
Mark's Phase 1 series will take you through the basics of playing electric guitar.
Lesson 1
Mark introduces his Phase 1 series and covers some fundamental electric guitar basics.
Length: 30:12 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 2
Mark provides a detailed overview of amplification. This lesson has some great info for any electric player.
Length: 33:55 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 3
Before we start rocking, Mark goes over some tools and training necessary to every beginning guitarist.
Length: 12:52 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 4
It's time to get some sound out of your guitar. Mark begins with picking hand technique.
Length: 31:34 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 5
Mark explains proper left hand technique from the ground up.
Length: 10:36 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 6
Mark teaches you all of the natural notes played in first position. He uses two classic melodies to supplement this information.
Length: 25:42 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 7
It's time to learn your first scale - the C major scale in first position. Mark also explains how the major scale is constructed.
Length: 21:31 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 8
Mark covers 7 basic chords in the key of C major.
Length: 35:14 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 9
Mark expands on chords in C major by showing full forms of the chords you learned in Part 1. He also teaches you the chord progression to a familiar tune.
Length: 25:00 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 10
It's time to start making some noise by using power chords and palm muting. Mark gives you the framework to start rocking the 12 bar blues in a basic I-IV-V progression.
Length: 36:43 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 11
Take your knowledge of the notes in the first position and start jamming on a simple pentatonic riff.
Length: 14:34 Difficulty: 1.0 FREELesson 12
Let's build on lesson 11 with an extended discussion of the pentatonic scale. For lesson 12, we'll simply add one note to the pentatonic scale to give us the famous blues scale. We'll also discuss new...
Length: 36:27 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 13
Mark explains how to finger power chords and how they can be moved anywhere on the fretboard. He also shows an exercise that will help you remember the name of each power chord.
Length: 16:28 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 14
Mark Brennan explains rhythmic notation, tempos, time signatures, note values, and more in this lesson.
Length: 32:14 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 15
Mark explores the key of G major in this lesson. He covers the first position pattern of the scale and explains how it can be harmonized in thirds.
Length: 33:22 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 16
Mark teaches the basic chords of G major as well as some other exercises to get you acquainted with this key.
Length: 34:28 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 17
Mark explains the basics of D major.
Length: 25:00 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 18
Mark takes you through the chords of D major and explains some new ones that you haven't encountered yet.
Length: 35:00 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 19
Mark continues his discussion of power chords. This time around, he explains the circle of 5ths and demonstrates some power chord progressions that illustrate this concept.
Length: 33:18 Difficulty: 1.5 Members OnlyLesson 20
Mark teaches the 1st box of the minor pentatonic scale.
Length: 32:31 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 21
Mark explains how you can transpose the pentatonic pattern covered in lesson 20 to the key of A minor. He also shows the "lower extension box" and "home plate box."
Length: 26:09 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 22
Mark teaches the difference between straight eighth notes and the shuffle feel.
Length: 42:33 Difficulty: 1.0 Members OnlyLesson 23
In response to member requests, Mark added another amplification lesson to his growing phase 1 series. In this lesson, he compares 3 classes of amps from entry level models all the way to a Mesa Mark V.
Length: 40:45 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 24
In this lesson, Mark teaches some blues licks that can be used when improvising over a 12 bar blues progression.
Length: 24:01 Difficulty: 2.0 Members OnlyLesson 25
Mark covers the key of A minor.
Length: 29:36 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
About Mark Brennan
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Mark Brennan, born August 12th, 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio, began playing guitar at the age of 10. His first influences were from the Ventures and the British Invasion, especially the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Shortly afterwards he was playing in rock bands with his brother on drums, developing his ear by learning songs straight from records. Playing in a band became a passion.
In high school, he grew to love acoustic and classical guitar. He spent time playing acoustic music, influenced by The Eagles, CSN, Dan Folgelberg, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, etc. In the 70's, he headed a very popular Cleveland band, The Brennan-Cosma Band, which played a variety of acoustic and rock music, along with originals. He also took up classicalguitar, and began developing his fingerstyle technique.
