Many parents receive a note from their child’s school offering guitar lessons at their school. This will seem appealing because it’s convenient and won’t require them to be driving their child to and from lessons.  My personal observations show that students who learn outside of school almost always do better for a very good reason….

Some parents believe that first and foremost learning guitar should be enjoyable for their children. While enjoyment of music and practice are certainly important I think there is a common misunderstanding. So I want to  pointed out a slightly different angle on the importance of enjoyment when it comes to learning guitar. Leading psychologist Martin Seligman…

Many students ask this question and with good reason. Learning guitar is a journey and although the learning never stops there is usually a destination of some description in mind. When I was a teen my first destination was Stairway to Heaven. Along the way new destinations will arise but for most of us guitarists…

When a new guitar student begins lessons my first priority is to ask them to fill in a daily practice log. Now most were happy to go along with my request but not all. Some students would feel it unnecessary, pointless or just not important. Comments like “Guitar is just a hobby” or “Don’t worry, I…

In Seth Godin’s book ‘The Dip’ he describes how the journey to success in just about anything begins with with high hopes but as time passes we go into a dip. As we enter the dip it becomes mentally and sometimes physically challenging to persevere but those few who get through the dip rise to…

  Modes are really quite simple but can also be confusing. In simple terms its like this. In music there are 7 alphabetic letters. A to G. In the key of C the notes are C, D, E, F, G, A & B. The C major scale consists of these 7 notes. A mode is…

Well here is some simple advice. Do it anyway. Stop using the excuse of time. We are all busy these days and yes time is our most precious commodity. Well so we believe. If time is so precious why does the average American household watch more than 6 hours of TV a day? How is…

Michael Dolce is one of Australia’s busiest session guitarists who is currently part of the ‘The Voice’ band while also touring with top selling artist Delta Goodrem. I was fortunate enough to catch up with Michael on his current tour with Delta last week and we did a video interview back stage. Some great insights from Michael…

I will be the first to say that taking holidays are great and are arguably an important part of life. Holidays are essentially about taking a break from your everyday life to recharge. Holidays give our bodies and brains a chance to consolidate and can even act like markers that indicate the start and end…

The benefits of learning music are well documented. Children who learn music often do better in many subjects such as maths and languages but also in other areas. In Switzerland they conducted a study where 1200 children in more than 50 classes proved scientifically that playing music does improve a child’s reading and verbal skills…

Lets be honest here. When we procrastinate promising ourselves that we will start guitar tomorrow the odds are we will just find another excuse tomorrow. We are all busy these days and time is our most precious commodity. Well so we tell ourselves. If time is so precious why does the average household watch more…