Does this sound like you? You know scales, you dabble with modes, you know your chords and you can handle a bit of improvising, but you're still wondering how it is that some players seem to have the whole fretboard at their disposal; they seem to know how, why and where to find every last fragment of music... with total ease. The whole fingerboard seems to be friendly, well traveled territory to them, no matter what is going on musically.

Enviable? Yes, and learnable

Hi, I'm Kirk Lorange. I've been playing guitar since 1961 and I'm the author of PlaneTalk. I live in Australia and I have played in a dozen bands, on countless album tracks, movie sound tracks and TV commercials, and I've shared the stage with the likes of ex-Eagle Don Felder and ex-Beatle Ringo Starr. You have obviously found this site because you've heard about PlaneTalk somewhere on the net and you're wondering what all the fuss is about. This book and DVD have been selling from this site for over ten years now, teaching thousands of players from all over the world a very simple way to map out the fretboard, how to decode that annoying 'kink in the tuning' and a mindset which enables you to freely improvise over any old chord progression without once thinking 'scale' or 'mode' or 'Pentatonic box'. I never found those useful when it came to making real music. I learned them all, I still know them all, but they always just sounded like scales and failed completely over complex chord progressions. I moved on to something far more practical, powerful and musical years ago. The basic mindset is nothing new — follow the changes — but that's easier said than done. That seems to imply that you follow chord progressions, but how? What do you think about? What do you look for, down there on the fretboard? There are hundreds of chords and anyway, what does that mean exactly?

I only just bought my first guitar. Is PlaneTalk for me?

I didn't write PlaneTalk for beginners but more for those who have mastered the basics and are now stuck. However, many beginners have bought it and tell me that they're very pleased they did, that the basic theory lesson, fretboard map and mindset it teaches have made learning much easier. I certainly wish someone had shown me this when I was starting out, it would have saved me a good twenty years of poking around the fretboard searching for that one 'constant' I knew must be there.

Do I need to know any theory?

No. PlaneTalk in fact goes through basic theory in plain English before moving on to describing the 'trick' to seeing your fretboard as familiar, well traveled territory. You will learn why it is so important to always know what it is you're playing and how music is structured and how easy it is to keep track of it all using the PlaneTalk mindset. It's a lot easier than you think. With lots of practice, of course.

Will I be needing to remember endless patterns?

No. PlaneTalk makes use of an extremely simple landmark, one you learned in the first few days of playing. Many PlaneTalkers tell me they're amazed and annoyed that they didn't 'see' it themselves. As simple as it is, its ramifications are endless and -- if you're anything like me -- will become the only thing you really need to consciously be aware of.

This doesn't require me to remember movie stars' names or other odd mental gimmicks, does it?

No, no silliness, no gimmicks. The PlaneTalk mindset uses a landmark that IS music, one that displays at a glance the context of the moment. With practice, of course.

What if I don't understand it?

The chances of that are slim, as it's such a simple mindset. However, depending on your level of playing, you may wonder how to use the knowledge. In that case, just come to the PlaneTalkers' Forum where you can ask me and many other PlaneTalkers any questions you may have. Sometimes it takes a while to see the need to have the whole fretboard at your disposal, but once you do, the PlaneTalk mindset will be yours forever more. Most PlaneTalkers say they will never need to buy another book again, that all they need now is time to refine their art.

Do I need to read notation or tablature?

No. PlaneTalk doesn't go into any of that. PlaneTalk, among other things, describes in plain old English a way to map out the fretboard. It teaches a mindset that you can use to improvise chordally and melodically, to literally see the endless possibilities the whole length of the fretboard ... with lots of practice, of course. I use graphics and common analogies to explain some aspects of music, but you won't be scratching your head over any dotted crotchets or mysterious Greek names. I don't read notation very well myself.

I know all my scales and modes. How will PlaneTalk help me?

If you are happy with the results you achieve when improvising using scales and modes, and happy with your understanding of how music works and applies to the guitar, then don't bother ordering. But, as I've heard said, if you practice scales, you end up playing scales. Scales and Modes are not really music, they're the building blocks. Melody is the music and melody is not all that easy to extract from scales and modes, especially when you start getting into more complex chord progressions where just playing the 5 notes of the Pentatonic scale doesn't work. The PlaneTalk mindset allows you play over any chord progression ... with practice, of course.

What's the difference between the book and the DVD?

The book describes very methodically the logic behind it all. It takes you through basic theory then explains the power of the PlaneTalk mindset in plain English. The DVD demonstrates the technique to real music clips, showing real playing and using all the overlay features of modern video editing. So what the book explains, the DVD demonstrates.

What's the slide rule all about and why can't I see a better image of it?

The Guitar slide Rule crystallizes the whole mindset, shows you instantly how your brain should perceive the fretboard at any given moment. I don't show a better image of the slide rule because the mindset is so simple I'd be giving it all away.

And the bonus lessons? What are they that all about?

Over the year I have put together many stand-alone paid lessons demonstrating the PT mindset, many of them related to The Blues. Most are video lessons, over 2 hours of viewing in total. They're all free now.