
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
View Full Biography
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.
Miche introduces several new chord concepts that add color and excitement to any progression.
Free LessonSeries DetailsJessica kindly introduces herself, her background, and her approach to this series.
Free LessonSeries DetailsTrace Bundy talks about the different ways you can use multiple capos to enhance your playing.
Free LessonSeries DetailsNick explains how to play some of the most commonly used chords in the bluegrass genre.
Free LessonSeries DetailsSteve Eulberg does a quick review of this lesson series and talks about moving on.
Free LessonSeries DetailsHawkeye teaches several Robert Johnson licks in this lesson. These licks are played with a slide in open G tuning.
Free LessonSeries DetailsIn lesson 6, Kaki discusses how the left and right hands can work together or independently of each other to create different...
Free LessonSeries DetailsJim Deeming discusses how to use a metronome for practice, skill building, and speed building.
Free LessonSeries DetailsLesson 7 is all about arpeggios. Danny provides discussion and exercises designed to build your right hand skills.
Free LessonSeries DetailsOrville Johnson introduces turnarounds and provides great ideas and techniques.
Free LessonSeries DetailsOur electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
Nick starts his series with Alternate Picking part 1. Improve your timing, speed, and execution with this important lesson.
Free LessonSeries DetailsKris analyzes different pick sizes and their effect on his playing. Using a slow motion camera, he is able to point out the...
Free LessonSeries DetailsAllen shows you the 24 rudiments crucial to developing finger dexterity. This is a short lesson but the exercises here can...
Free LessonSeries DetailsLisa breaks into the very basics of the electric guitar. She starts by explaining the parts of the guitar. Then, she dives...
Free LessonSeries DetailsBrendan demonstrates the tiny triad shapes derived from the form 1 barre chord.
Free LessonSeries DetailsJames explains how to tap arpeggios for extended musical reach.
Free LessonSeries DetailsChris brings his ingenuity to this lesson on the American folk song called "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" Also known as...
Free LessonSeries DetailsTosin explains some of the intricacies of the 8 string guitar such as his personal setup and approach to playing.
Free LessonSeries DetailsJane Miller talks about chord solos in part one of this fascinating mini-series.
Free LessonSeries DetailsThis is a crucial lesson that explains tablature, how to read it, and why it's important.
Free LessonSeries DetailsWhile we have attempted to provide you with an accurate rendition of our video lesson experience, there are some features which
require a membership with us!
At JamPlay, we give you the ability to monitor your own progress for any lesson! If you watch one of our lessons and feel as though you understand around half of it, mark your progress at 50%. This adds the lesson to your customized Progress Report, and gives you an incredible ability to document what you need to work on, and where you left off.
With thousands of lessons at your fingertips, JamPlay can be a touch intimidating to a first-time user. With Progressive Bookmarking, we give you the ability to systematically bookmark sections of any lessons you are working on to quickly access later. After all, what is the point of all this content if it isn't easy to use?
JamPlay also gives you the ability to leave notes for yourself on any lesson. Just like in any educational system, taking your own notes while learning gives you the ability to highlight the instruction that is important to you. Leave your notes, and we store them in our database for you to reference each and everytime you come back to the lesson.
Signup today to enjoy access to our entire database of video lessons, along with our exclusive set of learning tools and features.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.if i decide to use in addition a Minor scale on each chord like a dorian or ex A dorian on A, D dorian on D and E Dorian could i do that? or what you suggest? Am, Dm and Em are all in the Key of C major would it sound better i i just played C major notes meaning A aeolian, D dorian and E Phrygian?
I think it should be mandatory for all teachers to state what guitars they're playing. Love the gorgeous models they all play!
This is my Tom Anderson Classic......
Great Lesson. Why didn't the whole Target Note thing dawn on me before? Seems so logic. I just figured "Chords that start with A, just play A Minor and hope it sounds OK" :)
Mark, great lesson. I've been struggling with improvising along the chord progressions. This lesson has helped greatly. I would like to see more lessons on this to take it even further. Do you plan to continue this series on improvising? Thanks
Mark, thank you so much for these lessons. There have been more light bulb moments as a result of them as everything suddenly becomes clear. Was watching an old Muddy Waters video after the lesson and my eyes popped and ears perked up when I pointed to the screen and yelled to my wife "that, that right there! Mark was just teaching me that!!" So I grabed my Les Paul and started to Jam along. What a moment!! thanks!
Mark, on the second riff, the tab does not match your fingering..second note of the riff you play is on the 6th string, 8th fret, or am I missing something here?? This is really helping me with my learning curve...thx
Who is this guy? What have you done with Mark Brennan??, hehehe. You look so different without your goatee You should grow it back, you look 'bare' without it.
If I grew it back you'd all be calling me "Graybeard" LOL
This is a fun lesson! Look forward to more improvisation and target tone lessons.
I'll have to say that I have followed all of your lessons Mark and this has been the funnest for sure. Great lesson for where I am right now in my personal progress - not too hard not too easy and fun to jam with. Thanks.
Thanks MarK, even that is not exactly like Billy Squier, I love the similarity. Keep up the great lessons.
mark, awesome, thank you very much once again, i went through all of your lessons in this beginner series, great!!!!!!
Best jam play lesson i've had yet. Mark, you're a great instructor, very much right to the point and clearly explained. The pace at which you explained the riffs was just right. Thank you.
great lesson , where can I download the backing track ? Thanks
yes great stuff -very helpfull and welcome back -missed ya
Ahhh....the mist has suddenly cleared! That is the best lesson I've ever had -nothings gonna stop me now :)
Wonderful to have you back Mark. Excellent lesson. So honest and salt of the earth. Truly a great place to start with soloing. Honestly I was giggling and bouncing around in my chair just watching this at, so I couldn't at first get a guitar in my hands. But that's OK. I've got a new music room and a new electric guitar, so for the next while it's going to be you, me, my guitar and pots of tea along the way. Seriously lovely.
Thanks Megan.....seems I was bouncing around in my chair while teaching this lesson. too! Enjoy....talk to ya soon.
Mark, Great lesson, glad your back. I will have fun with this one. It should keep me very busy for a while. Looking forward for more of your lessons, Mark