Electric Guitar Lesson!
Monday, January 25, 2010
An electric guitar lesson can be one of the most eye opening things in the world. Even experienced guitar players can find the whole thing frustrating, so a timely guitar lesson for your trusty old electric can be the thing that makes all the difference. I’ve compiled a few tips here, so I hope you enjoy this mini lesson!
Electric Guitar Lesson 1-
Change it up. As an electric guitarist sometimes we can be guilty of letting our muscle memory do all the work-busting out the same old pentatonic blues stuff over and over again, with little chance of any originality happening. We need to change things around. Throw away your pick for a week. If you don’t use a pick, get a pick for a week. Use your whammy bar if you usually don’t, hell, even play acoustic for a couple of weeks. Stuff like this can really break us out of a rut, and for me personally is always when I come up with my best licks/songs.
Electric Guitar Lesson 2-
Record yourself. We see ourselves play guitar everyday, and for that very reason sometimes we can be immune to real problems in our playing. It’s great to record ourselves because we can then identify such things and put in the work to get rid of them. It’s not all bad though, quite often when listening back to tapes and things you can be pleasantly surprised by your own playing. Another plus point is that you will start to get used to the recording process-this is always a good thing-the ability to lay down quality guitar on demand is always useful.
Electric Guitar Lesson 3-
Get a real electric guitar lesson! Even one hour with a high quality guitar teacher can shake you up enough to give you practice material for months. I’ve had a few lessons that have completely altered my perception of the instrument-it’s very odd to suddenly be a better guitar player from one day to the next simply because you approach it with a different mindset. It’s odd but it’s also cool!
Electric Guitar Lesson 4-
Strengthen your fingers. Almost every guitar player I know will openly admit that their pinky or their first finger isn’t very strong or dextrous. If you know that to be true, why not fix it? It’s pretty simple to strengthen your fingers, trills are great for it and there are countless other legato techniques that will really build strength and stamina. You’ll notice the difference within a few days-your chord changes will be crisper and you will be FASTER-and lets face it, what electric guitar player doesn’t want to be able to play faster?
Electric Guitar Lesson 5-
Change your influences. If you listen to solely hard rock and blues, why not buy a couple of flamenco albums or some Latin jazz? Or if you are into jazz why not get some modern thrash metal? I don’t expect you to like the music, but a true guitar player will find something of interest in any new guitar style. A change like this can really open up your ears and give you ideas to put into your own playing.
So there you are-surely 5 lessons is better than 1 electric guitar lesson? Hopefully my ideas have helped you see that there is more to playing electric guitar than the same old rock and blues stuff. Happy playing!. More...
Electric Guitar Lesson 1-
Change it up. As an electric guitarist sometimes we can be guilty of letting our muscle memory do all the work-busting out the same old pentatonic blues stuff over and over again, with little chance of any originality happening. We need to change things around. Throw away your pick for a week. If you don’t use a pick, get a pick for a week. Use your whammy bar if you usually don’t, hell, even play acoustic for a couple of weeks. Stuff like this can really break us out of a rut, and for me personally is always when I come up with my best licks/songs.
Electric Guitar Lesson 2-
Record yourself. We see ourselves play guitar everyday, and for that very reason sometimes we can be immune to real problems in our playing. It’s great to record ourselves because we can then identify such things and put in the work to get rid of them. It’s not all bad though, quite often when listening back to tapes and things you can be pleasantly surprised by your own playing. Another plus point is that you will start to get used to the recording process-this is always a good thing-the ability to lay down quality guitar on demand is always useful.
Electric Guitar Lesson 3-
Get a real electric guitar lesson! Even one hour with a high quality guitar teacher can shake you up enough to give you practice material for months. I’ve had a few lessons that have completely altered my perception of the instrument-it’s very odd to suddenly be a better guitar player from one day to the next simply because you approach it with a different mindset. It’s odd but it’s also cool!
Electric Guitar Lesson 4-
Strengthen your fingers. Almost every guitar player I know will openly admit that their pinky or their first finger isn’t very strong or dextrous. If you know that to be true, why not fix it? It’s pretty simple to strengthen your fingers, trills are great for it and there are countless other legato techniques that will really build strength and stamina. You’ll notice the difference within a few days-your chord changes will be crisper and you will be FASTER-and lets face it, what electric guitar player doesn’t want to be able to play faster?
Electric Guitar Lesson 5-
Change your influences. If you listen to solely hard rock and blues, why not buy a couple of flamenco albums or some Latin jazz? Or if you are into jazz why not get some modern thrash metal? I don’t expect you to like the music, but a true guitar player will find something of interest in any new guitar style. A change like this can really open up your ears and give you ideas to put into your own playing.
So there you are-surely 5 lessons is better than 1 electric guitar lesson? Hopefully my ideas have helped you see that there is more to playing electric guitar than the same old rock and blues stuff. Happy playing!. More...
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