Publishing Deal

Hiya! I am in a very good mood, today I have been offered a publishing deal by Chipmunka, a mental illness book publisher. I will now be using this blog to sell music to those that buy my book, if you look to the right there is the reverb nation widget where you can buy the tracks I am promoting! Also sign up to the news letter for upcoming shows!

I'll let you know how it goes,

Cheers,

Jack

Jamorama!

Hi guys,

Among other things I have been doing this week just gone I signed up and tested out some of Jamorama's guitar teaching service. Overall I am impressed, though it is lacking in areas it has given me some great tips I am implementing already. I was very interested in the picking section of the courses and intermediate to advanced levels. As you can probably tell by my music I know how to play but I have always held the plectrum a certain way and the way they teach is different to my way. Although it is more about what is comfortable for you I have become much more aware of how I hold the pick (I point it down my thumb, using almost the edge of an 0.88mm nylon Dunlop) and the other possibilities for gripping it. He teaches to have far more of the plectrum catching the string, which is much easier for noobies.

It was also very interesting to note that he sees the progression of thickness of pick going from thin to thick the more advanced you get while I use an 0.88mm pick which is quite thin. I am going to buy a thicker pick, which I haven't used in ages as soon as I can. He says thicker picks are for fast lead playing also, something I did not know. Although it is about what is comfortable I think I will be able to play faster and more accurately with the new one.

Another random cool tip, which their are lots of is that if your plectrum gets worn away you can sharpen it on the carpet! Give it a try if you have one that is worn away, although that's probably not a practice most rock stars perform regularly. Anyway, that's enough about picks.

The beginner section of this service looks very comprehensive with video lessons for major chords, minor chords, 7ths, progressions, blues progressions and barre chords. The site also has a chord book section.

I don't want to give it away too much but can now ethically say I recommend it, it really has helped me already and is very useful at brushing up on your technique and chord knowledge. With a $10 a month recurring option and 60 day money back guarantee you would be mad not to. Click HERE to go straight to the site. See ya next time!

Music Program

Hello again folks, in this post I would like to talk about the direction of this blog. If you scroll down you will find my personal advice on how to improve the creativity of your playing. I have decided to try some affiliate marketing of music related products from here on out. Now, if you don't know much about affiliate marketing, basically someone creates a product and I advertise it on my site or blog, gaining a percentage of sales of that product in the process. Pretty cool eh? So this service, Jamorama, on click bank looked good so I have taken it for a test drive, buying the basic membership, a recurring monthly subscription and now, advertising it to you guys in an attempt at monetising this blog.

I feel it would be unethical, although many people do this, to not buy the product to make sure it is top quality before I recommend it on here. I will be doing this weekly or monthly with a new fret board workout or a program like Jamorama. All will be tested personally by me with a review so you have piece of mind that they are quality products. Check back here often for these listings, I really am going to try to post on here more regularly.
I have also added an email sign up form, if you would like to receive newsletters from me. These will include what I am doing at the moment, music and book wise and where I am getting to in music theory.


So next week I will review Jamorama and if you feel it is worth it then you can use my affiliate link (click Jamorama) to sign up. Or if you don't want to wait a week here is the link. It does look rather good, enough for me to buy and talk about on here, though I haven’t tested it fully yet. Come back soon for a full review. As I said I will also be advertising guitars and other music related services later on.

Also, here's an affiliate marketing opportunity (although it is a Facebook marketing course) which you can try, called the Power Lead System. I haven't tried it personally but I have heard very good things and you can get $400 dollar commissions on every successful sale you achieve when telling others about this course. Not bad if you ask me!

Thanks for reading and of course I will be talking further about creativity enhancement in the future.

Creativity Enhancement

Today I am going to talk about enhancing your creativity through other means and practices. Of course playing guitar will enhance your creativity in itself, especially improvisation jamming with a fellow musician. If you have a guitar teacher, ask them to jam with you, playing the rhythm while you, play the single notes of lead guitar. This can yield some of the very best music.

Mindfulness meditation will also help creativity as it creates a peaceful mindset from which to allow the intelligence of the universe (for this is where all creativity comes from) to flow through you. There are plenty of resources to help with this.

There are many ways to strengthen this connection. The most obvious one, but often overlooked is just to ask for an increased connection with the other planes. No joke, this stuff is real, I know from personal experience. I write another blog on Spirituality called spiritual-knowledge.com so if you would like to know more then click the link. I will try to make this more about music then spirituality, but have found the two intertwine, not to mention hearing from certain individuals that music is a divine practice in the higher levels of creation, although their kind is infinitely more complex and beautiful.

Learning another instrument will get your brain working in different ways but on the same subject; music. I recommend keyboard, they can be very cheap and go well when played with the guitar. They also allow a much more regimented way of looking at music theory then guitar. The white keys and black keys are organised into sharps and flats and this visual stimuli makes understanding keys, octaves and scales easier because it is such a different perspective.

Visualisation journeys are very good at increasing your levels of creativity, if you use the right kind of stimuli. A very good one is contained in Jean Houston's Passion for the Possible which is all about using the five senses extensively to enhance your life in general. She includes a very nice guided mental journey in this book and many useful techniques for creating a better life. Obviously, a side effect of this is enhanced creativity.

Trying your hand at drawing and art will also open you up to a more creative mindset and exposing yourself to creative content such as art and music.

Many people say that dreams are where they get their best ideas, look up sleep hygiene, and one way to increase the vividness of them is to drink apple juice before you go to bed.

