Hanspeter Kruesi's Guitar Lessons

Hanspeter Kruesi

HansPeter Kruesi is a Swiss guitarist, pianist, and composer. He's been at Guitar Tricks since 2006, and shares his wealth of knowledge on the guitar in lessons about tapping and touch playing, rock concepts, blues, jazz and latin guitar, solo and lead playing, plus some of his own original songs.

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Songs

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Hanspeter Kruesi
Jingle Bells Holiday

In this tutorial we'll learn the Christmas song "Jingle Bells" in a rock style, with power chords along with a very cool rocking jam track. I'll introduce the song to you in the first lesson, then I'll teach you the chords. You'll learn to play the melody in a rock style in lesson three, which will help you a lot with your soloing. To end we'll put it together and play through the song.

Published: 11/27/2009 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Originals

Here you can work with the original jam tracks and original tabs of my songs. This should give you some inspiration to create your own style.

Published: 02/20/2007 Upgrade

Blues

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Hanspeter Kruesi
Drop D Slide Guitar

Here you'll learn many tricks so you can play great blues in the style of Ry Cooder with your bottle neck, using a drop D tuning. You'll start from the basics, go through several examples, and at the end you'll be able to create your own version.

Published: 05/25/2008 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Mississippi Blues

In this set of lessons I'll give you some ideas for playing the blues with a drop D tuning and a bottleneck. I'll cover the drop D tuning, talk about the basic technique, then get into some chords. Then I'll teach some melodic ideas and groove examples, and give you a summary of ideas to create an entire tune.

Published: 12/17/2011 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Bad Blues

"Bad Blues" will give you some ideas on how to play blues in a rubato style - without real timing. This gives you freedom to play blues with full expression and dynamics. I'll teach picking technique, then show you several licks to play. I also talk about sound settings, because they are also part of your dynamic expression.

Published: 12/16/2010 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Bad Blues 2

In "Bad Blues 2", I'll teach you to play a theme I composed. I'll talk a bit about the theme, then show you a vibrato exercise. In lesson 3 I'll show you the first part, using the vibrato. In the next lessons I'll show you parts 2 and 3 and how you can create variations. To conclude I'll put it all together and play the theme for you.

Published: 02/10/2011 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Arizona Blues

In this set of lessons I'll teach you a short simple original song, "Arizona Blues". I'll introduce the tune to you, then show you how to play the two main parts. Next I'll put the two parts together for you, then get into the hammer-on and bluesy licks. I'll play the song through for you, then finish by explaining a bit of my philosophy behind it.

Published: 02/29/2012 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Slow Blues

In this tutorial you'll learn to play a minor blues with some rock elements, and you'll learn to play dynamically by using specific sound settings and playing techniques to create feeling. We'll talk about sound and tone, then look at the chords. The next four lessons will focus on licks you can play over the minor blues progression, and in the final lesson we'll put it all together and play through the whole song.

Published: 04/14/2011 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Slow Blues II

In these lessons you'll learn some ideas about how to play an orchestral slow blues and solo licks in the key of E. We'll work on some rhythm ideas, talk about timing, sound and feeling, and good combinations of solo licks. Last, we'll put these elements together as we play through this slow blues progression.

Published: 08/27/2011 Upgrade

Solo and Lead

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Hanspeter Kruesi
Sound & Expression on Lead Guitar

Sound and expression on lead guitar is mainly a matter of a proper technique. The equipment you use is only to amplify the tone you have created on your fretboard. Here I give you some tips how you can work on your sound and expression in order to start sounding great. Even if you are already a advanced player and you have never thought about this, you should go through this tutorial to get more aware of your technique and your sound.

Published: 01/24/2008 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Megachops

Here you can learn to play rock guitar licks in different positions on the neck, and in some cases all over the fretboard. This will help you to get more flexible and creative in your soloing.

Published: 01/09/2011 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Rock Ballad

Learn the essentials on how to play a professional rock ballad. Your sound settings should be a lead sound with high gain distortion, some delay and optional a wah-wah (a cry baby - not an autowah). Pay close attention to all parts of this tutorial even if you think it seems too easy for you. The details make the big difference!

Published: 05/11/2011 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Bottle Neck Rock

Bottle neck rock is a tutorial where I give you some ideas to play high gain solos with a bottle neck slide.

Published: 02/01/2011 Upgrade

Rock Concepts

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Hanspeter Kruesi
Advanced Rock Improvisation Concepts

This is an introduction to advanced rock improvisation concepts. This entire tutorial will get you to the point where you can start to be creative with the minor pentatonic across the entire fretboard. Please take your time to really work out the theoretical and practical background which is needed to understand the whole concept. These seven lessons will give you a good basis to get into creative improvisation.

