Video Question: Toe Tapping

May 5th, 2008 - Mark0761 asks, "Hi Jim. How are you? Man,you are an amazing guitarist. Yourself and Steve Eulberg are my two favorite teachers. The two of you are who I have decided to learn from. My passion is acoustic, I got no desire to play electric. I'm a beginer and my question is toe tapping. Before I found you on the website I developed a habit of naturally tapping my heel on the floor for some reason it just felt natural. When I came across you, you said tap your toe on the floor, does it matter which one you tap in rythem ? Your heel or your toes?Also, when do you tap you said on the strumming down tap , do you also do this continually throughout a song or only on the downstroke? Thanks and Confused Mark" Return to Video Q&A Listing


Length: 3.21 | Instructor: Jim Deeming Another benefit of being a member of JamPlay is the video response section. Our expert staff fields questions from our members and provides video responses each week.

Other Video Responses:

Strumming - December 14th, 2007 (4 minutes, 40 seconds)

Zcarter wrote "Hey Steve, Is there any correct way to "strum" when using the guitar? I have been strumming a specific way for a long time and I think it works okay, however one of my friends said if I keep strumming this specific way, it will be more difficult to play songs in the long run. Does it really matter how I strum? Currently, I hold the pick in between my thumb and index finger, but I think it may be a different way than most people... Thanks! Zac" View Response

Guitar Picks - May 26th, 2008 (2 minutes, 11 seconds)

Levick11 asks, "Hi, I'm having trouble figuring out what pick gauge I should use. Could someone give an explanation on the differences in gauge and style of guitar picks? I've read that thinner ones are better for strumming and rhythm playing, and thicker ones are better for speed. Is that true or is it just player preference? Thanks." View Response

Tuning and Measuring Notes - July 9th, 2008 (3 minutes, 50 seconds)

duaneellison asks, "Hello, I am sure there is a simple explanation but I don't understand something about tuning (well a lot of things, but that for a different question). I noticed this "problem" while trying to tune the new Squire Mini I bought for the kids. My chromatic tuner (Seiko SAT500) gave me the "green" dot for the strings - but the notes were not right and it sounded bad, bad, bad. So I went online and turned up my speakers and measured on the display the following for the different strings: E - C#2 A - F#2 D - B2 G - E3 B - G#3 e - C#4 Once I had this written down I went back to the Squire and retuned the strings making sure the display showed the same notes for the different strings. That brought everything in tune (duh) but what is the significances of the C#2, F#2, B2, E3, G#3 and C#4? I am sure it is something simple but I just don't get it! Thanks for the help and you guys have a really great site here! Keep up the good work! Duane..." View Response

Chord Songbook - February 19th, 2008 (2 minutes, 70 seconds)

Mogs asked, "Hi wonder if you can help please. I've only been playing guitar for a few months and still mastering the basic chords. Somtimes this gets a little boring so I try learn a popular song to add a little fun to my practice sessions. The problem I have is how to read chord songbooks. For example I have a Johnny Cash Song 'Ballad of A Teenage Queen' the intro is written in the book as: CAPO 1ST FRET [A] Dream on, Dream on, [D] teenage [A] queen [D] Prettiest [A] girl we've [E] ever [A] seen. I understand the capo part and have it set up correctly. My question is how many times do I strum the chords ? Looking at the above is it, (A) on 'dream' only or (A) on 'dream' and 'on'. I kind of get it if theres only one word after the chord but when theres two or three I'm not sure wether I strum on each word even though it doesnt show the chord before each word. Hope this is not a silly question, but would really appreciate your advice. Thanks Mogs PS. The site is fantastic, its given me so much motivation to keep on with the practice sessions." View Response

Modes - July 10th, 2008 (3 minutes, 80 seconds)

John873 asks, "Lets say we are improvising in the key of G Dorian, I want to begin moving down the fretboard to get some higher notes. When i move up to the A Phrygian position do i continue to use G as my root note; or instead, do i switch to A?" View Response