About The Program

It is possible to learn 1000 songs without developing a true understanding of music or the instrument. Conversely, it is possible to become one with the guitar and with music without learning any songs at all. And learning 1000 songs is easier, faster, and more fun if you understand how it all works together.

Our focus will be on theory, technique, and improvisation, ultimately to be able to compose your own shredding guitar solos. But it will move beyond solos and riffs, and will ultimately lead to more complex composition and instrumentation. To get there, we will start by simplifying the fretboard with symmetric fourths tuning. Then, we will develop a body of melodic and harmonic tools to build riffs and solos. This will be done through a series of efficient exercises, practiced with an efficient routine.

It does not take 50,000 lessons, or 50,000 hours of practice, to accomplish these goals. All it takes is a simple, accessible, and effective approach to learning. And if you stick with this program long enough, you will be introduced to some new musical theories that will drive a novel and unique style of composition as well.

There are several important sections of this site to guide the enthusiast toward these goals.

• Books of exercises provide a meditative approach to the mastery of technique.
• Video exercise examples demonstrate each of the exercises.
• Video theory lessons show how to understand the music and will aid in the compositional process.
• Original song recordings with music and tablature show how each exercise set can be translated into musical performance.
• Ask me a question, and it may appear on a growing FAQ page.
• The Blog will provide updates whenever there is something new.
• An Amazon store has links to buy a select set of great gear.

The first block in this program begins with chromatic scale, chord, and arpeggio exercises, moving on to diatonic scales and modes, major and minor triad chords, and chord progressions used to harmonize scale patterns. Next, sweep arpeggios and tapping arpeggios are used to harmonize scale patterns, and finally arpeggio fingerpicking patterns are introduced.

The second block (in development) will add diminished and augmented triads, and extended chords and arpeggios (7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths) as well as classical cadences and chord progressions leading up to them. Musical forms will also be introduced.

The third block (in development) will introduce a new theory of chord progressions that includes circular progressions by 3rds, 5ths, and 2nds, where each of these progressions can be diatonic, singly chromatic, doubly chromatic, or triply chromatic.

Everything above can be understood in terms of tertiary harmony, that is, chords build by stacking thirds on top of each other. There are also harmonic systems built by stacking fourths (quartal harmony) as well as seconds (secundal harmony). These can all be explored in time.

This can all be done without spending many hours per day for many years. Begin this journey now, and thanks to the efficiency of the program, you will find quick enough gratification at each step of the way.