Mainly Distance Guitar Lesson
Mainly Distance
Lauren Passarelli demonstrates her original song called "Mainly Distance." Lauren uses this fingerpicking tune as a vehicle to talk about songwriting.
Taught by Lauren Passarelli in Lessons With Lauren Passarelli seriesLength: 8:31Difficulty: 3.0 of 5
Supplemental Learning Material
Lessons With Lauren Passarelli
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsLauren Passarelli is an accomplished musician, songwriter and teacher. She is currently a full professor at the Berklee College of Music.
Lesson 1
Lauren Passarelli Interview
This interview covers topics such as music theory, reading sheet music, songwriting, and music technology.
Length: 37:34 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 2
Guitar Purchase and Care
Lauren Passarelli offers up her wisdom on purchasing a guitar. She also includes information regarding proper setup and care.
Length: 19:55 Difficulty: 0.5 FREE
Guitar Thoughts
Lauren Passarelli gives her thoughts on several important aspects of the guitar including holding the guitar, holding the pick, playing chords, string skipping, practicing, learning techniques and even...
Length: 20:17 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Time and Space
Lauren talks about the importance of rhythm and proper practice habits.
Length: 12:56 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Reading Music, Chord Spelling and Arpeggios
Lauren Passarelli is back with a behemoth of a lesson. In this lesson, she gives tips on reading music and provides a wealth of music theory knowledge including chord spellings and arpeggios.
Length: 39:26 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Pick Tricks, Learning Tips and Ear Protection
In this lesson, Lauren offers her thoughts on guitar picks, learning efficiently, and the important of protecting your hearing.
Length: 5:15 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Vocal Tips
Lauren Passarelli gives a few potent tips to improve vocal performance and longevity.
Length: 3:56 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Slide Guitar Tips
Lauren Passarelli discusses slide guitar and dishes out several quality tips.
Length: 4:58 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Songwriting Ideas
Lauren begins discussing the topic of songwriting. In this lesson, she talks about how one simple chord can be a foundation for an entire song.
Length: 13:03 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Chords and Rhythm
Lauren Passarelli gives some tips on playing chords and maintaining rhythm while doing so.
Length: 4:48 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Songwriting Ideas Part 2
Lauren starts off by talking about RAS (Retinal Activation Syndrome) and then moves on to talk about the inspiration that goes into creating a song and its lyrics. She also talks about indirect lines and...
Length: 16:56 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Songwriting Ideas Part 3
Lauren Passarelli returns with more ideas on songwriting. This time around she talks about chords and chord naming, writing lyrics and uses her own song "Playing With the Pieces" as an example.
Length: 11:09 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Simplicity and Songwriting
Lauren talks about how sometimes simple chords, progressions or licks can be used to create some of the most powerful songs. She uses two of her own original songs to illustrate this point.
Length: 17:12 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Using Song Ideas
Lauren Passarelli talks about the process of whittling down massive pools of songwriting inspiration into a single, focused and usable song.
Length: 10:04 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
All the Words
Lauren showcases her original song "All the Words" as a way of demonstrating how powerful an extremely "simple" song can truly be.
Length: 5:52 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Writing Lyrics
Lauren Passarelli talks about the process of writing song lyrics and gives insight as to where both lyrics and song names can come from.
Length: 8:11 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Writing Lyrics Part 2
Lauren returns to the topic of lyric writing with several more potent tips.
Length: 3:33 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Alternate Tunings and Songwriting
Lauren Passarelli discusses how alternate tunings can be used in the songwriting process and demonstrates her original song entitled "From the Water."
Length: 10:34 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Rhythms of the Sun
Lauren introduces her original song "Rhythms of the Sun" and uses it as a springboard to demonstrate how songs can come from nothing into fruition.
Length: 9:12 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Alternate Tunings Part 2
Lauren Passarelli further explorers the world of open tunings. In this lesson, she talks about DACGAD tuning and demonstrates two of her original songs.
Length: 11:09 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Two Original Songs
Lauren Passarelli demonstrates two of her original songs and uses them as examples to show how songs can be written.
Length: 10:44 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Sometimes
Lauren Passarelli introduces her original song entitled "Sometimes." She uses this song as a wonderful jumping off point to discuss how songs can be written.
Length: 8:54 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
The Dreams I'm Living For
Lauren Passarelli demonstrates her original song called "The Dreams I'm Living For" and uses it to discuss different songwriting techniques.
Length: 7:18 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
New Tunings
Lauren Passarelli introduces two new tunings. She plays two of her original songs to demonstrate how they can be used.
Length: 13:20 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
D to C Tuning
Lauren Passarelli introduces a new tuning in which the D string is tuned down to C. She performs her original songs to demonstrate how this tuning can be used.
Length: 13:04 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Nail Care
Lauren takes a short break from her songwriting lessons to discuss nail care, an often overlooked yet crucial subject.
Length: 4:25 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Mainly Distance
Lauren Passarelli demonstrates her original song called "Mainly Distance." Lauren uses this fingerpicking tune as a vehicle to talk about songwriting.
