Guitar Lessons & ... » Lessons

It’s Guihappening!

brendanburns — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:57:41 +0000

Guitober is just about to break into full swing. Find out on the latest updates here: Guitober.com

GUITARMY

brendanburns — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 04:15:47 +0000

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year of guitar lessons.

Members of the 2007-2008 Brendan Burns GUITARMY:

Austin Cohen
Myra Johnson
Helen Huang
Coco Wallace
Parker Wallace
Charlie Guerra
Neil Jones
Kavoi Mutisya
Christopher Zarins
Shaan Shivdasani
Sam Roffman
Masaki Norton
Isabel Wallace
Hadassah Stanhill
Olivia Siegal
Max Josef
Gabriel Mininberg
Daniel Getz
Nick Page
Alvin Taylor
Sarah Simon
Shani Breiman
Nico Jochnick
Claire Chin
Keir Shields
Elana Shlosman
Sophia Spirounis
Sam Mills
Aaron Corn
Micaela Corn
Greg Smith
Abby Fink
Maria Meletlidis
Vincent Webster
Eleni Papadopoulos
Yanni Papadopoulos
David Cohen
Tommy Larkin
Nick Gill
David Kahn
Jason Boyle
Livia Merrill
Cyril Vallet

Isabel Leader
Noa Leiter
Sam Altsher
Sarah King
Alex Horn
Alex Verbitsky
Kevin Wu

Students of Brookline Music School & Newton Music Academy

It’s about time!

brendanburns — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 01:37:04 +0000

This is an unusual post for this blog, but I think this is pretty cool. From the iTunes website:

“With the new iTunes “Complete My Album” service, music fans can now upgrade their singles into complete albums and get full credit for the songs they have previously purchased from iTunes. “Complete My Album” is a wonderful new way that iTunes helps customers grow and enjoy their music collections.”

Now that’s what I’m talking about! I can’t wait till they open this up to TV shows.

In minor site news, I’ve added a new folder: /studentfiles, to collect all of the play-along recordings I make for students. These are not professional releases and they not always the best of my playing, but they’re there to help you if you need some guidance with a tune. Like classic play-along recordings the melody is panned to one side, the chords are panned to the other, and the time is in center. Up there now: Pink Panter, Bach’s Invention #13, Bach Talk from one of Bill Leavitt’s books (80bpm & 120bpm), & My Favorite Things (80bpm & 120bpm). I’m not going to update the blog every time I add something to this folder, but I wanted everyone to know it’s there in case you are looking for it.

Lick of The Day – Holiday Songs

brendanburns — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 19:35:48 +0000

Some good intro note reading exercises: The Dreidel Song & Jingle Bells. They also flow nice together when you play them back to back.

Student Concert 2006 Recap

brendanburns — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:45:14 +0000

The 4th Annual Brendan Burns Student Concert was a lot of fun and a big sucess. Thanks to everyone for participating:

Thomas Rothman – “These Boots Were Made For Walking,” by Lee Hazlewood
Steve & Thomas Rothman -”The Edmund Fitzgerald,” by Gordon Lightfoot
Laurens Schalekamp – “Eight Days A Week,” by The Beatles & “By Yourself,” by Laurens Schalekamp
Yakir & Olivia Siegal – “When The Saints Go Marching In” & “Puff, The Magic Dragon,” by Leonard Lipton
Alejandro Yegros & In Paik – “Mary Jane,” by Alanis Morrisette & “Guilty,” by Bonnie Raitt

www.flickr.com

what is this?

Zen Guitar & other Quotes

brendanburns — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 15:34:47 +0000

I was cleaning out some files this weekend and found an old page from my website back in the day (2001). It’s a bunch of quotes from Phillip Tosido‘s book: Zen Guitar, Mick Goodrick‘s: The Advancing Guitarist & other miscellaneous sources:

“Combat discouragement with your desire to learn.”

Poetic imperfection

A bird does not ask, “Is my song pretty?”

“I don’t think you can ever do your best. Doing your best is a process of trying to do your best.” -Townes Van Zandelt

“Do what has to be done, when it has to be done, as well as it can be done, & Do it that way every time.”

“Ready, fire, aim.” -make adjustments after the launch -Hal Crook

“If you can talk you can sing, If you can walk you can dance.”

“After playing a wrong note accidentally, play the same note again like you really mean it.”

“From one thing, know then thousand things.” -Samurai Maxim

“Music can teach you everything you need to know.”

“To tune means to be in harmony.”

“Katsu – roar of a person who knows what it means to be alive.”

“When things fall apart, make art.”

“How you react to the unexpected reveals your true spirit.”

“You must develop comfort in good habits. You need not try to change everything you find wrong with yourself – start with one new habit: “Do one thing the right way one time.” When the next moment comes, make the same commitment. If you do this the bad habits will take care of themselves.”

“With practice our muscles develop their own intelligence, to the point where thought and action occur simultaneously. Our skill becomes natural.”

“Every single problem that you have in your life is the seed of an opportunity for some greater benefit.”

“In a hundred-mile march, ninety is about the half-way point.”

“Trees do not grow to the sky, but their roots continue to grow.”

“The key is not to think of doing things right every time; the thought seems too overwhelming. Just do it right one time; this time, right now. That’s all you have to worry about.”

Radiance #8 by Keith Jarrett

brendanburns — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 03:59:36 +0000

Back in February of this year, I posted a transcription of Keith Jarrett’s Radiance #8 on my practice blog. Shortly after posting it I realized I’d written the rhythms out wrong. I’ve been receiving some mail about it recently and decided it was time to go back and draft a correction.

Parker Lick

brendanburns — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 01:58:48 +0000

I should have more to say about this than I do. It’s just an amazing lick. Charlie plays it so effortlessly on “Blues For Alice.” Check it out. I’ve been working on it for two days now, I’ve just about got it at half-speed. whoo!

Taylor Tech Sheets

brendanburns — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 21:27:29 +0000

It's been my experience that most guitarists (including myself at one time) do not know how to string their instruments properly. There is a lot of interpretation involved in playing guitar, but that should not carry over into maintenence and structural issues relating to the instrument.To educate the masses, Taylor Guitars took the time to ask their top guitar tech how to do some very common and important tasks regarding Guitar Upkeep. The results yielded the Taylor Tech Sheets.
I love these worksheets. I think every guitarist should familiarize themselves with these topics:
Taylor Tech Sheets

Bach Lick – Well Tempered Clavier

brendanburns — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 15:01:32 +0000

Bach's Prelude No.1 of the Well Tempered Clavier is a beautiful piece. It illustrates his mastery of harmony, development and suspense. It's like a well written thriller.
I was working on this with a student this morning, and was so inspired, that I had to put it in my book. Rather than photocopying the piece and putting in multiple pages of notes that I can't read when the light is not right, I decided to write out the chord symbols and use it as a basis for improvisation.
Bach's piece is really just a bunch of rolling arpeggios, running twice through for each chord. It's very simple rhythmically. It's complexity lies in the harmonic movement. Try just strumming through the chords – they have a strong sense of direction.
I have more to learn from this tune, but I thought I would share the chord progression for anyone else who is inclined to discover it's beauty.