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The Fretlight Guitar Blog
About This Blog
The Fretlight Blog is our place to share tips and tricks for Fretlight users along with occasional news about the company. It's also your opportunity to give us feedback and suggestions. Don't expect tech support here, but we do read every comment. Visit the Fretlight support page or call 800-575-6511 for more info on Fretlight guitars.Syndicate
The Fretlight Guitar Blog
Repetition, Repetition, Repetition
During the summer I teach at a few music camps where I get to work with young guitar students in a classroom setting. This year, after finishing a two week session at the University of New Hampshire and a one week session at Berklee college in Boston, I really rediscovered my appreciation for the value of repetition when it comes to becoming a better guitarist. In one of my guitar ensemble classes at Berklee, I had the students working on a Steely Dan song that was filled with some pretty complicated chord changes. During one of our rehearsals, ...<< MORE >>
It's All About Taking Chances...
When I first began playing guitar, I often found myself somewhat overwhelmed with all of the information that I had to absorb. Years later when I began teaching, I found that many of my students would often feel the same way. One thing that I always try to remind my students of (as well as myself) is this: as important as it is to learn the proper techniques and musical concepts that go into learning your instrument, you should never lose sight of the fact that there are some amazing things can be done on the guitar if ...<< MORE >>
The Magic Of Harmonic Rhythm
One of the coolest ways to get the most out of writing and practicing chord progressions is to experiment with ‘Harmonic Rhythm'. The term ‘Harmonic Rhythm' is used to describe
the length or duration of each chord that is played in a progression. By experimenting with different types of harmonic rhythm, a single progression of chords can take on many different sounds. After
many years of playing, I've found that many songs actually use the same combinations of chords, but by changing the harmonic rhythm or duration of each chord, many different variations can be
created.
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Mac Users: It's Fretlight Time
Today we’ve delivered on one of the most requested additions to our software line-up: M-Player for
Macintosh. Now Mac users have a full-featured application to light up songs on the Fretlight guitar. M-Player for Macintosh comes complete with seven popular MIDI demo songs, with hundreds
of popular songs available individually or in bundles on the Fretlight Store.
A free, two week trial is available on the Fretlight website. Mac users can download it today.
Developing Your Musical Vocabulary
One of the most important concepts that I teach my private students is the development of a good musical vocabulary. A good understanding of musical terms is
essential, and is often the main difference between just being a ‘guitarist’ and being a ‘musician’. To be able to communicate ideas with other players, you must understand exactly how the
language of music works. I have many students who know HOW to play their nstruments fairly well, but really have no idea WHAT they are playing. And as much as I applaud them for the physical ability on the instrument, my ...<< MORE >>
So You’ve Had Your Fretlight For A While…
… and you’re having a blast learning new things, but you feel a bit overwhelmed. After all, there is so much to learn, and sometimes it’s hard to know how to organize it all and
really make your practice time count. In this post I’m going to outline four really important ways to get the most out of the Fretlight learning experience.
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2008 Fretlight Product Catalog
We've just released the Winter 2008 Fretlight product catalog and emailed it to all the subscribers of our mailing list. Please join the list if you haven't already so you can receive timely announcements and special promotions.
To access the product catalog today, you can download it from fretlight.com. It's a 4MB PDF file and will look great on screen and printed.
Thanks,
Rusty
To access the product catalog today, you can download it from fretlight.com. It's a 4MB PDF file and will look great on screen and printed.
Thanks,
Rusty
Attention Mac Users!
In an effort to better serve our Mac customers, we're looking to get some user feedback from Fretlight guitarists who are running Parallels Desktop for Mac. Just tell us which version of
Parallels you are using, which version of the Mac OS you are using, and the specific Fretlight software that you are using. Most importantly, tell us what you think about learning guitar the
Fretlight way. We're looking for some honest user feedback in an effort to get a dialog happening in this blog with our Mac customers.
...
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Building Blocks - Part Four
In the previous three posts, I outlined several different ways to develop your knowledge of intervals on the neck of the guitar. My all time favorite tool for practicing intervals on the guitar
is the Interval Training tool found in AxMaster. The great thing about this tool is that it is designed to help you develop several different areas all at once: Your understanding of note locations
on the fretboard (fretboard knowledge), your ability to play the many different types of intervals used in music (both major scale intervals and altered intervals), and also your ability to hear the
difference ...
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Building Blocks - Part Three
In the previous two posts, I outlined the difference between Major Scale Intervals and Altered Intervals. Now it's time to put all of this stuff
on the neck of the guitar. One of the best tools for studying intervals can be found in the Chord/Scale Library section of the Fretlight
Lesson Player. Begin by opening up Lesson Player and clicking on the menu button that says "Chords And Scales".
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This will take you to the Chord/Scale Library section. Scroll down the page until you find the section labeled "Intervals":
Let's begin by working with Intervals from the Root ...