Author Archives

Naming the guitar strings is a fundamental that no beginner should overlook. There are two ways that we can name the string being played. The first way simply numbers the strings from skinniest to heaviest, 1 through 6. The second names the string by the pitch it is tuned to. Standard guitar ... Full story

Creating guitar parts that compliment those of other musicians you are playing with will make you a very popular guitarist! Following are some of the options I think of when creating rhythm guitar parts onstage or in the studio. Rhythm Guitar Options High to Low Fast to Slow Active to Sparse Groove vs. Fills Clean to Dirty Chords to Notes Sustain to Staccato Simple Harmony to Complex Play 'with' vs playing 'against Creating parts that are ... Full story

Do you like music? Have you heard of a little company named Google? Ever wish there was a way to musically embrace every one's favorite search engine? Well, have I got a song for you! Enter "Google It!", a song written by Kyle Rothchild and featuring yours truly on guitar. Kyle was the bassist in ... Full story

I believe arpeggios to be some of the most beautiful sounds we can produce on the guitar. The word 'arpeggio' simply means broken chord. On the guitar, the notes of a chord can be played in a melodic fashion (think of the beginning melody to 'The Star-Spangled Banner') or in a chordal fashion where the notes overlap and ring together. The latter is common in ... Full story

I have a few pieces of information about GuitarTeacher.com to share this week... First, as you may or may not know, I do most of my website work and video shoots at my teaching studio at Sparks Music Center. We have had internet problems that made updating GuitarTeacher very awkward. Thankfully, these are resolved as of today and I should be back on-track to posting ... Full story

You might look at the following picture and ask "How does a bathroom sink help me Play Guitar Better?" As my last post was on good 'warm-ups' before playing here is another really simple one, pun notwithstanding. Fill a sink with warm to hot (not scalding) water and then place your hands under ... Full story

Hey Axemen & Axewomen, Here is a warm-up drill on guitar that is a simple and elegant way to get both right and left hands working together. Like any physical activity, warming up when playing guitar is important. A common mistake I see among students is putting favorite songs first in their practicing as a warm-ups. It is better to warm-up on a simple drill, ... Full story

Hey Guitar Players, This latest website page is a test of a new video template I plan to use for upcoming guitar lessons. The video shows how to play the opening riff to Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love". Cream featured, of course, Eric Clapton. The video features both full-speed and half-speed versions of the parts shown. In an overlay within the video I show full tablature (with ... Full story

Hi! My name is Storm Stenvold and I thank you for visiting my website, GuitarTeacher.com. I am introducing a service that is new and exclusive to the internet that I believe will be of tremendous value to guitar players of all levels and interests. The service is called 'Ask the Teacher' and it is designed to fulfill a need of guitarists who want to play ... Full story

Did you ever have one of those days you just feel like ROCKIN??!! That is just about every day for me ;-) And I hope to make this one of those days for you with the following METAL GUITAR JAM TRACK!! The jam track pedals on the open 5th string A note while stabbing out a C major triad across strings 2, 3 and 4 at ... Full story