As the saying goes, practice is the way to Carnegie Hall, and I have yet to meet a successful guitarist who claims he has acquired his abilities without putting in a lot of practice. However, practicing a lot alone does not guarantee access to Carnegie Hall or the achievement of any high-level musical goal. Quality is as […]

Though I was aware of the benefits of practicing the guitar with my eyes closed, I began doing so for about 10% of my practice time out of vanity.  See, I wear thick glasses, and when I remove them, the fretboard appears as a long, blurry fret.  This was not an issue until I started

The gallop is to heavy metal what the blues shuffle is to blues. In the same way that the blues shuffle can be found in genres other than blues, the heavy metal gallop can be found in genres other than metal. However, it is a staple of both traditional heavy metal and many of its

A sign that one is moving towards an advanced level of guitar playing is that wrong notes, mistakes and inaccuracies during practice do not bother him anymore. Rather, anything he does wrong is considered as an opportunity to learn and improve. What is a wrong note on guitar Because there is no universally accepted definition

When I first started writing guitar solos, they sounded more like extended guitar exercises or scale sequences than melodic music. So do my students’ first solos, and those of every beginner in guitar soloing. This is because we are too focused on finding the right notes and applying the right techniques to consider creating melody

Determining whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced guitarist is not an exact science, and it cannot be answered based on what specific things you know (for example, if you can play barre chords, you’re an intermediate player, if you can sweep pick, you’re an advanced player, etc). The reason for this is that different

Joining my first rock band was an embarrassing moment.  I asked a bassist, drummer, singer, and guitarist from my school if they wanted to be in my band, and they all showed up for the first rehearsal. The issue was that they were far more advanced than I was – a beginner. It was a

In this article, we’ll go over the fundamental theory of guitar arpeggios for beginners, look at a few practical uses for arpeggios, and finish with a few tips on how to practice arpeggios on the guitar at this stage. What Are Arpeggios? Arpeggios are chord notes played one at a time rather than all at

Q: Why should I create my own intermediate guitar exercises when there are so many available online? A: Because the exercises you design will address the specific issues you encounter during your practice sessions. Each exercise will be tailored to the guitar lick, riff, or solo that you are learning, focusing on the most difficult

“Initially, it was insane – basically, all waking hours. I would sacrifice everything. I wouldn’t go to school. Then when I was a teenager, they had to drag me to parties and stuff like that because I was extremely dedicated, to the point of insanity I think.” Yngwie Malmsteen It goes without saying that practicing