If you’re unsure of how to bring about the experience of a Spanish sound, but you’d still like to get this style into your playing, then you need to check out this guitar lesson.

In this lesson, I’m going to show you not only the best way to get the Spanish sound, but also how to use the musical technique behind producing it.

It all begins with correctly organizing chords found inside of the Minor key. Let me explain…

The Minor key, (and most of the music played in Minor), will generally produce a naturally sad or dark sound. This sound will typically be one that is heavily influenced from the actions and conditions of the chord types performed within the chords of the backing chord progression.

In the case of the chords that are used in Minor keys, the fifth chord is one of the most important.

We already know that Minor keys typically have a five-chord that is Minor quality.

However, by simply changing the fifth chord of a Minor key from Minor into “Major,” we can influence the sound of the chord progression to produce a more, “Spanish,” effect.

Even though using Major chords built off the fifth degree of Minor keys are not the “correct” Music Theory approach for using chords of Natural Minor harmony, it actually ends up sounding just fine.

The end result is a harmony situation that applies a more “Spanish influence,” across a songs melodic lines and chord harmonies.

NOTE: For further study on this sound, have a look into guitar lessons that focus on the use of a scale called, “Harmonic Minor.”

• Andrew Wasson (Creative Guitar Studio Inc.)

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Andrew laughs with embarrassment when he hears this compliment, but having worked with some of the worlds best known musicians, his reputation is growing and growing fast.

Not a shy man by any means, he prefers to stay in the background and let his results do the talking when it comes to his profession.

Andrew has worked with some of the worlds best known stars of the music business. He is involved in many aspects of the music business, from lessons to live shows and he is the owner operator of his own music studio in Canada, successfully and professionally helping hundreds musicians into the trade.

From his entertainment and instruction background to management in sales and music marketing, he is still a showman at heart, so when the world-wide-web arrived, he was hooked.

A chance to show off his talents, he started where a lot of musicians did, with a simple website. However, that has grown to several websites covering many areas of the music business for which he is involved.

In the mid-1990 era – taking the experience he had accumulated in past ventures, Andrew began to diversify by channeling his talents into other areas.

He began consulting music stores on their lesson systems, student payment tracking and on marketing plans along with devising upgrades to their accounting, and music school strategies.

Andrew Wasson is a Guitar Guru, an aggressive and creative musician, teacher, music businessman… who thinks of music and music instruction in terms of how ideas spread and are shared among players. He is a leading figure in the music industry. Director and founder of Creative Guitar Studio.

Creative Guitar is a privately held guitar instructional company specializing in courses for guitar players of all levels since 1992. He also brings nearly twenty years of management, live entertainment, music marketing, advertising, start-up and internet experience to the table.

Has he managed to become the best guitar teacher in America or the best guitar teacher on YouTube yet, maybe even America’s best guitar instructor… Compared to Andrew Wasson it looks like there is very little competition for best guitar teacher and best guitar teacher in America.

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Donate to Andrew Wasson’s Guitar Project!
Receive the “Handout Collection eBook”

Great guitar lessons can take many hours to prepare. If you donate to my online education project it will help me continue to create excellent content…

Follow the link below to the Creative Guitar Studio donation page:

Every donation over $5.00 is eligible for Andrew Wasson’s
“Handout Collection eBook”

This offer is for a digital PDF download only, (not a physical product)

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Between April of 2011 through till September of 2013 a collection of nine Jam-Tracks were published for the followers of my YouTube channel. These handouts can still be downloaded today, however they are now archived at; CreativeGuitarStudio.com

To work with the YouTube Jam-Track lessons:
Follow the links below, each link is archived by the YouTube Jam-Track video’s sequence order number, its key signature /modal name, and the Jam-Tracks tonality. The links provided below all lead to the Creative Guitar Studio website’s YouTube Jam Track Archive page…

Jam-Track 001: Key of “C” Major (Ionian Mode)

Jam-Track 002: Key of “D” Minor (Aeolian Mode)

Jam-Track 003: Tonality of “A” Minor (Dorian Mode)

Jam-Track 004: Key of “A” Major (Ionian Mode)

Jam-Track 005: Tonality of “C” Major (Lydian Mode)

Jam-Track 006: Tonality of “G” Minor (Dorian Mode)

Jam-Track 007: Tonality of “A” Major (Mixolydian Mode)

Jam-Track 008: Tonality of “E” Major (Mixolydian Mode)

Jam-Track 009: Key of “E” Major (Ionian Mode)

