Whats the most important thing about playing guitar

Playing guitar includes lots and lots of different skills and techniques.. It includes speed, maintaining the groove, playing in rhythm, maintain a good dynamics, understanding the musical theory and be a good composer and improviser. But what is the most important out of all? Well if you ask me I would say it is maintaining the groove/tempo and playing in rhythm. You can be the fastest guitar player or great improviser but if you can't maintain the groove it will never sound that pro and your audience will never be able to feel your music to the extent you want them to. So your first priority would be to get the groove going and this is something that you should practice from day one.

You should always practice with the metronome. Playing with metronome can be quite boring at times. You can try the drums presets. There are many computer software out there where you can choose the type of beat and control the tempo. You can also practice playing along with different songs.

One advice that I always give to my students is to learn maintaining the groove by tapping the foot while playing a certain tune. It can be a little tricky at first specially while playing some difficult tunes. But soon you will get used to it. And your playing will be a lot tighter than before. You can also try bobbing your head instead of tapping your foot or you can try them both together.

You need to work on all the other skills but this should get the highest priority. This one skill makes the biggest difference between an amateur guitar player and a professional one.

Is covering other's songs is a good way of learning?

I find this a very controversial topic. In one hand covering others songs is definitely a good thing since one can learn lots of new techniques and ideas. But that's just the good part and many teachers or music students will only look at the good things that come with covering others songs. But let's talk about the negative aspects of covering songs.

I personally think that covering others songs can kill or to some extent ruin ones creativity. Suppose you are a big fan of slash and you have covered all his songs, studied his compositional ideas. Trust me, consciously or subconsciously this will impact your creativity and your style of music. It will be highly influenced by slash, even if you are not consciously trying to copy him. There is only one Slash, so your music will always be titled as slash influenced and it will never get its unique identity.

On the other hand if you minimize covering other songs and try to develop your own ideas, own skills, techniques that you need for your music then in the long run you will create a style of yours that many people will admire and perhaps try to incorporate in their playing. I think that's the ultimate goal of any musician. To be able to create something that's unique and that will live for a long time. So yes I stand against covering songs as a mean of learning guitar or any instrument as a matter of fact if you are willing to be a composer and performer. But if your goal is solely to be a performer then that's something that you must do.

Three important things you need to do to improve your playing

Playing guitar looks pretty easy at a rock concert or on a DVD...
  the truth is, like everything else in life that's worthwhile
  achieving you have to work for it.

  With guitar playing five minutes thought is much better than five
  hours haphazard practice!

  The important thing is to have a checklist of things you want to
  achieve with your guitar playing, I've included three of the most
  important things to consider.


  Tip 1 -- Set Goals

  Start by defining your target...

  * What songs do you want to play?

  * Who is your favorite guitar player?

  * What style of music do you want to play?

  * Do you want to be a member of a band or play solo? etc ...

  By being specific about your musical goals, you will move towards
  these goals much quicker than if you only had some vague
  intention of becoming a guitar player.

  Let's take these general goals and make them even more focused.

  (a) What songs do you want to play? --

  * Write down the title of five songs you want to play.

  * Do you want to play the rhythm guitar or lead guitar parts?

  * What is your time frame for learning each song? etc ...


  (b) Who is your favorite guitar player? --

  * Write down the name of your favorite guitarist.

  * Listen carefully to some recordings of this guitarist, even the
  very best guitarists start to repeat themselves after about
  twenty minutes, what you are listening for is certain "trademark"
  techniques your favorite player uses.,Those will be the specific techniques
  to work on.


  Tip 2 -- Practice Sessions

  Now that you know what it is that you want to achieve, we need to
  set up a practice program that will guarantee the desired
  results.

  * Is your practice material organized?

  * Remove all distractions from your practice room!

  * What is the best time to practice for you?

  * Do you have good full spectrum lighting?

  * Do you have a music stand?

   etc ...


  OK, let's drill down deeper and be more specific with these
  practice headings


  (a) Is your practice material organized?

  * Is your guitar on a guitar stand, tuned and ready for action?

  * Are all of your practice, CD's, music books, DVD etc., within
  easy reach?

  * Do you have a list of what today's practice session objective?



  (b) Remove all distractions from your practice room!

  * Is your mobile phone switched off?

  * Identify and eliminate sounds (TV, radio, fridge motor etc.,)
  that are distracting you.

  * Be certain to only have one project (the project you have
  decided to work on this particular session) on your music stand
  at all times.

  etc ...


