Frank Carlson Library

In this book, I'd like to show you what I discovered about teaching scales to intermediate guitarists, as well as the one thing that really made a difference to their ability to improvise in a musical way, rather than running aimlessly up and down CAGED shapes or 3NPS scale patterns. I was always puzzled as to why players with a good grasp of pentatonics lost their way when they started to learn the major scale and its modes, or any other scale for...

Leo Fender's company changed the course of popular music in 1954 when they introduced the Stratocaster. Since then, the Strat has been played by countless guitarists, from Jimi Hendrix to Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck. In this book, interviews with important Strat players from every decade illustrate the instrument's versatility, playability, and continuing importance. This is the complete story of the Stratocaster and the Fender company, from the struggles...

This is a soloing system I came up with for intermediate guitarists based on exploring the sounds of blues-rock improvisation which involves minimal theory, while focusing on concepts you can apply to your playing right away. Here we dispense with scales, arpeggios and whatnot in favor of just 3 positions on the fretboard that will allow you to get a wide variety of blues-rock sounds under your fingers in no time at all. This is accomplished by focusing...

Ever since my first guitar teacher introduced me to the music of Allan Holdsworth in the late 90s, it has been an ongoing apprenticeship. I became fascinated, not only with his music, but with his approach to music itself, and the way he thinks about chords, scales and improvisation. Allan's REH video was a blessing for me as I was able to glean enough insight into his playing to understand the way the great man thinks, and more importantly to begin...

Previously the Intermediate Book, 'Scales and Arpeggios' has been painstakingly updated and revised in order to build on the '2 Position Guitar Scale System: An Introduction' Book (also available on Amazon Kindle) by expanding the reach of the 2 Position System to include how to change between scales, open position scales, how to stack the positions to form larger ones, and a new section which incorporates arpeggios into the system. The premise of...

There's a little more than meets the eye when making the transition from 6 to 7-string guitar. Reference books for the 7-string guitar have their uses but what's lacking is an actual method for applying and transferring what you already know to this new instrument. This book goes beyond the limits of a reference book to provide you with a complete system for learning and/or transferring scales, arpeggios, chords and triads to the 7-string fretboard,...

Tune your B and E strings up to C and F respectively and you're in all fourths tuning. The first time I did this it was truly a revelation to me to have a symmetrical fretboard and get rid of that major third 'bump' from the G to B string in standard tuning. Everything suddenly became far more manageable and logical, and I began to experience a freedom on the fretboard that I'd never quite found in standard tuning. To be honest, there isn't much...

Learn Guitar Chord Theory is a comprehensive course on enjoying the fun of constructing guitar chords. It will lead you on a path to guitar chord mastery. It will teach you how to build and fully understand guitar chords in a simple step-by-step method. Starting with the triad (three-note chord) and building up and out from there. Learn the foundation of the guitar chord, how to properly form it, what notes are needed for each key, and what's necessary...

A lot of students ask me how they can take their improvisation skills to the next level and move beyond pentatonic scales and into modes and arpeggios. My response is to tell them not to abandon pentatonic scales in favor of modes and other soloing devices, but to use them as a springboard and a solid foundation from which to expand their harmonic awareness. If you play rock, blues and even jazz, you'll be using pentatonic scales for the rest of your...