NGW Announces Guest Artists for 2008
One of the many unique experiences at the National Guitar Workshop is the presentation of top-level guest artists. Throughout its 25-year history, NGW has presented a wide variety of guest artists in all genres of music. The NGW experience allows students to have extraordinary access to amazing musicians through both master classes and clinics, providing the opportunity to learn from the very best. Read More…

New Lessons… Take Your Playing to the Next Level Today!
WorkshopLive is pleased to announce new intermediate acoustic guitar lessons from the talented Paul Howard. Under Howard’s fun and precise instruction, you’ll become comfortable with many topics and techniques, such as triad arpeggio bass lines, split strumming, hybrid picking, Travis patterns, barre chords and more. Also new this time around are some advanced rock guitar lessons from metal meister German Schauss. Schauss has returned to finish what he does best: turning you into a lightning fast rocker! He’ll introduce a few more topics, such as extended techniques, slapping and more. Read more...

National Guitar Workshop Publications St. Patrick's Day Sale Going on Now!
Everybody’s Irish on St. Patrick’s Day! Spring is in the air, so why not take time to explore the gentle, sensitive sounds of the acoustic guitar? Learn authentic jigs, reels and airs with Guitar Atlas: Celtic, by David Ernst, now 15% off. The sale also includes our complete Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic Blues Guitar, and Fingerstyle Guitar series, plus other selected acoustic titles. No matter what style or level acoustic guitarist you are, we’ve got something for you. Follow the rainbow on down to the National Guitar Workshop Bookstore at www.guitarworkshop.com/books and find your pot of acoustic gold! Read more...

Guitar Hero at NGW Open Houses!
The National Guitar Workshop will be giving away two Guitar Hero units at its remaining open houses this season. Students and prospective students who attend these events will have the opportunity to participate in a raffle, with other prizes including discounts on NGW tuition. These open houses will take place in Austin, Chicago, New York, and Boston. Read more...

Come and JAM with DayJams and NGW in Chicago!
DayJams is teaming up with National Guitar Workshop for its annual Open House and Alumni Reunion. Our Chicago event will take place in Winnetka, IL, March 16th. Stop by to see our new location and play with old and new friends! Sign up to win tuition dollars! Come for the giveaways! Stop in to take advantage of special clinics offered by NGW faculty. Don’t miss this event; it's an exciting way to experience what both programs have to offer. Read more...

Dear Reader,

Welcome to the St. Patrick’s Day issue of Tuned In! Or, this could be the Ides of March issue. For you history buffs, the Ides of March (March 15) is the anniversary of Julius Caesar’s assassination in the year 44 BC. So lift your Irish ale in a toast to poor ol’ Julius.

The most exciting news this week is that the WorkshopLive production crew is heading out to San Francisco to record Joe Satriani lessons. Keep your ears to the ground…we’ll be announcing a new Satriani/WorkshopLive Web-venture soon! Thanks to all of you who have been to WorkshopLive and clicked on the Joe Satriani survey banner. We sent Joe the survey results, and he’s customizing his lessons to your interests. By the way, his co-teacher in the lessons will be our National Guitar Workshop/WorkshopLive rock virtuoso, Dave Martone. So, be there, or be square!

Fans of the Christian rock mega-stars MercyMe will want to check out www.workshoplive.com/mercyme/. The guys will start showing up here in our studios soon, creating lessons on their biggest hit songs, like “I Can Only Imagine.”

Please, stay in touch! Click on the “give us your feedback” button and drop me a note. I’d love to know what’s on your mind.

Keep on rockin’!

An Introduction to Voice Leading with 7th Chords: Noah Baerman Excerpt
Do you want to take your chord knowledge further? Do you want to turn those ordinary block or barred voicings into beautiful, smooth, expressive music? If so, this is the place to start. In this edition of the Theory Corner, we’re going to look at an excerpt from jazz keyboardist Noah Baerman’s book, The Complete Jazz Keyboard Method: Beginning Jazz Keyboard, available through Alfred Publishing. Noah will introduce you to the broad concept of voice leading. Voice leading applies to many styles of music, including but not limited to acoustic, rock, blues, classical, metal and more, and can make not only a huge difference in the way you play your music, but also in the way others hear your music. Read on...

Good voice leading is the key to changing chords smoothly and creating cohesive accompaniment figures. In this issue, we’ll use a jazzy 16-bar example with ample syncopation to illustrate this concept in a musical context. To learn more about voice leading, see the Theory Corner for an excerpt from Noah Baerman’s book, The Complete Jazz Keyboard Method: Beginning Jazz Keyboard, available through Alfred Publishing. Read more...

Dave Overthrow never fails to amaze. He's in the pocket, laying down the groove and too hot to touch. From his latest CD, Too Hot To Touch, this is a track called "We Got This."

Don't just sit there, go listen to some live music! Click here for the latest update of who's On The Road...