I'm always looking around the web for guitar stuff (so busy, devoted readers of my humble blog won't have to) and lots of times I find things that would be very helpful to guitar players. Also I find things that anyone can enjoy. Today I thought I'd share a few, some aimed at students, and some for general listening pleasure:Music Theory for Experienced Guitar Players — In spite of the word "Experienced" in the title, this is a pretty good site for anyone who wants to learn the rudiments of music theory as it relates to guitar:
http://www.zentao.com/guitar/theory/
The C-A-G-E-D system is a method for learning the fretboard. It is a guitar-specific system for learning the shapes of the basic chords C, A, G, E and D on the guitar and how they interrelate. Here is a site that explains its fundamentals:
http://www.cagedguitarsystem.net/
And another in a little more detail:
http://www.highcountryguitar.com/caged.htm
Dutch guitar player Matt Otten is kind enough to put jazz guitar lessons on youtube. He has a lot of good pointers for improvisation. There are good things here for students and also just for general listening:
http://youtube.com/user/mattotten
Another Youtuber, Swedish Guitarist Per-Olov Kindgren has a very nice way with the guitar. His videos can be enjoyed by guitarists and non-guitarists alike:
http://youtube.com/user/AndanteLargo
This is a piece, performed by Mr. Kindgren, I had never heard entitled Arroyos de la Alhambra (the link is to a zip file of the sheet music that you can download), by 19th century Spanish guitarist and composer Angel Barrios. I liked it so much that I found the music on the web and learned it. I taught it to super-student Sean Morse (who learned it by rote, believe it or not) and now plays it at least as well as I do (should I be mad or excited?). Still, I get great comments about it on my gigs now. It's a beauty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz1jnDe4gTE
Another Dutch player Hans Van Leeuwen, here plays something he calls Django — Jazz Meets Flamenco. The tune was written by jazz giant, pianist John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet. I just stumbled on it and thought it was great:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4566DWMbyIM
I hope you'll write and tell me your thoughts about any of these, or make suggestions about others I should include in my blog.
Reader/guitarist Lyle Robinson has asked that I add this site and his blog. There's lots of really good information here:
http://www.jazzguitarlife.com/
http://www.jazzguitarlife.com/blog/
