(c) 2017 David Howard’s Music Studio

MUSIC MESSENGERFall 2017 Mission

Raising the standards of music education and performance for the betterment of humanity.The Official Magazine of David Howard’s Music Studio

www.davidhoward.ca

Professional Music InstructionGuitar - Piano - Bass - Composition - Recording Arts - Theory - RCM Exams -

University / College Entrance - Post Secondary Master Classes

(c) 2015 David Howard. All Rights Reserved.

Pathways to Great Guitar Playing 9th Edition Has Arrived!

The Future of Modern, State Of The Art Visual Guitar Instruction is Here!

(c) 2017 David Howard’s Music Studio

Pathways To Great Guitar Playing 8th EditionOver 10 Years In DevelopmentBy David Howard

For the last decade I have been observing and making mental notes as to how music students of David Howard’s Music Studio learn how to play the guitar and their individual struggles and triumphs with grasping and performing such guitar related concepts as diverse as chords, scales, arpeggios, note reading and fretboard theory. What I noticed consistently is that most of my students are visual learners and the most efficient way to teach them a particular topic of study on the guitar was to literally show them the aforesaid concept visually. It bothered me for many years that there was never really a method of study or a guitar

instructional book that taught the guitar in a primarily visual fashion with excellent usability and large, c l ea r l y ou t l ined g raph ica l diagrams. With my years of e x p e r i e n c e i n c o m p u t e r p r o g r a m i n g , w e b d e s i g n , photography, graphic design and teaching music, I set about d e s i g n i n g a v i s u a l g u i t a r instructional method book unlike any other I had ever seen before. Pathways to Great Guitar Playing is such a unique, comprehensive and innovative approach to the study of the guitar visually that I even train from it on a daily basis!

Pathways to Great Guitar Playing is the complete and practical system to learn the

guitar and crucial, fretboard theory concepts. What originally began as a book to help students with learning disabilities learn the guitar in the most efficient and straight forward way possible b e c a m e a v i s u a l g u i t a r instructional method that helps all students of various abilities right from the absolute beginner to the seasoned professional musician or college/university level music student.

Pathways to Great Guitar Playing covers, in a systematic s e q u e n t i a l w a y, t h e m o s t important areas of guitar study, namely; scales, chords and arpeggios and how they relate and interconnect with one another.

Pathways To Great Guitar Playing, 9th Edition

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Pathways To Great Guitar Playing

(c) 2017 David Howard’s Music Studio

© 2014 David Howard. Proprietary Music Instruction Systems. © 2014 David Howard. All Rights Reserved.

Recognizing Shapes for Chord/Scale/Arpeggio Relationships

3 5 7 9 12 15 17

3 5 7 9 12 15 17

3 5 7 9 12 15 17

Minor "A" Shape Chord Formation

Minor Arpeggio "A" Shape Formation

R e c o g n i z e t h e above minor chord shape hidden within the scale?

N a t u r a l M i n o r " A " Shape Scale Formation

To properly train a music student into a competent musician, there are specific areas of study that need proper development over many years. These areas are scales, chords, arpeggios, sight reading, ear training, written harmony and music rudiments, improvisation, music composition, fluency in music notation, counterpoint and finger dexterity and independence. It takes many years of study to develop into a competent musician and, unfortunately, it can be a very frustrating experience. If one or more of these areas of musical development are neglected, it affects all of the other areas of musical development, possibly in a detrimental way. For example, I always thought it was strange when I was in University and studying music at the Royal Conservatory Toronto that they teach written music theory and harmony but never teach the basics of music notation! This leaves the student struggling with potential difficulties in writing their music down and needlessly makes written music theory work much more complex and confusing than it needs to be. Another

example, many guitar students avoid using arpeggios in their improvisations as they are commonly thought to be too difficult to perform and often they are not taught at all. Arpeggios are just the individual notes of a chord and outline certain notes within the scale that one is improvising in. Consequently, the student improvises using only scales which severely limits their creativity. For year, I always thought that there was a much better way to teach and learn the guitar. That better way was the structured, sequential visual way. Pathways to Great Guitar Playing helps tie together many of the required areas of study for music students in a simple, visual way.

Visual Representation for A Visual InstrumentBy David Howard

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“For years I always thought that there was a much better way to teach and learn the guitar. That better way was the visual way.”David Howard

Recognize the minor arpeggio shape hidden with the scale?

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(c) 2017 David Howard’s Music Studio

I designed Pathways To Great Guitar Playing to be a systematic, sequential and orderly visual guitar method focusing on practical fretboard theory. I purposely avoided using complex standard music notation or complex music theory. The goal was simple; graphical visual representations only.My objective from the very beginning of designing Pathways To Great Guitar Playing was to create large, clearly defined, simple and straight forward graphical representations of the guitar neck and various scale, chord, arpeggio and practical fretboard theory concepts. As I was creating the book, I beta tested with many of my students samples of visual representations that I was developing over the last year and a half. As I was doing this I studied how each student was able to quickly grasp, without any confusion or hesitation, complex music theoretical concepts as they pertain to the guitar in a practical and useful manner.

