Steve Krenz
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Posts posted by Steve Krenz
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Great question,
I'm glad you're learning. Session 2 in the Fingerstyle course is a big one, so it's not surprising to me if it takes a month or two.
This session is all about muscle control and finger dexterity. In other words, getting your fingers to cooperate with what your brain is telling them to do.
My advice is to practice it slowly and carefully.
The primary goal is to get the finger motions correct.
Once you do that then it's pretty easy to pick up the tempo. But speed will never happen until the finger motions are correct. So focus mainly on getting the finger motions correct.
Try and get as many notes and strings to ring out as possible. In other words - don't cut off notes or strings before you need to.
Strive for a very smooth and legato flowing sound - not short and choppy.
Follow along with me in the video at the end of your practice session to make sure you are doing the exercise correctly.
Hope this helps.
Glad you're part of our guitar family!
- Steve
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Wonderful! We have that on our resources for this month. It's a good, foundational theory book.
Lots of creativity.
Learn all you can from everywhere you can.
- Steve
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Hey gang,
This month, I've found some great resources for learning the amazing Steve Vai. Arguably one of the best Rock guitarists on the planet, Steve Vai has had a legendary career with lots of Grammy's on his fireplace mantel.
He's a brilliant player.
I remember being in Clarkston, Washington doing music for a camp when I saw his world-record breaking online guitar lesson. One of the questions that a wannabe asked him was "What do I do to play like you?". I thought Steve's answer was brilliant. He answered.... "Do what I did."
I searched through a bunch of resources to find the best ones for learning "what he did". And here's what I found...
Steve Vai's Guitar Workout Book
Steve Vai Guitar Play-Alongs
Steve Vai's Music Theory Book for Guitarists - Vaideology
We put them all in a bundle and made them available for you at a great price.
You can check them out HERE.
Guitar World Presents STEVE VAI'S GUITAR WORKOUT (40pg Book)
Since its appearance in Guitar World in 1990, Vai's intensive guitar regimen has been the Holy Grail for serious players. Here is the lesson that shaped a generation of guitarists. Vai sat down with guitarist/transcriber Dave Whitehill and outlined his practice routine for Guitar World. Never before had a guitarist given such an in-depth explanation of his musical exercise regimen. It became a must-have for guitarists. Many of the players interviewed have cited it as an influence on their development as guitarists.
Here's a chance to experience the workout in its original form and to learn some of the things Vai has done to develop his formidable chops and remarkable music vocabulary.In this book, Steve Vai reveals his path to virtuoso enlightenment with two challenging guitar workouts – one 10-hour and one 30-hour – which include scale and chord exercises, ear training, sight-reading, music theory, and much more.
Here are some sample pages...
STEVE VAI GUITAR PLAY ALONG (88pg Book & Online Audio)The Guitar Play-Along Series will help you play your favorite songs quickly and easily! Just follow the tab, listen to the sound-alike audio to hear how the guitar should sound, and then play along using the separate backing tracks. The audio is available online for download or streaming, and it is enhanced so you can adjust the recording to any tempo without changing pitch!
8 Steve Vai classic songs written in music and TAB including: The Attitude Song • The Crying Machine • Die to Live • For the Love of God • I Would Love To • Sunshine Electric Raindrops • Tender Surrender • Touching Tongues.Here are some sample pages...
VAIDEOLOGY: Basic Music Theory for Guitar Players (96 pg Book)
Named Guardians of Guitar 2019 NAMM top pick!
Experience must-know music knowledge and wisdom through the highly focused lens of legendary guitar virtuoso Steve Vai.
This full-color instructional book written by Vai himself features in-depth discussions of the music theory fundamentals that every aspiring (and veteran) guitar player should know, packed with practical exercises, diagrams, tips, inspiring ideas and concepts, practice methods, and ways of looking at music that you may have never considered.
Topics covered include: academic vs. experiential learning • reading and writing music • key signatures • chord scales • rhythm basics • guitar harmonics • modes • and much more.
This beautiful book is full-color throughout and features artwork on every page by Vai!
Three powerful resources personally created by Steve Vai to help you reach your guitar goals.
- His Personal Legendary Workouts
- Learn and Play Classic Steve Vai Songs
- His explanation of Music Theory for Guitar Players
You can check them out HERE.
Learn all you can! - Steve
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April 23rd, 2019
Topic: Rock Legend Rick Derringer: Guitars and Stories!
