Name: Soloing Concepts: Soloing Without Backing Tracks
Uploaded: 2022-11-20T17:50:44.000Z
Duration: 33 min 13 s

Hey, everybody! In this lesson you will learn about "situational awareness" and how it applies in music. When you are playing a solo, you need to know what is going on around you, musically. Here, you will learn important the approach and techniques to help you fully embrace the ability to practice without any other instruments playing, knowing where you are, and what you can and/or should play and sound good doing it. The technique itself is quite easy, but the discipline required to make it work right will take a little time. So strap on your guitar and let's get going!

Guitar

I am a professional musician with a career spanning over 40 years (touring and studio work), and 30+ years teaching music, including college level classes.

What do you want to learn? How far you go is up to you!

*** Lesson Details ***
BEGINNING students start with the fundamentals, what you must know in order to begin playing songs, all the right ingredients to create a solid foundation. You will be encouraged to study and to venture into the unknown, using what you're learning as a springboard to discover new things.

INTERMEDIATE & ADVANCED players will be assessed on knowledge and abilities; areas of struggle and what is desired to be learned. Within a couple weeks, you will reap the benefits with new ideas bubbling to the surface moving you closer to your goals, with emphasis that short term goals are important as well.

Everyone learns at a different pace. But with patience and persistence, if you do the work, there will be results that can be measured, and you will achieve success!

I offer distance learning via Take Lessons video or Skype for Guitar lessons and employ multiple camera angles so you see my strumming hand and my fretting hand at the same time. I also feature video lessons on various topics in the Live Studio as well. You have two ways to learn from me!

*** Specialties ***
Having played many styles over the years, I am able to play in most of the popular music styles. All music is based on the same fundamental things. It's how they are used that defines a given style.

Soloing Concepts: Soloing Without Backing Tracks

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Music Theory

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The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) is a membership association of more than 480,000 US composers, songwriters, lyricists and music publishers. The ASCAP is committed to nurturing music makers throughout their careers. 

Taught beginning to advanced music lessons to students for credit toward graduation.

Music Teacher

Teaching guitar to people wishing to learn, whether for personal enjoyment or career potential.

Touring professional musician and studio musician for over 40 years.

For Hire Musician

For general education in learning to play guitar, we focus on learning chords, strum patterns, simple progressions and then easy songs. Students are encouraged to bring song ideas in - I probably have them already - so we can begin moving in the direction they want, the reason they want to play guitar, and achieve success in playing their favorite songs. Beyond that, it is up to the student how far they wish to go.

I took lessons about 40 years ago from other teachers, not sure what I was expecting.  However Geoff far exceeded whatever they were.  Very knowledgeable, an excellent teacher.

My son had a great first lesson with Geoff.  He was kind and patient but also very knowledgeable.

"It was kind of hard but fun!" My 9 year old left saying, "now I finally know how to learn how to play from sheet music!" Geoff is patient and knowledgeable.

Geoff has been a wonderful teacher; knowledgeable, extremely patient and
always kind. I would highly recommend him.

My girls love Geoff! He is patient and positive approach to teaching piano. I like that he heard the lessons to their level and only advances them when they are ready.

My girls enjoyed their first lesson. Looking forward to many more.,

Patient, thorough and encouringing.  Super teacher!

Geoff takes the time to make sure his students are really learning how to develop good habits when playing guitar and takes care to spend as much time as it takes to solidify different techniques. He cares that his students are actually learning and doesn't cut corners, making sure things are easy to understand. He's patient, friendly, and skillful, and each lesson is something to look forward to.

Excellent preparation for student. Uses comprehensive handouts. Excellent verbal instruction with hands on example and coaching. In depth knowledge of the instrument and music theory. Excellent teacher.

Hey, everybody! In this episode, the first of three on stringing your guitar(s), I cover how to properly restring Fender inline 6 style guitars so you will have more a more stable result which helps your guitar stay in tune (assuming tuners aren't worthless to begin with!) when playing. Following the guidelines I detail in this video will ensure you always consistently restring your guitar from this point forward into the future, ensuring the same results every time! So, get your strings, clippers and string winder out and let's get that thing done!

Gear Talk: Restringing Your Guitar - Fender style inline 6

Hey, everybody! In this second half of Part 6 you will continue to hone your skills in not just studying, but actual "best practices" when working on scales. So, strap on your guitar and keep going!

Practice Sessions: How To Practice Scales, Pt 6b

Hey, everybody! In this first half of Part 6 you will begin focusing upon the fourth position of the Ionian mode/major scale and the Pentatonic major scale. You will also be shown how to make transitions between the third and this fourth position as well, helping you further you understanding of how to traverse the fret board both ascending and descending through the various positions of the scale. If you've been reluctant to jump into this series, trust me, this is important information you need to learn how to master any given scale. Nobody else is giving you this deep an understanding of scale practice, so come on in and make it happen! Strap on your guitar and let's keep going!