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From May of 2010 through till June of 2016 hundreds of guitar lesson handouts were published for the followers of my YouTube channel. These handouts can still be downloaded today, however they are now archived at; CreativeGuitarStudio.com

To download YouTube lesson handouts:
Follow the links below, each link is archived by the YouTube lesson video’s release month /year. The links below all lead to the Creative Guitar Studio website’s YouTube Archives and Free Lessons pages…

Yr. 2010 Lessons:

Yr. 2011 Lessons:

Yr. 2012 Lessons:

Yr. 2013 Lessons:

Yr. 2014 Lessons:

Yr. 2015 Lessons:

Yr. 2016 Lessons:

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Andrew Wasson – Self Titled album
Ten tracks of original instrumental guitar music exploring the rich studio sound of contemporary, soul and smooth jazz guitar.

Andrew Wasson – Acoustic Highway
Six tracks of beautiful instrumental guitar that feature solo recordings of finger-picked acoustic originals – composed and recorded by Andrew Wasson.

Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 1
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: November 22, 2013 – March 14, 2014

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 2
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: March 21, 2014 – June 27, 2014

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 3
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: July 04, 2014 – October 17, 2014

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 4
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: October 24, 2014 – February 06, 2015

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 5
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: February 13, 2015 – May 29, 2015

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 6
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: June 05, 2015 – September 18, 2015

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 7
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: September 25, 2015 – January 15, 2016

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 8
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: January 22, 2016 – May 05, 2016

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 9
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: May 13, 2016 – October 28, 2016

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Andrew Wasson – Lesson Music Collection 10
A collection of 15 YouTube lesson music tracks:
Lesson dates: November 11, 2016 – May 26, 2017

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My goal with the “Creative Guitar Studio” program was to develop a guitar course using student interaction. I wanted to have ‘direct feedback’ along the way. The result is a step by step course dedicated to guitar…

LESSONS DEVELOPED WITH THE STUDENT IN MIND:

Anyone who has spent time researching guitar courses on the internet has already discovered that there are literally hundreds of “guitar methods” to choose from – and new ones are coming to market every few months.

With so many choices it can be rather difficult to find a high-quality guitar program – a program where the student feels they can trust it from the very beginning to produce the kind of results they are hoping for.

THE ULTIMATE GUITAR COURSE:
When the Creative Guitar Studio course was first under development the internet wasn’t even around. It was the early 1990’s and I was teaching guitar in both private and group settings. I used that environment to start testing different teaching methods. Some ideas worked well – others did not.

Over a period of six years, the course material was supplied to hundreds of guitar students and steps were taken along the way to make sure that all of the information in the course worked with every student.

The goal was to create the, “ultimate guitar course” based upon how guitar students – no matter their background – could most effectively take in and use the information. Anything that didn’t prove as functional was discarded.

I spent so much time testing the material with a “hands-on” approach, and it proved to be the key factor behind creating what I believe is now one of the highest quality step-by-step guitar programs available.

POWERFUL GUITAR CURRICULUM:
The core curriculum at Creative Guitar Studio offers students the opportunity to reach new levels of guitar playing skill right from a beginner level. It contains three stages; Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced.

By 1996, I had the course fully developed. Over the next ten years it had successfully proven itself as more than effective. At the ten year anniversary in 2006, I celebrated teaching the course to over 1,000 guitar students enrolled at my music school.

Every part of each course stage was highly scrutinized throughout those early years. Anything that wasn’t perfect was re-organized until it functioned properly.

The end result is a unique guitar course that I think is unlike anything which has ever been made available on the market.

CREATIVE GUITAR STUDIO ONLINE:

In 2008, the Creative Guitar Studio website was launched along with my Creative Guitar Studio YouTube channel. Over the next seven years a digital platform was established for Creative Guitar Studio, with the first online students enrolling in the year 2015.

Since then, the website (along with the courses) has grown to an online membership of over 55,000 guitarists studying my courses.

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When you love playing music on the guitar, all you want is for everything that you perform to feel effortless…

For many years, I was impatient when it came to learning anything that involved technical skill. This included things like; fast picking, finger-style technique and the performance of more complex jazz chords.

All I was ever hoping for (like many guitar players before me), was a way to ‘speed up’ my guitar skills so that I could perform all the things that I heard in my head – and do it all, “perfectly.”

Over time I realized that anyone will eventually develop ‘average’ guitar skills using songs and general practice, but I was looking for a way to get my playing working ‘better than average’ and achieve those skills at an accelerated rate.

Then I discovered technical exercises. Finally, everything started to come into reality for my technical skill. When I discovered the long term effects of practicing, “Guitar Technique Exercises” my guitar playing changed forever.

