alright, I'm not trying to imply that I'm great. I'm working on it, and I will be, but it takes alot of work.
This article is aimed more at the newer younger players, as they tend to be less set in their ways than most (but not all) experienced players. Of course anybody who wishes to step it up a notch can take something away from this.
First and Foremost: mindset is everything. If you think to yourself "I can't do that" you never will.
It's all about how you think. Most people's limitations are mental, not physical. Of course you do have physical limitations (i.e. "my fingers are not strong enough to do that") but these can be overcome through training. It is harder to retrain your brain. If you want to be a great guitar player you have to fully believe that you can. One of the truest statements I've ever heard regaring this idea is as follows
"regular guitar players practice to get it right, great guitar players practice to never get it wrong."
think about it, think about yourself. How do you think when your practicing, do you just want to be able to play the lick on a good day, or do you want to be able to play the lick flawlessly suspended upside down over a lake of fire with a dagger through your chest.
it might sound funny, but when your on stage there are distractions. Bright flashing lights that suddenly plummet into darkness, sound issues, good looking women shaking their hips and bouncing up and down in front of you. these things go on, and you have to be able to play through them perfectly every time, with the flu. you can and will be able to do this but you have to believe that you can before you ever will.
Okay, moving on to actual advice on playing.
Let's talk about practice routines and idea's.
The most important thing is obviously to keep practicing and keep moving forward, but it's important to discuss how you practice and what your routine is. This will vary depending on what your trying to achive but the basic idea's are the same.
1. Don't play in pain. Practicing new techniques take a toll on you physically, a bit of muscular soreness is to be expected, but don't push it, playing in pain is not going to make you any better, it could have serious effects down the line. Besides that, if your muscles are pushed to far they will lock up and cramp on you and you wont be able to play at all.
2. slow down. playing fast is fun, we all want to be able to fly through scales like Jerry. However, practice everything at speed only leads to sloppy playing. no matter how quickly your moving you want every note to be distinct and clean. Here a few tips on practicing speed playing:
a. get a metronome, if you don't want to buy one you can download a digital one for free.
b. keep a note book and log your progress for each practice session, this will help you note your progress and define problem area's in your playing.
c. figure out what your maximum clean speed on whatever lick your practicing, mark it in you book, spend your next few practice sessions playing the lick at 50 to 60% of you max speed, this will help develop muscle memory. It will also help you to develop a cleaner more precice tone. after practicing a few times this way step up to 80% and practice it like this for a few days. by the time your practicing at your initial max speed, you actual max speed will be much higher. So then you figure out what your new max speed is, and repeat the process. This will undoubtedly lead to percis acurate speed playing
3. less is more. I'm not talking about the music your playing, I'm talking about the hand movements while your playing it. When you watch great players it never seems like their doing much. This is because they took the time to analyze everything they do to find the best way to do it. Different picking techniques can completely reinvent the way you move your right hand, alternate picking is the standard, but often times alternate picking takes alot more work that other styles such as economy picking which can allow you to play the exact same note patern with only half the right handed movements. Study what your hands are doing and it will allow you to pick out problem areas within your playing. Mark this down in your practice log, that way everytime you start to practice you'll have note on what you need to do and nothing will be skipped over from session to session.
4. play and learn techniques outside you style. Studying one style of playing will often lead to a plateau in your playing and idea's. Standing still will get you nowhere. If your finding that you out of idea's or not moving forward. Work on something else. Study heavy metal, or jazz, or classical guitar. try out new techniques even if you don't enjoy the stlyes of music their used in. When you return to your standard style you'll find your playing to be better all around, and you'll find ways to incorporate your neww "tricks" into your regular style.
5. have fun, because that's what it's all about.
This article is aimed more at the newer younger players, as they tend to be less set in their ways than most (but not all) experienced players. Of course anybody who wishes to step it up a notch can take something away from this.
First and Foremost: mindset is everything. If you think to yourself "I can't do that" you never will.
It's all about how you think. Most people's limitations are mental, not physical. Of course you do have physical limitations (i.e. "my fingers are not strong enough to do that") but these can be overcome through training. It is harder to retrain your brain. If you want to be a great guitar player you have to fully believe that you can. One of the truest statements I've ever heard regaring this idea is as follows
"regular guitar players practice to get it right, great guitar players practice to never get it wrong."
think about it, think about yourself. How do you think when your practicing, do you just want to be able to play the lick on a good day, or do you want to be able to play the lick flawlessly suspended upside down over a lake of fire with a dagger through your chest.
it might sound funny, but when your on stage there are distractions. Bright flashing lights that suddenly plummet into darkness, sound issues, good looking women shaking their hips and bouncing up and down in front of you. these things go on, and you have to be able to play through them perfectly every time, with the flu. you can and will be able to do this but you have to believe that you can before you ever will.
Okay, moving on to actual advice on playing.
Let's talk about practice routines and idea's.
The most important thing is obviously to keep practicing and keep moving forward, but it's important to discuss how you practice and what your routine is. This will vary depending on what your trying to achive but the basic idea's are the same.
1. Don't play in pain. Practicing new techniques take a toll on you physically, a bit of muscular soreness is to be expected, but don't push it, playing in pain is not going to make you any better, it could have serious effects down the line. Besides that, if your muscles are pushed to far they will lock up and cramp on you and you wont be able to play at all.
2. slow down. playing fast is fun, we all want to be able to fly through scales like Jerry. However, practice everything at speed only leads to sloppy playing. no matter how quickly your moving you want every note to be distinct and clean. Here a few tips on practicing speed playing:
a. get a metronome, if you don't want to buy one you can download a digital one for free.
b. keep a note book and log your progress for each practice session, this will help you note your progress and define problem area's in your playing.
c. figure out what your maximum clean speed on whatever lick your practicing, mark it in you book, spend your next few practice sessions playing the lick at 50 to 60% of you max speed, this will help develop muscle memory. It will also help you to develop a cleaner more precice tone. after practicing a few times this way step up to 80% and practice it like this for a few days. by the time your practicing at your initial max speed, you actual max speed will be much higher. So then you figure out what your new max speed is, and repeat the process. This will undoubtedly lead to percis acurate speed playing
3. less is more. I'm not talking about the music your playing, I'm talking about the hand movements while your playing it. When you watch great players it never seems like their doing much. This is because they took the time to analyze everything they do to find the best way to do it. Different picking techniques can completely reinvent the way you move your right hand, alternate picking is the standard, but often times alternate picking takes alot more work that other styles such as economy picking which can allow you to play the exact same note patern with only half the right handed movements. Study what your hands are doing and it will allow you to pick out problem areas within your playing. Mark this down in your practice log, that way everytime you start to practice you'll have note on what you need to do and nothing will be skipped over from session to session.
4. play and learn techniques outside you style. Studying one style of playing will often lead to a plateau in your playing and idea's. Standing still will get you nowhere. If your finding that you out of idea's or not moving forward. Work on something else. Study heavy metal, or jazz, or classical guitar. try out new techniques even if you don't enjoy the stlyes of music their used in. When you return to your standard style you'll find your playing to be better all around, and you'll find ways to incorporate your neww "tricks" into your regular style.
5. have fun, because that's what it's all about.
do what now?
<a href="myspace.com/spillymcgeemusic">Feel Free, Freak Freely</a>
<a href="myspace.com/spillymcgeemusic">Feel Free, Freak Freely</a>
) that the Band Fennario records their gigs this way.
