"Warming-up" is not required, BUT for those who are more advanced, you will find that warming up will sharpen your skills quite a bit before a gig. When we practice, especially for longer periods of time, we reach new plateaus. Warming up before a gig helps to bring you back to that plateau in a shorter amount of time.

Even though warming up is not a "must", if you are gigging a lot or practicing a lot, warming up will most likely benefit your playing.

This lesson will cover various ways to think about scales and increase your practice routine with single notes.

In this lesson, I will show you how to focus on your chord practice. UGS has LOTS of chordal lessons, so you will want to integrate those as well, but again, no one size fits all.

Let's add some theory to your practice routine! In this lesson I discuss how to add theory exercises to bolster your theory knowledge.

Congrats my friends! Apply what we have talked about in this series and please let me know if you have any questions.

In this series we will break down the 12-bar blues chord progression that I play in this video along with all the licks, chords and tricks. Let's discuss just how we are going to break all this down!

In this lesson we will take a look at the chordal structure of the 12-bar blues progression. It's best to have a good 30,000 foot view of whatever song you are preparing to learn, before just jumping in.

In this lesson, we will break down the actual chords that you will use in this series.

In this video, we will work on the lick that is played throughout the chord progression. It's really not as hard as it sounds, once you get the hang of it and it's SUPER fun!

In this lesson, we will focus on the picking pattern. Take your time! Slow and steady wins the race.

Why do you want to play guitar? Having a defined answer will determine how you should practice and how much you should practice. it will also help you get to your your guitar goals quicker.

This lesson will give you a 30,000 foot overview of the science of specified practice schedules. A blues guitarist is going to have a different set of practices compared to a songwriter or a studio guitarist. Knowing this alone will REALLY help you to understand the importance of focus and specific practice.

Songwriters write songs. They are in the business of writing songs. If a songwriter wants to be the best songwriter, they want to be and they have limited time, like everyone does, focusing on the handful of tools that I discuss in this lesson will give them a strong core that will support their songwriting. I won't go over each lesson here, as I do teach all of these techniques within the UGS course.

1. Nine Essential Chords

2. How To Strum

3. Know How To Use The Capo

4. Knowing What Chords Work Well Together - Knowing How To Keep Songs In The Feel of G Major or C Major

So you want to play some killer blues?! GREAT! Let's put a plan together! There are a few things that we need to get familiar with. Check it out!

1. 12-bar Blues Progression - We must know this chord progressions INSIDE AND OUT! You should be able to transpose this easily to ANY key and feel the chords as they move. You should get to the point where you don't need a chart.

2. Chords - 7ths chords ALL over the neck. This will help with "outlining" the chord and riffing on chords within your improvisation.

3. Blues Scale - Know all forms in all keys(really not that hard using my method). Be able to play them up and down and be able to jump around a bit, especially when improvising.

4. Playing Outside of the Blues Scale - Go through the blues section and emphasize Minimalistic Blues, Embellishing the Blues Scale and Call & Response.

5. Blues Riffs and Licks - As children we learn to speak by listening to others. The same is true for guitarists. Listen and COPY to as MANY blues players that you like. The more, the better!

6. Improvisation - EVERY great blues guitarist MUST be able to come up with riffs and licks on the spot. This is called improvisation. EVERYone sounds bad at this at first. The more you do it, the better you will get.

7. Turn-arounds - Got to know them to sound cool!

8. Vamping/Comping - Be able to play your chord progressions with different feels. If you play the same thing every time, it will get boring. Change it up my friends!

9. LISTEN! - Enjoy LOTS of blues music. It will start getting in your ears and veins and it WILL start coming out of you.

10. Open Jam - Test your abilities by playing with other musicians and jam sessions. Nothing like that pressure to see where you are really at.

Playing out live can be overwhelming, BUT with these tips, things will go a LOT more smoothly:

1. Respect for playing out live/BRING IT - Respect your audience and be prepared to deliver the goods. Your audience does not care about excuses, they want to see you WOW THEM!

