7 Skills to Take-Away from Stairway to Heaven...

Did you know that the song "Stairway to Heaven" has the capability behind it of teaching you seven highly credible guitar skills? And, the best part is that once learned, these skills will continue to pay off in your guitar playing forever!





Rather than do endless guitar exercises to get your playing skills down, you can actually achieve a lot of your core guitar skills through the parts performed in Stairway!

In this lesson we’re going to break down this classic piece, but not in a way that dozens of other internet guitar teachers have already done.

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IMPORTANT:
Because this piece already has several YouTube videos explaining “how” to play it, we’re going to instead talk about what skills this song can "teach" us as guitar players, and why it can be such a valuable song to learn. 

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SKILL 1).
FINGER-PICKING PATTERNS

The first thing that Stairway to Heaven can teach us is how good it can be to learn a well-developed finger-picked harmony line. Stairway begins with a finger-style patterned guitar phrase that applies voice-leading.

If you’re unsure of what this is exactly, then learn this short riff that I’ve put together for you. It’s not the exact riff from Stairway. 

But, many of you probably know that riff, so instead, this riff I created for you focuses on the exact same principle as the part from the original song – so you can instead focus on the skill involved with playing the part.

Example:






SKILL 2). DOUBLE-TIME FEEL
Stairway to Heaven goes on to modify the harmony of the riff heard in the songs opening. But, before leaving the intro. section, Jimmy Page decided to add one ‘final twist’ to his riff.

This change is one that's excellent for the development of every guitar students finger-picking technique. All he did was, play the chord changes from the intro. riff through one final time except he used a 16th-note double time feel.

This occurs right at around the 2 minuet mark of the original song.

The basics of what’s going on here, are exactly the same as to what any guitar student would be doing when they train on higher level finger-picking skills. It’s a really cool technical concept that any guitarist can always add to their repertoire when practicing finger-style.

Here’s an example I created using the same 16th-note double time technique that’s found in Stairway to Heaven…

Example:









SKILL 3). BLENDED RHYTHM CONCEPT
15 seconds later in the third section of this song there’s a very cool rhythm guitar part that blends two rhythm concepts together.

We get an open position chord strumming part mixed against an along the neck triad part. Now, this style of rhythm guitar doesn’t happen all the time, (most songs either use one, or the other), but guitarists like Eric Clapton, Santana and Eddie Van Halen all these guys (and many others), will apply this technique, so it’s a really good one to practice.

I’ve written a similar idea that also applies this same concept. So, if you already know the part from Stairway, you can try my idea for some additional practice using this blended strumming technique… here it is…

Example:






SKILL 4). ARPEGGIATED CHORDS
Into the fourth section of the song, we get another finger-picked idea that’s actually easier to play than the first finger-picked riff of the song!

Now, the thing is, that this new part is another important technique for any guitarist learning about finger-picking. It’s generally referred to as, “Arpeggiated Chords.”

And, what happens with this concept is we simply ascend, or descend across any basic chord pattern. This is a great technique to learn about, and I’ve gone ahead and composed an example of one of these ideas for you to learn as well.

Example:






SKILL 5). ADVANCED STRUMMING
The fifth section of Stairway applies something I’d simply call more advanced strumming technique. It’s a strumming approach that isn’t something you’re going to find in all too many songs out there.

What happens in this part, (which you can listen to at just after the 3 min. mark of the original tune), is we end up mixing a busy sixteenth-note triplet strum-pattern that includes a moving upper register group of notes.

That idea is mixed against a straight-time 16th-note strumming part that also targets the upper-register notes of each chord to come together and create a melody that’s built right into the structure of the entire chord progression.

It requires some smooth and accurate technical playing to perform properly. And, if you’re already somewhat familiar with the part from the original song, I’ve come up with my own version that applies this technique, so that you can study it and learn it yourself.

