of materials will learn much more on purpose, and with much less grief and frustration, because everything is clearly laid out.In terms of guitar study, there are so many different styles out there that the mind positively boggles.  Metal, Jazz, Funk and Classical are some of the broad strokes.  But then there’s Neo Soul, Gospel, R&B, Punk, and many other styles.My focus as a folk/pop singer/songwriter and worship leader is: acoustic rhythm guitar, but even within that, there are multiple subsets, including strumming, flatpicking, fingerstyle, and more. I think there’s wisdom

Transcript included below…Today, we’re going to talk about what it’s like to be a clumsy guitarist, and seven intentional strategies for how to avoid being a clumsy guitarist.When I’m puttering around at home, I dress pretty casually.  One item of clothing that I tend to favor is khaki cargo shorts.  They’re comfy. But sometimes, especially when I’m in a hurry, I occasionally catch the corner of the leg pockets of these shorts on some things around the house.  Like drawer knobs in the kitchen.  Or the corner of a license plate on my car in the garage.Catching the pocket on a drawer is startling, but not as startling as the loud “thwap” that happens when I bend the corner of a license plate.I know what you’re thinking – maybe wear a different kind of shorts than cargo shorts.But that could be treating the symptom.Here’s another idea I need to consider: slow down, be more deliberate, and be…less clumsy.I think this approach applies to a lot of different aspects of life, including…you guessed it…our guitar playing.Picture me practicing some guitar exercises or a song, whether I’m in cargo shorts or jeans or whatever.  What if I make my way hastily through said exercises or song?I’ll get hung up on things, I’ll miss things, or totally play something wrong. Is that ok?  Yes, I suppose.  Because I don’t want to be so perfectionistic that the joy of music goes away.However, and I think you’ll catch this – I can slow down a bit and really take some intentional steps towards setting myself up well for playing more accurately during my practice time.In Guitar Serious Fun Episode 34, “Can Practicing the Guitar Be Harmful?” I took some time to talk about the importance of mental focus.  I’ll expand a bit on those thoughts and add a few more here today. 1.       Set yourself up for smooth sailing.If my guitar is in good working order, I’ll be in great shape for a solid practice session.  In GuitarSuccess4U, one of the five instant bonuses I award to new members is a video called “10 Tips for Making Sure Your Guitar is Properly Set Up.”I’ll probably not play as smoothly if my action is too high.  I may get clumsy.If my guitar is set up properly, it has a much better chance of staying in tune when I tune it.  And speaking of tuning, I also offer my new members another bonus – “How to Choose a Tuner.” In this video we go over the merits of tuners that are attached to the headstock of our guitars, thereby allowing the vibrations of the notes to be picked up and tuned precisely.We also talk about tuners you can plug into, whether handheld, or mounted on a pedal board.We even talk about sound wave beats that can be matched with a tuning fork.  All kinds of possibilities.But having my guitar set up and in tune is going to make for a great practice session.  Less clumsiness, right?2.       Make a bit of space.Having a space dedicated to your guitar practice can be a huge blessing, even if it’s just the corner of a bedroom, or a space that serves multiple purposes (like an office or a study.) Being able to close the door of a practice space allows for fewer interruptions, but also the opportunity for me to play something repetitively without feeling self-conscious. If I’m sharing the space physically (or sonically) with someone else, I’ll feel reluctant about practicing something diligently until I get it right, because the repetition may seem a bit tedious for my listeners.These practice space tips and others can be found in yet another of the five instant GuitarSuccess4U bonuses: a PDF called “10 Tips for Making Your Solo Practice Space Great.”  I include photos and descriptions for making your practice space a place that you love to spend time in. 3.       Give yourself the gift of solitude.I love to be able to close the door of my practice space, as I mentioned above.New members of GuitarSuccess4U get a fun door hanger that is basically a snazzy “do not disturb” sign for their practice space.  On one side, it says: “Hold that thought.  I’m practicing the guitar.  Please give me a few more minutes.  Thanks.”  On the other side, it says “Get in here – you’ve got to hear what I’m discovering on the guitar – wooo!”As you might imagine, having uninterrupted time at my instrument can promote better concentration.Now, we don’t live in a vacuum, and there’s “life” happening around us all the time, especially if we have children under our roof, which is a good thing.But setting aside time and expressing my need to have an uninterrupted practice session can be a huge gift.  It helps if this is a time of day that’s consistent, like before breakfast, or after work, or just before bed, etc.  That way, my family can give me the allocated time to tackle my practicing, and then I can be free to engage with them after I’m done.What’s the opposite of solitude?  