“During these difficult times..” How many times have you heard that phrase over the last 3 months? No doubt they have been difficult for many of us, but instead of listing the difficulties, I would like to take a moment and list the positives as we are experiencing here at The Guitarist.
Read MoreIf you are just getting started on the guitar, I am sure you’re beginning to experience some of the difficulties of learning to play this instrument. Some of the difficulties you might be coming across are pushing the strings down using your fingertips, stretching fingers across strings and frets, and muting strings in chords; let alone holding barre chords! If you haven’t gotten to barre chords, well, just wait and see.
Read MoreI was once told, “what gets your attention will get your action.” In other words you will eventually get what you’re looking for. The problem is, most students are looking to find all the right notes, and play in time, but not thinking about playing with good tone. The result? Songs learned through hard work and repetition that really don’t sound that good.
Tone is basically musical color. This is how I explain it to students. Imagine you have a box of crayons and a picture to color. Won’t we all take a moment to think of which colors to pick to color our picture? It is the same with music.
Read MoreHere's a transcript from a recent interview with one of our fantastic instructors, Bobby Medcalf!
Where are you from? Beech Grove, Indiana. So, I'm from the midwest.
And how long did you live in the midwest before you moved to CA? Until I was 12. My dad is a pastor and he was called to lead a church in CA when I was 12 years old; so we drove out to the Bay Area (Redwood City, CA) and I've lived here ever since.
When did you become interested in the drums? ...
Read MoreWhen The Guitarist opened for business about 25 years ago, we quickly realized that we needed to stock and have guitar available for sale to our students. The main reason being that most students do not know what to look for in an instrument. As a guitarist and instructor, I do know what to look for and can really help make the buying decision simple for my students. Here are a few thing to keep in mind when purchasing a guitar...
Read MoreHere's a transcript from a recent interview with one of our fantastic instructors, Jim Sturges!
Where are you from? San Jose, California. Actually, not far from here at all. I grew up right on the border of Santa Clara and San Jose.
Does your family have a long history here? My father was from Chicago and my mother was from Angel's Camp, up near Sonora, due east from here.
When did you start playing the piano? ...
Read MoreHere's a transcript from a recent interview with one of our fantastic instructors, Tim Schwalbach!
Where are you from originally? I was born in Redwood City, but I grew up in Cupertino.
When did you first play the guitar? I started lessons when I was 11, right down the street from where my parents lived. I walked to my lessons.
How did you learn to play? ...
Read MoreHere's a transcript from a recent interview with one of our fantastic instructors, Ron Jamison!
Where are you from originally? Falls Church, Virginia.
When did you move to the Bay Area? April 1, 1979.
When did you start teaching at The Guitarist? ...
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