Monthly Archives: September 2011

Musical Burnout

Posted on by
Reply

Musical burnout seems to be one of those things that most of us go through. To a greater or lesser degree, we all have those days when the inspiration just doesn’t flow and we can’t bring the usual passion and engagement to our instruments.

In this video I share some of the ways I like to refresh myself musically.

Here’s a summary:

1) Attend gigs: feed the artist within and reconnect with the listener’s perspective.

2) Listen to music: especially music you don’t play.

3) Shift perspective: take a step back and enjoy the basics of life.

4) Broaden your artistic experience: enjoy a different art form, get inspired through different media.

5) Take a break: paint a fence.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Let me know how you keep your music fresh in the comments section below!

Essential Guitar Warm-Up Licks 1

Posted on by
Reply

Warming up with guitar licks and exercises is an essential part of a healthy, long-lasting playing career. So many players neglect this (I know I’ve been guilty too!).

Here are just some of the benefits:

1)Just as an athlete warms up his muscles before a sprint, so a musician must wake up his hands before playing. Warming up before practice, recording, or gigging gets the blood flowing and significantly reduces the chance of injury.  I’ve seen so many friends and colleagues fall foul of career-stifling repetitive strain injuries, don’t let this happen to you.

2) Waking up the hands with some simple warm-up exercises limbers up your fingers and gets you ready for your performance. Real pro’s know the importance of consistency – pulling out a blistering solo night after night will be much easier if you take the time to warm up and set you hands into ‘guitar mode’ before the show starts.

3) To get extra bang for your buck you can work on your technique and improve your repertoire while warming up. With a well-chosen warm-up exercise you can target a particular technical challenge and use the warm-up as a chance to spend a little extra time on it. Personally, I like to take a challenging musical lick or passage and play it slowly as part of my warm-up.

In this video I’ve shown one of my absolute favourite warm-up exercises.

And here’s the TAB:

Pedal Steel Country Lick 3

Posted on by
Reply

Here’s another pedal steel country guitar lick using bending, hybrid picking and open strings for a real country feel. Yeehaw!

In case you missed them, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the series.

If you’re enjoying these, have any questions, or have a request then write me a comment below. It’s really great to read your opinions so I can make future videos even more useful for you.

Here’s the youtube lesson:

And the TAB and notation to accompany the video:

Pedal Steel Country Lick 2

Posted on by
Reply

Here’s another Pedal Steel Country Lick for you fellow country guitar addicts!

In case you missed the first of these, you can find it here: http://www.stevepigottmusic.com/2011/08/25/pedal-steel-country-guitar-lick/ 

This clip introduces the idea of diads (playing two notes at once) and employs hybrid picking. Yeehaw!

If you’ve enjoyed this and would some more of the same, please do comment below. It’s really useful for me to know what you’re interested in learning, so write me some comments and let me know what you’d like to see.

Here’s the music, good luck!

Once again, Pedal Steel Country Guitar Lick 1 is here: http://www.stevepigottmusic.com/2011/08/25/pedal-steel-country-guitar-lick/