I started playing guitar when I was 7 years old and haven't looked back since. After I had some facility with the guitar I started listening to a lot, and I mean a lot, of progressive rock and fusion. My early influences were early Genesis, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, and of course ELP and Yes. I also listened to a LOT of Frank Zappa and even got to play with him in 1978 (I will write a post about that sometime, but it is R rated). I loved Mahavishnu Orchestra and that got me into Paco DeLucia and Flamenco music along with the Phrygian major mode! I also tried to keep up with Larry Carlton and Lee Ritenour.

On our way to a big tour in Mexico we got to the border at Nogales and the tour buses were supposed to meet us at 11 am. Well, this being Mexico, the time thing didn't really work and the buses didn't show. 9 hours of standing on the border waiting for 4 buses to show up (we had a huge dance troupe as well). The good news, one more day of border town partying, the bad news, well we had to do it all again the next day.

Two of the most common questions when it comes to songwriting are a) what is songwriting, exactly? and b) how can I become a songwriter? In this article, we will answer both of these questions so that you can get started on your path to success and happiness.

Writing a song can be either the most difficult or easiest thing you do, depending on how you approach it and how creative you are.

The 10 songwriting tips below can help make writing a song a bit easier.

There are a lot of aspiring singers and songwriters out there, but when it comes to actually sitting down and writing a song, many people just don't know where to start. The first step in learning how to write a song is deciding to stop thinking about writing a song, and just write it. Songwriting is an independent process, so until you make a commitment to actually doing it, you won't succeed.

This is a FREE starter pack that includes a bunch of stingers in different styles.

This is Jon Griffin, and I am here today to talk about a concept that most rock guitars probably won't know about.  If you've studied a lot of jazz you may be familiar.  But they're called kernel chords.  At least that's the way I was taught.  They're very simple.  They're just chords with the root, the third, and the seventh of minor, major, or dominant.

I worked this little guitar arrangement of When You Wish Upon a Star for my friends son a few years ago. It's not too difficult if you have some experience, but there are a few stretches and techniques you may need to practice.

This is also a good example of how different jazz guitarists think versus most rock and pop players. Notice there are no bar chords and voices lead in a logical way.

I plan on doing some more lessons on chord melody, so if you have any comments or suggestions, please leave a comment.