One of Justin BUA's favorite artists of all time is Vincent Van Gogh. To commemorate the anniversary of his death in 1890, he’s recorded a video where he explains just a few of the reasons why he was such an amazing artist:

Vincent Van Gogh is the quintessential artist. When you think of a tortured soul, somebody who would cut their own ear off like Van Gogh did, somebody who HAD to paint to live (and he did have to paint to live), someone almost driven to the insane asylum by his own creative genius… that was Vincent Van Gogh.

When you’re singing with a group, it’s not the clothes that matter – it’s all about knowing when to breathe. In this sample singing lesson from the Online Vocal School, Jeannie Deva goes over some great tips for singing harmony in a group.

Properly timing where to take your next breath is very important in group signing, so we’ll also learn how to coordinate your breathing while singing harmony.

Tony Trischka and Darol Anger will be broadcasting a special set together backstage from the RockyGrass Bluegrass Festival in Lyons, Colorado. Tune in on Sunday, July 26th at 8:00 PM EDT to watch their performance live - it's the next best thing to being there! Click here to tune in from Concertwindow.com. 

If anyone is attending RockyGrass this year, please be sure to stop by our booth and say hello! 

***Update: You can also stream live performances from RockyGrass here at this link! 

In this sample bass lesson from the Online Electric Bass Guitar School, Nathan East introduces a fundamental technique in the art of playing bass - slapping. Slapping the strings gives the bass a percussive sound that make it sound like a drum and a bass at the same time. As a bass player, slapping and popping are techniques you cannot avoid. Even if you don't plan to use it a lot in your own playing, bass slapping is still an important technique for bassists to learn.

In this sample lesson from Martin Taylor's Online Fingerstyle Guitar School, he goes over improvising over jazz chords using a 2-5-1 progression consisting of Dm7, Gm7, C.

The 2-5-1 progression is simple but effective and it's a great way to practice your improvisation skills. All you need is a long backing track or loop with the right chords, then let those notes sing with your own melody for as long as you like.

For a beginner first learning improvisation or even if you have been playing awhile, this exercise can be a good way to practice clean and tasteful soloing without too many notes. Just let the feel of the 2-5-1 dictate where you place the notes and from there focus on creating your own melody.

"Charlie Haden was a unique artist with a sound that was instantly recognizable. His deeply emotional and beautiful playing influenced so many of us. I want to extend my condolences to his wife Ruth and all of his children." - John Patitucci

It is with great sadness that we mourn the loss of Charlie Haden, a great musician who was one of the most influential jazz bassists of all time. 

"If you strive to become a good human being, with the qualities of generosity, humility and having reverence for life… just maybe you'll become a great musician." - Charlie Haden

Click here to read his obituary from the New York Times. 

"When you draw nothing, it is really everything." - Justin BUA

The idea of using negative space is a strange but useful concept for anyone learning how to draw. In this sample lesson from Justin BUA's Online Art School, he demonstrates how to draw using the negative space of the canvas. This fundamental drawing technique is an amazing way to see traditional shapes in an abstract way.

For anyone who missed it, here's the full video of our recent "Mando Magic with Mike Marshall" workshop. Moderated by Scott Tichnenor of Mandolin Cafe, we were also joined by some of Mike's mandolin students as well as ArtistWorks Dobro instructor Andy Hall. We had a blast getting into some interesting mandolin related topics, and of course there was some jamming as well! Thanks to everyone who tuned in live and especially the students here who participated and helped us get the word out. See you next time!

Chuck Loeb was recently on New Jersey Jazz Radio station WGBO where he talks about how it's going with the Online Jazz Guitar School among other things. Check it out here, or click on the picture to listen! 

Practicing etudes are a great way to help you improve for your instrument because they are designed to reinforce certain techniques. In this sample clarinet lesson from the Online Classical School with Ricardo Morales, we go through and analyze the Baermann Etude #18. This clarinet etude is nice because it is not only a great exercise for your fingers, but it also sounds beautiful, which makes practicing it all the more enjoyable.