Example:






SKILL 6). PLAYING SOLOS IN MINOR
The sixth section of Stairway is the guitar solo. When I study guitar soloing with my own students here in the studio, one of the things I want to help students get together (as soon as possible), is to link-up what’s happening with the underlying chord changes and the notes that will be used to construct the solo.

In Stairway, we find one of the most common underlying chord changes for a solo in a Minor Key. It’s a chord drop from the root chord to a 2nd inversion of the 3rd chord and then to the 6th.

Once you can solo over this group of chords, you’ll establish an excellent feel for soloing in Minor keys. So, this makes it a perfect soloing practice format. Plus, it (and close variations) will get used in a lot of other songs as well.

In the solo for Stairway, we have a pretty common application of the Minor Pentatonic and the Nat. Minor. So, try applying this chord progression within your own practice routine. I think you’ll find it a great sound to get a solid feel for soloing in Minor keys.

I’ve gone and composed an example of this type of chord progression in the key of "D Minor" so that you try it yourself. Here’s how it sounds…

Example:





SKILL 7). 16th-NOTE SCRATCH RHYTHM:
The seventh section of Stairway is another rhythm guitar idea, (and it’s very similar to the part that was used in the solo).

That’s probably why Jimmy Page eventually goes and adds some additional lead guitar over-dubs into the mix on it. Essentially, it’s just a variation of the chord harmony that we had already played throughout the guitar solo.

But, in this case, the final ending chords drop through the key directly off of the root – down to the 7th and then to the 6th.

This makes it not only an excellent rhythm part but it’s a great guitar soloing format too. And, you can use it for additional solo practice, or you can focus on it for perfecting your rhythm skills since it has a really strong groove that’s based around what’s often called “Scratch” strumming, or it’s also called “Ghost-Note” strumming technique.

I’ve put together a practice exercise out of this style of groove that you can work on yourself. Let me demonstrate it right now for you.

Example:





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The 5 Secrets of Minor Scale

Minor Scales are generally a topic that almost every guitarist learns early on. Maybe it is  Minor Pentatonic, or perhaps some Minor scale runs, a few licks? Whatever it was the education quite likely just skimmed the surface. The sad truth is that hardly anyone knows all the unique opportunities that Minor Scale can offer... 




In this video, I’m going to show you a collection of FIVE Minor Scale secrets that you can start using right away.

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If you are quite limited with your knowledge of the Minor scale, these ideas will help you to fix Minor Scale confusion with five important long term solutions.

My question (up front) to you is; “are you fully aware of what the Minor sound can do in music, and where Minor Scale comes from, and all of Minor’s other sounds – including the Melodic and modes?

If not, that's fine. We'll clear this up right now!

ENDING MINOR SCALE CONFUSION:
It's terrible, but very few guitar players completely understand the Minor scale. So, in this lesson, I’m going to focus on helping you understand 5 Minor Scale Secrets that unfortunately – very few guitar students are taught…





1). What Makes Minor Scale Happen?
The first Minor Scale secret has to do with, “What establishes Minor Color.” Because, if any melody, or chord riff is going to be, “Minor” there’s one primary thing about the scale or chord that absolutely has to happen.

And, that idea is the “3rd” degree of the scale or chord. It must be a step and a half from the scale or chord’s root.

This distance creates Minor! For example, this means that if we have a scale, or a chord and the Root is (let’s say), “G,” then the distance to the 3rd note will determine whether, or not the sound is going to be Major or Minor.

In this example, (above) you can tell that the distance from “G to B natural” creates a 2 whole-step Major sound. But, if you drop the distance down to become a step and a half, we end up with a “G to a Bb,” and this sound is now Minor.

Once you understand what it is that creates Minor (in a scale, or a chord), another secret I want to teach you is how the Minor Scale is used to create chord progressions.






2). Minor Chord progressions
This area of Minor Scale application is vital to using the scale in melodic situations. And, to understand it will involve learning what the chords are that exist within what’s known of as Minor Key Harmony.

