I met with Jimmie before his CD Release Party at Buddy Guy’s new club. Not only was Buddy there, but Jeff Beck also showed up to celebrate his birthday. The next night I met up with Pete Huttlinger to record to lesson videos:

The rest of the summer I will spending getting settled into my new house in addition to cranking out lessons for GE and PG. I will also begin teaching at the Marion Music Academy this fall, so if you are interested in lessons, send me an email and I can get you the info.

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Here goes:

Alex Skolnick writes a great blog and recently has been posting about how some of his favorite songs have horrible lyrics.

I recently have been becoming an avid reader of AudioTuts+. Ear training was always difficult for me in school, so I was very happy to see them to a roundup of the best ear training websites around. My personal favorite is IWasDoingAlright.

Christopher Davis is not only a great classical guitarist, but he runs one the best guitar blogs around. To celebrate my recent move back to the Motherland (Iowa), here is an interview Christopher did with Iowa Luthier John H. Dick.

I have sung the praises of The Bad Plus here before. Ethan Iverson is usually to blame for their excellent blog, Do The Math. Recently, he posted a in-depth interview with Cedar Walton and a transcription of Walton playing “I’ll Remember April.”

Every musician has a particular way that they warm-up before a practice session or a gig. Guitarist Cameron Mizell outlines some of his favorite exercises in a recent post. I think this week I will write up some of my favorite exercises as well, since I just got a new copy of Sibelius.

Hopefully you take a minute and check out these posts. If you like them, leave a comment and let them know.

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Yes, Iowa.

Both my wife and I are originally from Iowa, so it was nice to be able to move back home and be closer to family (especially with the kid). Luckily, I found a position as Managing Editor for GuitarEdge Magazine. Essentially, this is the coolest job ever. I get to write lessons and articles for one of the coolest magazines around and I get to work with some of the best writers in the game.

I am pretty lucky.

This means that you will be seeing a LOT more of my writing and lessons out there in the Internets. One of the coolest things about GE is the fact that the entire magazine is available online for free. Just go to http://digital.guitaredge.com every month and check out transcriptions (10 in each issue), lessons and articles that are way hipper than what you would find in other magazines.

Hopefully this explains why there hasn’t been much activity here lately, but once I get settled more into my new gig I will make it a point to start writing more here. I am thinking on focusing more on longer form articles and saving my Posterous page for shorter links, videos and other oddities.

Would love to hear what you think….

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via phish.com

Phish? In 3D? YES! I have been listening to F8 for months now. I wonder if the acoustic “Wilson” will be even more raging when they add another dimension.

Posted via web from Jason’s Big Music Corner

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I Am Trying To Break Your Heart by Wilco   (8889 KB)
Listen on posterous

Recently, I have been really getting into Wilco. After seeing their documentary "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart," I went and got what many claim to be their best album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I think Wilco is an amazing band because not only is the songwriting excellent, but the musicians are incredibly accomplished. Neils Cline is one of the most creative, inventive guitarists around. Check out his solo work and stuff with his twin brother Alex.

Posted via email from Jason’s Big Music Corner

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It was over.

It might be hard to believe, but I was quite the rocker in my youth. I wasn’t at all familiar with Petrucci, or Dream Theater but I had never seen anyone play guitar that fast and was able to explain it that clearly. Since then I have seen a few really great DVD’s and a LOT that weren’t so great. Below I have listed my top 10 all-time desert island instructional videos. I encourage you to check one out that maybe you think you wouldn’t be into. Netflix has a lot of these on hand and also check out your local library for hidden gems among the copies of “Gone With the Wind” and “Howard the Duck.”

In no particular order:

John Petrucci: Rock Discipline

Even  though this earns a spot on this list for sentimental reasons, the information that John gives is incredibly solid. He covers many topics that guitar teachers everyday go over and over with students. In later years I viewed this from a purely technical standpoint since my musical tastes were changing. If you need to really get some technique together, this one is for you.

Pete Huttlinger: A Guitarist’s Guide to Better Practicing

It is a constant and never-ending journey to make your practice time more efficient. Going through 6 years of music school really helped me, but that isn’t for everyone. You can tell Pete spent a considerable amount of time practicing and thinking of how to improve his methods. In this video he talks about everything from making arrangements to working with a metronome and even some killer right hand fingerstyle techniques. I make all of my students watch this to not only see what is possible but to see how a world-class guitarist keeps on pushing to be the best.

Danny Gatton: Strictly Rhythm Guitar

There are very few guitar players who I could sit and watch play rhythm guitar all night. Danny Gatton is one of them. He has a complete mastery of his instrument that few musicians ever attain. Throughout this video his guitar sounds like a B-3, a fire truck and at times a hurricane plugged into a Twin set to stun. Even for the sheer “Wow” factor, you should have this around.

Eric Johnson: The Fine Art of Guitar

I first heard of EJ when I saw the video of the G3 tour he was on with Satriani and Vai. Eric’s music was infinitely more interesting to me at the time than the other two guys, so I saved up my allowance and bought this (at the time) two VHS set. It was amazing to see the facility Eric had and his playing really internalized the sound of the Pentatonic scale in my ear. The biggest thing I remember taking away from this was that I needed to be WAY more accurate with my bending.

Jim Hall

As one of my earliest and most important jazz guitar influences, Jim Hall’s music spent a lot of time in my CD player. This DVD has him playing some trio pieces and then taking them apart. I have been lucky enough to see Jim give a masterclass and this is an important document of how a legendary musician thinks about music.

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via whereseric.com

Day-Long Festival To Feature Legendary Music And Collaborations Including: Eric Clapton, Allman Brothers Band, ZZ Top, Steve Winwood, BB King, Jeff Beck, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Buddy Guy, John Mayer and more.

Posted via web from Jason’s Big Music Corner

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