We launched our latest instructional dvd course last month, Learn & Master Painting.

So far, the response has been great! The comments and testimonials have started coming in!
Today I got an email that pointed me to a thread on the Learn and Master Painting Forum in which the first students shared their first works of art!

Already, as our CEO Gabe said today, “New dreams [are] rapidly coming with reach!” Here are two of the pieces of artwork shared with us today:





We also received this wonderful message from one of our recent Learn & Master Painting customers via snail mail. It is truly awesome the way we are impacting the loves of people who purchase our products!



Keep up the Great work! If you have not seen it yet, Check out Learn & Master Painting Today!

Legendary guitarist and innovator, Les Paul died from complication of severe pneumonia at White Plains Hospital in New York on Thursday August 13. You could say that he single-handedly influenced modern recorded music more than any person in the 20th century. He is credited with inventing the solid bodied guitar. Paul’s legacy will live on forever in his signature Gibson Les Paul guitar, which is one of the most widely recognizable guitars in the world. Some of the greatest guitarists of all time have played the iconic single cut-away guitar.

"What I enjoyed the most was playing in a little joint for the fun of it," Paul told NY1's Budd Mishkin in a 2008 interview. "Not to become known, not to capitalize on it, make a fortune or a big name, but just to have fun."

He loved to play and could often be found at his Iridium Club in New York on Monday nights until his health prevented it.

The world is morning the loss of this great icon. I for one would like to say, Thank you Les for all of your contributions and inspiration. We should all be so fortunate to love doing something that we do so well and have the opportunity to do it for as long as Les did.

Check out the great memorial to Les on Gibson.com to see comments from some of the musical greats who own their carrier to the man. Go Here.

Just about every guitar player wishes they could play faster.  Here is one of the secrets that I have found to obtaining speed and control in your playing--Slow Down. I know it sounds like reverse logic but it’s true.

True speed begins with control and the only way to get control is to SLOW DOWN. Building speed also takes a bit of time to train the fingers and the motor skill muscle memory.

Here’s a simple process for building your speed...

Buy a metronome and get used to playing with it. A metronome is going to be your way of measuring speed.  An Olympic sprinter works with a stopwatch to gauge progress. Musicians work with metronomes.

Start slow on a favorite exercise. Take a favorite scale exercise - let’s say pentatonic scales. Set your metronome at a nice and slow tempo of 60 bpm (beats per minute) and play through the scale in sixteenth notes. Start slow and build up to faster speeds just like a sprinter warms up before a race. Resist the urge to skip this step.

When you can play it perfectly, then put the metronome up just slightly. When you can play it controlled a couple of times then increase the metronome to the next level, let’s say to 64 bpm.

Repeat the second step until you are at your top tempo. You need to work your way gradually up to your top tempo. The last tempo that you can play the exercise at before you start losing control is your top tempo. When you find your top tempo write it down.

Continue increasing the metronome incrementally until it gets so fast that you can’t even play through the exercise. When you find this tempo, write it down.

This whole process should take about 20-30 minutes. Repeat all of these steps for several days straight. You won’t notice any change for the first 3 days but by the end of the first week, you will notice your top tempo going up slightly.

Building speed takes some time. Be patient with it and the results will come with increased speed and control. Keep Learning and Growing!

Steve Krenz, Author - Learn and Master Guitar

One of the things that I have found most helpful in my professional playing career has been the use of a few simple chord substitution tricks. In my previous blog, I mentioned a key one for major chords - You can substitute a Major 2 chord for any Major chord to create a modern and open sound. Here’s one that works for minor chords.

In most playing situations, you can substitute a Minor 11th chord for any Minor chord to add richness and color to your sound.

For example, here is a typical chord progression in the key of C. The first line is what would be written on the page but with some chord substitution tricks I would play the second line giving it a much more interesting sound.

Remember, you can substitute Major 2 chords for Major chords and Minor 11th chords for Minor chords.

Keep Learning and Growing!
Steve Krenz Author - Learn and Master Guitar