"...his guitar playing influenced me to play slide guitar."- Duane Allman, The Allman Brothers Band
Toured with the Rolling Stones, played guitar along side John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn. Recorded with Steely Dan, Barbara Streisand, Air Supply, Edgar Winter, Ringo Starr, The McCoys, Cyndi Lauper, KISS, Alice Cooper and countless others.
Rick's amazing career has included writing "Hang On Sloopy" in the 60s, "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo" in the 70s, playing guitar on "Total Eclipse the Heart" and Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" in the 80s, to producing Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It", to modern day work topping the Smooth Jazz charts and writing for the FX series "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".
Rick will be shows some of his personal collection of guitars and talking about his amazing career.
Here are a few videos...
Back in the day with Edgar Winter "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo"
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Hey all,
It's been an exciting day on the Guitar Gathering conference front.
I'm excited to announce that we've officially confirmed that Russ Barenberg will be leading a workshop and playing for the evening concert!
Russ is one of my favorite guitar players on the planet.
He has the ability to touch the strings and make your heart feel emotion.
I'd trade every fast lick I know to be able to play a simple chord progression and have the emotional impact that Russ has on the listener.
Russ has played on countless things. Here are a few...
If you've ever been watching the Ken Burns documentary "The Civil War" and melted at the gorgeous guitar playing throughout it - that's Russ.
If you've watched the acclaimed BBC series "The Transatlantic Sessions" with guests like James Taylor and Allison Krause and wondered who was playing guitar - that's Russ.
Or maybe you've caught him in one of his legendary nights at a small club here in Nashville...
I look forward to hearing his music once again.
See you at the Gathering!
http://www.guitargathering2019.com/
- Steve
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Here you go! - Steve
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Triple O,
Do you have a recording of it I could hear? A YouTube video perhaps. If I can hear it then I can probably help you out with what is going on.
THanks,
STeve
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March 19th, 2019
Topic: Celtic Guitar with Shane Hennessy!
"...a brilliant young guitar player!"- Tommy Emmanuel
Shane Hennessy is a virtuoso guitarist, composer and songwriter from Ireland. Known for his unique virtuosic approach to the acoustic guitar, his musical style has won praisse from musical giants Nile Rodgers of CHIC and guitar legend Tommy Emmanuel, with whom Shane has shared the stage.
Here are a few videos....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 HERELearn all you can
- Steve
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March 12th, 2019
7pm Central
Topic: Blues Guitar with Robben Ford!
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February 19th, 2019
7pm Central
Topic: Fingerstyle Travis Picking Guitar with Jonathan Brown!
"Jonathan Brown's fingerstyle artistry combines a wealth of musical influences with polished technique and passion to deliver the most riveting and entertaining solo guitar performance I've seen in years."
- Dana Bourgeois with Bourgeois Guitars
Jonathan Brown is a guitarist/composer/teacher from Nashville TN. He has played on the world famous Grand Ole Opry and been an active member of the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. Hearing the guitar styles of Chet Atkins at an early age, he was eager to learn the fingerstyle guitar technique. Jonathan has taken the fingerstyle technique and transformed it into his own style of playing that shows a wide variety of influence ranging from jazz to classical.
"Jonathan is a refreshing fingerstyle guitarist who I really enjoy listening to. His playing is fluid and effortless with a great sense of swing and groove. Undeniably a great talent" - Brent Mason
"Jonathan is an old musical soul in a young person, with the depth of his guitar mentors, the discipline to master the guitar in a rare way, and a young spirit." - Muriel Anderson
Jonathan has also been a recurring musician on the hit T.V. series "Nashville" with the Rayna James Band. He is a regular on the Grand Ole Opry and with Aubrey Peeples of the show Nashville.Here are a few videos....
Here's a duet with Brent Mason...
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 HERELearn all you can
- Steve
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The short answer from me is.... I have no idea!
- Steve
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Tuesday February 5th, 2019
7pm Central
Topic: Modes & Creating Fills!
So, what's the deal with modes? Many guitar players wonder if modes, and their exotic names, are the holy grail of guitar knowledge - the thing that separates mortals and guitar gods.
Well, let's look at them. I'll give you a much simpler way of looking at them than typically used. Also, I'll show how and when to use them.
Here's a handout for learning modes... Modes An Easier Way.pdf
PLUS, I'll give some helpful exercises on spicing up your fills with slides, hammer-ons and pulloffs.
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 HERELearn all you can
- Steve
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Great question. Using flesh is fine.
Nails will add volume and give you some tonal options you wouldn't otherwise have. But, if having nails is impractical for you then don't worry about it. Just use your fingers. The technique is the same either way.
Hope this helps!
