The same rules apply to every genre! It first it might seem like your trying too far into the heart and soul of what you’re doing but once you get this drilled into you, you don’t have to think about it anymore. They just become sounds and every bit as soulful as you felt it before you did the work. The only difference is now you have full control and understanding of the cool notes!

This stuff is useless unless you can address some harmonic and melodic problems with it. I guess it’s a chicken and egg situation. Is our melody formed by a technique or is our technique formed by our melody? Who knows? I explore these issues in the ‘Picking’ section in the Classroom.

It’s just cheating. But if cheating means winning, then I’m all for it!

Here’s a good, long run at ‘All the things you are. This is the sort out point you can get to if you spend enough time in your practice sessions targeting chord tones. You always, always find yourself starting each bar or idea with a strong note. The method is shown in fine detail on the ‘Position Playing’ lessons in the Classroom.

If you slow things down, you have more time to think, and in this case, I actually get the chance to say out loud what I’m doing!