About The Solo​
Vinnie Moore’s track “Rain” comes from the 1999 album “The Maze.” I was struck by this track, particularly the solo, when I was in college. I remember hearing it and being blown away by the melodic control Vinnie Moore has while still maintaining the badassery of a great rock guitar solo.
The solo starts with what I’m pretty sure is an E-bow to create these beautiful, long, sustained notes. If it isn’t used in the solo, it’s definitely used earlier in the song. Some of those notes sustain for days!
The first half of the solo sticks to the key of G Minor and it sounds like Vinnie is thinking just that; G Minor. As a result, when the C minor chord comes around, you can hear him landing on the 9th (D) just before resolving to the 5th (G) later in the phrase. While it’s great to be able to look at chord changes and play to them in a vertical fashion (playing to each chord as it comes up), the horizontal approach will yield different results. In the case of the opening of this solo, I think it makes the melodic content sound more cohesive as the chords under it help color the melody.
The next section hangs on the bVI and bVII chords, which I’m absolutely a sucker for! I could listen to a bVI-bVII-i chord progression all day. The beauty of the changes in this section is that the resolution to the i chord is delayed. Once it hits, the resolution is very satisfying. But, wait! It gets better.

I remember jamming with a friend of mine one day when I was at Berklee, and he showed me something he learned in class called the "Never Ending Scale." I was immediately intrigued.
He explained how it was a way of playing one-note-per-string scales, an unorthodox way of laying scales out on the neck. The reason for doing this is to have yourself jumping all over the neck trying to find these notes, thus increasing your fretboard fluency.
The "never-ending" element comes from the way that the notes seem to wrap around the neck in a seemingly infinite loop, as you'll see in the example laid out below.
This can be quite difficult to pull off, especially when played in time. At this point, I would consider this primarily a note location/fretboard knowledge exercise, as it doesn't really provide much melodic content. That being said, if you can do this successfully, there's a good chance you're pretty adept at finding the notes on the fretboard.

Hands-On Fingerstyle, Vol. 3 is a forthcoming course I collaborated on for TrueFire.com, scheduled to launch on June 24, 2024.

About The Artist
I've had the privilege of working on several courses with Dave Isaacs (details available here), and I've consistently found his approach deeply insightful. Beyond his musical expertise, Isaacs places a strong emphasis on healthy playing techniques, which is invaluable, especially for those who have encountered playing-related injuries.

Course Overview
​Hands-On Fingerstyle, Vol. 3 is the latest installment in the series dedicated to mastering fingerstyle guitar.

Approach
Dave guides learners through the complexities of fingerstyle technique with a gentle and structured approach. He incrementally introduces more challenging passages, ensuring learners are not overwhelmed. Each example is repeated to facilitate learning by ear, and Dave meticulously breaks down the mechanics required for effortless performance.

Recommended Prerequisites

• Familiarity with basic open chords

Includes

• 22 Video Lessons
• 20 Charts (.pdf)
• 20 Tabs (.gp/.gpx)

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Conclusion
For anyone eager to explore fingerstyle acoustic guitar in a musical, enjoyable, and safe manner, Dave Isaacs offers exceptional guidance. If you're new to fingerstyle, consider starting with Vol. 1 of this series and progressing through all three volumes for a comprehensive learning experience.

Hello everyone and welcome to my home on the web.  I used to have a blog on this website years ago, but it was eventually neglected as I worked on other projects.  However, I have recently found that I have a lot of ideas I'd like to share and I think this is a great way of doing it!

Some things I intend on sharing on this blog are lessons, transcriptions, practice routines, jam tracks, and more!  While I started processing content for this website, take a look around and feel free to contact me with any questions.  I'll be right back!

-Andrew