Ten Quatrains About Slide Improvisation

Published: Fri, 05/17/24

Updated: Fri, 05/17/24

Behold, the alternating thumbA mystery, it can becomeWhen necessary to be pliedWhile fingerpicking with a slide The challenge is to play the lickson…

Ry Cooder vs. Duane Allman

Published: Fri, 05/17/24

Updated: Fri, 05/17/24

I'm guessing I'm not the only one whose shorthand for this or that technique or playing style is based on which musician I swiped it from. When it…

Slide Improvisation Workshop – FAQs

Published: Thu, 05/16/24

Updated: Thu, 05/16/24

Behold, the answers to a few questions I've been getting about this Saturday's Slide Improvisation workshop, answered here for your decision-making…

Slide Soloing in Four Steps

Published: Tue, 05/14/24

Updated: Tue, 05/14/24

This Saturday's Slide Improvisation workshop is about the four steps it takes to play self-accompanied slide solos over an alternating-thumb…

Improvising When Necessary

Published: Fri, 05/10/24

Updated: Fri, 05/10/24

I'm not a big fan of change. Mostly, it bugs me when I've learned how to use some tool – a web site, a piece of software – or I've woven something…

Another Idle Moment Co-opted By A Restless Brain

Published: Fri, 05/03/24

Updated: Sat, 05/04/24

Before I moved to Austin, I don't think I would have associated the Lone Star State with "going to to the beach." But one look at a map is all you…

Exchange Rate

Published: Fri, 04/26/24

I am often – okay, usually – the first one up in our house, and most mornings the family cat is waiting to come inside. Sometimes she's just curled up…

Muddling About With Geniuses

Published: Fri, 04/19/24

In the summer of 1985, my parents drove me up to Rochester, New York, to spend si weeks studying at the Eastman School of Music. Most of the program…

The Totality And The Backbeat

Published: Fri, 04/12/24

They've been holding an annual folk festival in Kerrville, Te as for the past fifty-two years. The main festival takes place in May, but because…

Making It Your Own

Published: Fri, 04/05/24

I learned how to teach in front of teenaged guitar dudes, si to eight kids to a class, five or si classes a day, si days a week, for five weeks every…