Video Question:

June 20th, 2008 - Robearle asks, "Dear D-Mac/Brad, Having been a member of Jamplay for almost a year now there are 1 or 2 things i have noticed. First of all, ALL of the instructors are excellent guitarists. Secondly, quite a few of them have a beard or a goatee, There's D-Mac, Jim Deeming, Mark Brennan, Dennis Hodges, Nick Greathouse and of course, Steve Eulberg, who is not only armed with a beard, but a pony tail too!. My question is this: Do you think growing a beard or a goatee will help to improve my playing? ...and if so, what shade would you recommend?. I know that D-Mac has tried goatees of various colours since I joined Jamplay and I would love to know which one works best for him? Thanks in advance. Rob. " Return to Video Q&A Listing


Length: 5.39 | Instructor: David MacKenzie 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:

Chords Structure - March 21st, 2008 (2 minutes, 14 seconds)

Scopexs asks, "I have found chords in my chord book that can be identically fingered...C6 and the Am7. Both chords give the option of playing it with the D string fingered at the 2nd fret and the B string fingered at the 1st fret while the other strings are played open. What is confusing is why are the two chord structures the same and can be fingered the same yet are called by two different names. This is confusing when learning chords. Is there an easy explanation as to why two chord structures would be called by two different names. Thanks" View Response

Sweeping Arpeggios - September 19th, 2007 (2 minutes, 27 seconds)

Billy asks "I have been trying these for about a year now and I just can't seem to nail them. Are their any exercises for both hands that will make it more easier. It seems that my left hand has the most problems." View Response

Christmas Songs - December 19th, 2007 (4 minutes, 24 seconds)

Juant asks "I bought my first guitar 1 week ago. I bought a Fender DSG starter package. My immediate goal is to learn two Christmas songs by Christmas Eve, so that I may play them for my 11 month year old son. So far I have learned the: E, A, D, C, and G chords, sand I'm transitioning fairly well between them. Please recommend two songs that only use the above chords, and advise if you have lkessons for them, so that I may cram between now and then. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best in 2008. Thank you in advance, Juan Enrique" View Response

Callus - July 17th, 2008 (2 minutes, 16 seconds)

Jdemail78 asks, "I've been taking Steve's lessons for the past month and during the first week, my finger tips hurt each day I played but I kept on playing because I knew that eventually I'd build up callus on the ends of my fingers and the pain would go away. Sure enough, that happened for the most part but recently they've been starting to hurt again. Not as much when I'm done playing, more when I start playing. After I play for a little while, the pain goes away (like a numb sorta feeling) and then by the time I'm done, they are hurting again. I guess what I'm wondering is how long does this go on for? I can tell that I have callus on my fingers but some of the pain is still there. Does it ever go away completely or do you eventually just get used to it? Thanks." View Response

Lead Progressions and Voicings - January 8th, 2008 (5 minutes, 38 seconds)

Gene Dutton says, "I am an advanced intermediate player. Presently I'm stuck at where I'm at. I need to receive more info on different styles of lead progressions and voicing. Hope you can help me advance. I'm a fast learner." View Response