  Tip 3 -- Data or motor skills

  Determine if your need to work on data skills (new concepts,
  theoretical information etc.,) of motor skills (physical
  repetition of material already learned).


   If you have a system of learning and review your checklist every
  weekly to be certain you are "on-track" you will notice a
  constant improvement in your guitar playing.

9 damaging mistake guitar players always make

By Tom Hess


Do you know how some guitar players practice most days of the week, work hard, and are passionate about their guitar playing, but they always struggle to be able to play guitar the way they want? They are frustrated because they don’t improve fast enough, begin doubting their guitar playing potential, or even feel discouraged or angry with themselves when thinking about how long it is taking them to become a better guitar player. 


Can you relate to that? I sure can, I just described myself 15 years ago.


There are specific reasons why guitar players go through such frustration and disappointment. Here are 11 key mistakes guitar players make and repeat over and over again that you should definitely avoid.


1.Teaching Yourself To Play Guitar. Many people attempt to teach themselves how to play guitar. Yes, it’s true that some well known players were ‘somewhat’ self taught, but I do not suggest following that strategy even if your favorite player was self taught.  If you are 100% sure that you can build powerfully effective learning and training systems on your own, that's great. However, if you are like most of us, doing it alone is the hardest, most time-consuming, stressful, and frustrating way to learn anything. This is a mistake that you should avoid.  Some guitar players think it will impress others if they say, "I am a self taught guitar player". That statement might impress a few inexperienced people, but being self taught is not a 'badge of honor'. Would you rather impress others with your guitar playing or with an unimportant  statement about your guitar playing? I'm not criticizing self taught guitar players, I'm only saying that there is no advantage to being self taught… and no, it is not true that being 'self taught' makes us more 'original'. In fact, the opposite is usually true.

2.Taking Guitar Lessons From Ineffective Guitar Teachers. Unfortunately, most electric guitar teachers receive ZEROtraining on how to teach guitar. What is worse is that the vast majority of teachers do little or nothing to improve their guitar teaching skills. Want some proof? Use google’s keyword tool . Type in this keyword phrase: ‘improve guitar teaching skills’, ‘guitar teaching skills’, or ‘guitar teaching training’ and you will find that less than 10 searches per month are done for these topics at google!  Of course there are some highly effective electric guitar teachers around, but there are a whole lot more ineffective teachers. 
3.Seeking New Guitar Information (tricks, tips, tab) Without A Proven Strategy To Reach Your Specific Musical Goals.  We need information, advice, help and music to play, but without a proven strategic learning and training process that is specific to you, your skill level, your musical style and what you want to be able to do as a guitar player, information won’t get you where you want to go. It is better to first seek help in developing a customized strategy for you to become a better guitar player. After that strategy is in place, then it is time to deal with learning the right information.
4.Not Knowing Specifically What You Want To Be Able To Play. Most guitar players are not specific enough when they think about (or tell others about) what they want to be able to do with their guitar. To say, "I want to play whatever I wish to play”is too vague. How can you (or your guitar teacher) develop a specific and effective guitar training strategy unless the goals you have are specific? It's like saying you want to be a great athlete, how can you effectively train with such a vague goal? Sure there are things you can do to become faster, stronger, more flexible or whatever, but it's much easier if you first get specific such as, I want to train to be a gymnast, or a long distance runner, or a body builder. Yes you can still improve without a strategy, but it will take a lot longer and be much more frustrating.  You can always change your goal later if you discover you want to do something else instead.
5.Not Enough Focus On Things That Matter Most To Making You A Better Guitar Player. Have you fallen into the trap of practicing guitar without focusing on the specific things that can quickly begin to improve your guitar playing? Many people really do not understand and apply this concept in enough detail…. for example, I have a student named Mark who used to take lessons from another teacher in the past. Mark was studying sweep picking arpeggios with his previous teacher, and was making some progress. However Mark did not understand what ‘specific’ things he needed to focus on first before attempting to master the sweep picking arpeggios he was practicing. This was holding him back and making him feel very frustrated.  Mark’s previous teacher only knew how to ‘teach’ arpeggios and general sweep picking concepts. He did not really know how to “train” Mark with the specific things to focus on and how to overcome the challenges Mark was having.
6.Too Much Focus On Things That Are Not Core To Your Goals. In addition to not focusing on specific things, many guitar players focus on the ‘wrong things’.  Some enthusiastic guitar players become temporarily obsessed with things which are distractions from other things that could be helping their guitar playing much more. Here is an example: I used to get so frustrated and angry when I could not play something perfectly, I’d lock myself in my guitar practice room and say, “I’m not coming out of this room until I master this damn lick if it takes me the next 19 hours! No breaks! No food! No human contact! I’m gonna nail this!”  And I did master it.  On the surface, it might seem like I was on the right track and practicing in a good way…. But in reality, I was spending my time only to stop being angry and frustrated. I was not investing my guitar practice time wisely by focusing on the things that mattered most to making a better guitar player. In other words, my perseverance was commendable, but my strategy to master important long-term goals was weak. I allowed myself to be distracted. I don’t make this same mistake anymore, and I urge you to also avoid it! Focus on the things that really matter for your guitar playing right now. If you are not sure how to do this, seek out a proven guitar teacher today.
7.Focusing On The Right Things, But in The Wrong Order. This is a common mistake that even many advanced guitar players make which causes a lot of wasted time and frustration. Imagine you want to improve your ability to create your own cool guitar solos. Let’s assume that you are advanced enough to truly understand all the primary and secondary elements of composing guitar solos (or you have a guitar teacher to help you). Each of the many elements need to be learned and/or practiced in order to easily create awesome solos that you like. Where should you begin? What should you focus on first, second, third? Which of these things should you practice simultaneously? There is always a specific order in which musical skills should be learned and mastered in order to EXPLODE your musical skills. Unfortunately, that order is totally different for every person, style of music, musical goal, skill set and knowledge, so giving an example here would be pointless. My advice, find the best teacher you can and study with him/her in order to be able to do what you want to do with your guitar much faster and easier.
8. Not Isolating Problem Areas. Few guitar players are aware of the small things that hold them back in big ways. Because these little imperfections seem insignificant to us, we often ignore them. The truth is, small hinges open big doors.  In the video mentioned above I explained how allowing your guitar pick to lose its momentum when you are ‘not picking’ a note on the guitar makes your playing slow and sloppy…. which will make you feel very frustrated.  This is why I was sure to make a special point to help you avoid that mistake. For example, before recording a new album I will practice very differently compared to the period before going on tour. Once I’m actually on tour my practice routine changes drastically again. The rest of the year my practicing schedule changes yet again. This happens because in each case my challenges and goals are totally different. When my guitar students ask me, “Tom, how do you practice guitar?” I’m careful not to let my students assume that they should practice the same way that I do. Your practice schedule and strategy needs to be built around YOU and you only!  If you need help building your own practice schedule, email me directly.

