Motion Sickness As a guitar teacher, I’m fortunate to be in front of some really cool, music obsessed young people on a daily basis. My student Hannah tips me off to new music all the time, and routinely discovers artists years before they go mainstream. […]
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Dancing With a Stranger I’ve been teaching this song to my students recently, and it’s become a bit of an earworm for me. I’ve long been a Sam Smith fan. In some instances, Smith does have a whinny tenor — but most of the work […]
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Intro by The xx Within my lifestyle as a guitar teacher and guitar blogger, nothing is more apparent to me, then people’s lack of self-confidence, or perceived status, as a guitarist. I’m not immune either. However, it’s important to realize that it’s often your identity […]
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Everything In Its Right Place It’s hard to believe that Radiohead’s Kid-A was released exactly 21 years ago. The record is still one of the most futuristic albums you’ll ever hear. The opening track, Everything In Its Right Place, was also used as the opening of […]
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Sign of the Times Harry Styles’ moonshot is much like Robbie Williams’ ascension in the early 2000’s: former British “boy-band” member goes solo, combining songwriting chops with sensational stage presence and charisma. The American version of this story would be Justin Timberlake. Songwriting craftsmanship is […]
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Cover Me Up Cover Me Up was the song that first introduced me to incredible singer/songwriter Jason Isbell. Forget the writing – the raw honesty of the song, and power of Isbell’s voice is what captured me. It’s just brutal in every good sense of […]
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cardigan I’ve always liked Taylor Swift. In fact, she’s responsible for most of my physical lesson business. In the mid 2000’s, mostly boys (and very few girls) played guitar. That suddenly changed around 2007 when Taylor Swift became the biggest star in the world. Ever […]
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The Water Lets You In Bloodline (2015-2017) is a Netflix original thriller-drama. The series co-stars one of my all-time favorite actors, Ben Mendelsohn. The theme song, The Water Lets You In, is a deep-bayou Americana riff by the defunct LA band, Book of Fears. I LOVE […]
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Paint It Black (iconic riff starts at 0:23) While playing around with the Paint It Black riff — my guitar (with a mind of it’s own) — decided to toss in The Night King by Ramin Djawadi, and a little bit of the James Bond […]
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Joga Jóga, was Björk’s first released single from her 1997 album, Homogenic. It fuses electronic with baroque and classical motifs. Jóga was critically acclaimed — praising her powerful vocal performance, composition, and production. Lyrically, the piece is an ode to Björk’s native land, Iceland. You […]
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Young and Beautiful The Great Gatsby is a film based on the 1925 novel of the same name. The film follows the life and times of millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his neighbor, Nick Carraway. A decade later, a classic image from the film […]
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Mad World I was inspired to play Mad World by the stay-at-home performance of Curt Smith (Tears for Fears) and his daughter. His daughter’s voice is awesome, and he must be overjoyed to be playing music with her. Although written by Tears for Fears, I […]
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