Pivot Fingers Guitar Lesson
Pivot Fingers
Brendan Burns explains how pivot fingers can be used to achieve smoother, quicker chord changes.
Taught by Brendan Burns in Tips & Tricks with Brendan Burns seriesLength: 9:04Difficulty: 1.0 of 5
Supplemental Learning Material
Tips & Tricks with Brendan Burns
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsBrendan Burns covers tips for rapid chord changing and economy of motion.
Lesson 1
Pivot Fingers
Brendan Burns explains how pivot fingers can be used to achieve smoother, quicker chord changes.
Length: 9:04 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Battle Plan
Brendan Burns discusses a "battle plan" for performing chord changes. The battle plan prepares you for the next chord in the progression through visualization as well as physical preparation.
Length: 8:16 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
The Strum Switch
Brendan explains how rhythmic consistency with the right hand must be maintained in order to perform effective chord changes.
Length: 9:27 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Staggered Strumming
Brendan Burns explains how "staggering" your strums can assist in performing chord changes.
Length: 8:08 Difficulty: 0.5 Members OnlyLesson 5
Connected Chord Voicings
Brendan discusses and demonstrates how to connect chord voicings together.
Length: 14:00 Difficulty: 1.5 FREE
Connecting Chords: Dominant 7ths
Brendan Burns demonstrates and discusses ways to connect dominant 7th chord voicings.
Length: 10:35 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Connecting Chords: Minor 7ths
Brendan Burns demonstrates connecting chords for both the 6th string and 5th string minor 7th voicings.
Length: 13:15 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Connecting Chords: Major 7ths
Brendan Burns discusses the major 7th chord voicings and ways to connect them.
Length: 13:15 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Connecting Chords: Minor 7th Flat 5
The last chord voicing in the connecting chords series is the minor 7th flat 5. Brendan demonstrates uses and voicings for this chord.
Length: 7:52 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Kline Electric Guitar
Brendan answers some frequently asked questions about his Kline guitar.
Length: 6:31 Difficulty: 0.5 Members Only
Practice Strategies
Brendan Burns discusses ways to get the most out of every practice minute you spend with the guitar.
Length: 22:28 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
About Brendan Burns
View Full Biography
Brendan has been passionate about music since childhood. He began his studies on trumpet, in elementary school, and then moved to guitar as a teenager. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from Berklee College of Music, and has studied with Norm Zocher, Joe Stump, Bret Willmott, Bob Pilkington, Jay Weik, Tim Miller, & Charlie Banacos.
While at Berklee, Brendan was a member of the Music Mentoring Program, teaching private lessons to gifted high school students. He is currently teaches, and is chair of the guitar department at Brookline Music School. Brendan also teaches guitar for Tune Foolery & privately at his home in Cambridge, MA.
Along with educating, Brendan plays out often as a Solo Guitarist, performing standards, pop, and classical repertoire. He has recorded and played with the chamber-fusion band Ra Quintent, and as well as Vessela Stoyanova's Eastern Stories Under Western Skies Project. Brendan also performs as a leader, director and sideman for various Boston art-rock projects, and is former member of MIT's Gamelan Galak Tika.
Acoustic Guitar Lessons
Our acoustic guitar lessons are taught by qualified instructors with various backgrounds with the instrument.
Miche Fambro
Miche introduces several new chord concepts that add color and excitement to any progression.
Free LessonSeries Details
Jim Deeming
Jim Deeming discusses how to use a metronome for practice, skill building, and speed building.
Free LessonSeries Details
Steve Eulberg
Steve Eulberg does a quick review of this lesson series and talks about moving on.
Free LessonSeries Details
Randall Williams
In this lesson Randall introduces the partial capo (using a short-cut capo by Kyser) and talks about how it can make the...
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Lincoln
Time to unlock your creativity because in this information packed lesson. Mark dives deep into how to deconstruct the process...
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Kailana Nelson
Mark Nelson introduces "'Ulupalakua," a song he will be using to teach different skills and techniques. In this lesson, he...
Free LessonSeries Details
Orville Johnson
Orville Johnson introduces turnarounds and provides great ideas and techniques.
Free LessonSeries Details
Jessica Baron
Jessica kindly introduces herself, her background, and her approach to this series.
Free LessonSeries Details
Peter Einhorn
In this lesson, Peter discusses the two bar clave that is common to the Brazilian style. You'll put together several patterns...
Free LessonSeries DetailsElectric Guitar Lesson Samples
Our electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
Michael Ripoll
Michael "Nomad" Ripoll dives deep into the rhythm & blues, funk, and soul genres that were made popular by artists like Earth...
Free LessonSeries Details
Nick Kellie
Nick explains how to use scales and modes effectively when soloing over a chord progression.
