Few mediums have been as entraining and enlightening for musicians as the internet. The access to sheet music, video tutorials, and countless recordings are all at your fingertips. While YouTube remains both entertaining and helpful, Instagram has really become a valuable platform for guitarists, regardless of wether you are sharing content or gleaning some inspiration from others. The tight time limitation of Instagram is perfect for readily digestible and motivation guitar nuggets. In no particular order, here are five accounts you should be following.
1. ProGuitar | proguitarofficial
Curated by Swedish finger style wizard Emil Ernebro (@emilernebroguitar), this account offers clear, concise, useful, and oh-so-tasty guitar licks that work well in country, jazz, and blues settings, but can easily be worked into any idiom. Beyond the fantastic playing, Emil’s earnest and genuine interest in sharing his craft is inspiring.
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2. Josh Meader | joshmeader22
Personally, I love guitar players that don’t play like a “typical” guitar player, but rather they make their guitars sound like horns or pianos. Josh’s effortless playing and flawless transcription of sophisticated horn solos is truly remarkable.
Jack Ruch has chops, but more importantly he has taste. Everything Jack plays is musical, lyrical, and honest. It’s important to find your own voice as a musician, and it’s clear that Jack has found his. I am consistently delighted by his blues, jazz, and soul playing.
Beyond being a highly proficient guitar player, Jens is wildly prolific. Nearly every day he posts a like complete with harmonic analysis. If you are an aspiring jazz guitar player, or simply desire a more sophisticated understanding of the instrument, follow Jens. Bonus: his YouTube videos are fantastic, and highly informative.
Last but certainly not least, Soundslice is a must for all musicians. The platform combines traditional notation, tablature, audio, and video. The musical transcriptions are crowd sourced and distributed amongst theirs users and subscribers. You can find highly accurate transcriptions of the classics, as well as original collaborations by musicians from opposite sides of the globe.
The world of harmony is a vast and beautiful place, with nearly limitless possibilities to explore; one is only limited by their creativity and their ear’s ability. Many players often ask themselves where to start on their chordal journey. You’ve got that G and C chord under your fingers and you know there must be more out there. But where? Drop 2 chords are the perfect place to start. Let’s forgo the explanation about the naming convention and construction of these chords, as that information is detailed in the video.
Let’s talk about why these chords are important. Drop 2 cords allow you to easily play chord inversions, or the order of notes within the chord itself. Do you want to have a certain chord tone in the bass? How about the melody? No problem – just use the desired inversion. This concept is critical for chord-melody playing. Secondly, drop 2 chords are incredibly efficient because the use four adjacent strings (1 through 4, 2 through 5, or 3 through 6), making them ideal for rhythm playing all over the neck.
Develop your ear & your understanding of the guitar fretboard
Lastly, drop 2 chords are important because they develop your ear and your understanding of the fretboard. Soon you’ll be to hear different chord inversions and know all of the notes in that chord regardless of string set or position. As such, modify the notes of a single chord allow you to quickly create all chord qualities (major, dominant, minor, diminished, etc.). What are you waiting for? Grab your guitar and start exploring this important concept. Have fun! For more information about Drop 2 Chords, guitar lessons in our Nashville studio or online lessons, please contact me at [email protected] Thanks, Sam
