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This one will be next - for all fans of the classic jazz vibe

Here you can have a visit and a walk through the HPCrazy Guitar Academy which is now a complete and professional online guitar academy. There are cool features for free members and professional features for extended services such as premium membership or private online lesson.

There is now a brand new feature here in our community which awards everybody who interacts here. It's probably just a toy for fun but I love it. All member awards are currently set on 0 points but you get points by posting, replying, following, reacting and more. I will think about this system and set the points and let you know. 😄 Love it - was waiting quite a while to get this ranking and award system running - now finaly its here. You can already start to gather points just with opening or replying to topics or by following other members. You can see your current ranking and award status by going to your public profile here. 🙂

Hey guys, I would like to expand my club of guitars in upcoming tutorials. So you shall not see only Dr. Pink. I would like to include also acoustic guitars. So please let me know your opinion in this poll here or write my your opinion. 🙂

The HPCrazy Students Club is the place where you can talk with others and share your thoughts and stories about guitar playing or life. It's up to you. So how do you write topics ? Hit the JOIN button and then go to the topics tab :

Hi, I am sharing one of the things I have been working on - it is a solo arrangement of HP’s original song and things I learned from the lessons: "Spanish Guitar Improvisation" and "Guitar Secrets: Crazy Arpeggio Licks". It is not improvised but based on ideas from improvisation. I really love this song.

Thank you very much, Charley. I hope your hands recover and you are able to play guitar again soon.

Nice work Sara! my hands are getting better, I'm using a talk to text as My hands are wrapped currently. getting better but I can use the mouse and dictate. Keep up that awesome work!

Wow.. Sorry Y'all, Been pre occupied with a few rabbit holes I've been going down. I'm trying to record the Balade challenge and My phone does horrible sounding videos, I'm still getting used to Windows for doing videos, I've been a Linux user for many many years. Windows has come a long way since I've used it. I'm thinking of going to Mac but for now I have a pretty rock'n Windows machine. Got a ton to get done today before I can practice and then back to learning to make videos with this machine... Any Help would be much appreciated... Peace...

Yes as I said it's just 5 km and in Summer I go there for Swimming 🙂 Maybe there is something in the water. 😄 But serious - Küsnacht is a place of rich and sophisticated people so maybe thats one of the reasons. I have my first customers who took readings with the music and they seem to love it. 🙂 I am doing astrology for many years but just besides music and now I just wrote a concept.

Yeah, I know - I was researching his country house in Kusnacht where he did most of his most important writing and was surprised to see the name of your town nearby on the map. The website looks good - it looks like an interesting concept. I just listened to the Farbmusik concert - it was really good. I was inspired to draw in my sketchbook while I listened. Wishing you the best and thanks!

I didn't know C.G.Jung was living in Switzerland now I checked where exactly he lived and it's just 5 km from my place 😄 You can check google maps. I am in Egg ZH and he was in Küsnacht ZH. I launched a website about that concept which I developed in german in Nov. - my sister was my first client and she was in completly peace when she left. So we achieved what was the goal in her case. Now I am starting to spread the word a bit now and the response in very good till now. You can check http://www.sternentherapie.com

I am glad that you will be adding this new aspect to Farbmusik. I started getting interested in these topics via Carl Jung and was so surprised when I discovered that he used to live not so far from where you live. Probably there is something about the atmosphere and landscapes of Switzerland that helps to inspire new ideas about psychology and spirituality. I am looking forward to seeing what you do next.

Hi HP, thank you so much for taking the time to listen and for your comments. I really love the sound of diminished arpeggios so much and I am happy that you feel it worked. I appreciate your encouragement. It is a really a wonderful piece and inspires me a lot so I will continue to play it and probably add more in the future. It took me weeks to come up with this arrangement but I really enjoyed the process. There is still a lot to work on, but I feel good about how much I have improved lately thanks to your great lessons.

