Hi Friend, Bob Marley said that “music goes on forever”. New songs get written everyday. And Claude Johnson (that’s me) keeps coming up with new guitar ideas to send you 🙂 Today, I want to talk about a rhythmic idea which has a pulse-like feel to it, and can add some fierce *attitude* to any …
For Flamenco, you have to learn a few new guitar techniques. One of them is called Picado. This is the first one to learn. Check out the video! It’s a short sample from “Flamenco Guitar Secrets”. The first thing I want to show you is picado. That is the alternating movements of the index finger …
hi Friend, Carlos Santana is one my all time favorite guitarists. That’s why I’m so jealous of Jimmy Dillon right now – hegets to play with him later this year. grr… well it’s all good – at least Jimmy is sharing hisstories about the legends (and his guitar wisdom)with all of us. In fact, he’s …
What notes you play are only half the story. The other story is the rhythms. One interesting and useful rhythm is to alternate eighth notes and eighth note rests. It can spice up even the most stupidly simple riff, such as descending down the pentatonic scale. Check it out! [audio:https://www.claudejohnson.com/blog/audio/lick-sep-27-2010.mp3] If you need help counting …
Hi Friend, What is goin on??? I’ll tell you what’s on my mind: See, I’ve always been into blues guitar because it just felt good to me – I like the raw soulful energy and the intensity of it. On the other hand, I also like jazz because its smooth, mellow, and relaxing. It’s definitely …
Virtuwul and I are in the studio here in sunny San Francisco working on “Killer Keyboards Made Simple” with my musical partner and keyboard master Ozzie Ahlers. Oz is a seasoned session player having recoded and toured with the likes of Van Morrison, Jerry Garcia and guitar hero Craig Chaquico from Jefferson Starship. Ozzie is …
I am looking forward to playing with Carlos Santana and Narada Michael Walden as well as some other great Bay Area musicians on december 17th in my home town of Mill Valley. The show is a yearly event that benefits kids and music, my 2 favorite causes! That reminds me of a memorable gig a …
hi Friend, How’s it going? Geez, I can’t believe I overslept today. I better hurry up and write this email because I can’t have you sitting around, waiting… Actually that reminds me a zen principle. There’s really no such waiting if you’re enjoying yourself all the time. If someone says – “sorry to keep you …
Here’s Mehran , showing you the basic 12 count form for Flamenco… The sound is a little weird, that will be fixed on the DVDs… My name is Mayron [phonetic]. I am a flamenco guitarist and I’m here to teach you some introductory lessons to flamenco. What I will start with is a lot of …