Hybrid Picking for Beginners: Complete Technique Guide

If you’ve never tried hybrid picking before, this lesson will get you started with a beautiful-sounding pattern that shows you exactly why this technique is worth learning. Hybrid picking opens up a whole new world of guitar sounds that you simply can’t get with a pick alone. What Is Hybrid Picking? Hybrid picking is simply […]

The Ping Pong Picking Pattern

I’ve called this the Ping Pong picking pattern, because it has a lot of bouncing back and forth, and because it sounds cool! Whenever you’re picking, it’s really important to know where the root notes are for the chords you’re playing. Root notes set the character and direction for the rest of the chord, and […]

The Thumpy Strummy Groove Pattern

Today we’re learning a strum pattern that incorporates some root note picking, some upstrokes, and a nice thunk on the guitar body.  The first time I tried to intentionally whack my guitar during a strum pattern, it felt horribly awkward. It took me a while of slow, intentional practice to get a bit of a […]

E-Shaped Triads on Guitar: Complete Fretboard Guide

This lesson is part of my guitar triads series. Triads are three-note chords, and they’re everywhere on the guitar—even if you don’t realize it. That common six-string G chord (320003) you’ve played a thousand times? It’s still just three notes: G, B, and D. The other strings are just duplicates in different octaves. When you […]

Drone Tricks for Strummers

If you’ve been playing open chords for a while and want something that sounds richer and more interesting, drone notes are one of the best tricks you can add to your playing. In the video above, we’ll walk through how to use drone strings in the key of E major to get a full, resonant […]

Double Capo Tricks: How to Simulate Drop Tunings Without Retuning

This is a really fun way to use a double capo setup to play in the key of E that is very different than normal!