Well, maybe chaos or at least a state of many distractions.Again, our world has lots going on, but if I allow sounds from a TV or radio to intrude on my concentration, I’ll get clumsy.4.       Invite distractions on purpose.The only caveat I’d offer to having a distraction-free environment is that if I’m working to take something I already know well musically to the next level, I can actually invite distractions into my process from time to time.I can practice a song with totally different music playing in the background to provide a bit of mental resistance, much like a weight lifter can add more weight to strengthen their muscles.I can also have a TV on if I’m working on rudiments, etc., If I can persevere (and play well) amidst distractions, I will do better when it comes time to stand up in front of an audience, a congregation or a studio microphone.I was gearing up for a Christmas tour one year, and we had guests over for Thanksgiving.  So, I invited them to listen to me play one of my most technical songs.One of the guests proceeded to turn on her phone and capture me on video…from about four feet away. It was initially a bit startling and of course, very distracting, but ultimately, it served as a fabulous catalyst and strengthened my preparation on the song, which went much more fluidly on my Christmas tour.5.       Haste Makes Waste.If you’ve heard this expression (or lived it) you know that some things can fall off the wagon if we’re too hasty.  So, one thing I recommend is to slow down and take things deliberately.In Guitar Serious Fun Episode 26, “Don’t Get Caught in a Speed Trap,” I speak plainly about how I am prone to rushing the tempos for the songs I play.Sometimes this is because I’m overexcited in a performance or recording setting, or because I don’t have a strong conviction about how to keep a rushing drummer in check.But sometimes, it’s because I’m in a hurry to get through a guitar song or exercise.  Rushing through these types of things, especially early on in the formative season of the song, can never be a good thing. Why?  I’ll give you a second to guess.It’s because I’ll likely get clumsy. And what do my hands know?  They only know what I tell them.  So, if I rush through my practice session because I’m in a hurry, I’ll make some (or a lot of) mistakes.And then when it comes time to play the song “for real” (which, in my opinion, is a bit of a misnomer since we should always be playing with intention), I’ll likely “re-state” the mistakes I’ve made in practice.As several wise music teachers have quipped, “Practice makes permanent.”  In other words, whatever is practiced becomes more permanent.It takes quite a bit of re-training to “undo” incorrectly practiced music.6.       Clean playing is rarer than you think.The idea of playing cleanly on the guitar is, in some ways, a lost art in some circles.I recall being at a Pierre Bensusan guitar seminar in his home studio in rural France (and as I string these words together, I’m actually enjoying listening to Pierre’s solo acoustic album, Intuite.)When he was instructing me and a small group of students, he made it clear that playing clean should always be the goal.What is playing clean?  You probably know.  But it’s basically articulating notes and chords in such a way that they ring out clearly.No string buzz, no unnecessarily muted (or unmuted) notes, and basically a very strong sense of purpose in what we do.I could probably dedicate an entire episode of Guitar Serious Fun to this discussion topic (and I may), but for now, I recommend being uncompromising in your execution of the notes you play.I’ll ask a rhetorical question: is it better to learn forty chords that I can play fairly well, or just four chords that I can play cleanly?Based on what I’ve just discussed, the latter is superior. If I had a nickel for every volunteer worship guitarist I’ve heard play in a clumsy fashion, I’d have a lot of nickels. Usually clumsy playing comes across to me as an attitude of compromise.  I know that some guitarists are just getting started and they want to be available to serve, so I’ll tread lightly.But if these guitarists can clearly articulate a strong G, C, D and E minor chord progression, not just with their individual appearances, but in context and in transition with other chords, it’s a much more skillful offering than a bunch of chords that just don’t sound quite right.And even though some listeners are musicians, many are not…and yet, most can discern the difference between clean and clumsy.You get it – play skillfully as the Psalmist exhorts us to do in Psalm 33:3. In GuitarSuccess4U, which you’ve heard me allude to a few times in today’s episode and which you likely know a bit about (or are even a member of, perhaps), we leverage a tool of my own design called The Chord Kite Diagram, which I’ve never seen anywhere else.  Therefore, I had to create it.It details multiple “communication pathways” so as to allow chords to function very deliberately in context.  In creating the Chord Kite Diagram, I use an axiom that is inspired by Dawn Jones called “Reduce it to the Ridiculous.”You can listen to Dawn and me unpac