Hey Sara, now I took the time to listen to your arrangment and I must say I like the material you have choosen for it. Specialy the diminished arpeggio which you used. I love that one. Solo arangments always need a certain time till you are able to play it totaly fluent - even I have to really work out solo guitar arrangments for a while till they work. So just take your time and keep up the practicing - after a while make a break and work on something else for a few days and then come back to that one again - then suddenly it will work fluently... one day. But very nice and tasty 🙂

Thats in fact a plan - but I will do that on my farbmusik YouTube channel. I tried to bring up the topic on the HPCrazy channel a few times also with the meditation tutorials but somehow the topic was not so popular. I think with Astrology and the colors ( Farbmusik ) it will work out.

Thank you so much, Kent! 🙂

It must have been a good feeling to have helped her in that way. I am glad that you have been able to find out about this new path to take also. I sense you would be very good at something like that based on the way you can communicate in your videos so well about the ways in which the emotions and music are connected.

It's ok - it was not a suprise. I am unfortunatly the only remaining part of my familly. Only her kids and here husband were at the ceremony yesturday and me. But there is also a good side on this - I was her counseller and music theraphist in the past months and my therapy concept worked - she was in complete peace at the end - I will pick up this new path now in my music and work.

Nicely done, Sara!

Hi HP, I am so sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine how awful that must be for you and your family. Thank you for replying to my message at such a time.

Hey Sara, I'm ok - not so busy just occupied since my sister passed away these days. To open your topics you have to go into the students club - hit students club and the open a new topic - view the picture.

Hi HP, how are you? I was trying to create a post for sharing a song and somehow I got stuck at the step where it asked to specify the forum. I hit the "Create" button on the top right hand side of the site and the drop down menu did not seem to work when I tried to select this forum and so when I hit the continue button, it was a required field and didnt let me continue. I know you are busy and it is not urgent, but I thought you should know - I am using a Windows machine and I tried with Google Chrome and also Microsoft Edge Browsers. Same problem with the "Create New Content" button on the forums page.

If you work with a laptop or computer you might use the Zoom Q2n 4K as a webcam. That one gives great results on sound and picture. I am sorry to hear that. That might come from nutrition - if your blood is too sour or you have tension from your shoulders.

That must be annoying for you. I hope your fingers feel better soon and you have fun learning about your new cool gear.

That's an excellent Idea. My phone is so bad. Very bad, so much bad. I don't have an iPhone so... I'll be upgrading soon. but for a few weeks my hands are out of action and I have a new board, Tascam Model 12. Interphase/Recorder/Midi Controller, My hands at the moment, Using talk to text at the moment. one finger typing is, well it hurts... I'll be back soon. Ugh... Thanks...

I was trying to used my phone cause my board went out. the sound is horrid, LoL. I just got a new board. Tascam Model 12. New board new learning curve. My hands have decided to flare up as well. I am use talk to type now cause it's just to painful to even one finger type. Ugh. My fingers just lock up this time of year. I'll get it fingered out soon (haha, I made a funny, lol) I used StudioOne to record and mix. I'll have it figured out soon... and the expierence. I need much more of that. Have the cool gear, just need to learn out to use it. I'll be back soon.

I have been thinking of just getting one of the clips that holds your phone at the same time attaching it to the guitars headstock. That way I can get a recording of my song and you can see the fretboard. That's pretty simple 🙂

I had that problem (bad sound) but posted anyway a while back. One option (assuming you do not have a pro recording system) is that if you have an iPhone/iPod with garageband, maybe you could record with that at the same time using the webcam or video camera just for video and then synch up later (got a clapboard? hehe) - kind of annoying to do all that work with video editing software though. I would suggest just making as simple as possible and just posting even if the sound is not perfect - I learned a lot from the experience.

Hey HP! New member from Sweden here, really like your teaching, and style of music right down my alley! Top job! I have a question though: can I find backing tracks for old lessons that are on Youtube? For example, this AC/DC-style-lesson. Can't find it here on your site, just on Youtube.

