Tony Martinez

Tony Martinez

Tony is a Guitar instructor at JamPlay.com

Tony Martinez was born in 1984 on the small spanish island of Mallorca, and began playing music at a very young age. At age 5, he started playing the piano and quickly began playing his first gigs and concerts at the age of 7. A few years later, at the age of just 10 years old, he discovered the guitar and has been playing ever since. After years of playing by ear and self-examination, he decided he wanted to get more serious and become a real musician. At 17, he finished ... (more)

Tony currently offers 88 guitar lessons at JamPlay, with 88 intermediate lessons.

Tony Martinez's contribution to JamPlay

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Rock

Rock Tactics & Pentatonic Flavors

Join Tony Martinez as he covers techniques from vibrato and cool bends to fast licks and notes designed to spice up your playing, and will take you to the next level, ready for stages, ready for studio recordings, ready to rock!

1

Series Introduction

Tony gives us an overview of his course in which he will cover a modern approach to the blues rock style, played with gain, attitude, and infectious energy.

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Rock Essentials: Vibrato

Vibrato is the embodiment of your guitar personality. It will literally identify you to the world of music! In this lesson,Tony gives us the tools that will allow the creation of our own unique sound.

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Rock Essentials: Bends

Bending notes that are in tune and accurate doesn't happen by accident! Tony gives us the low down on developing good technique to make your bends overflow with energy and character!

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Tricky Bends and Beyond

Now that we've zeroed in on what makes a good bend, and how to execute them, we take a look at some not so common bends that will add a level of difficulty!

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Even More Weird Bends

Let the bending continue! If you thought the previous lesson had tricky bends, check this one out. Tony explores even more wild things you can do with bending!

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Applying the Bending Concepts

We've explored the cool and crazy when it comes to bending and vibrato. Now let's put it to the test in the context of a backing track!

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Pentatonics: How I See Them

Now let's get into pentatonics and the way that Tony looks at them. He will share his approach to the visualization of the scale that will allow you to see the shapes all across the fretboard!

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8

Make Them Musical

When playing any scale, you want to use it in the most musical way possible. This requires moving around the scale in a manner that might be outside your comfort zone. Tony takes the pentatonic scale and shows us how to NOT sound like a robot, but how to sound musical!

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Pentatonic Fireworks

In this lesson, Tony explains his 'key technique' that will help you add speed and fireworks to your pentatonic scales.

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Pentatonic Run Examples

Now it's time to explore some fast ascending and descending pentatonic licks.

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Adding Spicy Notes to Your Pentatonics

There's no doubt that you can get a lot of mileage out of the pentatonic scale just as it is. But making some simple additions, some 'spicy' notes if you will, can take you into tonalities that lie just outside of the pentatonics, and will open up unique doors that will make your playing sound much different!

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Time to Apply the Extra Notes

Let's apply those 'spicy' notes in context with some sample licks that use the II and VI.

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There's More Than Shred - Be Mellow!

Of course, using the 'spicy' notes that Tony talked about in the previous lessons works the best when they are used in a tasteful and subtle way. In this lesson, Tony mellows us out a little and shows us how incorporate these notes in a less obvious way.

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Why is This Wrong if it's So Good!

In this lesson, Tony explains the how using major and minor thirds in unique ways can add cool tonalities to your playing.

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Make Those Thirds Scream

The way the thirds in our scales are approached really identifies the kind of energy and intensity you'll hear in those tonalites. Find some unique ways of approach in this lesson from Tony.

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Do it the Other Way!

Let's approach the application of 'unique thirds' from the opposite angle: minor thirds over major pentatonic tonality.

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Let's Put it All Together!

Now it's time to unpack all of what we've learned in the last few lessons and put it into a cool, high energy solo!

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Let's Do It Modal!

The modes can be a source of confusion for many players. In this lesson, Tony explains his approach to the modes, and how he makes sense of them.

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Three Notes per String Theory

In this lesson, Tony gives his take on three notes per string theory which is the precursor to playing legato.

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Techniques to Use with Legato

Now it's time to look at Tony's legato technique. When done correctly, this can be an awesome tool for speed and precision. Tony starts with looking at hand positioning and the proper way to pull off a note.

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Techniques to Use with Legato 2

In this lesson, Tony shows us another unique legato technique that uses often - the 3-1-3 technique.

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Techniques to Use with Legato 3

The 'Z' technique is an arpeggio-like technique that Tony likes to use in his legato playing. Get the lowdown on this impressive variation in legato playing!

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Putting Your Legato Techniques Together

The three legato techniques Tony just showed us don't have to exist by themselves. In this lesson, Tony shows us some effective ways to combine these techniques to add another level of 'wow' to your playing!

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Legato Solo

Time to learn a real world, practical solo that involves a great deal of legato playing. Tony also adds in other techniques including some very cool and unique vibrato that gives the solo a very modern sound!

