On The Beat with Totally Guitars

October 23rd. One week from Halloween. And Mark Knopfler has completely taken over. It started with Brothers In Arms last week and somehow expanded into his solo catalog – Golden Heart, Get Lucky, Privateering, Sailing to Philadelphia. The more I listen the more I realize there is no shortage of fabulous tunes and fabulous guitar […]

The post Mark Knopfler, The C Family of Chords, And Why Over The Rainbow Needs Them appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

October 16th. And I’m still deep in Jackson Browne territory. Last week his birthday sent me back through his first five albums – For Every Man, Late For The Sky, The Pretender, Running on Empty, Hold Out. Those records really hold up. The melodies in particular are extraordinary – and not just because they sit […]

The post Rock Me On The Water, Augmented Chords, And A Wedding Request That Surprised Me appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

October 9th. Jackson Browne’s birthday. And Sean Lennon’s too – still in his 50s, October 9th being what it is in music history. Jackson’s second album – For Every Man – really grabbed me when it came out. Particularly the way Take It Easy morphed into Our Lady of the Well as the opening medley. […]

The post Happy Birthday Jackson Browne – And Everything I Know About Connecting Songs In Different Keys appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

October 2nd. And I should have thought this out better. I started with Moonshadow – just because it was in my head – and realized pretty quickly I was winging it without a plan. That’s kind of how this week went. Cat Stevens on the brain, a fascinating chord voicing question from the Forum, and […]

The post Cat Stevens, Major 7 Chords, And A Mystery Song That Grabbed Me And Wouldn’t Let Go appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

September 25th. October is knocking. And I got completely carried away with music theory this week. Fair warning – this one goes deep. But in the best possible way. It started with Summer in the City. SUMMER IN THE CITY LESSON HERE The Descending Bass Line – And Why It Shows Up Everywhere Summer in […]

The post Summer In The City, Beatles Key Changes, And Why Their Ears Were Smarter Than Their Theory appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

Back to the real world. Camp ended last weekend and I’ve been slowly re-entering normal life. But honestly? I’m still living in it a little. The late night jams. The song circles. The moment someone plays Like A Hurricane at 2am in a performance hall and the whole building feels different. That’s what International Guitar […]

The post Camp Is Over. Neil Young Is Still On The Brain. And White Rabbit Nearly Got Me. appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

Labor Day weekend. Camp starts Thursday. Which means I’ve been doing what I always do before camp – brushing up on the flashier tunes I haven’t touched in a while. The ones that require your fingers to actually remember what they’re doing. This week that meant Pharaoh’s Rag by John Renbourn – from his 1976 […]

The post Camp Is Almost Here – And The Guitar Is Finally Cooperating appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

Honest truth – I’m still not right. Trouble breathing. Trouble concentrating. Brain fog that makes playing feel like wading through something thick. Last week I told you about getting sick on the flight home from New York, and here we are a week later still fighting through it. But the guitar doesn’t really care about […]

The post Still Running On Fumes – But The Guitar Doesn’t Care appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

Well, I’m going to be honest with you – this week’s update almost didn’t happen. I’ve been sick. Really sick. The kind where brain fog sets in and even picking up the guitar feels like too much. We were in New York for a wedding – had a wonderful time – and somewhere over the […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update August 21, 2026 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

August 7, 2026 Do You Know The Way To San Jose has just about run its course with me now that the lesson on my solo arrangement got finished this week. I hope some of you who like instrumentals will have a go at it. There are a couple of challenges, even for experienced fingerpickers, […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update August 7, 2026 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

July 31, 2026 Jerry Garcia was on my mind when the camera got to rolling, so a few of his melodies started today’s Update. We got another Ella Langley lesson from Nesh–Be Her, to go along with Choosin’ Texas from a few weeks back. We are wrapping up the Learn To Read Challenge with TG […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update July 31, 2026 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

July 24, 2026 A student recently wanted to learn Do You Know The Way To San Jose, which brought the song back into my orbit and…what a great piece of music by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. We now have a lesson on it that looks at three different ways of accompanying a vocalist, ranging […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update July 24, 2026 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.

July 17, 2027 Last week it was Simon & Garfunkel and this week it was The Eagles that were in heavy rotation around TG Central. A little bit of Desperado to start, some Jethro Tull to follow (We Used To Know), a hint of my latest project in there with Classical Gas as the finale. […]

The post Totally Guitars Weekly Update July 17, 2026 appeared first on On The Beat with Totally Guitars.