Most practicing guitar players will rely on feel (combined with some past confidence), to achieve better playing technique. And, in many instances a guitar player can get away with doing just that – up to a certain point.

When I discovered how to have the mechanical perfection that could come from the study of Guitar Technique I realized that the other approach was not only too slow, but it was tricking me into thinking incorrectly about what it really meant to have excellent playing skill.

Once I started to use a daily routine of Technical Guitar Exercises, I realized that I was accelerating my skills up to ten times faster.

It was at this point when I came to realize that I’d never achieve technical success on the instrument by only playing my favorite songs and by using a “general” guitar practice approach. Great guitar skill comes from having a series of high quality technical drills to practice every day!

If you’d like to learn more about how I was able to achieve my own personal playing results and get to the very core of how I took the fastest path to my own technical success, order a copy of my eBook, “Guitar Technique.”

Check out my Creative Guitar Studio course on Guitar Technique:

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When it comes to; gigs, recording sessions, and freelancing, I generally keep things pretty simple when it comes to gear. Below is an overview of the; guitars, amps, effects, and speaker monitors that I like to use.

ELECTRIC GUITARS:

One of the main guitars in my arsenal is my 1991 Fender USA Stratocaster. It was purchased new from Norman Harris himself over at Norman’s Rare Guitars, in Tarzana, California.

Norman was a friend of my Uncle’s. When I met Norm, he asked me what guitar’s I preferred, and I mentioned that I was definitely a sunburst Fender Strat guy – he said oh – wait a minute, running off to the back room.

He returned with this guitar and said, check this out! And, I purchased it right then and there for a fantastic price! Over the years I’ve made a few mods to this Strat like; Sperzel Tuners, a graphite nut, a Duncan CoolRail at the neck position, with HotRail at the bridge and a Roland GK20 synth controller.

Another important guitar in my collection is this 2007 Fender Telecaster. I purchased this gorgeous Telecaster second hand in 2019 from a guitar collector who had barely played it during the time he had owned it.

He acquired this ’07 Tele from its original owner and had kept the guitar in absolutely pristine condition while also adding two Seymour Duncan pick-ups at the guitar’s bridge and neck positions.

Not only was it a pleasure to play from the day I first picked it up, but the afternoon that I spent with the owner when I purchased it was also very memorable as well. He was an avid guitar enthusiast who was extremely happy to know that his much coveted Fender Telecaster was going to a good home with a serious guitarist who would take excellent care of this fine instrument for many years to come.

Another important electric guitar is my 1987 B.C. Rich ST-III USA. From the factory it came with a B.C. Rich licensed Floyd Rose tremolo system as well as a DiMarzio PAF-Pro in the bridge.

After hearing Tony MacAlpine play this BC Rich model on his album, Maximum Security, I became interested in the tone that MacAlpine generated from this line of BC Rich guitars.

A local music store had this guitar in-stock and from the very first time I played it – I was instantly sold on both its feel and on its tone.

Over the years I’ve replaced the middle and neck pick-up’s with Seymour Duncan’s and I had the body routed deeper for the tremolo to pull up two whole-steps. It’s a fantastic instrument with killer tone and a really fast neck.

ACOUSTIC GUITARS:

When it comes to solo guitar /finger-style performance, as well as, acoustic recordings that will require nylon string guitar, my main instrument is the 1997 Manuel Raimundo nylon string cutaway.

After reading several reviews about the tone and quality of Raimundo instruments, I purchased this guitar through the local Raimundo sales-rep sight unseen!

When I was in the market for a new nylon string guitar, the information I had read on the build quality of Raimundo completely sold me. After receiving the guitar, I installed two Fishman pickups, (an SBT-E Soundboard Transducer and an under-saddle AG Series). They’re both wired together and meet up at an XLR jack located at the base of the body.

For live performance, I run the XLR cable from the guitar out to a Mackie 402VLZ4 4-Channel Compact Mixer. From there everything goes to my acoustic rig. It makes for a beautiful live sound that’s thick and rich in a natural acoustics with none of the feedback issues that are often associated with using a mic mounted inside of the guitar sound-hole.

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Guitarist – Educator Andrew Wasson started playing guitar at the age of eight years old. He is a graduate of The Guitar Institute of Technology in Hollywood, California.

Andrew was inspired to pursue a career in music after becoming a student of Chet Breau (the son of world renown Jazz guitar legend “Lenny Breau”). Chet encouraged Andrew to focus on developing his natural sound for performing melodic Smooth-Jazz, Soul, R&B music.

