Articles

I teach guitar lessons in Seattle and via webcam. Deft Digits is my teaching website and blog.

• The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises – Part 4 of 4 2/14/12
• The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises – Part 3 of 4 2/2/12
• How to Memorize and Use the Cycle of Fourths 1/30/12
• The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises – Part 2 of 4 1/18/12
• The Mother of All Major Scale Exercises – Part 1 of 4 1/10/12
• The World’s Most-Used Guitar Scale: A Minor Pentatonic 1/6/12
• Grip Strength Training for Guitarists 1/4/12
• Discover a Guitarist: Nels Cline 12/20/11
• Practice What You Love 12/16/11
• The CAGED System 12/12/11
• The Magic Guitar Position 12/8/11
• 31 Ideas for a Guitarist in a Rut 11/21/11
• 3 Books Every Intermediate Guitarist Should Own 11/7/11
• Intro to Jazz Guitar Clinic 10/14/11
• Discover a Guitarist: Stevie Ray Vaughan 9/17/11
• Why Learn Music Theory? 8/22/11
• The Easiest Intro to Music Theory 8/17/11
• How to Find Major and Minor Chords All Over the Guitar 8/8/11
• 8 Essential Open Chords and How to Use Them 7/27/11
• Know Every Note on the Guitar in 9 Days 7/17/11
• Listen to Everything 7/13/11
• How to Hold a Guitar Pick 7/3/11
• Always Take Notes 6/24/11
• 3 Easy Ways to Sound Great on Guitar 6/16/11

Elsewhere

Guest articles I’ve written for other blogs.

• How To Teach Guitar Lessons Using Skype (Start Teaching Guitar) 12/6/11
• Double Lydian Concept: How a Mistake Led to a Practice Room Breakthrough (Matt Warnock Guitar) 10/15/11
• Joe Walker reviews 12 Dunlop Jazz Picks (Guitar Noize) 10/3/11
• My Life and Music – Part 2 (Little Rock Jams) 6/13/11
• My Life and Music – Part 1 (Little Rock Jams) 6/8/11

I started From the Woodshed in 2007 when I quit my job to practice guitar for a year, and I’ve kept it going as a practice journal ever since.