Published: 05/23/2009 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Metal

Here you learn some essentials off metal guitar. Such as playing with phrygian and phrygian nat. 3 scales, tremolo picking, sound motion with wah wah and some cool licks in these exotic scales.

Published: 01/17/2012 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Rock Riffing: 10 Rock Riffs

Here you can learn a selection of rock riffs which I created. I'll take you through distinct ten rock riffs that will help you understand what riffs are, and how to start creating your own.

Published: 10/16/2008 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Slow Rock

A summary of rhythm guitar tricks, typical 80s rock lead licks with bendings, melodic phrasings, runs and a full solo as an example.

Published: 11/07/2011 Upgrade

Jazz Guitar

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Hanspeter Kruesi
Smoky Funk

in this set of lessons, HP Kruesi will show you how to play some smoky funk. HP talks about the overall ideas within the tutorial, then teaches the rhythm guitar part. The we'll look at the scale used to form the licks, and then we'll learn four licks you can play over this groove. In lesson 8 we'll break down a chord solo, then conclude by putting it all together.

Published: 04/03/2012 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Basic Jazz Chords

This tutorial gives you the theoretical background behind basic jazz chords - where they come from and how they are used. Take your time to get familiar with the theory behind it, as this will give you the maximum output from the lessons. Pay close attention the the introduction as there is a lot of vital information there which will take you through the 4 diatonic chord progressions and the examples.

Published: 07/24/2008 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Modal Jazz Licks

This tutorial will help you to get into jazz improvisation using the ionian, dorian, phyrgian, lydian, mixolydian, aeolian, and locrian modes. You'll also get some instruction on phrasing and how you can take these licks a step further.

Published: 11/03/2007 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Jazz Blues With Two Guitars

In this series of lessons, you'll learn all the essentials of rhythm guitar, timing, phrasing, licks, and concepts to play jazz blues as a guitar duo... or in any other type of duo or band situation.

Published: 06/02/2010 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Gypsy Jazz: The Style of Django Reinhardt

This tutorial on gypsy jazz takes you through some of the basics of Django Reinhardt's style: from learning the rhythm guitar in two different progressions through some basic exercises on scales, arpeggios, and chromatic licks. This will bring you to a point where you can start to put these things together and start playing in the style of this jazz legend.

Published: 10/09/2007 Upgrade

Latin Guitar

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No Tutorials Found

Original Songs

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Hanspeter Kruesi
Easy Songs

Here you can learn some easy songs with different playing techniques. I played these on electric, but these are also perfectly suited to the acoustic guitar. The goal of this tutorial is to teach you different basic rhythm guitar techniques, in combination with some useful ideas on what you can do with basic or open string chords. This might give you some inspiration to create your own songs!

Published: 02/13/2009 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Jam Track Juke Box

This tutorial is a series of Jam Tracks I've made. They are available in the Jam Station.

Published: 02/17/2007 Upgrade

Artist Studies

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Hanspeter Kruesi
In The Style of Wes Montgomery

In this artist study, you'll learn some of the elements in the style of Wes Montgomery's playing: the use of octaves, the technique of playing with your thumb, and the style in which Wes used chords and single note lines. HP Kruesi will set all this against a backdrop of backing tracks in swing, latin, and latin pop styles.

Published: 11/18/2011 Upgrade

Tapping and Slapping

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Hanspeter Kruesi
Stanley Jordan Style Touch Technique

Are you curious about touch and tapping on guitar? This unusual technique can produce some beautiful, distinct sounding chords and melodies. In this tutorial, HP Kruesi will delve into this fascinating approach in the style of Stanley Jordan using both your left and right hands on the neck. HP will get you started by showing you the basics, put the technique into use in the context of jazz and blues styles, and some exercises.

Published: 04/16/2006 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Touch Technique 2

Here I'll be teaching you some more essentials on touch technique in the style of Stanley Jordan. I'll be talking briefly about touch tapping, then we'll work from the beginning up to some more advanced techniques and ideas in four parts. At the end we'll put it all together into a classical style song.

Published: 03/12/2012 Upgrade
Hanspeter Kruesi
Slapping Techniques for Guitar

Slapping is a technique that is most often thought of in the context of bass playing- but you can do it on guitar too! In this set of four guitar lessons you'll be introduced to slapping techniques on guitar; how to use your thumb to get the slap in the lower notes, and fingers to get that pop in the upper notes. We'll use a backing track to help you get in the groove.

Published: 05/20/2007 Upgrade