Steve Krenz

Ozy, First of all welcome! It looks like you're starting to meet some of the gang. Regarding Left and Right Handed-ness - I had answered this in a post on the old forum. Here are some thoughts.... Can the course be used for a left handed person and should I play guitar left handed? Thanks for the email. I play guitar right handed so naturally I instruct right handed. I have taught many left hand players and the material is identical. The only difference is that the left handed player has to interpret the visual elements in reverse. This sounds a little more daunting than what it actually is. Left handed players quite naturally make the distinction and capture the material with the same speed and comprehension that the right hand players do. Actually, when the material is presented on video, to a left handed player it will be an exact mirror image of what they will be playing. So, I have not found in my private teaching that left hand students have any problem applying the concepts to their playing any more than right hand students do. Here's another thought. I have found in my personal private teaching that whether a player is left or right handed in their playing is not as cut and dried as "All left hand players play left handed". I have actually found in the course of teaching many left handed people guitar that usually just about half of left hand players actually prefer to play the guitar left handed. As confusing as this would seem. It seems that it has something to do with how "left handed" each individual student seems to be - the level of their handedness dominance. On a beginner, I can usually tell within about two or three weeks how their motor skill development is doing. I generally start every brand new, never touched a guitar before, beginner (right and left handed players) playing the guitar right handed. (I do this for a variety of reasons, the largest being that left handed resources for the guitar are so limited. Almost everything for guitar is geared to playing right handed). For this new left handed beginner, if after three weeks they are still having great difficulty in getting their fingers to find the correct string when fretting a note then I would usually switch them to playing the guitar left handed. I flip the guitar and restring it in reverse or we try to locate them a left-handed instrument. We then start back at the beginning and after about a week of re-acclimating themselves to the instrument it becomes very clear which way is going to be preferable for the student to play. Whether a left handed player should actually play guitar left handed is an issue of motor skill dominance regarding their "handedness". Often this hand dominance is not clear in the first week or two, but by week three it becomes very clear which "hand" is more dominant for these fine motor skill tasks. I wish it were as easy as "If you're left hand, you play guitar left handed" but I have not found it to be that simple. (and from another post...) Choosing whether to play left or right handed as a left handed person depends on how dominant your handed-ness is. Typically, I would generally start a learner out playing right handed and see how it goes. You'll know in about a week if it is working for you. If you can't seem to do anything correctly and you are having incredible trouble just getting your hand to finger the right frets then that's usually a good indication that you probably need to try playing left-handed. But it takes a week or two of wrestling with it to really see. Because everyone is slow at the very beginning. So you really need to get past the first week or two of solid effort to get a good feel for how your fingers are doing. If by the end of a week or two and you are still struggling with getting your fingers to finger the correct fret (even though in your head you know which finger you need to play) then try switching to left handed. After you've done this, get a left handed guitar or re-string your guitar left handed and begin back at the beginning again. You'll have to go over the early things again, but this usually goes much quicker the second time. And within a week you are back to where you were and beyond. After this 2-3 week process it will be abundantly clear which hand you should be using to play guitar and you'll have the rest of your musical life to thank yourself for this small investment of a couple of weeks to figure this handed-ness issue on guitar once and for all. Also, I would suggest not spending more than one week on Session 1 of the Learn and Master Guitar course. The real learning starts in Session 2. I hope this helps. Please let me know how it turns out. - Steve

That's good advice! I practice.... Major Scales in One Position Major Scales: Three Note on a String - Playing normally ascending and descending, then in 3rds with hammer-ons and Pull-offs. Pentatonic Scales: Up and Down in Each Form, Up 4 Pattern, 3 pairs of Strings, then connecting the forms up and down the neck. Pentatonic Scales with Added Blues Note: Up and Down in Each Form When I change keys I like to go in a circle of Fifths rotation: C - G - D - A -- E - B - F# - Db - Ab - Eb - Bb - F or a circle of fourths rotation: C - F - Bb - Eb - Ab - Db - Gb - B - E - A - D -G Hope this helps! - Steve