• My Approach to Composition 11/17/11
• Learning Sweep Arpeggios 9/4/11
• Rob's Totally Awesome Guitar Teaching Handbook 8/25/11
• How I Use Pentatonic Scales in Everything I Play 8/18/11
• 10 Types of Jazz Chords 8/12/11
• Seattle Guitar Lessons: Deft Digits 6/14/11
• Reflections on a Master of Music 6/11/11
• How to Choose a Jazz Fake Book 6/1/11
• Pop Chord Progressions 5/26/11
• So Long, San Diego 5/24/11
• SDSU Oral Exam: Jazz Repertoire Selections 5/19/11
• SDSU Oral Exam: Analyzing My Own Composition 5/16/11
• SDSU Oral Exam: Analyzing My Own Solo 5/12/11
• Albums in My Blood 5/9/11
• Songs for Interval Recognition 5/5/11
• Playing for Free (Re: A Request for Action and Change) 5/2/11
• I'm Learning Italian 4/29/11
• I'm Moving to Seattle! 3/24/11
• My Recital: A Review 3/19/11
• Recital Time! 3/3/11
• The Kármán Line 3/1/11
• Recruitment Bonanza 2/26/11
• Wacky Misadventure 2/16/11
• Brass Shout Chorus 2/14/11
• SDSU Recital Audition 2/12/11
• Add the Room to Your Band 2/3/11
• Sax Soli 2/2/11
• First Lessons as a Bandleader 1/29/11
• The Gratuitous Stairway Solo 1/26/11
• Build Your Own Clone: Optical Compressor 1/24/11
• Star-Spangled Banner Arrangement 1/20/11
• An Analysis of "Dolphin Dance" 12/23/10
• The "Black Dog" Solo 12/17/10
• Cupping Hands at Concerts 12/15/10
• "Hocus Pocus" Composed Solo 12/13/10
• Defending Their Turf 12/9/10
• Playing Out with Conviction 12/6/10
• How to Practice Music: Six Essential Activities 12/3/10
• SDSU Jazz Combo 2 Challenges 12/1/10
• Upper Structure Triads 11/29/10
• Horace Silver: "Peace" and "Silver's Serenade" 11/27/10
• Weird Metronome 11/24/10
• Shelle Blue 11/22/10
• The Original Deluxe Aggravation 11/19/10
• The Six Pillars of Musical Development 11/17/10
• My Working Recital Set List 11/16/10
• Out Doin' Good Again 11/12/10
• Visualizing Chord-Scales on the Cycle of Fourths 11/10/10
• SDSU Jazz Studies Jury Scales 11/8/10
• SDSU Jazz Seminar Periodic Journal 3 11/3/10
• John McLaughlin's Solo on "Very Early" 10/28/10
• SDSU Jazz Seminar Periodic Journal 2 10/24/10
• SDSU Jazz Seminar Periodic Journal 1 9/23/10
• Gypsy Jazz at My Wedding 9/22/10
• National Guitar Workshop 2010, Day 6: Shred-Off, Final Thoughts 9/21/10
• National Guitar Workshop 2010, Day 5: Jody Fisher's Class, Paul Gilbert Clinic 9/20/10
• National Guitar Workshop 2010, Day 4: Pat Martino Clinic 9/8/10
• National Guitar Workshop 2010, Day 3: Tom Dempsey's Class, Driving Pat Martino 7/28/10
• National Guitar Workshop 2010, Day 2: Jody Fisher's Class, Second Faculty Concert 7/18/10
• National Guitar Workshop 2010, Day 1: Orientation, First Faculty Concert 7/13/10
• Miss Information 7/7/10
• Real Book III Rankings Index 7/2/10
• Every Key Is Sacred 6/30/10
• Real Book II Rankings Index 6/28/10
• Counting Tunes at Jam Sessions 6/23/10
• Ultimate Music Challenge Results 6/22/10
• Ultimate Music Challenge 6/18/10
• Webstrings 6/14/10
• Summer Goals 2010 6/11/10
• Junior Rounding Third 6/5/10
• Jazz Education Research Prospectus 5/7/10
• Piano Scale Fingerings 4/26/10
• How Many Scales Are There? 2/8/10
• Bob Magnusson's Monster Arpeggio Workout 2/1/10
• The Fake Book Index 1/29/10
• Second Semester Underway 1/27/10
• Benedetto Clinic 1/25/10
• SDSU Graduate Music History Remedial Assignment 12/24/09
• History of Jazz Guitar 12/22/09
• Kneebody Clinic 12/20/09
• Winter Goals 12/14/09
• Perfect Pitch: How Insensitive 12/12/09
• Real Book Rankings Index 11/20/09
• Mobile Ear Training 11/13/09
• Kneebody: The Future of Jazz 11/4/09
• I'm Learning the Mandolin 11/3/09
• My First Fugal Exposition 11/2/09
• Theme and Variation 10/30/09
• I'm a Full-Time Musician Again 10/28/09
