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	<title>johnmcniel.com</title>
	<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog</link>
	<description>John McNiel Richmond VA Guitarist</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:14:45 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<item>
		<title>Playing Guitar Without Tension</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
In my younger days I played a lot of fast noodly stuff, aggressive rock or classical playing where my muscles and tendons were tortured for hours on end.  I had some issues with tendonitis, a ganglion cyst, which caused all sorts of pain when playing, so I started focusing on ways to help it. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/playing-guitar-without-tension/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Les Paul</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I got my first &#8216;good&#8217; guitar back before the price of &#8216;good&#8217; guitars was through the roof.  I still have this guitar, the only guitar I&#8217;ve kept through the years.
I never met him, but Les Paul seemed like such a cool cat. So full of energy and always living life to the fullest.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/les-paul/</link>
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		<title>Best alternate picking exercise ever</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Well, ever might be a bit exaggerated, but really, this little exercise can really help to focus your technique and get some specific things happening with your picking.  The lick itself is short, so learning it and remembering it is easy.  
Here&#8217;s a short clip of the lick, played pretty slow &#8211; play [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/best-alternate-picking-exercise-ever/</link>
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		<title>Paganini = Jazz Pioneer?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
That&#8217;s right &#8211; the devil&#8217;s own little fiddle flogger was paving the way for jazzers way back in 1800.


Paganini was known for his over the top playing, and the Italian fiddling style in general was more flambouyant and flashy than other regions&#8217; styles. Paganini&#8217;s 24 Caprices have tons of little wacky melodic lines in them, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/paganini-jazz-pioneer/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>How to be More Musical?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Technical problems usually have technical solutions&#8230;I always post technical things because they can be addressed and/or aided by technical means &#8211; like if you want to get better at chords&#8230;Practice Chords! or if you need to improve your bending or vibrato&#8230;Practice bends and vibrato! It&#8217;s easy to give suggestions and examples of technical stuff, and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/how-to-be-more-musical/</link>
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		<title>Chord Fragments</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Let&#8217;s see&#8230;how many silly puns could I have used for a title&#8230;Frag-gle Rock&#8230;Frag-en-stein&#8230;.Count Frag-ula&#8230;Frag-ocaster&#8230;Ok enough of that.
Let&#8217;s face it&#8230;it&#8217;s not fun to just play full barre chords all the time, and sometimes it&#8217;s already being done by the other guitarist in your band. Or perhaps your keyboard player is squatting all of the sonic real-estate [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/chord-fragments/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Get In Synch</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
The secret (ha! like there&#8217;s only one&#8230;) to good picking is getting your right and left hands in synch with each other. If one of your hands decides to go on auto-pilot and just ignore what the other is doing, you end up with something like this: (This is what NOT to do)


BAD: 


But, with [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/get-in-synch/</link>
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		<title>Building a Solo &#8211; Country Style</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
It&#8217;s easy (well, sometimes) to pick up a bunch of licks and tricks, especially in the twangin&#8217; tele style, but sooner or later you are going to have to assemble them into something that resembles music. Getting your chops sorted out is a big part of the game, yes&#8230;but I would argue that being musical [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/building-a-solo-country-style/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>How about some Feedback!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[

		This whole internet thing is pretty cool&#8230;although it can&#8217;t yet read people&#8217;s minds, so I would like to get some input from you on what type of stuff you would like to see! Please take a moment and let me know your level and interests, and what you would like to see more of around [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/how-about-some-feedback/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Learning By Ear</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
Probably the most asked question in any guitar lesson is &#8220;How do you do that?&#8221; I always thought a better question for the student to ask would be &#8220;How can I do that?&#8221; Really, who cares how the teacher did it? Students are there to learn how they can do it themselves! The original question [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johnmcniel.com/blog/learning-by-ear/</link>
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