The guitar in the photo above is my Gretsch 6121 Chet Atkins solidbody. The first thing you’ll notice, of course, is that it’s beautiful. Its “Western” motifs include its studded and tooled leather trim, debossed “G” in the style of a cattle brand, and fingerboard inlays featuring steer heads, cactuses and fence posts. Even its … More Why my Gretsch is NOT a Gibson

Was Mozart’s middle name actually ‘Amadeus’? Ummm… Not really! Mozart was christened Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. The first two names are his saint’s names. Following Catholic tradition he was given these names because his birthday (27 January) is the feast day of St John Chrysostom. He was generally known by family and friends as … More What was Mozart’s middle name?

My students sometimes ask me, “Why are there three different types of minor scales, when there’s only one type of major scale?” Another question I often hear is, “Why does the melodic minor scale have different notes going up and going down?”. In this post I’ll attempt to answer to both of those questions. If … More Music Theory: Why are there 3 minor scales?

Hoagy Carmichael’s most famous song, “Georgia On My Mind”, was first recorded by the composer in 1930, and became a hit when it was covered the following year by Frankie Trumbauer. These days, most people associate the song with Ray Charles, whose 1960 recording is often considered the definitive rendition. Here are the first few … More Music Theory: Secondary Dominant Chords

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Leo Fender was one lucky guy. I don’t mean to imply that his success as a designer of musical instruments wasn’t due to his exceptional engineering brilliance and a lot of hard work. There’s no doubt Leo was a genius. He designed instruments that no … More Johnny Smith, the Jazzmaster, and the sound of surf.