Minor key Harmony involves the construction of chords upon every step of the Minor Scale. In the scale of “A Minor,” we have seven chords for every step of the Minor Scale, they are; “Am, Bdim, C, Dm, Em, F, and G.” Once you understand this, you can use these chords to create jams and riffs.







3). Creating Minor Jams and Song-Tracks
That brings us to the third secret of the Minor Scale that I want to talk about, and it has to do with creating jam tracks and songs so that we can actually use the minor scale and create melody lines along with; guitar solos.

The real secret here is that Minor keys use a lot of the same popular harmonic concepts that the Major Keys do. So, luckily, this means that we’ll discover a lot of the same chord movements in Minor that also get used in Major.

For example, there’s the popular application of the; Root, 4th and 5th degree chord movements, (with the 5th being used to make turnarounds).

Let's play you an example of a Chord Jam right now that does this exact thing, (it’s often referred to as the “I-IV-V” chord progression), and I’ll bet you’ve heard something like this before.

Typical Minor Chord Jam:






4). The 3 Forms of Minor
The fourth secret of the Minor scale is based upon something called “Minor Scale Forms.”

If you check out a Music Theory text-book, you’ll find that the Minor Scale isn’t mentioned in the same way that the Major Scale is established in theory.

The Minor Scale consists of three “Forms.” These include the basic Natural Minor, the Harmonic Minor and the Melodic Minor.

Each of these scales have their own unique harmonies, and all 3 function in ways that create unique musical situations. aside from the primary Minor Scale (Natural Minor), the most popular of these other Minor forms is the, “Harmonic Minor.” 

The Harmonic Minor scale is simple to learn because it’s basically the same as Natural Minor, except, the 7th degree is raised up a half-step higher.




You’ll find Harm. Min. used when the fifth chord of a Minor progression switches to either “Major” or more commonly to, “Dominant 7th.” 

As an example of this, if we changed that “Em” chord (of that “Am” progression I played you a minuet ago), to either “E Major” or to “E Dominant 7th,” we could switch to performing the “A” Harm. Minor Scale on that measure.

Let's practice playing on a jam like this, (including a solo using Harm. Min.), so that you can hear exactly how this sound works.



The other form of “Minor” is less popular in contemporary music, it’s called “Melodic Minor.” This scale is very unique and it sometimes can be complicated to apply because of its very different organization of scale tones.

Melodic Minor uses a group of complex chord types when it gets harmonized, and that ends up producing a sound in harmony that’s musically contrasting if you don’t understand how to control it.

Because the “Melodic Minor” could burn up an entire video of its own – I’m going to suggest at this point - that you go and watch my YouTube video called, “Using the Melodic Minor Scale.”

USING THE MELODIC MINOR SCALE:


NOTE: The "Using the Melodic Minor Scale," lesson plan comes with a detailed 5-page handout along with an MP3 jam-track that you can use to apply the scale ideas discussed in the video.





5) Modal Soloing with Minor Scale
The final Minor Scale secret I want to share with you has to do with the fact that Minor Soloing is not limited to the Natural Minor and its other forms.

One of the coolest things that we can do when playing a Minor Solo is shift around the scale-tones to reflect modal ideas.

Guitar players like; Kirk Hammett, Richie Blackmore, Jimmy Hendrix and many others didn’t limit their note choices to what’s found in the Natural Minor. Because they knew that we can include other modal tones like Dorian’s raised 6th, and Phrygian’s lowered 2nd.

These altered notes can create some very cool Minor effects!

Here’s an example of how to do something like this. Record a basic minor key jam using the process described back in steps 2 and 3.

While playing over your Minor key chord changes test ways of inserting the unique tones from Dorian and Phrygian mode.

Using additional notes that exist outside of the standard Minor scale can sound fantastic when done right.”

Let's say that your progression was in "G Minor," you could apply some, “G Dorian,” as well as, some sounds from the, “G Phrygian” mode.

This really is like saving the best for last. And, when you hear these minor effects, you’ll know right away why so many famous guitar players use these minor mode concepts around standard Minor key harmony.


