For many years I played without any workable knowledge of theory, and my technique was pretty hap hazard. My theory knowledge is still not great (I can barely recite the notes which each string on my guitar are tuned to...)...so I won't be throwing all sorts of complex theory, firstly because I'll just confuse myself! My approach to playing is pretty simplistic so I'll be bringing you more of the practical tips then the complex theoretical stuff...

My playing changed when I went to Guitar Institute for a 10 week part time course in 2000. It's pretty amazing what you can achieve in 2 hours of teaching each week! I had been playing for just over 10 years at the time and also when I attended the entry test, I was pretty surprised and a little taken back that the tutor thought that there were a lot of areas of my playing which I needed to improve and my playing was mediocre at best. It was a GOOD lesson for me because it made me sit down and practice and improve my playing...

All that said, a lot of what I will be putting on this page will be about the basics of playing. This is principally for 2 reasons; 1. I am asked quite a lot of the time what makes up my playing and what tips can I give to help improve, and 2. I believe that a good foundation for playing is one of the most important things to learn. More advanced players will inevitably know a lot of what I am saying here. I chose to develop the page in this way because when I started out I didn't have enough pointers about the basics and therefore my playing suffered. I will be adding more advanced techniques in the near future though. Also from time to time I'll include some of my favorite techniques and licks. ...

For beginners, one of the tools that I would recommend that you get yourself is a metronome. Software metronomes are available as well, so what are you waiting for??? So, why a metronome...well, a very good friend of mine called me a few weeks ago and said "Jay, I've been playing the pents (penatatonic scales) and my left hand is doing fine an improving all the time, but I can't get my picking hand to do what I need it to. It's all over the place". My advice to him was to get a metronome and practice his picking and fretting to the metronome. The reason for this (as I discovered some time ago) is that both your left and right hand will have a common reference point to work from...the all important "click". Human hands are not naturally designed to play guitar, so when you first pick up guitar each hand will be doing it's own thing. I found that the best way to work on coordination was to play to a metronome. The click gave both of my hands a common reference point/tempo to work to, and as I practiced more and more, both of my hands started working together in perfect coordination, i.e. when I was fretting a note, I was also picking the string. I would even sit here sometimes and just pick an open string to a metronome so that I could get by pick hand timing correct. A metronome will also improve your use fo tempo and teach you to play in time to songs.

You should also learn to utilize all of the fingers on your fret hand. Two years into my playing I completely changed the way I used to played (predominantly using the first 3 fingers of my fret hand) and started using my pinky as well. A lot of people have commented over the years on how much I use my pinky and while this is just the way I play it is something which has built up over time and only by using all 4 fingers on my left hand. If you're a beginner, using the pinky at first will be a major pain in the neck. It'll probably feel awkward and also you may not have a lot of strength in that finger, but don't let that deter you. One of the best ways to build up strength in that finger is to use it...don't neglect it...

OK, that's enough of the schpeel...click on the links below for info on some techniques which I use a lot...Btw, if you want to see some very useful technique video clips head over to Chad Coggin's site at www.chadcoggin.com. Chad is an incredible player and a good friend of mine. I've used his vids to learn myself. They are awesome...and his watching him play is very, very cool...

That's it for now...See ya!