"Don't demand that events should happen as you wish; but wish them to happen as they do happen, and you will go on well" ----- EPICTETUS, ENCHIRIDION. CHAPTER VIII As a professional guitar teacher based in Boston — and teaching students live online across the globe — I hear this question nearly every week. Classical or Electric Guitar? The answer might surprise you. Ivan Cardozo — Guitar Teacher, Boston, MA & Live Online Worldwide "The best guitar to learn first is the one t

Seneca taught us that true mastery is not found in accumulating more — but in penetrating what we already hold. The same notes. Seven entirely different worlds. A comparative chart and ready-to-play chord progressions await. In his Epistulae Morales , Seneca wrote to Lucilius with characteristic directness: it is not that we have too little time — it is that we waste what we have. The same warning applies, with striking precision, to how most guitarists approach the modes. We

"The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." — Marcus Aurelius When my students first encounter the challenges of alternate picking, many feel overwhelmed by the seeming impossibility of coordinating their picking hand with speed and precision. Yet, as the Stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius reminds us, obstacles aren't barriers to progress—they are the very path to mastery itself. Every moment of frustration with alternate picking is an o

"It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult." — Seneca Just as the Stoic philosopher Seneca reminds us that mastery begins with courage, understanding the flattened 7th resolution requires us to venture beyond the familiar territory of basic guitar theory. This seemingly complex harmonic concept—once understood—becomes one of the most powerful tools in your musical arsenal. Understanding the Magic Behind Hi