 VISIT THE WEBSITE:
If you’d like to learn more about topics like this one and many others, join my members site as a free member and start looking through my, “Guitar Courses.”

I’ve spent over 25 years working with hundreds of guitar students creating thousands of detailed step-by-step guitar lessons for both my website members and my private students.

The result is the most comprehensive guitar course that covers every aspect of beginner to advanced playing ideas to help you improve your playing.

 

 
 LIMITED TIME OFFER: 
If you join my site as a Premium member, you’ll receive a FREE copy of my popular Guitar Technique eBook.

My Guitar Technique eBook is 28 pages of jam-packed exercises, drills and studies for mastering all of your technical skills at playing Guitar.
 



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How Much Can You Learn in a Day?

How much can we learn about guitar in a day? Is it determined by our natural talent? Or, does talent even remotely matter? Whatever your limitations are, I can guarantee you that they do not cement you to a life of being a 'mediocre guitar player! With the right practice approach, you can advance more than you think on a daily basis...




There are definitely things to be said about a guitar player’s; mind-set, their motivation level and their ability to be logical about their own personal limitations.

Those areas would generally be ones that are influenced by our life experiences, our parents and the genetic code that they’ve passed on. But, your limitations (whatever they are), do not cement you to a life of being a 'mediocre guitar player!

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MORE THAN YOU THINK:
If you apply the right methods, you can learn a lot more than you think in a day’s practice session... But, before you start saying to yourself, Hey, Man,Why does this guy think that he knows how much I can learn in a day?

Before you start to consider that, I want to state clearly (up front), if you are going to make some determination about how much can be absorbed within one day of guitar practice, you’re going to need to understand how much information that your mind can; take in, put to use and then retain within one day.

That part of the equation will be different from person to person.




MOTIVATION:
I’d like to start by saying that Motivation is one of the main drivers behind a person’s ability to apply themselves when learning guitar. Because playing guitar is not easy, its a physical skill, (it’s a high degree motor skill), a skill that requires, a lot of coordination plus excellent visual and, spatial awareness.

And, that means we need to step into all of this realizing that being highly motivated to learn new ideas on guitar, is “one part” of the equation, but it won’t be enough.

We need to consider our personal limits too. Personal limitations are really important to understand because not everyone takes in what they’re studying in the exact same way. We all have different perspectives on what we’re practicing and we all prioritize topics differently.

Not to mention, some people have areas of musical ability that they’re much better at, and of course, areas that they are really weak at. So, make sure that you count “Personal Limitations” as a factor that might slow you down during your day.

Be sure not to do what a lot of students do which is neglect the topics that they’re bad at. The trick (when it comes to dealing with personal limitations), is just to simply give them equal time in your day. And, that brings us to our next subject of establishing, “Topic Categories.”




TOPIC CATEGORIES:
In the most general sense, guitar practice can be segmented into six topic categories… starting with your; “Warm-Up Drills” and then getting into; academic topics with lessons on; “Chords and Rhythm Guitar,” “Scales and Arpeggios,” also, “General Guitar and Music Theory,” then there’s Composing and improvising, plus the study of "Learning Songs."



So, with these six topics, (and I do understand that there can be more lesson and training topics), but if we start by focusing on these six we’ll be able to clarify one of the most important aspects of practice, which is determining, “How Much We Can Learn in a Day.”

Remember that this will get balanced against how motivated we are to hit each topic while moving through a wide group of subjects and experiencing a very broad scope of material.

But also, we need to remain aware of our personal limitations. Once your practice day encompasses a large volume of topics and you know your limitations, you’re going to be able to learn a lot more in each day’s session.

And, when this concept is combined with the next idea I have for you, you’ll also start getting a lot more done in each practice session as well.






THE LIST METHOD:
Have you ever been in a situation that required an overwhelming number of tasks be completed in a structured order and sequence?

