http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog This blog is a place to share guitar lessons, stories, and insights, courtesy of Heartwood Guitar Instruction. Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:38:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Dear Heartwood Beat Readers, Sometimes I come across a rhythm that's so complicated, or weird, or fantabulishously funky, that I can't stand it. I'm at the gym on the hamster wheel, listening to this cool groove on my iPod, and I want to grab the poor guy on the machine ... http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=637 My former student Mark alerted me to the Chameleon Guitar, a new acoustic-electric hybrid that uses computer processing to make realistic acoustic tone. I was impressed with their audio files, and then astounded to watch a video and realize that they have the body size of a typical Strat. http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=629 Yesterday I launched Rob's Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook, my guide for running a successful guitar teaching business. It's been two years in the making. I summed up my feelings in the Conclusion, written during yesterday's marathon of last-minute writing, editing, and battling Microsoft Word: "If teaching guitar is ... http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=620 I'm spending the morning revising Rob's Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook, still on track for an October 3 release. Writing a first draft can be a slog, but I love revising. I just turned a terrible paragraph in the book---my introduction to my Teaching 101 chapter---into one of ... http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=612 I hope you find the new site easier to navigate and easier on the eyes. Let me know what you think, especially if you find any bugs. Thanks! http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=608 After a few readers said they didn't like the white-text-on-brown-background in the last design proposal, I did some research about text readability. I was surprised to discover that there isn't consensus, except that high contrast is good. I did find one almost decade-old study claiming that green-on-pale-yellow was ... http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=604 I'm redesigning my site in preparation for launching my eBook next month. What do you think so far? Click for larger image http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=600 Up early this morning working on my almost-finished book for guitar teachers, which I'm tentatively calling Rob's Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook. Yesterday I came up with this introduction to a section on teaching your students to play safely (I mean avoiding tendinitis, not avoiding spearing their bass player with a ... http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=591 Brett and I discussed the popularity of Wesley's "Folsom Prison Blues" video, some of the tricks I use for teaching guitar to young kids, and I got in a little rant about the bankruptcy of American culture. Here's an .mp3 of the 40-minute interview. http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=585 Brett Singer of Babble Radio (an online talk radio program associated with the parenting magazine Babble) will be interviewing me this Friday about the popularity of what has come to be known as the "Folsom Pwison Blues" video. I hope I get a chance to talk about some of ... http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=576