Like his father Lenny, Chet Breau is also a virtuoso of the guitar and a veteran of the Canadian music scene. Chet encouraged Andrew to enroll at the same music school that Chet attended in Los Angeles, California; “Musicians Institute” faculty of Guitar, (The Guitar Institute of Technology).

With a busy schedule of playing in bands and teaching, the idea of moving to California seemed like an overwhelming commitment at first.

However, Andrew eventually decided that there was both value and a great opportunity behind pursuing a formal music education.

Andrew decided to follow Chet’s advice of re-locating to Los Angeles and enrolling in the Professional Guitar Player Program at Hollywood California’s Guitar Institute of Technology, (G.I.T.)

MUSICIANS INSTITUTE:

While at G.I.T., Andrew became immersed within the cutting edge courses, learning everything he could about music and playing the guitar professionally. Other interests peaked as well, including composing and arranging music.

After a chance meeting at a G.I.T. guitar workshop with guitar legend Howard Roberts, (one of the founders of the Musician Institute), Andrew became fascinated by the Howard Roberts approach toward practicing.

These cutting edge techniques allowed for learning the guitar at a much faster rate & pace when using the, “Howard Roberts – Accelerator Method.”

THE ACCELERATOR METHOD:

The Accelerator method is an organized way to learn the common language of music at a “nuts and bolts” level.

It works by filling in the gaps when it comes to a musicians understanding of music creation and does it all at a greatly accelerated pace with respect for the musicians own personal learning curve.

The Howard Roberts, “Learning how to learn” techniques, (along with many of the Howard Roberts instructional concepts, such as, “lifemanship”), became a new found interest that had Wasson embark onto an entirely new path in his musical life – one that involved guitar and music education.

After graduating from the Professional Guitar Program at Musicians Institute, Wasson returned to Canada and started his own guitar school.

CREATIVE GUITAR STUDIO:

Throughout the 1990’s Andrew earned his living as a professional musician working in dozens of different bands and running his guitar education business.

The day to day operation of Creative Guitar Studio gave Andrew the unique opportunity to spend countless hours as a guitar instructor – educating over one thousand aspiring guitar students from 1992 to 2020.

Over the last 30 years, Andrew has perfected a large-scale guitar /music education program. The curriculum consists of three “core curriculum” courses, (Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced), along with several “guitar elective” courses such as; Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Soloing and Guitar Technique.

The Creative Guitar Studio curriculum was first introduced to an international audience when Andrew launched his YouTube channel in the year 2008.

In 2015 Andrew launched his popular online music instruction website bearing the same name as his guitar school, Creative Guitar Studio

INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION:

In 2008, Andrew’s YouTube video titled, “Did Coldplay copy Joe Satriani? Let’s Do the Music Theory,” went viral with over one million views.

Since then, Andrew Wasson has become well known (and well respected internationally), for his music education videos on YouTube.

Thousands of his viewers tune in each week to enjoy his guitar lessons which provide fans with an excellent lesson plan combined with solid delivery.

Many subscribers call Andrew the, “best guitar teacher on YouTube.”

Over the years, Andrew has firmly established his company; Creative Guitar Studio, the YouTube channel (and the courses he has authored), as a solid educational program for aspiring guitar players world-wide.

CreativeGuitarStudio.com teaches a comprehensive guitar training program which focuses on the guitar as an instrument for improvisation.

All levels of technique and theory are covered, (both in his guitar courses, as well as, in his weekly YouTube videos).

Many former students (and a majority of the graduates of his Professional Guitar course), now work in various areas of the music business.

Andrew Wasson is the author of all of the core curriculum at Creative Guitar.

GUITAR COMPOSITION:

Andrew is well recognized as one of the top guitar instructors in the world. He is constantly writing, performing and recording. His lesson videos and guitar compositions cover all styles of guitar on electric, classical and acoustic steel-string instruments.

After releasing his self-titled CD, his compositions have appeared on CBC Radio, Corus Entertainment, satellite radio, as well as, television, radio networks, and internet streaming sites around the world.

A Personal Message…

When I was eight years old, I had a couple of friends that played guitar. It seemed so interesting to me that for some reason I was compelled to want to learn to play guitar more than anything else in the world.

One day I convinced my parents to let me meet with a guitar teacher. After my first lesson I talked my parents into buying a $35.00 acoustic… and I played that guitar until it broke!

One more acoustic and two electric guitars later, (plus 9 years of lessons), and I finally had enough knowledge to attend a professional music college and get the real training I needed to play professionally.

My interest in the guitar has never stopped. I guess nothing has changed since my old friends had first inspired me!

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