Free LessonSeries Details
Dennis Hodges
Learn a variety of essential techniques commonly used in the metal genre, including palm muting, string slides, and chord...
Free LessonSeries Details
Chris Liepe
Chris brings his ingenuity to this lesson on the American folk song called "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" Also known as...
Free LessonSeries Details
Kris Norris
Kris analyzes different pick sizes and their effect on his playing. Using a slow motion camera, he is able to point out the...
Free LessonSeries Details
Jane Miller
Jane Miller talks about chord solos in part one of this fascinating mini-series.
Free LessonSeries Details
Stuart Ziff
Stuart doesn't waste an ytime diving into blues as he starts his series off by demonstrating one of the most iconic and recognizable...
Free LessonSeries Details
DJ Phillips
Learn a handful of new blues techniques while learning to play Stevie Ray Vaughn's "The House Is Rockin'".
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Brennan
Mark Brennan teaches this classic rock song by Jethro Tull. Released on the album of the same name in 1971, this song features...
Free LessonSeries Details
Emil Werstler
Emil takes you through some techniques that he uses frequently in his style of playing. Topics include neck bending, percussive...
Free LessonSeries DetailsAdditional Lesson Features Available to Members
While 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!
Custom Progress Reporting
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.
Progressive Bookmarking
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?
Save Your Notes
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.
Join the Thousands of Members at JamPlay
Signup today to enjoy access to our entire database of video lessons, along with our exclusive set of learning tools and features.
Unlimited Lesson Viewing
A JamPlay membership gives you access to every lesson, from every teacher on our staff. Additionally, there is no restriction on how many times you watch a lesson. Watch as many times as you need.Live Lessons
Exclusive only to JamPlay, we currently broadcast 8-10 hours of steaming lesson services directly to you! Enjoy the benefits of in-person instructors and the conveniences of our community.Interactive Community
Create your own profile, manage your friends list, and contact users with your own JamPlay Mailbox. JamPlay also features live chat with teachers and members, and an active Forum.Chord Library
Each chord in our library contains a full chart, related tablature, and a photograph of how the chord is played. A comprehensive learning resource for any guitarist.Scale Library
Our software allows you to document your progress for any lesson, including notes and percent of the lesson completed. This gives you the ability to document what you need to work on, and where you left off.Custom Chord Sheets
At JamPlay, not only can you reference our Chord Library, but you can also select any variety of chords you need to work on, and generate your own printable chord sheet.Backing Tracks
Jam-along backing tracks give the guitarist a platform for improvising and soloing. Our backing tracks provide a wide variety of tracks from different genres of music, and serves as a great learning tool.Interactive Games
We have teachers covering beginner lessons, rock, classic rock, jazz, bluegrass, fingerstyle, slack key and more. Learn how to play the guitar from experienced players, in a casual environment.Beginners Welcome.. and Up
Unlike a lot of guitar websites and DVDs, we start our Beginner Lessons at the VERY start of the learning process, as if you just picked up a guitar for the first time.Our teaching is structured for all players.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.I was using this techniqe unconsciously, I am happy to learn this has a name and I will use it more consciouly in the future. I really like the comment of marclange because I have the same problem and thanks for the answer. Great lesson.
this lesson was good but i stared at your guitar the whle time. Did you notice its missing the headstock?
Yes, no headstock and no fret markers. What about the strategies? Have they helped your playing?
This may be irrelevant but the fmaj7 reminds me of the intro to "Down by the seaside" by Led Zeppelin. Either way, Great Lesson.
It could be! Jimi liked using that chord. He would often add his thumb on the first fret of the low E-string to get a little extra bass. Nice job!
For all of you who run through this series with the C, Am and Fmaj7 chords, you now know the verse of "Don't Panic" by Coldplay :) There's probably lot more songs using these chords but I only recall this one.
The chorus of "One" by U2 also uses that chord progression.
Its mainly my last 2 fingers, they seem to have some sort of a delay. Its mostly bar chords. But the pivot idea seems to help. if you can make another video on more complex shapes or more ideas to improve coordination. It'd be awesome. love your lessons by the way.
Keep in mind those last two fingers don't work like the rest. I can't remember if it's tendons or muscles, but essentially the ring and pinky are connected together much more than the other fingers. Because of their dependence on each other, they are little sluggish moving around from grip to grip. Make sure to take a little extra time with them, and they'll catch on. Try the "Battleplan" technique for the some of the bigger chords. It can help for the last two to really see where they are going.
Hey I enjoyed this lesson, any chance can you cover some harder chord voicings for styles lke jazz and fusion? Great job.
I'm using basic chord voicings for these lessons, but the principles apply for any grips. Let me know if you run into any specific problems.