Pivot Fingers (Guitar Lesson)
What are you waiting for? Get your membership now!
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
Video Subtitles / Captions
Supplemental Learning Material
Tips & Tricks with Brendan Burns
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsBrendan Burns takes a look at tips and tricks for taking your guitar playing to another level.
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
Prepared Guitar Techniques #1
Get ready for the wild and weird! In this two part series, Brendan shows us how to achieve some very unique, organic sounds by physically attaching various items to your guitar.
Length: 25:27 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Prepared Guitar Techniques #2
Brendan wraps up this short series by showing us some practical applications for the prepared guitar.
Length: 17:24 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Harmonics Part 1
In part one of this mini-series, Brendan shows you everything you need to know about producing solid left hand harmonics.
Length: 23:39 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Harmonics Part 2
Brendan shows us how to play the simple tune of "Amazing Grace" using only harmonics. In addition, we'll learn how to develop other melodic ideas that enhance the original melody.
Length: 9:43 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Harmonics Part 3
Brendan continues in his harmonics series by showing us how to bend harmonic notes behind the nut, culminating in the harmonic exploration of two traditional folk tunes: "Danny Boy" and "Shenandoah".
Length: 35:39 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Harmonics Part 4
Brendan wraps up his harmonics series by showing two really awesome techniques: tap harmonics and pluck harmonics. These two techniques will make the entire chromatic scale available to you via harmonics!
Length: 14:24 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Practice Strategies, Vol. 2
Brendan expands on a topic he shared with us a while back: practice strategies. Learn how to get the most out of your practice time with 8 very helpful and practical tips from a seasoned veteran!
Length: 26:57 Difficulty: 0.0 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.
Marcelo Berestovoy
Marcelo teaches the eight basic right hand moves for the Rumba Flamenca strum pattern. He then shows you how to apply it...
Free LessonSeries Details
Robbie Merrill
JamPlay welcomes bassist and founding member of Godsmack, Robbie Merrill. In this short introduction lesson, Robbie showcases...
Free LessonSeries Details
Phil Keaggy
Welcome to the Phil Keaggy Master Course! In this series introduction, Phil shows and tells us what we can expect from this...
Free LessonSeries Details
Mario DaSilva
Free LessonSeries Details
David Isaacs
JamPlay welcomes David Isaacs to our teacher roster. With his first lesson Dave explains his approach to playing guitar with...
Free LessonSeries Details
Trevor Gordon Hall
Fingerstyle guitar is a broad term that can incorporate percussive elements of playing as well as Chet Atkins/Jerry Reed...
Free LessonSeries Details
Nick Amodeo
Nick explains how to play some of the most commonly used chords in the bluegrass genre.
Free LessonSeries Details
Mark Kroos
Free LessonSeries Details
Rich Nibbe
Rich Nibbe takes a look at how you can apply the pentatonic scale in the style of John Mayer into your playing.
Free LessonSeries Details
Orville Johnson
Orville Johnson introduces turnarounds and provides great ideas and techniques.
Free LessonSeries DetailsElectric Guitar Lesson Samples
Our electric guitar lessons are taught by instructors with an incredible amount of teaching experience.
Ariel Posen
If you could choose one technique to replicate the human voice on your guitar, it would be slide guitar. The long rich history...
Free LessonSeries Details
John March
Take a new look at the fretboard and learn where to find a voicing that works. There are techniques that simplify the fretboard...
Free LessonSeries Details
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
Aaron Marshall
JamPlay welcomes instrumental guitarist Aaron Marshall for a comprehensive master course. In this first lesson Aaron discusses...
Free LessonSeries Details
Braun Khan
In this lesson, Braun teaches the chord types that are commonly used in jazz harmony. Learn how to build the chords and their...
Free LessonSeries Details
Brendan Burns
Brendan demonstrates the tiny triad shapes derived from the form 1 barre chord.
Free LessonSeries Details
Daniel Gilbert
Known around the world for his inspirational approach to guitar instruction, Musician's Institute veteran Daniel Gilbert...
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 DetailsJoin over 513557 guitarists who have learned how to play in weeks... not years!
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.Take a minute to compare JamPlay to other traditional and new methods of learning guitar. Our estimates for "In-Person" lessons below are based on a weekly face-to-face lesson for $40 per hour.
 |
||||
| Price Per Lesson | < $0.01 | $4 - $5 | $30 - $50 | Free |
| Money Back Guarantee | Sometimes | n/a | ||
| Number of Instructors | 122 | 1 – 3 | 1 | Zillions |
| Interaction with Instructors | Daily Webcam Sessions | Weekly | ||
| Professional Instructors | Luck of the Draw | Luck of the Draw | ||
| New Lessons | Daily | Weekly | Minutely | |
| Structured Lessons | ||||
| Learn Any Style | Sorta | |||
| Track Progress | ||||
| HD Video | - | Sometimes | ||
| Multiple Camera Angles | Sometimes | - | Sometimes | |
| Accurate Tabs | Maybe | Maybe | ||
| Scale/Chord Libraries | ||||
| Custom JamTracks | ||||
| Interactive Games | ||||
| Community | ||||
| Learn in Sweatpants | Socially Unacceptable | |||
| Gasoline Needed | $0.00 | $0.00 | ~$4 / gallon! | $0.00 |
Mike H.
"I feel like a 12 year old kid with a new guitar!"
I am 66 years young and I still got it! I would have never known this if it had not been for Jamplay! I feel like a 12 year old kid with a new guitar! Ha! I cannot express enough how great you're website is! It is for beginners and advanced pickers! I am an advanced picker and thought I had lost it but thanks to you all, I found it again! Even though I only play by ear, I have been a member a whopping whole two weeks now and have already got Brent's country shuffle and country blues down and of course with embellishments. Thank you all for your wonderful program!
Greg J.
"With Jamplay I can fit in a random session when I have time and I can go at my own pace"
I'm a fifty eight year old newbie who owns a guitar which has been sitting untouched in a corner for about seven years now. Last weekend I got inspired to pick it up and finally learn how to play after watching an amazing Spanish guitarist on TV. So, here I am. I'm starting at the beginning with Steve Eulberg and I couldn't be happier (except for the sore fingers :) Some day I'm going to play like Steve! I'm self employed with a hectic schedule. With Jamplay I can fit in a random session when I have time and I can go at my own pace, rewinding and replaying the videos until I get it. This is a very enjoyable diversion from my work yet I still feel like I'm accomplishing something worthwhile. Thanks a lot, Greg
Bill
"I believe this is the absolute best site for guitar students."
I am commenting here to tell you and everyone at JamPlay that I believe this is the absolute best site for guitar students. I truly enjoy learning to play the guitar on JamPlay.com. Yes, I said the words, ""enjoy learning."" It is by far the best deal for the money.
Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.Thanks Brendan! Great little lesson for those of us who never seem to get the chord changes moving as fast as we want.
Good lesson man keep it up
Im pretty late to the party. I must admit I found myself wondering about exceptions to the 'rule, for example Amaj to Gmaj. Doesn't take a genius to realize the c# note moves horizontally to help build the G. I can't wait to teach this to my students.
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?
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.