Tuesday December 18th, 2018 7pm Central Topic: Fingerstyle Guitar with Collin Hill! Our very own, Collin Hill, will be dropping by to show some of his amazing fingerstyle playing, talk about his new project and show how to do harp harmonics! Here are the harp harmonic exercises he will reference... Harp Harmonics with Collin Hill.pdf Here's a video of Collin teaching harp harmonics... Great music, laughs, giveaways and more! Here are a few videos to get you familiar with him... Watch it live at 7pm Central tonight HERE Great music, giveaways and more. See you there! Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Colder, Yes, they will be the same as last year and they will be available the entire length of the conference. - Steve

Looking forward to having you all! - Steve

Tuesday December 4th, 2018 7pm Central Topic: Learn a Christmas Song! Tis the season to learn a Christmas song! I'll be teaching a classic. I'm working on getting the music together now. Plus, I'll be giving tips on what to look for when purchasing a guitar. Here are the songs we'll be referencing tonight. These are simple, triad-based arrangements by Bill Cooley. Christmas Songs with Triad.pdf Watch it live at 7pm Central tonight HERE Great music, giveaways and more. See you there! Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Tuesday November 20th, 2018 7pm Central Topic: Guitar Artistry with Johnny Hiland! "I think Johnny Hiland is the most versatile guitar player I've ever heard. From Bill Monroe to Eddie Van Halen, he can play it all!" - Ricky Skaggs The man, the myth, the legend - Johnny Hiland will be back with us tonight! Nominated by Vintage Guitar Magazine as Best Country Guitarist, Johnny Hiland is a great friend and phenomenal player! Great music, laughs, giveaways and more! Here are a few videos to get you familiar with him... Watch it live at 7pm Central tonight HERE Great music, giveaways and more. See you there! Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Yes, they were great. I didn't know quite what to expect but it ended up being fascinating. I look forward to having them back again next semester. - Steve

Yes, the patterns on the guitar are endless. If I follow you correctly, you're saying to play... 6th String: A (5th Fret) (1st finger) to C (8th Fret) (3rd or 4th finger) 5th String: E (7th Fret) (1st finger) to G (10th fret) (3rd or 4th finger) 4th String: A (7th Fret) (1st Finger) to C (10th fret) (3rd or 4th finger) 3rd String: E (9th Fret) (1st Finger) to G (12th fret) (3rd or 4th finger) 2nd String: A (10th Fret) (1st Finger) to C (13th fret) (3rd or 4th finger) 1st String: E (12th Fret) (1st Finger) to G (15th fret) (3rd or 4th finger) You'll find patterns like this all over the guitar. The trick is to then turn patterns like this into workable finger patterns and licks. Keep Learning! - Steve

Tuesday November 13th, 2018 Topic: Classical Guitar with the Belmont Guitar Ensemble! I'm excited to welcome the guitar ensemble of one of the premiere music schools in the nation - the Belmont Guitar Ensemble. Get ready to hear some of the most talented young classical guitarists around. They will be joining us along with their amazing mentor - Robert Thompson. PLUS, Katelyn Prieboy will show some Merle Travis picking. It will be a live lesson filled with great music. I'm anxious to get back to a normal schedule after so many weeks away. Watch it live at 7pm Central tonight HERE Great music, giveaways and more. See you there! Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Tuesday October 2nd, 2018 Topic: Cosmic Country with Daniel Donato! I'm thrilled to announce that we'll have one of the freshest new guitarists on the scene now - Daniel Donato! A wonderful player and kind young man. (Our kids grew up together and we've known Daniel since elementary school.) He'll be showing his amazing technique. He's taken country chickin' pickin' to fresh new places. Here are a few videos to get you familiar with him... Watch it live at 7pm Central tonight HERE Great music, giveaways and more. See you there! Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Shadowboxer, Wow! So sorry to hear about all that you've had to go through. I hope your home was OK. Glad you're safe. - Steve

Tuesday September 25th, 2018 Topic: Capo Madness! Tonight, it's our annual Capo special! Learn how to make the most of this little tool to create great sounding guitar parts. play music in any key and simplify your life. Learn about different types of capos, where to put your capo to get the best sound. PLUS, transposing songs to guitar friendly keys. Download the Capo and Transposing Chart here... Capo and Transposing Chart.pdf Watch it live at 7pm Central tonight HERE Great music, giveaways and more. See you there! Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Tuesday September 11th, 2018 Topic: The Best Sounding Chords for Guitar Certain chord shapes make the guitar really sound it's best. We'll cover some of these tonight. Download the PDF for the lesson... The Best Sounding Chords - G.pdf Watch it live at 7pm Central tonight HERE Great music, giveaways and more. See you there! Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Hey gang, Getting ready to release the next fretboard workout on Money Chords!! But needing a few testimonials for the webpage. Any fretboard workout success stories out there? I'd love to hear about your progress with them! Hope all is well. - Steve