Practice Sessions: How To Practice Scales, Pt. 6a

In this lesson you will learn a few tricks on how to start and end a solo. This topic comes up a lot with my students. Here you will learn possibilities on both beginning and ending solos in songs. You will learn rhythm parts over which you will try out the ideas. There are no written notes, so pay attention. Strap on your guitar and let's get to it!

Soloing Concepts: How To Start And End Solos - A Few Ideas

Hey, everybody! Continuing with Part 3 in giving you folks just developing your soloing skills, we keep going and give you a few more fun things to spice it up and make your playing more compelling. There is no written material here, so again, take notes! Strap on your guitar and let's keep going!

Soloing Concepts: Early Help In Your Soloing Abilities, Pt. 3

Hey, everybody! Here is part two in Early Help In Your Soloing Ability, continuing where you left off with part one. You want help in getting out of a rut? Moving forward? Just sounding better? Well, assuming you are familiar with the Pentatonic minor scale, this is the place to be. As last time we got you playing things that are easy to do, we continue that process by stepping it up just enough to challenge you, but not leave you behind. You will learn a few more things to help make you sound better - things you can do right now, which is the whole idea here, right? Okay, no written material, so take notes or screen shots! Strap on your guitar and let's hit it!

Soloing Concepts: Early Help In Your Soloing Ability, Pt. 2

Hey, everybody! Here is the first in a series of lessons on helping you folks who are just getting rolling in learning to solo. This series assumes you know the Pentatonic minor scale (if you don't, I have a series you can access - just learn the first five lessons and you can do this series). You will be shown how to sound better right now, using what you already know. You will also be shown some really cool stuff to help you get sounding even better! There's no written material for this lesson, take notes! So, strap on your guitar and let's get playing!

Soloing Concepts: Early Help In Your Soloing Ability, Pt. 1

Hey, folks! Here is the second half of Part 5 on How To Practice Scales. The written material is in the first half, so go there and download if you haven't already. This lesson continues with some exercises on transitioning between the third and fourth positions, and also includes guidance on how to move between all four positions while soloing. Exciting stuff you really want and need! So, strap on your guitar and let's get to it!

Practice Sessions: How To Practice Scales, Pt. 5b

Hey, all! Here is Part Five in How To Practice Scales. Here you will begin to work out the third position of the scale. Then you will learn the transitions between the second and third positions. There's more, but to keep things reasonable, this lesson is broken into two parts; this is the first part of the lesson. Again, this series is designed to help you understand the importance of getting into a thorough examination of any given scale. We are using the Ionian mode/major scale and the Pentatonic major scale as our example. You want to be a master in your understanding? This is how we pro players study and practice our scales. So strap on your guitar and let's keep it going!

Practice Sessions: How To Practice Scales, Pt. 5a

Hey, ho, everyone! Here is Part Four in the series on Finding Your Own Voice. The talk continues in discussing things you need to be doing, ensuring, keeping in mind and more as it pertains to getting to that place of sounding like YOU.

We all go through that stage of sounding like our heroes, the guitar players we admire most, whether by learning a ton o f their material or just because we are unconsciously emulating them. Whatever the reason, you do eventually grow out of it as more influences come along and impact your approach to playing guitar.

There is no written material for this series, so take notes! You'll be glad you did!

Geoff Talk: Finding Your Own Voice, Your Own Sound, Pt. 4

Hey, folks! We continue the series on Finding Your Voice by talking through the things that matter in helping you achieve this ability and getting a truly personal and unique sound in your guitar playing. You are learning from a guy who has over 40 years in the business, and been playing music for over 60 years. So, grab a note pad because there is now written material for this lesson.

Geoff Talk: Finding Your Voice, Your Sound, Pt. 3

Continuing the series on Finding your Voice, you will learn why it is important to learn to play parts well, why it matters that you also learn great parts and songs to help you improve as a player, all of which contributes to helping you find and create a personal sound, style and approach to playing parts, even if you are "note for note" playing them...you are still "interpreting" through your own lens that makes you uniquely you. No written material here, so take notes so you can refer to them down the road. So, strap on your guitar and let's keep going!

Geoff A.

Soloing Concepts: Soloing Without Backing Tracks

Geoff's Guitar videos

Gear Talk: Restringing Your Guitar - Fender style inline 6

Practice Sessions: How To Practice Scales, Pt 6b

Practice Sessions: How To Practice Scales, Pt. 6a

Soloing Concepts: How To Start And End Solos - A Few Ideas

Soloing Concepts: Early Help In Your Soloing Abilities, Pt. 3

Soloing Concepts: Early Help In Your Soloing Ability, Pt. 2

Soloing Concepts: Early Help In Your Soloing Ability, Pt. 1

Practice Sessions: How To Practice Scales, Pt. 5b

Practice Sessions: How To Practice Scales, Pt. 5a

Geoff Talk: Finding Your Own Voice, Your Own Sound, Pt. 4

Geoff Talk: Finding Your Voice, Your Sound, Pt. 3

Geoff Talk: Finding Your Voice, Your Sound, Pt. 2

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