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All my guitar-focused resources & lesson articles: covering familiar ground as well as global topics (plus Spinal Tap…)

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Lesson Articles | Altered Tunings | Online Tuition

Above all, I aim to enthuse fellow musical searchers, connecting new sounds and textures to the human voices, cultures, and passions behind them. I cover topics loosely related to raga, jazz, and global improvisation, drawing on my study of guitar, tabla, sitar, and santoor in India and the UK.

• Join my PATREON! •

In the past few years I’ve written for Darbar, The Wire, Jazzwise, Jazzed, MusicRadar, and Guitar World, on subjects spanning Coltrane and Hendrix to microtonal guitar tunings and West African polyrhythms. I also teach guitar & global music (hit me up for Lessons). Here’s a list of nearly everything so far…

• Lessons & Articles •

Assorted lesson articles: fresh perspectives via global ideas, and reappraising some familiar fretboard topics along the way…

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• West African rhythm: Saharan kora harps & Ewe polyrhythms

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• Golden-age hip-hop: arranging classic loops for the guitar

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• Short jazzy loops: concise, self-contained chord sequences

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• One-chord songs: from rock and blues to folk and orchestral

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• Guitarless learning: practicing without an instrument around

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• Jazz walking bass: capturing melody, harmony, and swing

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• Zero-th fret awareness: incorporating open string tones

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• Odd-time songwriting: building groove and a versatile ‘feel’

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• Alankar ‘decoration’: India’s incredible melodic ornaments

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• North Indian basics: two raga snapshots, and the tintal cycle

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• Spinal Tap – up to 11: their ‘hidden’ roots in jazz, Bach, & raga

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• Percussive acoustic guitar: techniques & animal rhythms

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• Creative wah pedal use: vowels, circuitry, & classic Hendrix

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• The ‘fretless fretboard’: using nothing but natural harmonics

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• Flamen-konnakol rumba: Spanish-Carnatic translations

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• Prasanna’s Hansadhwani: Transcribing Carnatic guitar

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• Shakti’s ‘Remainder Bar’ rhythms: odd-time groove tricks

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• Jazz chord formulas: all the important interval structures

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GUITAR LESSONS: SAMPLER

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—Jazz walking basslines for the guitar: how to really make them groove [Guitar World]

 

“There are few things in music more satisfying than a perfect walking bassline. In this lesson we explore the sounds of classic jazz walking bass, learning how to adapt the ideas to the fretboard and use them for new harmonic-melodic inspiration.”

• Ornamented walking line in Am:

 

—West African grooves: fascinating rhythms from Mali, Ghana, and beyond [Guitar World]

 

“This lesson gives a rhythmic taste of two extraordinary traditions from West Africa – the kora harp playing of Mali’s jali lineage, and Ghana’s polyrhythmic Ewe drumming….We will also explore some of the human lives, routines, and beliefs behind them. Cross-cultural borrowing must always come from a place of open-minded respect, and musical ideas will only yield their full blossom when connected to their real-world contexts.”

• Reworking melodic ideas from the kora harp:

 

—Awareness of the zeroth fret: incorporating open string textures, chords, and scales [Guitar World]

 

“When soloing higher up the neck, the open strings tend to get forgotten. We rarely ‘look the other way’, missing out on a fascinating array of musical opportunities…This lesson will build your open-string awareness, allowing for new textures, patterns, and chord voicings.”

• ‘Harpifying’ a lick in A Dorian with open string tones:

 

—Odd-time songwriting grooves: five fresh rhythms based on classic tracks [MusicRadar]

 

“Basic counting isn’t the problem. Master percussionists are never really doing this anyway – rhythmic flow must be intuitive…It’s more about exposure than anything else. Bulgarian wedding guests have no problem dancing in 11/8 – it’s easy if you’ve grown up doing it. If you listen to enough irregular grooves then they’ll sink in.”

• Radiohead-style chordal movement in 10/4:

 

—Basics of Hindustani raga: adapting some North Indian classical ideas to the fretboard [MusicRadar]

 

“What are the basics of Hindustani music? I think these are the most important first concepts for Western instrumentalists: raga (a melodic ‘recipe’ to guide improvisation towards particular moods), tala (‘clap’, or rhythm cycle), and alankar (ornamentation and ‘musical decoration’).”

• Short ‘gat’ melody in Raag Bageshri:

 

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