Bryan, Yes, I'm so glad that our musical worlds have crossed paths and look forward to having him involved in the future. - Steve

Tuesday August 28th, 2018 Topic: Guitar Artistry with Bill Cooley "... one of Nashville's most respected sidemen." - Guitar Player Magazine We are honored to have with us, the legendary Bill Cooley. www.billcooleymusic.com/ Bill has toured and recorded with Merle Haggard, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Hal Ketchum, Kathy Matea and countless others. Bill's beautiful touch and signature acoustic guitar sound have made him the soundtrack to countless songs. A wonderful kind man and brilliant educator. Here are a few videos of Bill... It should be an amazing time of music, laughs, giveaways and more! Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Fantastic question! The answer is YES and NO! Let me explain. YES, when building 4 note chords (triad plus the seventh), the chord built on the seventh step of the scale would be a m7b5. (For example, in C, the chord on the seventh step would be a Bm7b5.) and... NO, these particular chord shapes used for that exercise, just happen to NOT include the 5th of each chord. So, you'll notice that each of those chord shapes used in that exercise don't include the 5th of each of those chords. So, back to your question. "Shouldn't the last one be a Bm7b5 instead of a Bm7?" Yes, the chord built on the seventh step of the scale has the b5 in it, but these particular voicings don't include the 5th. So, I had a choice when writing it out, should I write the chord name as a "Bm7b5" but show the form that doesn't include the 5th? I decided that would be confusing. So, I just wrote it as what it truly was, a Bm7. Hope this helps! - Steve

Tuesday August 7th, 2018 Topic: A Great Jazz Guitar Trick: Patterns and the Power of 3! You can watch the lesson HERE. Ready to learn a great jazz guitar trick? The ear recognizes patterns - patterns in chords, patterns in notes. You can use patterns to create incredible sounding progressions just by moving identical chord shapes to different parts of the neck - particularly three frets apart. Here's a great lesson on a wonderful concept of patterns and their use in threes. I know it sounds odd but, trust me, it's a handy tool to use. With some incredible musical results from just a bit of guitar sleight of hand. Here's a simple PDF of some of the concepts we'll be covering... Patterns and Power of 3.pdf Watch on our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE - Steve

Randy, So sorry to hear about this setback. Hopefully there won't be any permanent damage. Here are a few thoughts. Relax. You may not have chosen this but now you're strapped into this ride and there's little that worrying can do about it. Worrying won't make it better or shorter - just more miserable. Do what you're told. Do what the doc says. If he says "no use for a month" then don't sneak a quick play in here and there. In this big world of ours there's short term damage and long-term damage. A finger fracture is painful and a hassle but it is short term damage. BUT, not letting it heal properly can easily take it into long term damage and it will be something you'll be wrestling with 3 years from now. Keep thinking about guitar. There's tons that you can do without having to actually play. Work on theory stuff, song-writing or chord knowledge. The main thing is to keep your mind still in the guitar and learning game. Your mind is the real organ that affects your playing. Keep it engaged during these off weeks. You'll be back playing soon enough. - Steve

Couldn't have said it better myself! - Steve

Tuesday July 24th, 2018 Topic: Simple Guitar Tricks for Colorful Chords Did you know that by moving your fingers around the fretboard in a specific way that you can create incredible sounding chords? It's as easy as a simple shift. Here's a great lesson to show this simple trick. Hopefully your chord playing will never be the same! There are two PDFs that go along with this lesson. Just click on them to download. Here they are... SHAPE CHORDS.pdf SHAPE CHORDS 1.pdf Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gathering YouTube Channel HERE Learn all you can! - Steve

Wow, This is wonderful! Congratulations!!! I'm sure you started this thinking it would look one way but now that you're done the journey has gone a different but wonderful direction. I'm so proud of the work you've put in. Now, there's much music inside of you, ready and able to come out. Honored to be a small part of the journey with you. Thanks for being a great part of our guitar family. You've got much to give to others still working on their skills. Keep learning and pouring out to others. - Steve