Gear confession – Tokai Goldstar Sound ST60

By Guest Blogger | March 30, 2011

So I’ve had this Strat for twenty years now, and actually, it doesn’t really belong to me. It is on loan from my best mate Chris’s older brother, Tim, who wasn’t playing it. And so, to save it from sitting around gathering dust, Chris brought it up to Liverpool and I just haven’t quite got […]

Free electric guitar lesson – using double stops in worship

By Andy@Musicademy | March 17, 2011

This 31 min lesson is great for learning about a technique called double stops which is a kind of combined lead and rhythm style that’s perfect for slower songs. We break down a part note for note and then play it together over the well known worship song, Surrender. A must for any electric guitarist […]

Downsizing my rig – the all-in-one gig bag

By Andy@Musicademy | March 14, 2011

I’ve got to the stage as a guitarist where I’m basically getting a bit lazy and I just can’t be bothered anymore with lugging loads of equipment around. Where I used to spend hours setting up my perfect rig, now I just want one trip from the car, plug in as few cables as possible […]

I’m a little bit country – Nick Langley on Nashville Numbering

By Guest Blogger | March 10, 2011

I’ve seen posts on various websites, including this venerable one, discussing innumerable cunning ways of writing charts. Why, I ask? What’s wrong with the existing systems? Music notation has been painstakingly refined over centuries and does the job perfectly well. People have been recording music since long before Edison invented the phonograph, Bill Lear and […]

Strumming pattern to Lord Reign in Me (Over All the Earth) by Brenton Brown

By Andy@Musicademy | March 9, 2011

This is an interesting one which I’ve taken from the original Brenton Brown recording. Many people highlight the pushes in the melody with their strumming patterns but Brenton Brown, who wrote it, doesn’t. He plays a straight, rock solid strumming pattern. Sometimes playing all the pushes can just be overkill. I’ve listed this in a […]

Strumming Pattern – Days of Elijah by Robin Mark

By Andy@Musicademy | March 4, 2011

There are lots of versions of this that all vary slightly. I’ve used Robin Mark’s original. Its another syncopated ‘gallop’ style pattern that moves the song along when played fast. Many people use the pattern all the time and it can become a bit wearing if the song doesn’t need it so use it appropriately […]

Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world – Nick Langley on slash chords

By Guest Blogger | February 28, 2011

A quick word about slash chords. Well, a word about slash chords. Or two. Having spent a dozen years in the musical wilderness, the thought of “Slash” chords filled me with rock ‘n’ roll anticipation: Yeehah! There was I expecting free Les Paul gold-tops, a “marlie” tech who’d rush on in between songs stuffing Marlborough […]