It’s now 2018, and this is a great time for all guitarists and those learning to get re-motivated and really make this year a year to remember. In this post, I will go through one simple guitar challenge that will help you make massive progress this year, especially if you feel your playing has hit a plateau or not really gone anywhere.
Practice scales, get awesome curls!
Scale practice often gets a bad reputation in the musical world. In this blog post you will learn 9 ways scale practice can be awesome for your guitar playing. I`ll explain why they are massively beneficial for your guitar playing, exactly how you should practice them and why four minutes is the magic number. [Read more…]
In this new blog post, the very first of 2017, I`ll show you how a simple infographic (which, by the way, you can download for free at the bottom of the post) will help you transform your guitar playing to make it more fun, productive and much more inspirational – while helping you sky-rocket your levels of motivation on the guitar.
Most guitarists who want to learn how to play guitar and sing often prioritise the guitar part over the vocal part but this is a common mistake that will hold you back.
The reason why? Because it takes much longer that way. Spending too long perfecting the guitar part before adding singing can work against you.
Singing and playing the guitar is tough and does take a little time, but you can shorten that time by doing things in the correct order which I’ll show you.
[Read more…]
I recently had a big debate over at Reddit with a fellow guitarist. This debate could have been infuriating but it actually was quite useful as it highlighted a certain flaw that experienced guitarists have when sharing their knowledge with less experienced players.
If you are learning to play guitar or you still consider yourself to be a beginner, you`ll find this post very handy – especially if you learn from others, either in person or online.
It might be surprising to hear, but learning to sing can improve your guitar skills rapidly. As we go through this post, I’ll explain why.
First thing’s first though – having the ability to belt out one of your favourite tunes is a skill that not only feels and looks great, but is also an ability that all of us have somewhere inside of us.
Photo by Batería
One of the most fun things a guitarist can do is to stick on a drum beat, turn it up loud and jam the hell out of it.
This goes for acoustic or electric players and rockers or fingerpicking folk guitarists. It doesn`t matter what your style is, you need to be doing this on a regular basis.
Photo by Eric Gravengaard
I have a rule that I enforce on myself and which I encourage students to adhere to. That rule is, for every 10 hours I practice, I must spend at least 1 hour jamming with others.
Jamming with others is not only good for your musical soul, but will make you a better all round guitarist, and it feels damn great too.
Thanks for all the comments on my recent beginner New Year`s transformation series of lessons.
In today`s blog post we are getting really practical and it`s a really important topic – it`s about the way you practice. [Read more…]
