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Three robust shortcuts that can save you years
The conventional wisdom is that there are no shortcuts to becoming a good musician. On guitar, that is patently false. In this video, I share three shortcuts that dramatically accelerated my progress and have been working well with my students. If you’ve been following my videos for a while, the first two shortcuts won’t be…
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Every scale, everywhere, all at once
I’ve been working on the idea for this video for a few months. It started as a reaction to one of Rick Beato’s livestreamed “the ultimate guitar fretboard crash course” videos. I love Rick’s interviews and song analysis, but his crash course video left me wondering if I could do better. I challenged myself to explain how to learn 15…
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How to improvise over chord changes by finding only one note by name
Improvising solos over chord changes can be intimidating—but it doesn’t have to be! If you can find one note by name, anywhere on the fretboard, you can easily find the right scales and chord tone targets right under your fingers, every time. This video provides an overview of the method and shares pointers for where…
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Pentatonic gear shifts
This technique was an epiphany. Once I figured out that you could shift pentatonic scale shapes up or down in response to chord changes, my melodic soloing ability leveled up overnight. I hope it can do the same for you!
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Fret Science: Improv 101
A high level overview and detailed syllabus for the Fret Science: Improv 101 course
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An invitation to join me on Patreon
As a way of releasing content much more frequently, and as a way to make motivate myself to make more progress on the future Fret Science book, I’m launching a Patreon subscription site where I can share shorter lessons, practice aids, bonus materials, and work in progress on a weekly basis. It’s the best place…
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Cowboy chord superpowers
Cowboy chords, often criticized by experienced guitarists, can unlock hundreds of chord variations across the fretboard by mastering just five of them. These chords are essential for AC/DC’s rhythm guitar sound, effective capo usage, and quick learning of triads across the fretboard. Check out the video for more details.
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The Big Picture
The Fret Science method connects music theory concepts like CAGED, 3NPS, pentatonic scales, triads, and major scale modes to master the fretboard. This approach provides a big picture view, enabling improvisation by visualizing the notes as a palette of sounds. Watch the video for a concise explanation.
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The Dickey Betts hexatonic scale
Jack Ruch is one of my favorite guitar YouTubers because of his beautifully lyrical phrasing and excellent teaching style. He recently released a tribute to the late great Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers Band, which I highly recommend checking out. I’ll include a link at the end of this lesson, but I think you’ll…
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How to memorize the fretboard
Why do so many guitar players resist learning the notes on the fretboard? This is my most complex set of animations so far, built in service of the simplest topic I’ve covered to date: how to learn the notes of the fretboard efficiently, and working on recall speed as a key enabler for improvisation.
Fret Science 