Below I have linked to 5 different articles that I have been reading and find quite useful.  All of these articles I have passed around to fellow musicians so I felt the need to post them here.  Please check them out and subscribe to these blogs, these guys definitely know what they are doing.

15 Practicing Mistakes that Students Make

Jason Heath was one of the first music bloggers who I really took notice of.  Even though I wasn’t a bass player his Contrabass Conversations Podcast was amazingly captivating.  Many times I spent listening to his interviews while mowing the lawn.  Make sure to dig through his site because he has many, many useful articles that would be helpful to all musicians.

Top Music Pedagogues to Follow on Twitter

Music Education is a big interest of mine, not suprisingly, so the MusTech.net website is one of my most revisited items in my Google Reader.  This article lists a few leading edge educators who combine music and technology in interesting and effective ways.  Right now the list has about 12 educators, but the plan is to keep adding to it to create a comprehensive listing (much like my Twitter Guitar Directory).  This is one to bookmark and revisit.

10 Teaching Tools for Your Lesson Studio

I have been teaching guitar lessons for about 8 years now and I still found this article helpful.  If you are starting to settle into a (hopefully) permanent teaching situation then this list will be very helpful.  My favorite item on the list is the Clif Bars, I can totally relate to getting hungry and still having 3 or 4 lessons to teach before you can leave.

The Unboxing of Sibelius 6

Walt Riberio is one of the leading voices for combining music education and social media.  His videos cover everything from basic theory to gear reviews and even advice on how to best use the internet to spread your message.  I wanted to include this video because I just received a copy of Sibelius 6 and I think it is the greatest notation program available.  There is no way I would of been able to finish my Master’s Degree without it.

How Audacity Can Make Your Practice Time More Effective

Audacity is a great FREE audio editor that can do everything from make loops to slow down tracks at pitch to help with Transcription. NotPlayingGuitar.com is an amazing resource that has many lessons and tips on how to get over the roadblocks that we as musicians sometime fall into. If you are interested in recording some basic tracks and don’t want to spend money, then start with this article.

@NeilZaza – Neil is a good friend and a great guitarist.  Check out his website, Christmas Show and his newest project.  Currently working on a new album it promises to be full of really good guitar stuff.

 

@TheRockHouse – If you are into players like Alexi Laiho, Oli Herbert and Alex Skolnick, then these guys are for you.  They make some of the best instructional DVD’s out there.  We are happy to be working with them this year.

 

@JohnHorneGuitar – One of our most versatile teachers, John keeps busy teaching practice in Ohio.  He has taught for NGW for a few years now and it is always a great hang.

There has been a lot of talk lately about how much value the #followfriday hashtag on Twitter has been.  Does it really make you check out someone solely on the mention of their name?

I thought of instead of just referring people to my Twitter Guitar Directory, I could write a short post each Friday about a few people on Twitter who I enjoy reading about.

Sometimes 140 characters just isn’t enough.

@fretbase – One of my favorite guitar blogs.  Fretbase is a somewhat under the radar discovery for me.  Not only do they have a great news feature of the site, but they have a fairly extensive database of artists and songs with links to what gear they play and where you can download the songs (iTunes or Amazon).

@sixstringlounge – Six String Lounge is a blog/community started by Mark Lee, who is the guitarist in Third Day.  SSL is an amazingly deep site with articles on guitar heroes, lessons and much more.  The video lessons for beginning guitarists are very well done and a great place to start.

@matthewwarnock – Dr. Matthew Warnock is a great jazz guitarist currently residing in Illinois.  On his website, he has many great resources including a great list of free PDF chord melody arrangements.  Matt also contributes to quite a few publications including Just Jazz Guitar, Modern Guitars and MusicEdMagic.

I have been using Twitter for several months now (I am @guitarworkshop) and have made some great connections through it.  Inspired by Darren Rowse‘s TwiTip blog, here are my 10 favorite guitar-related Twitter users (in no particular order) is a comprehensive list of Twitter users who are way into guitar.

@premierguitar – Premier Guitar is one of the very publications that are actually growing.  Mostly gear based, but some great educational content as well.

@guitarnoize – Guitar Noize is one of the most read guitar blogs around.  It is a daily read for me.

@iheartguitar – Peter does a great job with his guitar blog from Austraila.  With a name like that, I can’t leave it off this list.

@johnhorneguitar – John is one of our teachers and he has a great guitar blog.  He is relatively new to Twitter, so make him feel welcome.

@madstratter – Another great gutiar centric blog from upstate NY.

@cameronmizell – Cameron is one of the bloggers at MusicanWages.com.  It is a hugely informatve website that is highly recommended.

@guitarkadia – Emon writes a great guitar blog at guitarkadia.  Thankfully he uses his Twitter stream for more than just new blog posts.

@guitarplayerzen – One of the most original guitar blogs on the internet.

@Vurnt22 – Vernon Reid from Living Color.  Enough said.

@amymantis – Amy writes a great blog about her experiences as a freshman at Berklee.

@JasonHeath – A great blogger on all things Bass.

@stuartweber – A classical guitarist from Montana.

@chrisguitarguy – Another classical guitarist studying at Austin Peay.

@flameboy – French guitarist who runs guitarwink.com.

@Slidetone – Blogs at www.slidetone.net

@taylorguitarspr – Taylor Guitars Offical Twitter

@ajp71555 – Blogs at http://pentatonic-minor.blogspot.com/

@guitarlifestyle – Blogs at www.guitarlifestyle.com

@trebleahead

@markalandooley

@bassred

@TheRockHouse

@middlebrook

@tjputerboy

@paulrpotts – Blogs at GeekVersusGuitar

@LorenClaypool

@gr8WhiteSavage

@MartyWilliamson- Guitarist from the great Chicago band Hello Dave

@TeachWombat

@TheRustyBadger – Russell North, Artist Relations for Fender UK

@johnpearman

@jjeaton

@stuscrace

@sirdharo

I am moving this list to it’s own page here.

Here are some links to some articles that are worth a read.

Why it is Good for Children to Play Guitar

The Farewell Show – David LaMotte is a great friend and singer/songwriter from North Carolina. In college I did an internship with his indie record label and that experience was invaluable. He recently retired from playing music for a living and is moving with his wife and newborn son to Australia to work on a Master’s Degree.

Anything by Seth Godin – Seth has one of the most read business and marketing blogs around. Extremely interesting stuff.

For those of us who use Twitter (I am @guitarworkshop), TwiTip.com is a great blog by Darren Rowse that is full of useful advice to get the most out of Twitter.

This weekend I will post some CD reviews of some of my favorite CD’s of 2008. It seems like the most popular posts on here are the ones that include downloads of my worksheets I use for lessons. Hopefully I can get a few of those done while I am away on vacation with the family in a few weeks.

Please leave a comment and let me know how you like the articles.