Mark is a graduate of Cleveland State University (1980), with a Bachelor of Music in Classical guitar performance. He also studied Music Composition, and took many Music Education classes. After graduation, he began his private teaching career, teaching electric, acoustic, and classical guitar, along with music theory. He taught in various studios and guitar shops throughout his career, and currently has a private practice at his home in
Fairview Park, Ohio.
In the 80's Mark took an affection to Progressive rock. With his band Polyphony, he was influenced by the music of Yes, Genesis, Kansas, ELP, Styx, along with a set of prog rock originals.
Currently, Mark is in the regionally successful Pink Floyd tribute band Wish You Were Here. The band performs faithful renderings of the Floyd classics spanning their entire catalog, along with a strong visual stage show. Here, Mark displays his command of the David Gilmour style.
Mark is excited to be part of JamPlay.com's fine roster of teachers. He's looking forward to extending his 35 years of performing and teaching experience to the JamPlay members. His philosophy is about developing a passion for guitar and being the best musician you can be; being true to yourself and developing a personal style, and truly expressing your heart through your music.
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
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Free LessonSeries DetailsBrendan demonstrates the tiny triad shapes derived from the form 1 barre chord.
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Free LessonSeries DetailsTosin explains some of the intricacies of the 8 string guitar such as his personal setup and approach to playing.
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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.Hi Mar!, one question, Is there a method to know what are the chords in any key??, For example, how do you know that these are the chords of G Major???, consequently I imagine that songs are constructed just with chords in one key in order to soung good right???, please let me know, thanks! Lauro.
Hi Lauro! As you explore music theory, and learn chords and songs, you learn that chords in a particular key are built off a the scale of the key. So, the chords in G major are built off of the G Major scale (Lesson 15). Each scale tone becomes a root for a chord. the first note G yeilds the G Major chord, the A gives you the A minor, the B gives you B Minor, etc. These scale tones, as roots of chords become chord functions designated by roman numerals. In G Major, G is the I chord, Amin is the ii chord (lower case numeral designating a minor chord), Bmin is the iii chord, C is the IV chord, D is the V chord, Emin is the vi chord, and F#dim is the vii diminished chord (which is substitute with the D7, or the V7 chord). Study the scales and chords in this series and it should start to make sense. I just filmed D Major chords today.....hope this makes sense...Mark B.
Thank you so much Mark!!!....got it!!!..... Lauro.
Hi Mark, Thanks for the great course. Will there be more lessons? I also asked a question about Landslide. Can you answer that for me? Thanks
Hey Tom....more lessons will be filmed in the near future. Check out the Landslide lesson....Mark B.
On the G, Bm, C, D7 strumming pattern, the electronic notation for the G chord in the video shows a Gm chord instead of the G. Looks like you're strumming a G and the music sheet shows a G. Thanks for the great lessons - I signed up for a year - this is a great way to learn to play.
Hey Mark, one question. Could you explain a little better why you picked the D7 as seventh chord instead of f#dim? Thanks, Peter.
Good question Peter. I haven't dicussed the vii (diminished) because I consider the vii chord to be a substitute for the V7 (dominant 7th) chord. The three notes of the vii chord are actually the top three notes of the V7 chord. So in the key of G, the vii chord is F#A C. The notes of the V7 chord are D F# A C. In this discussion of the chords in a key, the V7 is a more commonly used chord, and the vii chord is less relevant, merely a substitute for the V7.....hope that makes sense. Mark B.
sweet intro
Mark Your lessons are all great, I like your diversity. I am fairly new started in May but am coming along nicely I think. Should I use the bar chord instead of open bm ? I can do both but niether real fast yet. Also could you mayb do a lesson on finger dexterity ? I work on this a lot and find it helpful for the fingersytle. I use the classical format you speak of. Thanks again Michael
Hey Michael....if you're able to grip the full Bm barre form, go for it. It's such a great sounding chord with the root in the bottom. The finger dexterity lesson is a good one. Maybe I'll add that to the lesson series...thanks. Mark B.
Hi Mark, Great basic lesson on strumming patterns. Your hint on not to pause between chords, just strum thru them at a slower tempo until my left chord hand gets it right is very helpful, espicially helps me with bar transitions. Thanks, rON