2. Repertoire - Know your songs inside and out

3. Start small - start with smaller gigs at first. You WILL mess up as I do and EVERY musician does. Better to do this with a few people than a LOT of people. Playing through mistakes is a skill you will need to develop.

4. BE IN TUNE - Do I need to explain this one? If Hendrix was out of tune, even HE would be difficult to listen to. Tune multiple times before you step on stage.

5. Gear preparation - Ask "what gear will I need?" and bring that. Ask the sound person too. Nothing worse than showing up without a piece of gear...like a guitar strap...UGH! Prepare!

6. Be courteous/be kind - Ego sucks and NO ONE likes it. Also, WHEN you mess up, better to do it while being humble, than conceded. Make jokes, tell stories of your songs, make eye contact. YOU are there to entertain. So DO IT!

7. Show up early - Stuff happens. This will help cushion the blow AND help you prepare for surprises.

8. Bring supportive friends and family - Leave the nay-sayers behind. It's nerve-racking enough to play your first gig, bring the winners and leave the losers.

9. Jitters(what to do?) - If you don't get them, you are VERY luck and unusual. I am friends with a LOT of live performers here in Nashville. It's rare that any of them say they get NO stage fright. All that to say, there are some things that you can do to remedy the nerves.

10. Talk - Tell stories about your songs. Interact with your audience. They will LOVE you for it.

YOU CAN DO THIS my friend! It's not brain surgery, SO even when you DO mess up, it's no big thing!

In this lesson I will discuss what variables and questions need to be addressed in order to know WHAT to practice. Everyone's skill sets, desires and schedules are different, so there is not a "one-size-fits-all" plan. That might make one feel like there is a plan, but realistically we have to ask the questions and name our desires. Do you want to be a rock player? Country player? Professional? Campfire guitarist? Just the basics?

These are the important questions that will help bring you closer to efficient practicing.

Please see the attached PDF for some suggestions.

This video discusses the philosophy of "perfect practice" and how understanding this ONE concept will literally change the way you practice and play the guitar. Understanding this very concept can make/break you from being ALL that you can be!

Now that you know what you want to do with the guitar and you have your goals defined, how and what should you practice to get you closer to your goals?

In this lesson I discuss the concept of "deliberate practice". EVERY time you pick up the guitar, have a goal. EVEN if it's just to have fun. Obviously if you always do that, you will only progress so far. If you want to progress, SET SOME GOALS!

In this video I explain that just understanding how the brain works by building neural paths will allow you to practice much more efficiently. WHATEVER you do consistently, you will get good at. Your brain does not care whether that is a mistake or not. You get good at whatever you practice. This is why it is VERY important to be observant and practice correctly. Speed will happen after accuracy, but never before. Do yourself a solid and be VERY patient with yourself as you learn EVERY new skill. I've been playing for over 30 years now and STILL do this. Trying to force something and play it faster will ALWAYS slow down your progress. Be like a ninja zen master and TAKE YOUR TIME when you practice. Remember the "meadow of grass".

In this video, I cover some different ways to practice and think about your practice as it relates to what you want to accomplish. There are some gems in here that will really help your practicing.

Please watch this very necessary video that dispels the myth of talent. The power of your thoughts are infinite. If your mindset is limited, you will never get beyond what your mind believes to be true. This applies to every aspect of life, not just guitar.

Need some motivation? Some "get up and go"? I do too! But more importantly, I need REAL information that will help me to understand the guitar more. If you apply this concept to your practice, YOU WILL move forward with more tenacity and drive.

In this video I show you a couple of the most important techniques for dominating any goal on the guitar. It takes some practice, but once you get it, the sky is the limit!

In this video I show you the two methods that I use for EVERY and ANY new and/or difficult task on the guitar. This is an EXTREMELY important philosophy that you MUST practice in order to NOT be stopped and to continue to get better at guitar. Embrace this one!

In this video, I show you the steps to properly learn a song AND limit the frustration. Practice all songs like this in the begining and you CAN'T go wrong.

This lesson covers what songs you know already and why it is so important to keep them fresh.