If you are looking for some tips and ideas on how to play the guitar then look no further. I’ll be posting new guitar lessons on this site with riffs, techniques, exercises and original compositions. This week, we’re going to look at some easy but great sounding blues riffs or turnarounds.

They are pretty easy to play so they should be good for beginners who are taking their first steps into soloing and playing the blues.

Check out the audio to help you hear how it sounds. Remember to practice slowly with a metronome. All of these are in the key of E.

I’d love to get your feedback on how you get on with these turnaround so please leave a comment.

Turnaround 01

 

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Turnaround 02

 

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Turnaround 03

 

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Alex Brooke is a performing musician and guitar teacher based in Tokyo. 

This month I am doing a few experiments in online marketing with my latest Learn Japanese Pod Magazine. The magazine is a free-ish* PDF download with information on traveling in Japan, studying Japanese and more for those Japanophiles and language learners.

This month includes an article on autumn leaves written by Wes Lang of Hiking in Japan fame. There is also a great interview with “Sacchi” who embarked on a culinary cycling tour of Japan starting in Okinawa and ending in Hokkaido.

The magazine is free-ish* as I am trying out a new-ish system where you can get access to the download by paying with a tweet or mentioning it on Facebook. Run by  paywithatweet.com, the idea is to use a social payment system to generate a buzz online.

I can see a few possible outcomes as a result of this experiment.

1) People completely ignore it.

2) It spreads across the internet like a Rebecca Black parody video becoming an instant sensation

3) It annoys the hell out of people

4) Or not

5) A mixture of the above

It will be interesting to see what happens and I’ll be posting the results later this month.

So if you would like to check out the news letter please:

Alternatively, you can become a member of learn Japanese Pod and get the newsletter plus other content on the site.

Stay tuned to see what happens…

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a short sample of an old unfinished composition I was working on last year. It was going to be for the splash page for a travel related website but was never carried through. Now it is just a seed of an idea burning a hole in my hard drive which I want to work on and complete.

It basically includes two acoustic guitar tracks including my steel string acoustic and classical guitar. It’s also got some simple light drums, base and some synths to give it slightly otherworldly but relaxed feel to it.

The sound quality isn’t that great but taking into account I did it on an old beaten-up mac book pro I can’t really complain.

It’s entitled “Furthest Shores”. Check it out below. You can hear more of my music here.

Hope you enjoy it.

The Furthest Shores by Alex Brooke

 

Alex Brooke is a composer and guitar instructor living in Tokyo.

This is a video of me playing with “Le Jardin De Luxembourg” a.k.a Luxembourg Koen リュクサンブール公園 a seven piece all women accordion ensemble including other various instruments such as flutes and even a musical saw. You can usually find them at parties, events and converts ripping around Osaka making people dance with their fantastic arrangements.

This street performance was for a store opening event in Minami Semba Osaka in…I hate to think how long ago it was. I hope I can make it down to Osaka again to jam with the lovely ladies again. You can check out their profiles here in Japanese. (note: they’ve included their blood types)

El Gringo from News From the Other Side shooting the performance

Alex Brooke is a guitarist living in Osaka

If you are interested in learning the guitar and would like some free lessons, please sign up to my newsletter. I am currently working on putting together some audio, video and PDF lessons to help guitarists of all levels improve their playing skills and general musicianship.

Also, if you are a guitar teacher, please feel free to use any of this free material in one of your own classes.

This should be ready in the next few weeks so please sign up now to get the first free lessons.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions you can leave a comment on this post or check out my Facebook page here.

Please sign up below:

Alex Brooke is a professional performer and teacher of the guitar based in Tokyo.

In our last lesson we looked at some blues turnarounds in E. In this lesson, we look at basic 12 bar blues rhythm guitar. Listen to this MP3 to hear what we are learning.

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This isn’t too challenging to play so it should be great for beginner level guitarists wanting to play something quick and impressive.

You can download this PDF for the musical score with TAB notation here.

12 bar blues in the key of A uses the A chord, D chord and E chord. That is four bars of A / two bars of D / two bars of A / one bar of E / one bar of D / one bar of A / one bar of E. Here are the three positions for A, D and E.

A position on the 4th and 5th strings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D position on the 3rd and 4th strings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

E position on the 5th and 6th strings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Download this free PDF on playing the blues.

 Alex Brooke is a performing musician and guitar teacher based in Tokyo.

As part of my Learn Japanese Pod website and podcast, I’ve just released the 2nd edition of the Learn Japanese Pod Magazine for August 2011. It’s a free downloadable digital magazine in PDF format. It’s aimed at anyone interested in Japan, its culture and learning Japanese. You can also subscribe via email to the magazine here.

It contains the following features:
- The latest news from Learn Japanese Pod
- Japanese language lessons
- Japan travel and event guide
- Reviews of hotels, restaurants and products in Japan
- Japan tech, cool websites apps for learning Japanese

This month’s special feature is travel to Kyoto and some tips on what to see.  There are also some lessons on 四字熟語 Yojijukugo and events listings for music festivals, Matsuri and fireworks displays around Japan.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

 

最近日本人の友達から下記の質問を聞きました。

- どうやって英語を身に付けたらよいか？

- 英語を身に付けたいけれど、何から勉強したらいいか分からない

- TOEICの問題を解くコツは？
そんな色々な声を聞いて英語を勉強したい人のためにInternet English Schoolというウェブサイトを作りました。

日本語やポルトガル語、フランス語、スペイン語など色々なの言語を勉強するのが大好きなので英語を勉強したい人のために面白くて役に立つウェブサイトを作ったら面白いなと思いました。

ビジネス会話、TOEICのアドバイス、自然な話方、オーティオクイズなどのページがあります。そして言語を勉強するのが好きなコミュニティも作る機会もあるといいかなと思いました。是非見てださい。

何か質問やコメントがあったら是非聞いて下さい。よろしくお願いします。

INTERNET ENGLISH SCHOOL (←クリック)

From the highs to the lows, the sublime to the cor-blimey, I’ve released my latest iPad photography travel app for Kobe, Japan. If you are interested in traveling around Japan and want to see some of the sites without leaving your chair and iPad, this little app might be for you.

I’ve included a wide range of photos with places such as China town, Kobe Port and the scenery of Kitano. Interestingly, Mike, the guy who is helping to program the app and edit my photos left in the pictures of the car crash. He’s a genius. However, you’ll have to buy the app to see them.

I have pretty much kept the order of the photos as I took them during the day of the shoot. That means you can follow my route and see a lot of Kobe; this app also contains maps showing you the location of the photos.
You can also check out some of my other apps here.  So here are a few photos from the Kobe app:

1) Kobe Port Tower

To be honest, the actual tower itself is a little disappointing inside but the port area is well worth a stroll. They have shopping and good restaurants for all. You can also take boat cruises in the day time and also for dinner cruises.

2) Tenman Shrine in Kitano Kobe.

Kobe has some great hills and hiking routes above the city. One interesting area is Kitano and the Tenman Shrine with incredible views over the city.

3) Eating out in Kobe

Although Kobe is a somewhat compact city, it has an incredible variety of restaurants, bars and other entertainment options to keep you interested. You don’t have to eat at the same place twice too often in Kobe.

4) China Town

So when you have exhausted all the Japanese and western food options in Kobe, there is the China Town. There are some great restaurants and street food stalls. A great place for a stroll and lunch.

 

 

More travel photography apps for iPad here.

 

Here is the second of my ambient music videos. You can check out the first ambient music video here. Again, the visuals are taken from still photos of my travels in Japan with some music I composed and recorded. Hope you enjoy it. You can hear the rest of my music compositions here.