practice tips

In Part 2 of “The Learning Curve of Various Styles of Guitar,” Jamie Andreas looks at the skills needed to become a “strum and sing” guitar player.

If you aren’t yet playing at the speed of at least 200 BPM in sixteenth notes (but really want to), then Mike Philippov’s latest article will greatly help you to get closer to this goal.

Check this out if you are starting a band or want to tune yourselves up for a more professional sound and effect. It’s easy to start a band. Sounding good is another story.

While everyone will agree that using a metronome can help you develop and improve your rhythm, it is far more important for any musician to learn how to internalize the rhythm of a song or musical piece. Nick Minnion examines ways to help you do just that in Part 2 of “Solving Timing and Rhythm Problems.”

Even though the basics of guitar are the same for everyone, the skill set needed for various musical styles (blues, rock, jazz, folk, etc.,) can be markedly different. In this series of articles, Jamie Andreas will explore the various techniques necessary to become proficient in any specific style. Here, in Part 1, you get a good overview of the basic mindset you need to prepare for getting good at your favorite guitar style.

Numerous guitarists underachieve because they shirk regular practice. Gerald Klickstein describes how musicians can counter avoidance and keep their creativity rolling.

Whether you are a guitar teacher or a self-taught guitar player you are likely to come across problems related to playing in time and interpreting rhythm. In this series of articles TeachGuitar.com’s Nick Minnion looks at where these problems spring from and what can be done to address them.

As the tutorial resources you have at your beck and call get more and more sophisticated, it gets harder to remember that learning guitar is all about playing guitar. That means if you want to be able to play your instrument, you have to go through all the “grunt work” – that means practicing. And for many players the biggest aspect they need to work on is not using their eyes.

Is it better to practice a piece slowly at first or quickly? Teachers and players usually recommend slowly, but there are instances where fast might work. Jamie explores why both methods work, but more importantly details how to recognize and determine when one method is better than the other.

Practicing the electric guitar can be problematic in the best of situations, and downright hard when you have to worry about your volume levels. Mark Mills returns to the pages of Guitar Noise with a very cool solution that lets you practice at a more than reasonable volume while not disturbing either your family or your neighbors.

How many times have you done something absolutely fast in practice only to flub it in a “real” situation, like playing with your band or just jamming with your friends? Tom outlines and explains seven simple steps to help you work on developing your speed on the fretboard straight away and also to be able to keep that speed you perfect in practice when you perform.

If you’re traveling along the paths of learning guitar, you will eventually find yourself at a plateau in your learning. Longtime Guitar Noise Contributor, Jamie Andreas of Guitar Principles, explains why simply changing the way you look at being on a plateau, looking at it with the eye of a Guitar Master, can help you move forward in a short time.

Creating memorable live performances can help you get more gigs and can bring more people to those gigs. Here are some great tips from Tom Hess on how to rehearse for all the aspects of performing live.

Many guitarists consider practice and performance to be distinct activities. Gerald Klickstein, author of the new book The Musician’s Way, shows how they can be combined into an inclusive creative process.

First time contributor Dmitry details the work and thought process involved on taking one’s guitar along a trip, using his latest vacation as an example of how well things can work out!

Let’s offer a warm “welcome back” to Nick, who brings us a look at the interlocking relationship of three important creative aspects of musicianship – improvising, composing and transcribing – and how you can use them to move up from being someone who just dabbles with the guitar to a serious musician.

In his first of hopefully many pieces for Guitar Noise, Tom Mariotti looks at how to go about organizing your practice sessions in order to get the most out of the time you put into them.

Way, way, way back when, mankind had only two instruments. And by examining how these two are still used today, we can improve our timing, phrasing and many other aspects of our guitar playing. Josh Urban takes us on this interesting tour from early to electric man.

Everyone wants to get their playing tight and solid, rhythm-wise. Rob Gravelle returns to the pages of Guitar Noise with some great tips for working with your metronome instead of having a frustrating time with it.

Getting better at making chord changes is an early goal for every guitarist. Graham discusses how using the art of visualization can help you develop smooth chord changes, both in learning new chords and in practicing the ones you already know.