• My First Motet 10/28/09
• First Show with Dazed and Confused 10/16/09
• Learning Standards Again 9/21/09
• First Weeks of Music School 9/18/09
• I'm Going to Music School 9/2/09
• I'm in a Led Zeppelin Tribute Band 8/30/09
• Careers in Jazz 8/28/09
• Les Paul 8/26/09
• Suck It Up 8/17/09
• Rhythmic Recognition 8/11/09
• The Real Frank Zappa Book 7/24/09
• Sight Reading on a Lake 7/21/09
• Dominant Scale Choices 7/14/09
• Minor ii-V-i Navigation 7/1/09
• Harmonic Minor Modes and 7th Chords 6/25/09
• Warming Up at Work 6/15/09
• Giant ii-V-I Comping Exercise 6/12/09
• Diminished Resolutions 6/4/09
• Condensed Practice Routine 5/18/09
• Plucking Behind the Pick 5/8/09
• Learning Giant Steps 4/13/09
• Mouth Exercises 3/18/09
• SDSU Jazz Audition Training 3/15/09
• New Picking Technique 3/9/09
• Circle of Fourths Watch 1/22/09
• Memorizing Keys 1/22/09
• Mother of All Major Scale Exercises - Part II 1/12/09
• Mother of All Major Scale Exercises - Part I 1/8/09
• Finding the Semitones 11/26/08
• Wack Rhythms 11/10/08
• Rubber Pick 10/14/08
• Pentatonics over Jazz Chords 8/5/08
• Sleep, Dreams, Creativity 7/17/08
• Practice While Hiking 6/30/08
• Triad Trainer 6/24/08
• Pentatonic Slides 6/17/08
• Ring Finger Mute 6/4/08
• Scholarship Video 5/30/08
• Warmup Ideas 5/28/08
• Melodic Sequences 5/19/08
• Does Deep Breathing Ease Back Pain? 5/14/08
• Gramps 1918-2008 5/1/08
• Texas Flood - Take 3 4/16/08
• How to Memorize Intervals 4/10/08
• 24-Hour Guitar Workout Marathon 4/4/08
• Avoiding Distractions 4/4/08
• I Quit 4/1/08
• Nels Cline 3/31/08
• Fretting Efficiency 3/29/08
• Frustration 3/24/08
• Speed Milestone: 112bpm! 3/19/08
• Tone at Low Volume 3/5/08
• It's All Just Noise in the End 3/4/08
• Dealing with Sight Reading Mistakes 2/22/08
• Strange Uses for Pentatonic Scales 2/19/08
• The Other Pentatonic Scale 2/12/08
• Old Goals 2/11/08
• Practice Posture 2/8/08
• Strength Training 2/7/08
• Dueling Metronomes 1/29/08
• Metronome Regression 1/26/08
• Choosing Audition Pieces 1/25/08
• Beyond Conventional Extensions 1/16/08
• Pentatonic Sweeps 1/15/08
• Easy Comping 1/12/08
• The Sobering Results of Recording Myself 1/11/08
• My Own Style 1/10/08
• Learning Chord Changes in Chunks 1/9/08
• Polypolyrhythms 12/29/07
• Pinky Locking Up 12/23/07
• Where Do Arpeggios Come From? 12/22/07
• Single-Note Picking vs. Strumming 12/17/07
• Why Don't I Love Jazz Guitar? 12/14/07
• Dodging Tendinitis 12/13/07
• Über Arpeggios 12/12/07
• New Priority: Learn Standards 12/10/07
• 7-9-11-13 Arpeggios 12/9/07
• Arpeggios over Chord Changes 12/7/07
• Visiting LA Music Academy 12/6/07
• Syncing Hands 12/4/07
• String Bending Trickery 12/2/07
• Discovering Guitarists 12/1/07
• Linking Chords and Arpeggios 11/30/07
• Music for Dreaming 11/29/07
• Memorizing Thirds 11/27/07
• Visualizing the Entire Fretboard 11/21/07
• Jimmy Bruno: No Nonsense Jazz Guitar: Picking 11/18/07
• Attempting Steve Vai's 30-Hour Guitar Workout: Day Three 11/8/07
• Attempting Steve Vai's 30-Hour Guitar Workout: Day Two 11/7/07
• Attempting Steve Vai's 30-Hour Guitar Workout: Day One 11/6/07
• Jimmy Bruno: No Nonsense Jazz Guitar: 7th Chords 11/5/07
• Don't Look Down 11/1/07
• Motivational Artwork 10/31/07
• Single String Sight Reading 10/30/07
• CAGED vs. Three Note Per String 10/29/07
• Use Different Picks 10/26/07
• Every Note Is Bent 10/25/07
• Slick Bend/Slide Move 10/24/07
• Strat Spring Dampening 10/23/07
• Chords by Fourths 10/22/07
• Moisturizing Calluses 10/18/07
• TV Exercises 10/17/07
• Train Whistles 10/17/07
• Cleaning the Strings and Fretboard 10/15/07
• Classifying Picking Mistakes 10/9/07
• Constructing Jazz Scales from Chord Tones 10/6/07