Hi Tim, the backing track is here: hanspeterkruesi.com/members/index.php?/topic/2578-become-a-better-rock-rhythm-guitar/&tab=comments#comment-5396 You need to upgrade to Premium membership to download backing tracks and the tab/score for all the lessons. I think it is totally worth it - his notes and backing tracks are really excellent.

Hi, just joined up! Need some help getting to the backing track for Become A Better Rhythm Guitar Player. Any clues?

Welcome! I just got this track! Love it!

Tone... The Bane of My Existence 😄 So here's the thing. I've watched and listened and looked for "The Tone" I've found it varies from time to time. Where I get frustrated is finding someone else's tone. The gear? the Player? So the "Blue Jean Blues" lesson. (dig that by the way) I was trying to find the tone. Now I know HP has a very nice set up. But there has to be a chain of effects to get that sweet tone. Does anyone else have this issue? Please help me... hahahahaha... I have some good gear. Tons of plug ins. I use StudioOne 5. what ever the new one is. I have "Everything" that comes with it as far as plug ins. For amps I have a Princeton 150 watt (way to much power for me) 2x12 Combo. I can't even turn that on in my little apt. When I do play thru an amp it's thru my lil Marshall Code25. Tons of presets but hey... I wanna know where the sound that comes from the song I just heard so I can try to play it. I have a gazillion pedals (in storage) screamers and fuzz, whaa, Morley's Boss, Dan Electro I can find awesome tones, BUT, not the one I just heard. so I wind up groovin on something else all together 😎 Anyway, tone, effects... it all comes to a big mishmosh at a certain point. I might be over thinking it (as I do) but any tips I might pick from anyone... Thanks...

I have Mr Margarita at home 🙂

I have always liked this track!

Hey Björn, welcome here in my Guitar Academy. Thats a pretty old video but I found the backing track. It's this one here : acdc style backing track.mp3

A very nice guitar and it's made in the USA 🙂 - and I know for many guitars are always girls 😄 Lucile for BB King as an example. Dr. Pink is also a girl 😄

It's a Special so the tail piece... wait, no tail piece.. only a bridge saddle kind of combo? hahahah... I love it. great for muting...

So I named her Woodstock. Strange I know, but all my Guitars are Girls and this one, well it just felt right. She plays pretty awesome, I'll have it in the video for the challenge. A few days...

Greeting's Y'all, Over the years I've become more and more passionate about Guitar, actually music in general. I used to pick up my guitar and just play, maybe look at some charts and practice for a few minutes then go off on the few things I learned and thought I'd just move on. This was, In My Case, A mistake. There are those that music comes so naturally to they can almost just pick up any instrument and play it like they've been playing all their lives. I am not one of those. I have to work at it pretty hard. With my passion for music this is not a burden, it's an adventure, that is the beauty of it for me as I really feel accomplishment over simple things. Now I've come up with my plan. In the end it actually makes it easier for me to practice and more and more things just seem to stick. So when HP says, don't skip this step... I don't. I work that part harder than the rest and, Yeah, he is right. I used to only play music that I wrote. I think Until 10/11 years ago, I only knew 2 covers. House of the rising sun (I learned that when I was 6) and Heart of Gold. Everything else I played I had written. Well that's great but then I found myself in this impossible rut... My point is we can all learn from all music. If you like it. Learn how to play it. Then Ask yourself, What did I learn? My Practice plan includes Three Tiers... Theory, Technique and Creativity. I'm pretty sure I heard HP say something about that like a decade ago. The key to a good practice session is to 1. have a dedicated place for focused practice. 2. Have all the tools you need to practice, i.e. Pencil, Paper, Metronome, whatever it is you need to achieve that session to it's fullest, in that place. 3. how much time are you willing/able to practice. and how many days a week. It's been my experience that taking a day or two off a week is very healthy. My days off are still musically oriented as I own a Internet Radio Station. so I'm always in there one way or the other to create mood or just what I'm feeling for that day. What's your Practice Plan? Can we share and maybe we can all benefit from each other. The purpose of a good practice plan that works for you, is to remove the stumbling blocks we create for ourselves... In My Humble Opinion, this Academy is a great place to help with that.