Or, maybe you’re used to working with highly complex machinery like perhaps flying an airplane? Well then, if you are then you already understand that using a list to break-down a large series of steps that are involved with any complex operation will (with near certainty) confirm that the task your going to do will go off without any problems.

This exact same principle also applies when it comes to getting the most out of your guitar practice. By using a list, you can achieve a lot more than if you don’t.





LISTS and TIME FRAMES:
But, if you also set time-frames for each item on your list, then you’ll really be doing something cool, you’ll be using “Speed Learning,” (also - often referred to as), “Accelerated Learning.”




When you use a list (with time frames built into it) you’ll gain a better ability to move through subjects more thoroughly. And, you’ll also be able to practice more material, (in each practice session).

This means that you’re going to be able to fit in more practice every day, and using this system will also help you become far more well-rounded which means you’ll slowly eliminate those weak areas in your playing that we referred earlier to as your areas of, “Personal Limitation.”





RE-CAP:
So, let’s re-cap a few things before we wrap up this post...

Be sure to start with a sense of Motivation each day. All this means is that you'll need to find something that can inspire you to really dig in for some serious practice!

Then, organize your list. Write down what you want to practice on that day, that week and within the month.

Once you have your list, set time frames for how long you’re going to study each topic. Be sure to include some breaks in there so you can keep your mind working fresh and clear for every topic.


 VISIT THE WEBSITE:
If you’d like to learn more about topics like this one and many others, join my members site as a free member and start looking through my, “Guitar Courses.”

I’ve spent over 25 years working with hundreds of guitar students creating thousands of detailed step-by-step guitar lessons for both my website members and my private students.

The result is the most comprehensive guitar course that covers every aspect of beginner to advanced playing ideas to help you improve your playing.

 

 
 LIMITED TIME OFFER: 
If you join my site as a Premium member, you’ll receive a FREE copy of my popular Guitar Technique eBook.

My Guitar Technique eBook is 28 pages of jam-packed exercises, drills and studies for mastering all of your technical skills at playing Guitar.


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Never Neglect This Advance Warning!

Do you want to avoid sloppy playing, or wasted time while you practice? Of course you do, so you need to start paying attention to a few of the early warning signs... Pain and poor playing are two of the easiest and earliest ways to detect that your guitar playing is about to become unproductive, (long before the negative side effects start becoming apparent). The good news is that it doesn’t have to be a surprise... 




In this post, I’m going to discuss how you can spot the advanced warning signs of a couple of areas of guitar playing that you'll never want to neglect.

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What if you had warning signs that would indicate to you that you need to be more careful about your practice schedule and the guitar exercises that you’re involved with during every playing session?

Well, the good news is that we do have warning signs. The two big ones are pain from the musical groups, and the other is not being smooth with our skills. But, out of those two, the appearance of pain is still the most obvious.




Warning Signs:
  • Pain (in the hand, wrist, arm)
  • Sloppy performance

One of the scariest things that can happen to a guitar player is the development of pain in the; hand, wrist or arm. And, this is even more complicated if you’re a professional player who’s working every day to earn a living - making a living playing sessions and gigs.

We need to learn what we should become aware of in order to spot the early warning signs (like sloppy performance), and at the same time maintain good "long-term" guitar playing.




GUITAR PLAYING FITNESS:
One of the most important and often neglected areas for guitar players is the basic fitness and the general overall strength in the hands and arms.

When your grip becomes weak, and when the arms are weak, it directly impacts the effectiveness of our hands on the instrument.

A number of years ago I had a fitness trainer who was taking lessons with me, and I asked him, what he thought was an easy way for guitar players to keep their hands in good shape. He said, without any hesitation, buy a chin up bar!

Chin-ups are excellent for guitarists
The great thing about the simple exercise of the chin up is it focuses on the muscle groups that we need and constantly use as guitar players.

Chin-up bars are inexpensive and do wonders!


Chin-up’s build phenomenal grip strength in your; fingers, hands and forearms and all of those areas are constantly used by us when we play the guitar.

