Guitar Articles by Kirk Lorange
Showing 1-18 of 18 articles
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Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 4/30/2001 · 7300 Hits
A long time ago I decided to throw my picks away and dedicate my playing to a more orchestral style, one that exploited the orchestral quality
that the guitar offers. I was always inspired by players who combined
melody, bass lines and chords al...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 4/16/2001 · 8445 Hits
As a learner of the guitar and the system we call music, I was always
aware of the term 'Key'. I was also aware that it was important to know
what it meant -- the name itself indicated that it was fundamental --
trouble was, no one could define ...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 11/29/1999 · 11657 Hits
I've been earning a living with my guitars now for thirty odd years. I did a stint as a commercial artist for a couple of years when I finished high school -- I say commercial artist, what I mean is I worked in a commercial art studio learning t...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 11/22/1999 · 6529 Hits
Probably the reason most of us got involved in playing music was so that someday we'd be able to play anything that came into our heads, just like that - or to spontaneously invent a complementary guitar part to someone else's song. I know that ...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 10/25/1999 · 9114 Hits
The chord of the moment.
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I must have mentioned this a hundred times since I started writing these articles, and for good reason. When it all comes down, that's all there is. The expression 'Be Here Now', the philosophy that the only r...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 10/18/1999 · 5686 Hits
I have often likened improvised lines to little trips away from home, with "home"
being the I - III - V of the "chord of the moment". These are usually, and I stress 'usually', your
starting notes and finishing notes. The other notes used to li...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 10/11/1999 · 7227 Hits
Hello, music lovers. Callouses nice and hard? Been practicing? No one has
to remind you that practice is everything. Practice is what you do so you
can forget the facts and figures.
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I recently received a letter with the question --...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 10/4/1999 · 6105 Hits
We're all confronted with a daunting task when we take up a
musical instrument, especially instruments that you can play chords
on, especially the guitar. Keyboards have but one
position for any given chord voicing. There are several octaves, bu...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 9/27/1999 · 5329 Hits
One of the first chord progressions we learn as guitarists is the 12 bar blues progression. If you're in the key of E, you'll find an A chord and a B7 in the series. We all get to recognize this sound quite quickly. The changes become very famil...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 9/20/1999 · 9622 Hits
Strange as it may sound, from my own experience and hanging around guitars and guitarists all my life, the hardest thing of all improvising a nice melody over a simple, unadorned chord progression. I mean a C - Am - F - G type of chord progressi...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 9/13/1999 · 4942 Hits
Just because the guitar has six strings doesn't mean you have to constantly go looking for six-note chords,
especially if you are playing in a combo of some sort. Remember, barre chords use repeat notes to make up
the full six strings. Sometimes...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 9/13/1999 · 8929 Hits
One of my recent articles, <a href="/articles/item.asp?i=10">The Music Building</a>, described the seven chords which arise from the seven notes of the major scale, and how they form a fixed relationship with each other. You may remember that I ...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 9/6/1999 · 6947 Hits
One of my students was around the other night and pointed out that even when I was playing his guitar (a beautiful Strat), I still sounded like me. Its true: no matter what guitar or amp I plug into, I always sound like me. After 38 years of pla...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 9/6/1999 · 10096 Hits
Most people naturally associate slide guitar with the blues. We all know it was invented by those late great bottleneck players, using those tunings that drip with the blues. Such a distinctive sound. I certainly got caught up in open tunings wa...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 8/30/1999 · 7539 Hits
What's the key to knowing your way around music? Knowing your keys.
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Im not sure how the word "key" would be defined in a formal music course, but as a self-taught musician, I define key as a "family of notes and chords". I know, I kn...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 8/30/1999 · 6933 Hits
Even though music is something you listen to and hear, I have always
looked for ways of picturing it visually, both for my own understanding
and as a way to teach. Below is an analogy which may help some of you get
a grip on how music connect...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 8/23/1999 · 7836 Hits
As I wrote in The kink in the tuning, the guitar is designed and tuned to give the player a wealth of possibilities and approaches to making music. This repetition of the same notes and chords in different positions is also the reason the guitar...(more) -
Kirk Lorange (4840)
Posted on 8/23/1999 · 6635 Hits
I had a friend in England years ago, a fine guitarist, who decided one day to tune all his strings to the fifth fret of the next one down, in other words E A D G C F. He did this to see if it would make soloing easier, which of course it did. ...(more)
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