Articles

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

Does your improvisation on the guitar sound like a scale going up and down, or even worse, random notes with no sense of cohesion? If you already know what it takes to improvise on the guitar, but feel stuck rehashing the same ideas, the following exercises are designed to get you thinking in different ways.

Becoming a creative songwriter, rather than a gift a few inherit through their genes, is a skill that can be trained and developed. There are theoretical aspects that can be learned (such as the elements of music), but it also requires a lot of time training your mind to create.  In today’s songwriting exercises, we will