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LifeIn12Keys.com

Craig Smith is a Guitarist, Teacher, and Writer living in Sanford, Florida. Craig has taught guitar lessons, performed 200+ gigs per year (for over 30 years), and published 4 guitar instructional books. When he’s not gigging, writing, or helping other guitarists, you may find him at the beach with his wife Celeste, 4 Chihuahuas, and a drink. https://lifein12keys.com

Circle of Keys
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Quick lesson before the weekend... 🎸

Guitar Newsletter January 30th, 2025 Hey there Reader, Recently I had a great question from a reader about other ways to use the Circle of Keys to find useful information besides just the notes in a particular Major scale or Key. Like, what about the chords? A great way to find all of the Major Chords in a Key is to look at the adjacent keys on either side of the one you want to play IN. For example, in the Key of C Major you see F before and G after, so those 3 chords will be Major type...

Tetrachords Mini-Lesson

Guitar Newsletter January 18th, 2025 Hello Reader!, I hope you enjoyed the free Triads book. I had over 2000 downloads this past week! If you missed it, you can still grab it anytime. Here's a little mini-lesson to get you through the weekend. Steve, an email reader had a great question:"What happens if you add the next (diatonic) 3rd to the existing triads in the book?" Answer:You get a Tetrachord built on each scale tone like this. 💡A tetrachord is a musical pattern of four notes that are...

Guitar Triads Free PDF eBook

Guitar Newsletter January 12th, 2025 Hey Reader!, I don't know about you, but when I first learned guitar chords, I found the hardest part was where to find useful shapes on the neck past the open position. For example: Where else can I play a D minor chord past the 3rd fret?Can I find 4 or more shapes quickly?What about the rest of the chords in a Key? I wrote this free 30 page book on Triads and how they fall across the fretboard. If you remember last month I had a request from an email...

Guitar Newsletter January 4th, 2025 Happy New Year Reader!, What kind of guitar stuff are you working on this weekend? Need any help with anything? Just reply back anytime. I had a great gig last night in Orlando at Digress Wine Bar. (follow my Instagram for all of my gigs if you're ever in town).... ....but I've noticed my picking getting a little loose over the holiday season. Too much making merry and not enough time in the practice room lately. 😏 That's an easy fix.. getting out my...

Guitar Neck Diagrams

Happy Thanksgiving! Sipping some coffee ☕️, watching the parade, and thinking about all of the food I'm going to eat later today. [burrrrp] 🍗.... and checking up on Black Friday Sales! A question I'm often asked is; how do I make the awesome neck diagrams and charts for my chords, scales, and arpeggio lessons? It all starts with the amazing Neck Diagrams 2 software! The reason I mention it is, they are having a Black Friday sale now through Monday on Mac or Windows software. Book Hard Copies...

Holiday Guitar Gift Guide & More🎄 As the Holiday Season and Black Friday draw near, I thought this would be a good week to get together some cool guitar gift ideas for you.. or if you're like me.. just add them to your Amazon wishlist and send to your wife/husband/partner! 🤣 My Complete Electric Rig A while back I did a complete rundown (with live video) of my electric guitar rig and pedals. You can check that out here. ⭐️Review of the Week! Nothing makes me happier than seeing that you guys...

Guitar Book Sale

HeyReader, As the weather changes oh so slightly here in Central Florida, I find myself putting in just a little extra time practicing. In other parts of the country and the world, it may be time to start bundling up... speaking of bundle... Fall Sale $10 Book Bundle! Grab all 4 of my best-selling guitar books for only $10. Yes, 10 Bucks! Free Lesson Updates Website maintenance is an unfortunate fact of life as a creator. The good news is, lots of cool updates and features on some older...

Triads lesson & more... Triads by Request! Last week Thomas, one of my email readers requested a more in-depth guitar lesson on triads. Although I had touched on the subject in my Beginner Chord Guide (as well as the 7 Day Practice Routine).. maybe a refresher lesson was worth a look. I like to teach triads in the context of a whole key, in this case the key of C Major: C D E F G A B C If we stay only in this C Major Scale and build (1-3-5) diatonic triads off of every scale degree, we get:...

Hey Reader, When I wrote my first guitar book, I took some proven ideas and methods I had used with my own guitar students and organized them into my first book. Since the 1990s I was writing method books, yet, I never really knew what to do with them. I feel that nowadays, I’m finally getting it right. No code needed! Any book 50% OFF. I feel luckier than ever to be able to play guitar live, and write guitar instructional materials for a living. I never take it for granted. That is why I...