Pro tip: please watch the short video version of this post that I link to www.guitarsuccess4u.com/Communicate6. It will give you a much clearer grasp of what I’m sharing here.Abbreviated transcript included below…Did you know that as a guitarist onstage, you’re always communicating something, whether you’re trying to or not? Your presence on the platform, especially as a worship guitarist or band leader, puts you in the middle of a conversation.  Will you communicate well? If you listen to what I have to share with you today, I think you’ll gain some solid tips that will make you much more effective.After leading worship professionally on staff for over a decade, and touring all over North America as a guest worship leader for almost three decades, I’ve picked up a few strategies that have really enhanced my process and blessed the people I’ve been serving with, both musicians and technicians. And most of these involve non-verbal communication.Here are six ways to communicate well with your teams from your guitar.1. Cue and establish the tempo. Tempo is essential. How do we achieve consensus for how the song begins? The worship guitarist can count in. I’ve seen several approaches, but if the song is in 4/4 time and the worship leader (who may also be playing the rhythm guitar) wants everyone in on beat one, and chooses to count 1, 2, 3, 4, is there any ambiguity about when the downbeat of the first measure is? Nope. It’s super clear. Some worship guitarists would rather not do this – they don’t want to verbally start the song. A subtler approach could be to tell the drummer to “click in” with his or her sticks, or start the click, by cueing them with a code word. Like, “exalt,” for example.We could say, “Let’s lift our voices together as we exalt our Lord in song.” Cue the click.2. Keep the tempo. Some of us have people on our teams who like to rush. If the whole team or band has IEMs with a click, this keeps things more manageable, but without that infrastructure, we need to be able to signal our team with our foot, especially if the tempo is accelerating unnecessarily. We can stomp our foot, or we can lightly tap our foot, but if we have a solid feel and ability for communicating the tempo, our team should be able to visually “check in” and see if they’re on track with us. Obviously, they need to be able to have line of sight to our foot for this.3. Move to (and from) the mic. Let’s assume that you’re leading worship as you sing and play rhythm guitar. Do you need to be at the mic when you’re not singing? My answer to that is: “no.”  Track with me here. If there’s a short (or long) intro or instra break, it does not serve the band (or anyone) well for the worship leader to linger at the boom mic. They’re sending a “false positive” message to everyone and creating a subconscious state of insecurity. The only foolproof strategy is if the worship leader moves to the side, away from the mic at the breaks, and then comes back when it’s time to sing again, thereby “rebooting” the process. Coming back to the mic tells everyone (including the projectionist) that the next lyrics are to be sung. Is this overkill? Not if you’ve witnessed what I have – people from the congregation inadvertently singing “solos” and then stopping abruptly, sometimes not without a bit of embarrassment.4. Move the guitar neck for ritardandos. Ritardando is the Italian musical expression for “slowing down,” usually at the end of a song. If you want your band to follow you rhythmically through that slow-down, use your guitar neck. You can literally subdivide the measure by moving your neck down and up, and decelerating the tempo.5. Raise the guitar neck to signal the end of the song. If the band isn’t certain if the chorus you’re on is the final chorus, etc., simply raise the neck of your guitar about 30 degrees as you sing, and the band can see that as a signal to wrap up. They’ll know the song is about to end.6. Confirm the length of the closing song (even before it begins.) Sometimes, we need to “call an audible” and truncate the song at the end of the service. We can communicate our plans for this with our teams without saying a word. For this to happen, it helps to have two versions of the song rehearsed and ready in the minds of the band, but even in the slide shows of the projectionist. These two versions are: the unabridged version, and the abridged version. But how to communicate with the band and the projectionist which way you’re going to go? Right before the closing song, I can choose one of two postures that will be visible to everyone, even from far away. First, hands at my sides indicates “no hurry” – and therefore the unabridged version. Second, hands on my guitar indicates that time is short and we are “in a hurry” – and therefore the need for the abridged version.Closing ThoughtsI hope these tips have been helpful today. There are more, and I’ll share additional thoughts with you on related subjects in the future. For now, put some of these into practice for your next time of worship or band offerings. Don’t feel like you need to tackle “all” of them at once.Thanks for your time today.  Keep showing up, and I’ll see you next time!Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com

