Guest Journal Entries

Guest Post – John Mead Teaches the Guitar Solo from Dead Flowers by The Rolling Stones

“This is a great solo to start on—it’s simple, clear, and articulate; it will teach you how to hear clear phrases and how to hear bends (which make up a significant part of the solo). It will teach you a couple of fairly sophisticated ideas while being very simple and satisfying to play.” John Mead We’ve been working on Dead Flowers in some recent Guitar Crew meetups and recently a student asked “Do you know how to play the guitar solo?” I thought, I don’t but I know EXACTLY who does. Check out this killer lesson from one of my very closest friends, and a truly gifted educator, John Mead. Sure missing hanging out with this guy! Download the pdf. You’ll notice that John makes the point that, “THERE IS NO SUCH THING as a ‘pentatonic major scale.’ Now, if you know me and my teaching, you’ll know that soloing with the major pentatonic scale is a core skill of  my introductory improvising lessons. Ha!But, I totally get where he’s coming from and there’s a lot of truth to it. If you’ve had those introductory lessons from my, I highly recommend digging into this lesson to put some of those concepts into practice and to take you’re playing to a new space.   John is an incredible teacher, player and music philospher. Give him a shout if you’re looking to turn up your guitar playing. John’s there to help you make that happen. Contact John

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The bulldog Toro sleeps while Maria sings and plays guitar.

Can I Sing You to Sleep? – Maria McCullough Shares a Sweet Moment with a Dear Companion

The sweet moments in this video took place on June 5, 2021. Toro was one of my dearest companions and rest teachers. Can I sing you to Sleep? was inspired by and written in a workshop guided by Octavia Raheem. Amongst all the layers in the world that might have you feel and do otherwise… May you feel loved. May you find rest. May you experience moments of ease. May you sing. Maria McCullough (she/they) loves to share and explore with others through music, movement, laughter, love and rest. Maria is grateful to be living on Tiwa Land/Tewa land in so-called Albuquerque, NM and is at the beginning of a relationship-building journey with the land and beings here.You can contact Maria and learn more about her offerings here.

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