Guitar Practice, Veritas Guitars, Marty Schwartz
The newsletter for guitar players.
Guitar Practice
Let's look at one more way to play through the same arpeggios we used in the last couple issues. Here, we're (mostly) just skipping strings, which results in a cool-sounding little riff.
We of course don't want to overuse this type of thing, but it's a technique/pattern you can work into your playing once in a while as an alternative to just playing scales.
Another thing we can do is play these pairs of notes together. 2 notes played at a time is sometimes referred to as a diad (or dyad).
The point here isn't to memorize these specific lines, but to open you (and your fingers) up to a couple new ideas to work into your playing.
Experiment with using these technique on other chords, and start by taking it slow.
Gear Showcase
Veritas Guitars
Blending design, functionality, and aesthetic beauty, Mt Pleasant, Tennessee-based Veritas Guitars is taking custom guitars to another level.
While Veritas has a number of amazing guitar models, their Portlander stands out as a crowd favorite. It's seriously one of the nicest-looking guitars we’ve ever seen.
Their flagship model, the Portlander is a humbucker-equipped, highly creative take on the classic T-style guitar design. Offered as either a solid body or semi-hollow thinline, the Portlander is truly a workhorse of a guitar, in addition to being an eye-catching work of art.
Veritas also offers a Double Cut version of the Portlander, as well as a more traditional t-style guitar (with 2 single coil pickups) called the Texas Miracle, and the offset-shaped Riverton.
In addition to the standard models, Veritas builds fully custom guitars designed to reflect the uniqueness of its owner.
While Veritas focuses on handmade custom builds, they also offer a ProLine series of guitars. Built in Korea, the ProLine models feature designs, materials, and electronics that are all exclusive to Veritas Guitars, offered at a lower price point. We love this approach, as it lets people that might not be ready to spend the cash on a custom-built guitar get a really well-made Veritas guitar at a much lower price.
Veritas comes up with creative and elegant guitar designs, combined with outstanding tone and playability.
Guitarist Spotlight
Marty Schwartz, Marty Music
If you've ever searched for guitar lessons on YouTube, chances are you've came across Marty Schwartz.
Marty's road to teaching guitar online is an interesting one. After college, he was working in a music store, where he taught some lessons. He got laid off from that job, and started teaching guitar full time on his own. Years later, he taught elementary school music, while continuing to teach guitar lessons on the side. Then when the economy crashed in 2008, he got laid off from the school job, and private lessons started to dry up, as people didn't have the budget for them as they were getting laid off from their jobs as well.
Basically not knowing what else he could do, he started uploading a few videos to YouTube - with the idea that maybe they'd help promote him a bit as a guitar player and local teacher. People slowly started liking his videos, and following him on YouTube. That resulted in launching a website and business called Guitar Jamz, which has since evolved into Marty Music.
Marty Schwartz is amazing at teaching well-known songs. Learning popular songs is one of the best ways to learn guitar and music (as the goal as a guitar player ultimately isn't just to know a giant library of scales and chords - it's know how to play and write actual songs), and he does a great job properly breaking them down.
In a world where so many instructional videos now feature flashy sets, fancy production, and over-the-top editing, Marty's videos stand out due to them basically being the opposite of that (in a good way!). Marty comes off as your friendly neighborhood guitar teacher, and his videos make you feel like you're in the room with him, getting a one-on-one guitar lesson.
With well over 4 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, Marty has had a big impact on many guitar players, and offers premium guitar courses through his own website (MartyMusic.com) that offer a deep dive into topics such as blues guitar, acoustic guitar, and much more.
Check out Marty Music and his YouTube channel
🎸 Trending
- PRS announced Limited Edition 40th Anniversary Custom 24 and Private Stock McCarty Dragon Guitars. 😮 The Custom 24 will be Limited to 400 pieces worldwide, while the Dragon will be limited limited to 165.
- Your life-long dream of having a Hello Kitty® branded Fender Stratocaster, Fuzz pedal, and guitar strap has finally come true! 🤷♂️ Fender's Hello Kitty® Collection also includes co-branded shirts, hats, a gig bag, and more. Jokes aside, it's cool seeing a guitar company trying to appeal to a variety of audiences.
- Gibson announced the release of the Mary Ford Les Paul Standard Goldtop. It's the first public release of an ultra-rare signature model from the Golden Era, with a mahogany body, maple cap, ES-295-style floral pickguard and matching armrest, Slim Taper mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard, and Burstbucker pickups. MSRP is $2,999 USD.
- In the market for a new acoustic guitar? Rhett Shull & Chris Alvarado dove into what he wished he know before buying an acoustic guitar.
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