Free Resources
Student Albums
Congratulations to all the students who contributed to the CD! It features a wide variety of instrumental & vocalized originals and covers across many styles and genres.
Recitals
This link has the pics and vids of the totally awesome 2022 Summer Student Recital which we moved indoors at the last minute because of rain. Here is the video montage of the 2022 recital:
Click the this link to see pics and vids of the rockin’ 2021 Summer Student Recital we had on the Ithaca Commons! Here is the montage of the 2021 recital:
Parties
We got rained-in for our summer student party 2022 but had an amazing time anyway!
—
And here are pics and vids from 2021’s summer student party as well.
Latest News
Congratulations to Hilary Greenberger who just hit her 5th anniversary! (see video below)
—
Others on the Wall of Fame (shown below) include Heeyon Kim (3 years), Dan Paolangeli (2 years), Chet Whitlock (2 years), Ricky Bitter (2 years).
“20 Years of Guitar Teaching Wisdom That You Can Use Right Now”
Click here for a complimentary 90-minute audio program through which you’ll be able to assess your strengths and weaknesses as a guitarist in the areas of harmony, rhythm, melody, technique, theory & much more.
It’s relevant to all styles & levels (as beginner, intermediate and advanced level players are addressed separately for each topic). You can download or stream the files.
This unique product that cannot be bought on the market is being given away to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Dennis Winge’s teaching guitar professionally. Dennis is the head teacher at Guitar Lessons Ithaca.
Complete Beginner?
Watch this video on playing songs with simple 3-string chords.
Free Facebook Tips of the Week
Here are some highlights from the weekly “tip of the week” from the Guitar Lessons Ithaca facebook page:
11-9-22 mixing major and minor pentatonics, part 1
11-3-22 tip and roll technique
10-25-22 integrating alternate picking
10-17-22 What Makes a Great Solo? (analyzing Steve Lukather’s solo on “A Clue”)
10-5-22 Major and Minor pentatonics as Intervals, part 2
9-27-22 How to Transpose
9-21-22 rhythm workout for soloing
9-13-22 major and minor pentatonics as intervals, part 1
9-5-22 looking beyond tablature into intervals
8-30-22 how to notate inversions
8-23-22 improve your rhythmic coordination with 16 variations of the Brazilian partido alto groove
8-17-22 bring your barre chords down 1 fret, then back up
8-8-22 soloing unaccompanied
7-31-22 augmented chord theory and practice
7-21-22 Freddie Green chords for Django material
7-14-22 soloing using “color tones”
7-5-22 the usefulness of triads
6-16-22 music theory basics
6-9-22 nature vs. nurture when it comes to guitar
5-27-22 using counterpoint to learn scales
5-17-22 ear training overview
5-13-22 how to capture your original ideas
5-3-22 Chord Embellishments
4-10-22 How to Play in Odd Meters
4-7-22 how to write a pop song in more than one key
3-27-22 legato playing
3-13-22 How to Organize the Notes of a Scale for Composing or Soloing
3-1-22 use that metronome
2-17-22 pick and fingers instead of strumming
1-28-22 how to play and sing your favorite songs without difficult chords
1-23-22 what scales to use over which chords
1-19-22 how to just pick up and play without much fuss
12-27-21 half-diminished vs. diminished chords
10-11-21 soloing for more advanced players
3-10-21 soloing over a 7th chord
11-27-19 look deeper into a chord progression to know what scale(s) to use in what places
11-4-19 using chords from the harmonized scales to write progressions easily
Free Master Class Videos
As a public service to the Ithaca community, Guitar Lessons Ithaca did a weekly master class series for guitarists of all ages in early 2021. Here are instructional topics and video links (click the title to be redirected to video):
The 4 Ingredients of Improvisation
Building Up Your Chord Vocabulary, part 1
Building Up Your Chord Vocabulary, part 2
Improve Your Sense of Rhythm, part 1
Videos on Learning Various Styles
Scroll to the level or style that you are interested in below.
Rock Guitarists:
This video explains how “implementation” and “integration” are central to our teaching philosophy. Implementation means how to use what you learn; integration is how to use what you learn in conjunction with all the other things you know. Using hammer-ons and pull-offs as an example, rock guitarists can be show how to immediately start using this technique, as well as join it up with a technique such as double-stops.
Acoustic Guitarists:
This video uses the examples of acoustic guitar concepts of fingerstyle and barre chords to show that the process of breaking down what could be complicated and breaking them down into simple, doable steps.
Blues Guitarists:
A lot of people come to the school with “information overload.” The job of a teacher shouldn’t just be delivering information. A great guitar teacher should be not only a teacher, but also a coach, trainer, and mentor. For blues guitarists, this video uses the example of a blues lick and applies it to different keys, tempos and grooves.
Jazz Guitarists:
For jazz guitarists, there are many ways to simplify your thinking so that you can really learn to be creative instead of getting bogged down with chords changes. This video uses this “boiling down” concept as an example to explain the ‘integration’ and ‘implementation’ philosophy that is at the core of our teaching methods.
Funk Guitarists:
Funk is making a comeback among younger guitarists (or maybe its popularity never waned in the first place). But strumming funky rhythms is a task that must be broken down into easy, doable steps. Having a teacher makes the goal of strumming your favorite tunes like this one (“Get Lucky” by Daft Punk) way easier.
Call Dennis at 607-222-3166
to schedule your free trial lesson or
click the button here to tell us more about yourself:
Not ready yet to tell us a little about yourself by clicking the button above?
No problem.
Click below for a free video lesson that matches your level.
Also here are 2 online courses created by Dennis Winge, head teacher at Guitar Lessons Ithaca:
—
How to Play Odd Time Signatures
—