Vastly improve your grip-strength


The amount of muscles that are used in the chin-up movement will help you to develop everything that you need to have in order to maintain superior strength and ability across all of the muscles that are constantly in use when you play the guitar.

The best part of it all is that with good strong muscles in your; hands, wrists and arms, the likelihood of pain, or injury, or even the appearance of problems like tendonitis creeping in - will be greatly diminished... and with the implementation of the next topic - hopefully completely avoided.




RELAXATION and GUITAR PERFORMANCE:
The next important area that you can never neglect is keeping your level of tension way down and I’m talking “as low as possible.” If you want more clarification, just ask a symphony player.

Symphony players must stay very relaxed at all times


Tension causes stress on the muscle groups and it is the number one cause of sloppy guitar playing. So, the warning sign here is definitely going to be centered around noticing when you stumble /flub-out during your playing, and how high your tension level seems to be at the point of those failures.

When you’re tense, you play badly. But, when you learn to remain relaxed, your playing is going to become smooth and your sense of recall for musical parts will be very clear.


We naturally play better guitar solos when we're relaxed
This also means that if you enjoy lead guitar, then staying relaxed will increase your ability to play better improvisations and you’ll also play better in live situations (up on-stage).




THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM:
Keep in mind that tension begins from the central nervous system, your brain is the starting point. And, that is why you need to constantly (daily) continue to remind yourself to stay calm and relaxed. This also means finding /searching for new ways to remain relaxed.




Once you can learn to quickly enter into a more relaxed physical state and do so automatically, you’ll notice a big difference in your guitar playing. Discovering ways that will help keep you calm and more balanced are the keys to implementing this idea.




METHODS OF LOWERING TENSION:
Maybe it is going to be through exercise, or going for more walks. Maybe it is through spending time with people who are important to you, or finding more time for yourself.

You need to discover several unique ways that are the right ways for you to keep yourself as balanced /relaxed as possible.

So again, the early warning signs of too much tension are going to be “when /if” you start to badly and continuously stumble in your guitar playing. When you play poorly, play sloppy and when you cannot focus well. This also includes getting angry too easily or too quickly.

Whenever you’re unable to play smoothly, or play with a clear mind, do a self-check for tension. Because tension is most likely – the root cause of your poor guitar playing.




CONCLUSION:
In wrapping up I want to make it clear that playing problems (like the ones we’ve discussed here in this post), are avoidable.

Being incredibly weak in the hands, wrists and arms is going to cause you problems. It’s all about neglect, and the warning signs will be pain.

When it comes to playing smoothly, if you neglect paying close attention to how relaxed you are - ultimately you’re going to experience tension problems.

You’ll play badly, you’ll flub-out notes, you’ll stumble through parts and your ability to remember musical ideas are all going to be warning signs that you’re too tense, and you need to relax more.

Being more relaxed is how you free up your state of mind, feel better and in the end have your music flow more easily and more smoothly.

Everything begins from the central nervous system. Musicians need to be aware of the advanced warning signs our bodies give us to be able to create great music out of the guitar.

And, to create great music takes a level of strength and health from the muscles combined with being relaxed so when all the tension levels are low and we can more easily access our skills, our creativity we’ll simply flow better.


 VISIT THE WEBSITE:
If you’d like to learn more about topics like this one and many others, join my members site as a free member and start looking through my, “Guitar Courses.”

I’ve spent over 25 years working with hundreds of guitar students creating thousands of detailed step-by-step guitar lessons for both my website members and my private students.

The result is the most comprehensive guitar course that covers every aspect of beginner to advanced playing ideas to help you improve your playing.

 

 
 LIMITED TIME OFFER: 
If you join my site as a Premium member, you’ll receive a FREE copy of my popular Guitar Technique eBook.

My Guitar Technique eBook is 28 pages of jam-packed exercises, drills and studies for mastering all of your technical skills at playing Guitar.


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