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Intervalic Playing

It's all in the numbers! Tony's approach to intervallic playing stresses the numbers of the notes in the scale, not note names. Join Tony for this unique approach, where visualization is the key!

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Hybrid Picking

Tony's hybrid picking was born out of necessity more than anything, as it is with a lot of players. Here, he shows us how to implement the technique, resulting in a very economical picking hand!

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Triad Pairs

In this lesson, Tony looks at pairing different triads in the diatonic chord scale to create some very cool chord comping ideas.

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How to Put It All Together

Now it's time to learn how to craft a solo using all the techniques we've learned in the course. Tony has shown us all these techniques, now he will teach us the proper way to 'think' about putting them together!

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Add Chromatics Without Sounding Jazzy

Chromatics are not just for Jazz players! Tony shows us how to integrate these into rock playing, by thinking of them as space fillers.

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All Ideas Solo

To wrap up the course, Tony puts all the techniques we've learned in to one blazing solo!

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Theory and Improvisation

Turning Pentatonics Into Music

Have you gotten your pentatonic scales down and now you're not sure how to make them sound a bit more musical? In this course, Tony Martinez gives you some tips and tricks on how to turn those notes into actual music!

1

Introduction

Tony Martinez introduces us to "Turning Pentatonics Into Music"!

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Roots!

Tony dives into this first lesson with the fundamentals on why root notes are most important notes no matter what key you are playing in.

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We Know Where the Root is, Let's Use It!

Now that we have the roots underneath our fingers, let's practice resolving any lick we come across to the root.

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The Details Make the Difference

It's all about the details! In this lesson, Tony breaks down how some ideas like micro bends and vibrato can change the tone of a musical piece, similar to the idea of how we have different inflections in our voice to convey different emotions.

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Still Sounds Like the Scale?

Now that we have a handful of ideas on how to make the pentatonic scale unique, Tony demonstrates how we need to then implement intervalic ideas, in order to begin to make our pentatonic scale sound more like a musical piece.

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More Intervalic Fun

Let's build on the idea from the previous lesson, instead of jumping to the root every time Tony demonstrates other licks that we can resolve from.

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Are You Too Vertical?

Let's explore our fretboard a little more horizontally by moving our licks up and down the neck.

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Minor Solo

Now time for the first solo! Taking all of our cumulative knowledge from the previous lessons, lets incorporate those ideas into this solo.

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Let's Look at Major Now!

Moving onto the major pentatonic scale, Tony breaks down how to overcome some major hurdles we may come across when coming from the minor pentatonic scale.

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That Major Sound

Now we have the roots down, lets take a look at how the major sound is different then the minor sound.

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The BB Box

Tony talks about B.B. King box and where to find it on our guitars!

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Intervallic Jumps

In this lesson, Tony gives a closer look into intervallic jumps and how they steer the tone of our music.

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The Pentatonic Highway

In this strength-building lesson, Tony helps us find the most comfortable fingering when going up and down the neck.

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Using Triads

For this lesson Tony unpacks triads!

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Major Solo

Time for our second solo! For this solo, we take all of the tools we have learned so far in this course and put them to use!

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Mixing Major and Minor Pentatonic

In this next lesson, Tony will explain how we can blend the major and minor pentatonic scales to achieve a unique sound

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The Third Rules!

How does changing from a minor third to a major third effect our sound? Tony will demonstrate by adding a major third to a minor pentatonic scale in this lesson

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We Can Do it in Major Too!

Up next, we will learn how we can add the minor third to our major pentatonic scale for added color

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The Sixth

Adding a major sixth to our minor pentatonic scale can provide some added depth when applied properly and Tony will show us precisely how to do that in this next lesson

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What About the b7?

For our next lesson, we will focus on incorporating the b7 into our major pentatonic scale, which will give us a very bluesy vibe

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May the Fourth Be With You!

Tony shows us how we can use the fourth interval in order to achieve a suspended sound in our solos

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Black or White?

In this lesson, Tony describes what it means to aim for a "gray" sound by combining our major and minor pentatonics fluidly

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Solo Time!

It's time for us to apply the concepts we've learned in the last few lessons to a solo. Tony will demonstrate by weaving in and out of the major and minor pentatonic scales over the backing track

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Adding Notes

For this next lesson, Tony will explain how we can add notes to our major and minor pentatonic scales without compromising the feel of the pentatonic scale

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Adding the 9th

Now we will take a look at how we can add the ninth/second interval to our minor pentatonic scale which will expand our tonal possibilities

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Time to Run

As guitar players, we all love to play FAST! In our next lesson, we will learn how to include the ninth/second interval in our minor pentatonic-based licks with speed!

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Rock Time or Ballad Time?

Tony will explain how we can switch between our major and minor sixths in our solos to produce a different feel in both a rock and a ballad context

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Other Ways to Sound Cool!