I do like to coach, it's different than what you do for sure. Maybe as the next few years go maybe I can. I have a few kind of students here in the community I live in. I give them charts for chords and play with them. It's more of a coaching. I do like my charts... LoL... I will try this. All about science... I'll keep ya posted for sure...

Thats cool - maybe you can share a picture of it 🙂

You can always teach beginners - teaching beginners is most of the time to keep them engaged to continue to practice and to make them working on the difficulties everybody has at the beginning. if you have such a serious practice routine then add 5 min. break after each block of 20 minutes and after 3 blocks of 20 min - 15 min break. Some science guys found out that thats the most effectiv way to learn but I must admit I never tried it myself. I just play and play and play. Still enjoying to practice a lot.

It's what works for me. I have friends that only use computer apps for study, charts, tabs and what not. I just take it in better when I put my hands on it. I retain it better. My focused Practice time is one hour a day. My focus is Theory, (Right now, maybe next month it will be Creativity), but in that hour I have 6, 10 minute blocks. blocks 1, 3 and 5 are Theory. blocks 2, 4 and are Technique, block 6 is always Creativity. I know kinda very structured but I seem to retain it better. After Focused Practice is hours and hours of random playing with some more unstructured Theory. at a minimum I have a guitar in my lap of 4 hours a day. Maximum of 12 a few days a week. Switching from Acoustic to Electric. I'm Retired now and I figured.. Why not be my own Rock Star, or play at the local Coffee Shops. Maybe teach? Nah, Tried that after college, I do not have the patience for that. I admire music teachers, nerves of steel. But One must take time for rest. Listen to music, or the wind. Take time for just yourself, family, all that. It's healthy...

I just got a Les Paul Special. I love this guitar. so I plugged in and followed your advise. I'm thinking I wasted a bunch of time trying pedals and different plug-in's for distortion. Exactly the sound I was looking for. it's amazing. and the LP... LoL... well it's just amazing. was up all night playing. I used this technique you just shared with me and wrote a song... Pretty cool... thanks!!!

Yes that a good devision of the topics and I strongly recommend that. 🙂 Thats really serious practicing - well done. I never used a pencil... but I see the point. 🙂

What I can tell you to help you is that the tone is only 50% the equipment and the rest is playing technique. I mostly use only Delay and Reverb as effects - only on high gain guitar leads sounds a compressor. Plug in's are fine as long as your computer has enough CPU and the amp modelling is good enough. Clean sounds mostly are good and high gain sounds are also mostly ok - where it comes to discover the weakness of plugins is when you want to work with dynamic playing with medium destortion. Good plugins still react to different dynamic playing and bad ones sound more or less the same no matter how you attack the strings.

Reverse Delay is a very cool full clean sound which I think requires excellent timing and technique. I have a custom single coil guitar - solid state amp - no sound effects and seeking guidance on: What equipment - make model have you found works Program - how to setup Guitar technique to make it all work together

Hey Adrian, yeah now I remember sound I used on that tutorial. I have used a Roland Jazz Chorus 120 Amp and a 2*12 cabinet in my AXE FX III device and I added some reverb and some reverse delay. The reverse delay it not totally required but if you have one it makes your sound wide - when you use normal delay on clean sound settings it does not really work since the repeated notes are too clear and they mess up the overall melody you are playing. Solidstate amp works since for clean jazz tones solidstate amps are a very good option. All you need is a large reverb and you are ready to go. I guess your amp has reverb, if not I would strongly recommend to buy a reverb pedal. Single coil pickups are not 100% ideal for jazz sounds but if you use the neck pickup and cut the high frequencies a bit then you quite good sound. Single coils have a very clear and crispy sound which is not really what we want in jazz sounds - just if you think it sounds great for your ears then go for it. No rules here - just recommendations.