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Matt Logan
In Guitar, Inspiration

14 Ways to Improve Your Guitar Playing Right Now

We’re music therapists and music therapy students. For many of us, a guitar is in our hands for much of the day. Most of the working world is limited to practicing guitar before and after work, so we are really part of a lucky few. If we set our minds to it, we can start making small improvements throughout the week, every week. We can get past “functional” guitar and into a more interesting, more pleasing, more musical realm of therapeutic effectiveness. Sounds pretty good, yeah? So read on to…
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Matt Logan
In Guitar

Stretches for Guitar

I've been asked a few times about specific stretches for guitar. Stretching is important before, during, and after practice sessions. In the video below, you can see the stretching routine I use to help me get (and stay) loose. Next time you practice, remember these stretches for guitar and you will likely notice an improvement in hand/wrist stamina. As noted in the video, do not stretch hard enough to cause pain. That's too far!
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Matt Logan
In Guitar

Make Your Guitar Playing More Efficient

I'm really excited to announce the launch of my new mini ebook for guitar, How to Switch Between Chords Faster: Six easy lessons for mastering open chord transitions. Do you feel like getting from one chord to the next is a struggle? Are you working too hard?  Do you ever feel like your fretboard hand is clumsy and can't quite find where it is supposed to go? I've had dozens of students with this issue, and this ebook consists of the lessons used to fix this problem. Implement these simple…
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Matt Logan
In Guitar

How to Use 6th Chords

This is a continuation of my Chord Extensions 101 series that I started a few months ago. In this video, I talk about 6th chords: what they are, how to build them, and how to use 6th chords. I'm trying out this new format, so please let me know what you think of the white board video. Just to reiterate some of the things in the video (or if you can't access it), here are some basic rules: A 6th chord is a major triad with an added 6. So,…
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Matt Logan
In Guitar

Can’t Help Falling…

I'm working on an arrangement of  "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" with one of my guitar students, and I thought I would share it with you all on this Sunday evening. Here are some other versions of that song, if you care to listen! Can't Help Falling In Love - The Essential Elvis Presley (Remastered) And this one by Ingrid Michaelson Have a great week!  
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Matt Logan
In Guitar

Become More Comfortable on the Guitar

Greetings! In this video, I'll show you a couple simple exercises you can practice to become more comfortable on the guitar. If you've been playing for a while, you may have seen this before, and you may not need it. I believe that developing greater finger strength, dexterity, and fretboard awareness will lead to better playing all around. With that in mind, I recorded this video to give you some basic exercises and practice strategies to start working toward that. Feeling awkward on the guitar is not conducive to musical…
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Matt Logan
In Guitar, Lessons

How I Buy Guitars

UPDATE 10/23/14 I still use these strategies for selecting guitars. One model has consistently been my go-to guitar for the last four or five years now, and that is the Yamaha FG730S. This is the model I've routinely recommended to music therapists and music therapy programs buying several guitars at a time. They are accessibly priced, they are durable, and with a proper setup, they play very well. -------- Original post: In October, I did a guest post for Michelle Erfurt about choosing an acoustic guitar.
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