This lesson will focus on different techniques that we can apply to our playing. These techniques will give us a variety of sounds that we can use in different situations

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Are Arpeggios Boring?

For the next lesson, we will learn how to use arpeggios in our playing without them sounding like arpeggios. This technique is very useful in any style of music that you may encounter

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The Final Solo!

To wrap things up, Tony gives us an example of how we can take everything we have learned in this course to construct a captivating solo over a track.

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Tips & Tricks

Gear and Tone for Blues Rock

Effects provide us with an extremely wide variety of textures, tones, and possibilities that can help us emulate the sound of our favorite players or shape our own unique style, if we know how to dial in the settings for each effect and where they should go in your signal chain. Tony will help us shape our tone for playing in a blues and/or rock context before he explains effect settings such as 'Threshold', 'Attack', "Depth', 'Feedback', and more to help us understand the myriad of ways that each individual effect can be implemented in order to produce a more interesting sound.

1

Introduction

Tony shares a brief overview of the material we will be learning in the upcoming lessons in this course

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Compression

In this lesson, Tony will help us learn how to use compression properly by explaining threshold, attack, and release in addition to features that aren't found on every compressor

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Overdrive

Up next, we will take a look at a few different types of overdrives and how to get the best sound out of each one as an individual unit and when used together

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Distortion

Tony will play with a couple of distortion sounds and techniques so that we can hear the differences and he shows us the best way to setup a noise gate in this lesson

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Tremolo

In our next lesson we will be exploring the possibilities available to us when we use a tremolo effect with a variety of settings

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Simple Delay

Delay effects come in many varieties and in this lesson Tony will take us through the more commonly used types of delay and how to apply them to our own sound

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Reverb

Our focus for this next lesson will be how to use the reverb effect to help shape your dry guitar signal to sound more natural by emulating the sound of certain spaces

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Fuzz

In this lesson, we will examine the two main types of fuzz and how they can be best utilized for specific purposes

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Octave

Up next we will learn how to use the settings on an octave effect to make a guitar sound as if it was being doubled by another instrument or if it were a different instrument itself

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Modulation Effects - Chorus, Phaser, and Flanger

Tony will demonstrate chorus, phase, and flange effects while providing some insight into the unique textures that each of them offers in this lesson

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Wah Wah Pedal

We will look at how wah wah pedals work and a few different techniques that can be used to expand our expressiveness using this effect in this lesson

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Putting Your Effects in Order

It is good to know how to use effects for creating individual soundscapes but if you don't know how they should line up in your signal chain you may not get the tones you are searching for. Tony will describe the order your effects should be in to get the best possible sound in this last lesson

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Theory and Improvisation

Tricks of the Trade: Rock Improv

Are you looking to expand your rock improv skills? Tony Martinez's course "Tricks of the Trade: Rock Improv" will have the extra skills you might be looking for to expand your musical creativity! He'll give you some of his best tips and tricks to help you become a more well-versed player when playing with other musicians!

1

Introduction to 'Tricks of the Trade: Rock Improv'

Tony Martinez introduces his course "Trick of the Trade: Rock Improv"

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What to Play: On the Lookout

For this first lesson, Tony breaks down the "Hendrix Approach" focusing on the B minor Pentatonic.

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Trading Solos: On the Lookout

Now it's time to trade some solos! For this first track, Tony plays a few bars and then allows us to utilize the licks we just learned in the previous lesson to try our hand in some solo time as well!

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What I Played: On the Lookout

In this lesson, Tony breaks down what he played during his solos from the previous exercise.

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What to Play: Lazy Summer Morning

For this next track, Tony gives us some tips on how to improvise with the D major scale.

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Trading Solos: Lazy Summer Morning

Time for another trade session! Let's take Tony's suggestions in the previous lesson and incorporate them into some solos!

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What I Played: Lazy Summer Morning

In this lesson, Tony touches on his approach with this solo and gives some more tools for our music toolbox.

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What to Play: Boomerang

For this more upbeat rock track, Tony really gets us grooving by showing how to utilize the Mixolydian scale!

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Trading Solos: Boomerang

Time for another trade session!

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What I Played: Boomerang

Tony breaks down how he tackled these solos from the previous trade session.

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What to Play: Amped Up

For this next rock track, we lean on the Mixolydian mode once again to create solos!

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Trading Solos: Amped Up

Let's trade some solos to really get the ideas from the previous lesson locked in under our fingers!

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What I Played: Amped Up

Tony walks us through how he approached his solos from the previous trade session.

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What to Play: Top This

Time to dive into our last track for this course. For this ZZ Top style track, we focus on utilizing the minor pentatonic scale.

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Trading Solos: Top This

Let's trade solos with Tony over our final track for this series!

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What I Played: Top This

Tony breaks down what he did for his solos in the previous trade session.

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