March 29, 2024

A couple new, and unexpected lessons crossed our path and joined the TG Library this week. Last week it was I’ll Be Here In The Morning by Townes Van Zandt that cut the queue and turned into a lesson because a student and I had been working diligently on it. This week Neil Diamond’s Stones came along in a similar manner. It features an unusual arpeggio pattern that will challenge most students.

We also added a different type of Fly On The Wall lesson. Last Saturday I got together with Sara and Ben to rehearse for an event where we were playing a couple songs that evening. We shot a video of the session, which included takes of both Angel From Montgomery by John Prine and As by Stevie Wonder. I hope folks enjoy it.

I have another service I am playing for tomorrow and figured I needed to dust off some tunes that were a little mellow and even introspective. This had me revisiting things like Send In The Clowns, Tears In Heaven, In My Life, and On The Horizon, along with an old piece of mine called Shadows Of Moloka’i. The last tune has an introduction that includes harmonics, which inspired me to go into a bit of the science behind harmonics. There are bits of geography and even physics involved, and this is something I intend to do a more in-depth lesson on, but hopefully it might add a little insight into your understanding of them.

This weekend also wraps up our March 3-Minute Challenge. And remember that the last week includes 9 days, through Sunday April 31. We will be drawing the last few weekly winners and the grand prize winner next week. The grand prize will again be a private Zoom lesson with me, and the weekly winners will have some choices, one of which will be a set of strings from the Santa Cruz Guitar Company. I have been using them again recently and am really impressed with the sound, especially after they have been on my guitar for over a week. The D’Addarios I had been using really seem to degrade in 4-5 days. I am now a convert and plan to keep a good stash of the SCGC strings in stock.

Catch you in April,

Neil