Myth, Music and Monsters

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure that you seek. " Joseph Campbell In the basement of my childhood home there was a big, dusty, menacing piece of furniture that nobody ever went near. My first memory of it was being warned to stay away from the “monster” because it would crush my...

10 Classic Guitar Solos (OK, 11)

Guitar solos have long been part of what makes a good song great. They have inspired millions of us to pick up a guitar (or a broom, or a hockey stick) and get busy learning our scales. The guitar is such an expressive instrument that is can sound like like many different instruments, not in...

Music and Memory: Raising the Bar

“The true art of memory is the art of attention.” — Samuel Johnson A good memory is the single most important skill a musician can have. If you haven't been blessed with a great memory, don't worry, it is something that can be improved and enhanced. Memories are like muscles and they can be developed...

Learning Guitar with Micro Goals

"You can't learn something faster than you can learn it. "  "Still Life with Guitar" by Juan Gris. 1920 Oil on Canvas Residing at Saint Louis Art Museum. Courtesy of Widimedia Commons. Students often tell me that they are practicing every day but don't seem to be getting anywhere. My advice: define "anywhere". The solution...

Why Music Needs A Blast From The Past

A few years ago I went to see the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra perform Beethoven's Symphony Number 3, "Eroica". I had heard it many times before on the radio and on CD but when the lights went down and the orchestra hit those first two monster chords, I thought to myself that Beethoven was surely...