News - Summit Guitar School

The holy grail of guitar scales and why it’s a must learn for all guitarists.

Millions of dollars have been made using the pentatonic minor scales. If you have ever listened to Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, or Guns n Roses you have heard this scale being used to its fullest potential. Those are just a few bands that use that particular scale. Pretty much every band on the planet uses the minor pentatonic scale. This is important to learn for all guitar players because it is by far the most used guitar scale.

The foundation of beginner improvisation and riffs.

The minor pentatonic scale is usually one of the first scales guitar players learn on their journey. This is great because it is the foundation to so much rock, blues, and country playing but the most important thing is left out. How to actually use this amazing scale. This is one of the key things that I teach all of my students. Most people hear the word scale and are immediately bored out of their minds. Yes, my students do learn this scale and spend a fair amount of time playing at a warm up.

Application is the key. Without proper instruction it can be difficult to make these scales sound musical. In other words, you need to learn how to use the scales in a song or how to find the scale in a riff or lick you may be learning. The magic starts to happen when musicians learn to recognize and apply the scale in their playing.

Check out my lesson video on the pentatonic scale

I create videos all of the time. The first step in learning to use this scale is to actually learn it. This is what you will learn while watching this video. I have included the tab for the video in this blog post. Use the video and this tab sheet to learn the most popular guitar scale in the world. Please feel free to leave a question or a comment below and I will be happy to answer.

If you are looking for more great lessons check out my blog page here.

This could be you rocking out on a stage in your town. Just keep practicing.

Why tuning your guitar is important and which tuner should you buy…

Choosing to learn guitar is one of the greatest decisions I have ever made in my life. Tuning it was a nightmare as a beginner.

When I was 12 years old I had a neighborhood friend show me how to play Glycerine by Bush on the guitar and I was immediately hooked. Now, you don’t know that song or that band but in the 90’s grunge music ruled the guitar world and Bush was a popular band at the time.

As soon as I ran home I told my mom I wanted to learn guitar. She smiled and said that she had an old one in the basement. That was all it took for me to start my guitar journey and I haven’t stopped playing since.

If you’re reading this you are probably just starting out on the guitar or you are considering learning the guitar. Either way you are in the right place because I love making things easy for my audience.

Today I am talking about tuning the guitar and what kind of tuner you should buy. There will be a video below that will give you most of the info you are probably looking for.

Why do we need to tune our guitars? Well, the guitar has six strings on it and the body and neck of the guitar is mostly made of wood. This means that the wood contracts and expands with temperature changes and the strings stretch out over time. It is an imperfect instrument but it’s so fun to play! Not to mention that it’s pretty cool as well.

Back in the day guitar players had to use a piano or a tuning for to tune. That meant you had to know the notes on the guitar and the piano. This also meant that you had to use your ear to get the pitches in tune. That was a nightmare for beginner guitarists.

The more modern way of tuning the guitar uses an electronic tuner. Electronic tuners used microphones to pick up the pitch of each string and then you had to make adjustments based on what the dial on the screen told you. Those were a vast improvement from the piano and pitchfork but they still were not that accurate.

In the last 10 years some clever person invented the clip on tuner. This is by far the most accurate and easiest to use, as long as the batteries are good. The clip on tuner like the one on the left picks up the vibrations of the strings which makes it easier to tune more accurately and discretely. This is the kind of tuner I suggest that all beginner guitar players use. The LED screens are easy to read and the tuner itself is quite accurate. Check out the video below to learn the in’s and out’s of tuning your guitar as well as how to use the Snark clip on tuner. If you would like to purchase one here is a link to my favorite one. (This is an affiliate link)

Please check out the video for a full tutorial on how to tune your guitar with a clip on tuner.

If you are just getting started on guitar sign up for my FREE Beginner Guitar cheat sheet on our homepage.

Home » News

The 80’s are back with a vengeance and we love it.

Let’s face it, John Mayer is a genius. Is he capitalizing on people’s fascination with all things 80’s? I certainly think so, and it’s amazing. John Mayer is one of the most amazing modern songwriters and guitar players out there. If you’re reading this you probably already listen to John Mayer’s music but have you tried learning any of his songs on your guitar?

Not every John Mayer song is as difficult as you might think. He does have songs that are more guitar centered but there are plenty of songs that you can learn as a beginner or intermediate guitarist. Don’t let his amazing blues playing keep you from attempting to learn one of his great songs. Sure, he has songs that only experienced guitarists can pull off but there are plenty of great songs to learn that are not incredibly difficult.

Here is a short list of some of those great tunes.

There are so many more, the list above are just some of my favorites.