9.Learning From Too Many Different Sources Of Information.  There will always be many learning opportunities and various paths to take, but it is critical that you do not get distracted into following a piece of advice from one person, then another piece of advice from another person and then follow more resources from somewhere else and so on and so on... while different people may have some good ideas to offer, the fact is, distraction is a big reason why many guitar players who are actively learning, don't really move forward quickly... these people are always busy following totally different resources, teachers, philosophies, instructional videos, free online guitar lessons, but all of this leads them to take one step forward, then 2 steps to the right, then one step forward, then 3 steps to the left, then one step backward, then two to the right, then 1 step forward and then another step to the left.

Do you really need a guitar teacher?

By Tom Hess

If you really want to learn music well, you will do so much faster with a good guitar teacher. Imagine an 8th grader saying he doesn't need to go to school anymore because he thinks he has already learned what one needs to know in life. Sounds ridiculous right? Well it is, but that is the exact same attitude that many guitar players have about music. Before I go on any further, let me clarify to you that if your goal is to play a few simple songs around the campfire your need for a teacher is not really needed. For those of you who want to reach a higher level of guitar playing than where you currently are, this article is for you. 

Most of us can think of some good guitar players out there who never had a formal music lesson in their life, and yet they still seem to have done quite well for themselves. Many people look at a guitar player like this and think "Hey if that person can succeed on his/her own, why can't I?" It is a valid question, and sure you can learn some things on your own without a guitar teacher. But why take the risk of doing it on your own when it usually doesn't work, when you could find a guitar teacher that can make things work for you? Most people who choose not to work with a teacher either: 

1. Have significant financial problems (that make paying for guitar lessons impossible).
2. Don't care enough about one's own musical progress to invest the time and money in himself/herself.
3. Just doesn't understand how much a great teacher can help a student in more ways than one may have realized.

Most people who don't take guitar lessons fall into the last category. So it is to these people specifically that this article is written for. Let's go over the obvious. Without a good guitar teacher, you may spend hours, days, weeks, months and even years trying to learn things with limited results, when a teacher might be able to show you in as little as a few minutes. Your progress is going to move much more rapidly (and correctly) with a teacher than without one. 

