Tag: tips
The difference between being good at guitar and being great at guitar is a chasm that seems impassable to most. There’s no way around it, you have to put the time and effort in to get there but the critical issue here is how exactly you spend that time and effort. Not everyone wants to […]
As guitarists we tend to focus on guitar-specific things such as learning licks, riffs, technique and the accumulation of gear. While this is all well and good, at some point you’ll wish you’d taken at least one if not all of the courses below as they’re universal skills that will raise your level of musicianship, […]
If you’re committed to learning the guitar, it’s inevitable that you’re going to get into a rut from time to time. Ruts can last from a weeks to years and can be very frustrating but once you understand the psychology behind getting into a rut, you may even be able to avoid them altogether. This […]
Sometimes all it takes is a suggestion or a new perspective to jump-start your improvisation skills or give your solos a new lease of life, especially if you’re stuck in a rut. As guitarists we tend to fixate on scales, technique and chops when there are far more important areas to pursue when it comes […]
You’ll find a lot of stuff on the internet about breaking out of scale boxes; some players suggest learning the modes (more boxes?) or throwing other intervals into the mix (still a box), playing horizontally up and down one string (not practical), and even learning arpeggios (yet more patterns). These approaches are all well and […]
We all know that one of the biggest challenges faced by guitarists, after putting in the hours to learn all those scale patterns, is how to play seamlessly up and down the fretboard and meld all those patterns into one unit. There are many ways to do this, and we’ve already covered a fair few […]
As guitarists, we tend to get comfortable with our playing at a certain level and not venture out of our comfort zones too often, especially if there’s no one close at hand that’s better than us. If, on the other hand, you do fancy taking a step outside your comfort zone, how do you go […]
Out of the 20 something years I’ve been playing guitar, I’ve had lessons for about 3 of those, so I’m largely self-taught, which is probably why you’ll find all kinds of unorthodox stuff on this blog to try out. On the other hand, for the three years that I did receive formal lessons, I was […]
When you come to write your own material as a solo artist, band member, composer, or anything else, you’re going to need to know which chords belong in which keys. Even if you plan on ignoring all the rules and creating a dissonant, atonal masterpiece – you need to know the rules before you can […]
I decided to go to Music College back in the early 2000s, to the ACM in the UK to be precise, on the advice of a couple of friends who’d already been there and loved the experience. Plus, the thought of being taught by the players such as Guthrie Govan, Dave Kilminster, Pete Callard, Pete […]
Music theory is still somewhat of a mystery for a lot of guitarists, but most have that nagging feeling that at some point they should learn some. Unfortunately, this is usually when they get stuck in a rut and choosing to dive into the world of music theory when you’ve reached the height of frustration […]
