You may have been inspired by great demos online, persuaded by your favourite guitarist or developed a genuine need for some guitar amp modelling in your life and so you have gone and made an investment.  This blog post is not designed to make you choose between analogue vs digital solutions, there is another one for that and plenty online besides, but how to get the most out of whatever you already have. Any of the things discussed in this blog post can be applied to any mod

All players, regardless of their status as a student, go through peaks and troughs, highs and lows in their playing and understanding of the wonderful instrument that is the guitar. This means that sometimes you will be content with your playing, and happy with the progress that you are making or the direction in which your playing has turned. Naturally this means that the opposite can happen – I am sure that we have all been there! In this blog post I want to try and help yo

The blues scale is one of the most influential and widely used scales in modern music. Its impact transcends the blues genre, shaping rock, jazz, and even pop music. This scale is deeply rooted in the African American musical tradition and has played a critical role in the evolution of the guitar as an expressive instrument. Understanding the blues scale, its structure, and historical significance provides insight into the development of contemporary music. The Minor Blues Sc

Desktop Guitar Amps: What They Are and the Models Worth Knowing If you mostly play at home, a full-size guitar amp can feel like overkill. It takes up space, needs to be turned up to sound its best, and often comes with more power than you’ll realistically use. That’s where desktop guitar amps come in. These are compact, self-contained units designed specifically for low-volume environments like bedrooms, apartments, or small home studios. They’re built to sound good at conve

In the interest of keeping everyone happy, I will not name any specific names within this blog post. I will talk from my personal experiences, both good and bad, as well as what I have learned from my peers and idols.  This blog post is not aimed towards any specific skill level, as any one person technically has the right to get paid for their hard work, but instead towards someone that has been performing for a short time and has inevitably come across that one particular w

Pickups are the part of an electric guitar that turn string vibration into signal. That signal then gets shaped by your amp, pedals, and playing style. While pickups don’t determine your entire tone, they set the foundation. If you get this part wrong, everything downstream is a compromise. Here’s a clear look at the main pickup types, what they really sound like, and where they tend to work best. 1. Single-Coil Pickups Single-coils use one coil of wire wrapped around magnets

It is my belief that, decades ago, guitar players and other musicians had a more dramatic sense of theatre about them. Many people in the rock and metal genres had a separate persona that they would have onstage. This is definitely not the same as people that are pretending to be something they are not whilst marketing it as their true self – I am referring to people playing characters to an otherworldly degree, an alternate version of themselves or simply creating a new char

Musicians tend to fall into one of two main categories; some people gravitate towards one instrument although they have rudimentary skill with other disciplines, and others seem to be equally at home with anything that you put in their hands. I find myself firmly in the former category, but I have met many people who align with the latter statement (I may or may not be a bit jealous!). In this blog post, I want to discuss how having some experience with other instruments asid

Few guitarists have shaped the world of jazz quite like Wes Montgomery. Known for his unique thumb-picking technique, heavy use of octaves on the guitar, and a tone as warm as a summer evening, Montgomery remains one of the most influential jazz guitarists of all time. His albums, rich with harmonic invention and soulful expression, are a testament to his genius and mastery of the jazz language. In this article, I’ll take you through some of my favorite Wes Montgomery records

The Gibson ES-335 is a legend in the music world. From its unmistakable design to its versatile sound, the ES-335 has carved its place as one of the most iconic instruments in history. This semi-hollow body marvel has graced the hands of countless guitar heroes and appeared on some of the greatest tracks ever recorded. Let’s dive into the origins, its legendary players, unforgettable songs, purpose, and even its closest relatives in the Gibson family. The Origins of the Gibso

There is the old joke that the ideal number of guitars is X + 1. Meaning that you always just need one more, and once you have that one piece to finish the collection then another one comes along that you must have. It is a vicious cycle and we have all been there at one point or another.  However, that begs the question of how many guitars do you actually need? The answer to that question is going to change depending on who you ask. In this blog post, I will try to help you

There was a time when creating professional-quality music required access to expensive recording studios, high-end equipment, and specialized engineers. For many musicians, especially those just starting out, these barriers seemed insurmountable. Today, however, the landscape of music production has changed dramatically. The home recording revolution has made it possible for anyone with a passion for music to set up a recording studio in their own home. This transformation ha

It is easy to understand that the best melodies are going to be different for each person; the concept of something being ‘the best’ in almost any instance is entirely subjective. Unless you are ranking a melody on the most money generated etc (something that is very hard to accurately determine!), then this will always be the case.  Today we will be talking about the best melodies, how we can classify this with our own personal set of rules, some examples of what I think are

The electric guitar is one of the most influential and iconic instruments in the history of modern music. Its sounds have defined genres, inspired musicians, and created some of the most unforgettable moments in music history. But the electric guitar is not a monolith; it comes in several distinct types, each with unique qualities that shape the way it sounds and feels. Among the most notable categories are solid-body, semi-hollow, and hollow-body guitars. These designs refle

Video game music (VGM) has transformed from a series of simple, functional sound effects into an art form celebrated by gamers and music enthusiasts worldwide. Today, it occupies a space where creativity, technology, and storytelling converge, crafting soundscapes that are as memorable as the games themselves. As a genre, VGM has grown to blend diverse musical traditions, from classical orchestration to electronic experimentation, all while embracing cutting-edge technologies

Having played in various ensembles, from smaller groups playing rearrangements of tunes, to touring bands playing original music and larger corporate style function bands, I am in a unique position to comment on whether or not you should actually learn the original solo of a tune properly. In this blog post I will discuss arguments for and against this, and my end goal is to help you determine the correct choice for yourself. This is all under the assumption that you have the

Celebrating Our 2025 Fall Student Recital Performers We’re proud to congratulate all the students of the American Guitar Academy who participated in our 2025 Fall Student Recital. Performing in front of an audience takes courage, focus, and preparation, and each of you stepped up to the challenge. That’s something worth celebrating. This year’s program showcased a wide range of styles, from classical pieces to blues, rock, and contemporary favourites. Some students performed

Some guitar players prefer to go down the multi-fx route for their entire chain; using products like the Helix from Line 6, the Kemper Profiler and a seemingly endless list of others to create your entire signal chain is commonplace. Whether or not you should do this is entirely your choice, and something I have discussed in a blog post before. The purpose of this blog post is to discuss uses for these systems within an existing guitar rig, whether you have a conventional amp

When it comes to mastering the guitar, understanding the relationship between scales, chords, and arpeggios is a critical step. These three elements form the backbone of music, creating the framework for melody, harmony, and improvisation. Whether you’re strumming chords for your favorite song or crafting a solo, these fundamentals will improve your technique and deepen your understanding of how music works. In this article, we’ll break down what scales, chords, and arpeggios

Let us start off by stating that the world of acoustic instruments is a minefield. Unlike electric guitars, the shape, the woods used in construction, the nut and saddle material all make a significant difference to the sound. This is because the instrument itself produces the sound that you hear, rather than with an electric guitar where the speaker in the cabinet or PA speaker makes the biggest difference to the tone.  You can read more about the different types of acoustic