Steve Kirk Blog

Steve Kirk takes us on a trip through musical history in this installment of his regular blog. Understanding the Dominant 7th, Diminished And Augmented Chords means understanding the roots of American popular music, and might just give you a few (thousand) compositional ideas.  

Regular blogger Steve Kirk has been teaching guitar for long enough to know that every student has different needs, goals, and—unfortunately—tastes in music. He's also been teaching long enough to know you need a reliable poker face to get through some teaching sessions (even if he's still working on developing his own). Read on for more of Steve's advice on approaching teaching—not just guitar, but any instrument.  

If you know what a pan-tonal melody is. . . well, even if you don't, you'll find this latest music-theory-musing from regular blog contributor Steve Kirk to be enjoyable and enlightening. Perhaps even more so for your ignorance. See? It IS bliss!  

Steve Kirk's first guitar-tone love was a Jordan Boss Tone fuzz effect, a neat in-line plug that yielded instant "acid rock." While original, working Jordan units are hard to find, Steve did manage to get his hands on a Mahoney Buzz Tone -- a faithful recreation -- and recorded some excellently saturated samples for this warm and fuzzy installment of his ongoing blog.  

While many guitarists work their entire lives trying to attain that Holy Grail that is "perfect tone" buy going through endless permutations of pedals and other tricks, GW's regular blog contributor Steve Kirk thinks they're trying too hard. He shares his thoughts on getting great guitar tone the easy way.  

Ever wonder how that tune that's stuck in your head* got written in the first place? More likely that not it started as a gleam in some chord progression's eye. Steve Kirk -- our non-resident, regular blog contributor -- offers his thoughts and advice in creating melodies from chord progressions.

Is that tune Black Sabbath's Iron Man? It is now.  

Composer, guitar instructor and regular GW contributor Steve Kirk shares with us his approaches to learning new music. It's a methodical process that Steve learned from his favorite teacher. Cue Lion King overture.  

Our guest blogger Steve Kirk has quite a few professional composing credits to his name, including a few ditties you've undoubtedly heard if you're a fan of the social networking game Farmville (Steve wrote the main theme). Steve's oeuvre extends well beyond the digital realm, and in this installation of his Gearwire Blog, Mr. Kirk shares with us his strategies for staying out of creative ruts.  

What do you get when you combine blogs and guitar lessons? Globssons? Why not just call it Steve Kirk's Gearwire blog? In the first installment of this new series, the composer, arranger, guitarist, singer, and occasional instructor covers efficient alternate picking techniques and syncopation.