I am ofter asked how long it took me to develop the book and what was involved in doing so. I often worked well into the night for months on end doing the graphic design and photography. First, I would create a concept based on a particular area of study and sketch it out on a piece of graph paper. I would then assemble the various pieces of software required to develop and translate the sketched prototype over to the c o m p u t e r. I t h e n graphically designed out the concept into a single page for the book. I had to do this for each and every page! Countless hours were spent doing this process over and over. After each page w a s c o m p l e t e d I proofread, with my guitar in hand, each and every page. Yet, the w o rk I w a s d o i n g actually goes much deeper than this and into much greater detail. I actually spent countless hours perfecting the fingering of each scale, chord

and arpeggio so as to enable the student the most efficient and logical fingerings, simplicity and the ability of the student with an average size hand to execute them with blinding speed if they so choose to do so.

Key Benefits• Clear and concise visual representations of key

fretboard theory guitar concepts for all styles of guitar and all levels of guitar students.

• Simple systematic and sequentially logical approach to understanding crucially important guitar concepts visually.

• Progress reports and student practice logs all contained within each Pathways To Great Guitar Playing.

• Clearly shows, visually, in a very simple and straightforward manner how scales, chords and arpeggios are related to one another.

• Complex music theory made simple. No music reading knowledge required.

• Music reading abilities will greatly improve after working through the visual/written exercises within the book.

• Unlock the hidden secrets of the guitar fretboard is a simple, visual way.

• Learn every note on the guitar neck and never be at a loss as to the notes you are playing.

• Never get lost on the guitar fretboard again.• Memorizing music will be much easier, quicker

and more secure than ever before.• Learn discipline and organizational skills while

having fun.• Track your progress.• Novel, never before seen methods and templates

to aid guitar students in quickly understanding visually the layout of chords, scales and arpeggios on the guitar.

I purposely avoided using complex standard music notation or complex music theory. The goal was simple; graphical visual representations only.David Howard

Key Benefits For Guitar StudentsPathways To Great Guitar PlayingBy David Howard

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Complex To The Simple

T h e g u i t a r i s a complex instrument. My goal was to make the complex simple. So simple, in fact, that a 5 year old could u n d e r s t a n d a t e c h n i c a l g u i t a r concept. Thus was born Pathways To Great Guitar Playing.

David Howard’s Music StudioProfessional Music Instruction

www.davidhoward.calessons@davidhoward.ca

Secrets to Becoming A Musician

Express Your

C r e a t i v i t y T h r o u g h

Music

What are the common traits of a successful musician?What are the common traits of a successful musician? How can one achieve these traits? What are the secrets to becoming an accomplished musician? These are very common questions that students of music frequently ask their music teacher. I have compiled a list of the most common trait, in an effort to help assist those music students, that wish to advance their musical skills and knowledge, with the ultimate goal of becoming the best musician they can possibly become.

1.) An unabated love of music and their musical instrument(s).2.) Very hardworking and committed to regular practice and lesson attendance and the will to stay focused and disciplined when the musical path becomes more difficult.3.) A very high level of tenacity and refusal to give up and quit when their musical path becomes increasingly difficult if not seemingly impossible.4.) Dedicated to improving one's musical skills on a daily basis.5.) Emulation of professional musicians that inspire one to work harder, be more dedicated and disciplined. 6.) Absolute refusal to give in to frustration and impatience.7.) The understanding that it takes many years to become an accomplished musician.

Secrets to Becoming A MusicianWhat are the common traits of a successful musician?

What are the common traits of a successful musician? How can one achieve these traits? What are the secrets to becoming an accomplished musician? These are very common questions that students of music frequently ask their music teacher. I have compiled a list of the most common trait, in an effort to help assist those music students, that wish to advance their musical skills and knowledge, with the ultimate goal of becoming the best musician they can possibly become.

1.) An unabated love of music and their musical instrument(s).2.) Very hardworking and committed to regular practice and lesson attendance and the will to stay focused and disciplined when the musical path becomes more difficult.3.) A very high level of tenacity and refusal to give up and quit when their musical path becomes increasingly difficult if not seemingly impossible.4.) Dedicated to improving one's musical skills on a daily basis.5.) Emulation of professional musicians that inspire one to work harder, be more dedicated and disciplined. 6.) Absolute refusal to give in to frustration and impatience.7.) The understanding that it takes many years to become an accomplished musician.

Express Your C r e a t i v i t y

Through Music