Length: 8:31 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
In the Style of Songwriting
Lauren first introduces one of her original tunes and talks about how it was written. Then, she moves on to talk about writing songs in the style of your favorite artist.
Length: 19:21 Difficulty: 0.0 Members Only
Lyrical Inspiration from Poems
In this lesson, Lauren talks about how classic poems and your original poems can be a fountain of lyrical ideas.
Length: 17:36 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
I Carry On
In this lesson, Lauren Passarelli talks about playing chords in random positions to find interesting sounds. She also discusses pinch harmonics and the effectiveness of palm muting. She demonstrates her...
Length: 7:38 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Warming up and Triplets
Lauren teaches a few chromatic scale fingerings that can be used as warm-ups. She proceeds to talk about interesting ways to conceptualize and count triplets.
Length: 13:20 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Warming up Muscles
In this lesson, Lauren talks about the importance of making sure the muscles in your wrist and forearms are properly warmed up before playing. She also talks about remedies for muscle soreness.
Length: 4:54 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Tuner Thoughts
Lauren Passarelli takes a brief pause from her songwriting lessons to talk about guitar tuners, which kind she prefers, and why.
Length: 3:12 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Song Imitations
Lauren Passarelli explains how a riff, lick, tuning or even chords from a song you like can be used as inspiration when suffering from writer's block.
Length: 34:23 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Song Inspiration
Lauren talks about some of the interesting places song inspiration can come from, including things as simple as refrigerator magnets.
Length: 16:54 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Song Demonstrations
In this lesson, Lauren demonstrates several of her original songs and describes the process she went through while writing each one. This lesson is perfect for songwriters looking for inspiration!
Length: 23:14 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Instrumental Songs
Lauren talks about the process of writing instrumental songs and demonstrates a few of her originals.
Length: 23:14 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Instrumentals Part 2
Lauren returns to the world of instrumental songwriting. In this lesson, she demonstrates three of her originals and talks about how they were crafted.
Length: 12:07 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Book and Movie List
Lauren Passarelli shares a list of books and movies that she thinks are valuable for any guitarist. She covers books and movies not only on the topic of guitar but also everyday living.
Length: 4:00 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Growing as a Musician
In this lesson Lauren Passarelli gives her recommendations on good ways to grow as not only a guitarist, but also as an all around musician.
Length: 10:37 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Tips on Performing
Lauren Passarelli gives a few tips on performing and then closes out her artist series with an original tune.
Length: 19:14 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
About Lauren Passarelli
View Full Biography
Lauren Passarelli is an award winning teacher & distinguished alumni from Berklee College of Music where she has been a guitar Professor since 1984.
Originally from Paramus, NJ, Lauren received a fantastic guitar foundation using the Alfred’s, Mel Bay, Harry Shearer & William G. Leavitt guitar books from her first guitar teacher, Lou Sabini.
Graduating in 1982 as the first woman to finish the guitar performance program, Lauren also became the first woman to join Berklee’s guitar faculty & first to be promoted to full Professor.
She’s a multi instrumentalist, vocalist, arranger, recording engineer & record producer & has worked with Cindy Brown, Sarah Burrill, Thaddeus Hogarth, Kate Chadbourne, Danny Morris, Pat Metheny, Elizabeth Lorrey, Nancy Beaudette, Melissa Etheridge, Jane Miller, Louis Arnold & many others.
Her students include Derek Sivers, founder of cdbaby, Panos Panay, founder of sonic bids; Will Knox; Kyle Patrick, of Click 5; Jesse Ruben & Rob Harkness, founder of Barn Productions.
Lauren specializes in creativity, composing, sight reading, the ability to groove, the music of The Beatles, alternate guitar tunings, song writing, recording, producing, arranging & Artist survival skills. She writes in standard & alternate tunings, plays slide & fretless guitar, and approaches the guitar as a mini orchestra. She has the ability to play funky riffs and sing counter melodies at the same time.
She endorses, Line 6, Wechter, Guild, Fender, Taylor, Godin, Washburn, Yamaha, Martin, Rane, Electro Voice, Crowley & Tripp, AKG, Audio Technica, Groove Tubes, Bose, DR Handmade Strings, D’Addario, Planet Waves, IK Multimedia, East West, Apple, Studiomaster, ADA Amplification, Marshall, Vox, ART & more.
There are hundreds of performances, clinics & interview videos on youtube featuring Lauren & her original music as well as Beatle covers while she was touring as the sound-a-like George Harrison.
She is the co-founder of Feather Records, Cotton Moon Music, Wizard & Feather Brown Productions & PassaBrown Studios.
Lauren’s music is available world wide on cdbaby, iTunes, Rhapsody, Pandora & many other sites. Her CDs include: “Among The Ruins” & “Shadow Language” under her band name Two Tru, “Back to the Bone”, New CDs coming soon ~ “Playing With the Pieces” & “Blast of Love.”
"Lauren Passarelli is a great guitar player" Pat Metheny.
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Loved it Lauren. Beautiful music and loved the melody. Great song.
You just made my day, thanks Lauren, thanks jamplay.
that's a beautiful song, Lauren. It reminded me of Call of Ktulu by Metallica in the intro and I took a fast liking to it.