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• Healthy violin technique Yes, I know I am a guitarist but I’ve loved the violin for a very long time now and have been very fascinated with violin pedagogy for some years now. In my own spare time, I do a lot of research on classical violin pedagogy. I’ve interviewed a number of violinists and violin teachers and ...
• The art of transcribing – Part 6 As always, be sure to read parts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. I am now switching to a video format for some of these blogs. You can listen to it as if it were podcast, since the video isn’t too important in this one. In this video, I show you how I figure out music 100% by ...
• The art of transcribing – Part 5 As always, be sure to read parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. It’s been a while! In this one, a fellow submitted a transcription of Django Reinhardt for critique. By and large, it was a good job, but there were certain ornaments that were not correct but that are very typical of Gypsy musicians. In the ...
• Choosing the right guitar for Gypsy Jazz – Part 1 I get quite a lot of emails from people all over the world asking me for advice on which Gypsy Jazz guitars to buy. While it is true that Gypsy Jazz guitar construction is unique and quite different from what the majority of guitar luthiers are used to, I feel that some of the advice ...
• The art of transcribing – Part 4 As always, be sure to read parts 1, 2, and 3. In this fourth part, we will be focusing on transcribing solos where the timing is not always in sync with the rhythm section. This can prove to be a huge challenge. It requires a strong foundation in music theory, and a strong knowledge of the idiom, ...
• The art of transcribing – Part 3 As always, be sure to read parts 1 and 2. In this third part of the art of transcribing, I want to show you one of my processes of transcribing directly from a video source. In this instance, I am transcribing directly from my video editor (Final Cut Pro X). Any video player that can slow ...
• The art of transcribing – Part 2 Be sure to read the first part of this article series. Click here. In this article, I will focus on the transcription work that I do for DC Music School (I’m the owner, in case you haven’t figure it out). I am starting to be able to afford a small team of transcribers and hope that one ...
• The art of transcribing – Part 1 Hello folks! This year, I’ve pretty much been transcribing every single day. As many of you know, I am the owner of DC Music School, where I produce videos for many wonderful musicians. I get them to play a bunch of stuff, and then I transcribe it. The vast majority of people using this site ...
• Gypsy Jazz Guitar Technique: Wasso’s Waltz Would you like to live in Montreal and study guitar with me? click here! Click here to watch a performance of this waltz. It’s not often that I have time to practice guitar, but I was hired to create a backing track for a waltz by Dutch Gypsy musician, Wasso Grünholz. So I took the day off yesterday ...
• iRealBook: the double-edged sword We live in an incredible era for musicians, where we have instant access to an incredible wealth of information that wasn’t available just 15 years ago. All this, thanks to various technological advancements. I can only wonder what further innovations await us! Every previous generation of musician uses the same line with the latest generation: “back ...

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