John Mayer’s latest release Sob Rock is definitely a good album. Everything on it including the album art is a complete 80’s throwback. Who doesn’t love the 80’s ? The fashion, the bright colors, and now the music.

Here are the 3 reasons you need to learn this new John Mayer song.

It’s not terribly difficult. The chords and the strumming patterns are perfect for most players
It’s super catchy and fun to play. It’s always great to add new songs to the list of tunes you already know how to play.
The 80’s duh! Our societies fascination with the 1980’s is coming full circle. It’s time to jump on the bandwagon and get the nostalgia rolling. Thanks to John Mayer, we can make that happen just by learning this song.

Here is a song tutorial one of my favorite songs off of John Mayer’s latest album. This song is called Shot In the Dark and it’s a great tune that isn’t too difficult. I even teach the song on my acoustic guitar to make it easier and more accessible to everyone. I hope you enjoy the lesson and leave a comment below to let me know what other John Mayer songs you’d like me to do a video lesson on.

Thanks guys! Here is the chord chart as well.

If you get started on this lesson and you find that it is just too difficult. Check out my FREE Strumming Pattern Essentials course. It will walk you through all of the most common chords and strumming patterns used in most modern music. If you just want to learn how to get started on the guitar sign sign up for the FREE Beginner Guitar Cheat Sheet Here.

When I started my TikTok account I had no idea that #guitartok would be a thing. I started the account because I wasn’t sure if TikTok would blow up and I wanted to be on the platform if and when it did blow up.

Well, it did blow up, and in a massive way. For me it has been a place to post short lessons without having to worry about all the production techniques needed to post a good YouTube video. In short, I like it because I didn’t feel the need for perfection which is a big barrier in many different platforms.

Here is the thing, there are awesome guitar lessons and guitar teachers on TikTok. The cost of entry is literally a phone and $45 dollar ring light.

As a guitar student you can find tons of cool and short guitar lessons on TikTok. Now, it’s up to you as a student to save them and actually practice what the teacher taught in the lesson.

The bottom line is, if you love guitar and cool guitar lessons, you should get a TikTok and start following some of your favorite #guitartok teachers. No one said you had to post anything, that’s totally up to you. I honestly think there are some great guitar teachers and guitar players on TikTok and you should consider checking them out. BTW you should definitely consider checking out my TikTok and give it a follow for some great lessons.

Here is a short list of some of my favorite guitar lesson accounts on TikTok.

Summit Guitar School, of course
Tucker Mckee, this guy is just an all around nice dude and has great lessons on TikTok!
John Mayer, yes, this rockstar posts lessons from time to time!
Gregs Guitars, this guy gives you the run down how to build, set up, and maintenance guitars on the daily.
Intermediate Level Guitar, this account has a really unique way of teaching you songs. As the name suggests, it’s mostly for intermediate level players.
Strattyplays, is a great account for learning chord based songs and he always includes chord diagrams.

That should be enough to get you started. Once you follow a few of these the TikTok algorithm will take over for you!

I hope you enjoyed this quick article. If you did, please consider sharing it.

Thanks

Brett

Summit Guitar School parents/students…

I hope everyone is having a good start to the week. I have been planning on pushing out a practice challenge for a little while. I have noticed that a lot of students have gotten out of the habit of practicing regularly. I totally understand this but I want to get everyone back on track with this practice challenge.

We know that without practice it is hard to progress.

So this is my effort as a teacher to get everyone on the same page with practicing.

I am looking for students to practice 4-6 times a week for at least 20 minutes each day.

Here are the details on the winter practice challenge.

The 6 week practice challenge will start on February 1st and end on March 15th.

Rules:

1. You must log your practice time on the My Music Staff practice log. (If you need your log in for this again please respond and let me know.) Once you log in to my music staff you can easily see where you log practice time on your home page. (again let me know if you have trouble with this)

2. Parents will be asked to verify students logged practice time. Adult students I will take your word for it. NO CHEATING!!

3. You must be working on some sort of scale/scales and some sort of song and or new technique during this practice time. I will be discussing what students will be working on for the 6 weeks in their upcoming lessons.

Now for the prizes!!!

1st prize:

$100 Guitar Center Gift Card

2nd prize:

$75 Guitar Center Gift Card

3rd prize:

$50 Guitar Center Gift Card

Please let me know if you have any questions… I will be happy to answer them.

Reminder: This starts on February 1st!

We have merch!!!

With the launch of our latest beginner guitar online couse, we decided to open our own merch shop!

These designs are completely custom and super cool! Please check them out. Let me know if you have any questions about any of the products. I would be more than happy to chat!