The main thing is to keep learning.
- Steve
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Hey look who I found on the floor of NAMM 2019, our good friend and fingerstyle guitarist extraordinaire Trevor Gordon Hall!
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January 15th, 2019
Topic: Blues Guitar with Claudio Tristano!
Finalist of Guitar Center's Blues Master competition, Claudio Tristano, is an up and coming young LA-based guitarist turning heads with his fresh approach to Blues.
Claudio has shared the stage with Joe Bonamassa, Vince Gill, composed music for "Undercover Boss" and is quickly establishing himself in the west coast guitar scene.
Here's a couple of videos of Claudio.
Claudio with Joe Bonamassa...
Claudio with Vince Gill...
Great music, laughs, giveaways and more
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 HERELearn all you can
- Steve
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Tuesday January 8th, 2019
7pm Central
Topic: Guitar Care & Setup with Greg Voros!
It's the beginning of a new year and time to check in with our good friend Greg Voros. Greg will be stopping by to talk about guitar care, setup and answering your questions.
Greg is the head of the legendary repair department at Gruhn guitar and has worked on guitars for some of the most well-known guitarists in the world.
PLUS, I'll be giving some easy to implement Tips for Guitar Learning Success This Year!
If you have any questions for Greg please write them below and we'll try to get to as many of them as we can.
Great music, laughs, giveaways and more
Watch it live at 7pm Central tonight HERE
Great music, giveaways and more. See ou there!
Make sure to subscribe to our Guitar Gthering YouTube Channel HERELearn all you can
- Steve
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Thanks Henk! And keep those pucks flying!
- Steve
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No disrespect to Popular Mechanics, but you know what I've found has a profound and immediate impact on my tone...
Practice.
(But I am a sucker for a pretty red guitar!)
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Wonderful! Learn all you can.
I am glad you’re part of our guitar family.
Kerp learning!
- Steve
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Hey gang, Just a reminder, you can go back and watch any of our live guitar lessons on our Guitar Gathering YouTube channel.
GUITAR GATHERING YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Make sure to subscribe to get notifications whenever we go live!
Learn all you can!
- Steve
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Just booked the man, the myth, the legend, Johnny Hiland and his band for the Guitar Gathering 2019 Thursday Night concert!!
Johnny and band will be playing and we'll have a few surprise guests as well.
Have you registered yet? http://www.guitargathering2019.com/
Just in case you might have forgotten how good Johnny is, here's a little reminder...
It should be an amazing time. See you at the Guitar Gathering!
Have you registered yet? http://www.guitargathering2019.com/
- Steve
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6 hours ago, Jusca said:
I'm still studying. I have been ill on and off since Oct. 2018 so my guitar playing has been pretty nil. I do find a few minutes every now and then to play a few chords and surprisingly I still retain the speed and grips, especially for barres which shocked me. I remember how hard I worked to get basic and barre chords down. I don't ever want to back slide so maintaining what I have is motivation for me to continue a little at a time. I hope to feel better soon. I'm half way through the course right now.
Jusca,
It's great to see you again. Yes, being sick can really limit your playing. But, as you've seen, it doesn't take too many days of consistent effort to be back making progress again.
Glad you're back making music again!
- Steve
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1 hour ago, ak0693 said:
Hello everyone! And thanks for your advices!
I slowed down to 40 BPM and not everything’s fine because now I can notice the tension building up and consciously let go of it.
First of all, welcome and I'm glad you're here.
When your hand is doing something comfortable and familiar there's no need to tense up. But when you start getting to the edge of your ability and your hand can't keep up with what your brain is telling it to do, it starts to tense up.
There is always going to be this increasing muscle tension as you approach the edge of your current ability. The good news is that the "edge of your current ability" moves. What is causing you tension and stress today at a certain tempo you may be able to play completely comfortably in a few months.
Tension is always something we want to minimize in our playing. We need to be ever aware of it and constantly try to consciously relax our hand as we get into musical territory where it wants to tense up.
Just keep working at it slowly. As you become more familiar and competent at doing the task at increasing tempos your hand will relax.
Hope this helps!
- Steve
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3 hours ago, IanD said:
Another one just added. I'm coming to Nashville!!! ?
Ian, I looked up your town Warrington. It looks beautiful! Let's have the conference there!
- Steve
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Live Lesson: April 23rd - Rock Legend Rick Derringer!
in 2019 Live Lessons
Posted
Looking forward to a great show tomorrow night with Rick. If you have a question for Rick, just post it and I'll try to ask him.
Should be a great time!
- Steve