Chuck Anderson Jazz Guitar

Monster Guitar Chops, Volume One is the first in a series of books dedicated to building speed, strength and endurance for guitar players. The guitar is a very physical instrument. Becoming a great player requires knowledge, creativity and technique. Understanding how to do something doesn’t mean a lot if you can’t execute the riffs and [...]

There are many reasons why the guitar is the most popular instrument in the world. It’s portable, inexpensive to own and easy to play – at least in the early stages. It’s also massively versatile and above all – cool. Few would deny this. No matter what age, guitar remains the symbol of cool, hip [...]

Jam bands are musical groups whose albums and live performances relate to a fan culture that originated with the 1960s group Grateful Dead and continued in the 1990s with Phish. The performances of these bands often feature extended musical improvisation (“jams”) over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns and long sets of music that cross genre [...]

One of the biggest problems that musicians face is holding on to their own musical identity and integrity. It’s often tempting to bail out on your own direction and capitulate to an agent, an audience, a label or society in general. Even with my experience in this business, I continue to be surprised by how [...]

“When you play music you discover a part of yourself that you never knew existed.” “Actually, I’m not interested in Zen that much, as a philosophy, nor in joining any movements. I don’t pretend to understand it. I just find it comforting. And very similar to jazz. Like jazz, you can’t explain it to anyone [...]

Music education has benefits beyond the obvious. It’s great to play an instrument or sing or write songs. But few people appreciate the long lasting value of studying music. It’s beneficial at every stage of life. Youngsters benefit from the discipline, the logic, the process of learning itself. It can increase self esteem and balance [...]

Introduction Regardless of the resources you use to learn to play the guitar, it’s important to know what there is to learn and how that affects what you want to do. Whether it’s playing in a band, singing and playing or being a singer-songwriter. there are specific things to learn and specific skills to develop. [...]

The modes are a system of seven scales dating back to Pythagoras of Ancient Greece. The scales are named: Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian and Locrian. Though many music schools teach the modes as versions of the C major scale, it is perhaps the worst possible way to teach them. This explanation is valid [...]

In 1970, I was a young jazz guitar player working at RCA studios in New York. This particular date was a session for an album titled “Deirdre Wilson Tabac”. Sonny Casella was the visionary producer. From this album emerged a hit record called “I Can’t Keep from Cryin’ Sometimes”. Throughout the years, this recording has [...]

Cut time is a source of confusion for many musicians. What exactly does it mean and how do you apply it? Too often cut time is thought of as having two beats in a measure. There are not two beats in a measure of cut time – there are four beats in a measure of [...]

In the mid 1970′s, I formed the Chuck Anderson Trio with Al Stauffer and Ray Deeley.The East Coast jazz group focused primarily on my original writing but also included unique interpretations of jazz classics. We gave concerts and recorded our first critically acclaimed album called “Mirror Within a Mirror”. My reputation as a rising young [...]