Today, together with Nashville session guitarist Dave Cleveland, we’re going to bring you a huge dose of encouragement as it pertains to the journey of a Christian guitarist.To give you a bit of background on what you’re going to experience if you’re willing to listen to the audio version of today’s episode, I’ve had the privilege of teaching guitar workshops at the Christian Musician Summit here in the Pacific Northwest for fifteen years. Each time I’ve been invited to teach, I’ve brought topics related to rhythm guitar, fretboard knowledge, chords, the capo and more, all with a view to equipping Christian guitarists to develop their skills for worship leading and songwriting.My first year at the CMS was 2007, and after road-testing a lot of my teaching concepts for over a decade, I intentionally launched GuitarSuccess4U in 2019. It was there that I began to draw like-minded people into a community where music is a language, guitar is a dialect, and where we work diligently with joy to expand our vocabulary.I’m always growing as a guitarist and as a musician, and my desire to expand my vocabulary is constant. So, at this year’s CMS, I was intrigued by a workshop offered by Nashville guitar session player Dave Cleveland. It was all about capos and alternate tunings, both of which I leverage on a pretty regular basis. What followed was unexpected: Dave actually invited me to help him teach the class.With eager onlookers, we delved into multiple capo positions and tunings, leveraged the CAGED System, and called out Nashville Numbers so we could work in tandem.I like to bring a plan, but in this case, there was very little structure, which actually allowed us to explore musical frontiers I didn’t even know were possible.Well, I told my tribe of guitarists about this experience and I invited Dave to be on a Zoom call with us to debrief that class, and he accepted.  Dave is a gentleman and a scholar, the first-call session guitar player in Nashville, having played on countless commercials, in movies, and on major albums with people like Steven Curtis Chapman, Miley Cyrus, Twila Paris, Lauren Daigle and more.  Over his 32-year career, Dave has recorded over 30,000 songs.He graciously granted me permission to share some segments from the Zoom call we hosted recently inside the membership.  Typically, I keep these kinds of treats for members only, but I felt like it would be a great way to give you, our listeners here at Guitar Serious Fun, a window into what goes on when we gather for a Zoom call discussion with a guest expert.What you’ll sense almost immediately about Dave is that he’s super chill, very encouraging, extremely knowledgeable, generous with his ideas, and really, just a brother in the Lord that you’re going to love spending a little time with.This was a call where I invited my Guitar Successors, as I like to call them, to type their comments and questions   into the chat, so we could cover as much ground as possible during our brief time with Dave. Here’s where I link to my YouTube video that captured the visual aspect of the experience. Now that you’ve heard a bit of the audio from the workshop, I want to encourage you to listen to the podcast version of today’s episode to enjoy a distilled audio excerpt from the Zoom call where Dave fielded a variety of questions and offered some tremendous encouragement to our community. Well, I hope you gleaned a few things from our discussion with Dave.  I smiled quite a lot as we enjoyed that short and sweet time together.As you might imagine, I seek out several experts who join us on Zoom over the course of each year, and each expert brings a different bit of wisdom. We’ve had Jesse Ferguson talking about in ear monitors and how to leverage them. We’ve had Jeff Sandberg, a world-class saxophonist, talking about improvisation. We’ve had Brian Reding, a multi-instrumentalist and producer, talking about the art of listening. We’ve had Jerry Roberts, a slow-handed Eric Clapton-esque electric guitarist talking about weaving electric and acoustic together for worship and designing an app-driven pedal board. We’ve had Jeremy Calvin, a wunderkind aux percussionist talking about creativity for solid rhythm grooves with percussion and guitar. We’ve had Adam Bollen, a super intuitive bass player talking about arranging, rehearsing, and pedal effects. We’ve had Ron Mallory, a highly published arranger and keyboard player, talking about relevant music theory and transposition. We’ve had Dr. Gordon Myco, a chiropractor and health coach, talking about health, posture, diet, and longevity for our musical journeys. We’ve had the Master Luthiers of Mike Lull’s Guitar Works talking about the craft of building, repairing and caring for guitars. And we’ve got more coming up.  Does this pique your interest at all?  Leave a comment if it does.  And if you’re rarin’ to go and want to find your people, meet guest experts, and most of all, fulfill your potential as a Christian Guitarist, don’t wait any longer.Head on over to GuitarSuccess4U.com to begin your journey with us and take your guitar playing to the next level.  I would be honored to serve you, and our tribe would be honored to welcome you in.Thanks for experiencing today’s episode, and I’ll see you next time.Thanks for reading Guitar Serious Fun! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit guitarseriousfun.substack.com