These are just some techniques to increase this illusive force's influence over you. I phrase it like this for it can feel like a being that rages inside me, a hunger and need for a million notes a second to explode out of my amplifier. There is a lot to be said for the manic energy that can be created through mental illness, a blight most of the time, but combined with a powerful mindset created by meditation it can be a very creative force. I truly believe that my creativity has seen a major enhancement by going slightly crazy, the connections that I make these days are very random but we as humans are suckers for trying to find order in chaos. Of course I would not recommend this as a way of enhancing this force as it hurts. A lot.

Anyway, keep on plucking those strings and have a good week.

For spirituality queries click HERE

Instrumental Guitar Improvisation

Hello again!

I have been thinking about my playing style and what I can offer you that will make your playing better.

I feel I have much to teach people about music and specifically improvisation using individual notes. Firstly, with enough practice (10000 hours will do it but it can be achieved in less) mastery is open to all of us. We are all creative geniuses and have ability beyond measure, as some books suggest and obviously this will help with the difficulties you will encounter with playing improvised instrumental guitar.

In terms of music it is about sticking with whatever instrument you choose, making one your main instrument as learning more then one can help your playing ability a lot (I am a great advocate of the guitar, its versatility, playability and excellent sound make it my instrument of choice) but I have found, forcing yourself to play is not the most effective way of learning. Play when you feel like it, I do an intense 1 hour, sometimes up to two hour session every two days or so and you will make progress in leaps and bounds. This time allows what you have learned, both your muscle memory and knowledge held in the mind, to sink into your fingers and the theory you have acquired to gain a hold in your subconscious. Theory is very important part of learning instruments as long as you don't get held back by it. To be a great player the music has to come from within and this means your subconscious, which remembers everything you have ever played, everything you have ever done, even the weather and the meals you ate of everyday you have ever lived. So when playing improvisation and instrumental guitar music, learn to cut loose and get into the groove.

Passion is what its all about and I know that all of us will have been touched by music at some time or another throughout our lifetimes so creating music is the next logical step to experiencing other people's. Instrumental guitar is my favourite way to express myself on guitar, it is my passion which is why I am at a high level.

Now, if you would like to play like me (www.jacklawlor.co.uk has the links to my music or you can use the music player attached to this post to listen or even buy) I can give you some tips for getting started, assuming you already have some playing experience on guitar. My music is all improvisation work, but done in a framework of theory and scales, with rock guitar rhythm as the backing. I will play either the rhythm or the lead as one track on my iPad in one take, then improvise over it on a separate track, also as one take. This is well demonstrated by Track Zero, which you can download for free by imputing your email address. Listen to the whole thing, when it comes together it really is rewarding, and as a first recording I am happy with it.

Instrumental guitar improvisation is all about the connection between your heart and your head (or brain and body), using what you know theoretically but influencing it with your mind, making hundreds and even thousands of tiny quick decisions to play scales in a new way. So when I am improvising I let my fingers govern what I play but also am constantly making many decisions every second as to where to go next. Its all about looking at the scales from new angles, turning the runs and arpeggios on their heads and playing them in new ways.

Then there is the gelling with whatever else is going on from separate instruments and feeling the natural rhythm as it comes when jamming. Someone once said, and I agree to a certain extent that its all blags, as long as your both playing in the same key and in tune. Its a lot of fun when you find that groove and to help you can play along to a metronome or drum beat to hone your timing skills. I would recommend finding other, like minded musicians to play with and practising with them a lot, or finding the ability to play against your own music. My old guitar teacher, fast becoming a legend in his own right these days, taught me how to jam which is in fact practically all we did, giving me a rock solid ability to improvise, having done years of it with an immense rhythmist. All we did was improvisation and composing instrumental guitar music. 

Personally I found that things click every few months, suddenly you will be playing faster or a certain scale, even many scales will become easier and you will have better timing, finding the groove comes quicker. Eventually they become second nature, the guitar being an extension, these days of my very body and this can really help with your head if you suffer mental illness.

So if you haven’t learned an instrument yet, there is always still time and if you have then keep at it as tomorrow might be the day that hard scale or that sequence of notes 'clicks' and you make a tremendous jump forward! I am promoting Jamorama.com again, they are well known and seem like they would help alot! I have also started a spirituality blog called spiritual-knowledge.com, click the link if you would like to know more. Also check back here for more guitar advice and a video of me playing my electric!

What I Do As A Instrumental Guitarist

Hi!

During my ten years as a guitar player I have picked up many tips and tricks for playing fast instrumental guitar and to do it creatively, so I have started this blog to talk about increasing your ability to play faster and more creatively. Below is a video of me playing on my acoustic. It is improvisation, kinda, which is what I will be talking about in these posts since I primarily play improvisation lead guitar. I use an iPad to record my tracks on so if you would like to hear the complete album then click HERE. This is service, Bandcamp, is great if you would like to sell music or showcase your work. Anyway, here is the video:

I will be posting many more of these, showcasing my playing style and, hopefully, inspiring you also to pick up your guitar and play! I used the minor pentatonic scale, harmonic minors and some jazzy variations in this video, which is also what I use in most of my tracks. When playing improvisation, its all about the thousands of tiny decisions and adjustments we make in a piece with many on a second by second basis that keeps it fresh. When I post the next video, this time on my electric, you can compare the two and will notice similar 'moves' but entirely different ways to play through the scales. Its about making the scales your own running through them in many different ways.

Instrumental guitar music is very fun and rewarding to play, learn scales, limit yourself in these scales and practice, practice, practice! Have fun and tune in next week where I will be sharing more of my playing in the form of videos and more tips on how to play in this style. Chao!

If you would like to know more about me then please go to www.jacklawlor.co.uk

Also, check out these guys Jamorama, I have heard good things. Let me know if you sign up, I would like to know what you think. Not only that but I am offering a free music download directly from this blog. All you have to do is look to your right at the top of the page and enter your email. Hope to see you again soon!