Let's think about other types of people (non musicians) who try hard to make extensive progress in their area of interest. Even the greatest athletes in the world still NEED coaches and trainers so they are able to do their best and improve. I know that some of you are thinking "Hey this is music, not the Olympics or some other type of competition." Of course music shouldn't be about competition against others, but it IS a competition (at least with yourself) if you want to improve your skills and reach your true potential. If you want to reach your own goals and those goals are at a higher level than where you are right now, it's a competition, a challenge, a quest, a journey, or whatever else you want to call it. Think about this, the head coach of a professional football team is not the athlete (in most cases) the players are, but yet, the coaches are more than capable of teaching and coaching the athletes to be the best they can be. Think about the Olympics and the coaches that teach and train the athletes in gymnastics. Those coaches can't do (with their own bodies) half of the things the gymnasts can do with their bodies, and still they are extremely successful in training athletes to compete in the Olympics. It's clear to see the athletes depend on their coaches and trainers heavily. Now you may be thinking that my analogy of athletes and coaches is not applicable to music students and teachers. Music teachers are like conventional teachers in that, they pass along information, knowledge of music theory, aural skills, composition, improvisation, chords, scales, the elements of music, etc. It is somewhat true that you can find some of this information on the internet, but you can also find a lot of wrong and incomplete information there as well! But what about performance practice, work ethics of practicing, physical techniques, finger independence, economy of motion and tension control. These are all things that are almost impossible to learn on your own via the internet.  A trainer/coach/teacher can help you not only learn them, but master them. 

Many self taught guitar players just don't know WHAT they SHOULD be learning. Some do have well defined goals and that is great, but too often guitar players don't understand the best strategies to achieve those goals. It can be extremely frustrating to practice aimlessly and never truly reach those goals, or if they are reached, it may have taken 10 times longer than it should have. Good guitar teachers can spot weaknesses that need improving and bad habits that must be corrected. Many guitar players may be totally unaware of these habits or their very negative affects. More importantly, the guitar players may not know how to correct them. This is exactly what coaches and trainers do for their athletes and that is why these people (trainers and coaches) are so valuable to the sport and are made huge sums of money. 

In addition to the obvious musical benefits that are gained when taking lessons with a teacher (such as learning techniques, theory, songs, etc.), there are even more nonmusical benefits. Many of these nonmusical benefits are worth their weight in gold! When I was a music student taking private lessons in guitar and music composition, there were times when I wasn't able to practice the current lesson materials as much as I needed to for the next lesson. But I knew I had to face my teacher at the next lesson, which gave me more incentive to practice harder and longer to master the previous lesson. Even if I felt like I wasn't learning as much from a specific guitar teacher as I would have liked to, the subliminal pressure of having to practice each lesson was worth the cost of the lessons because it made me a better player by forcing me to strengthen my work ethic. Had I not had a teacher during these times, I probably wouldn't have reached the level I have, at the rate that I did. 

When Mike Walsh and I were music students, he was taking guitar lessons from a jazz guy in college (because shred guitar was not offered at the college) in Chicago and he said to me, "I don't need this guy, I could really do all the things that he has me practice on my own." But we both knew that even though Mike could do these things on his own, he probably wouldn't spend time on that (because he had other musical things to do). Because of his lessons, he had to study these things and it forced him to master those things sooner rather than later. 

Guitar teachers can give you many good opportunities that you might not be able to obtain so easily on your own. Experienced guitar teachers have so many more connections, because they are already in the music business (some more than others) and that can make a big difference in your musical life. Whether you want a successful career in music as a guitar player, guitar teacher, songwriter, studio musician, etc. or just want to do it for fun. I had two guitar teachers in particular whom I had established a very good relationship with over time and that paid off for me in my music career. I can't begin to explain to you here how much I owe much of my own success to them! Much of what I have now would not have been so easily obtainable had I not taken lessons from them for a long time, and developed a very good relationship them. 

After becoming a guitar teacher myself and getting into the industry, I have been able to give many opportunities to my students, many of whom are now professional or at least semi professional musicians. In many cases I was able to help them get their first teaching gig, recording work, music business internships, record, release and sell their own CDs, get better paying gigs, etc. Some of the other guitar teachers who I know personally also have done similar things for some of their students. 

Do you really have to study with a guitar teacher? Well, I'll just add this, there was a period of time when I didn't have a teacher (for about 18 months) in the 1990s and I can tell you that I was just aimlessly drifting along not getting the same results I was when I had a teacher. So I went to college to study music and it changed my musical (and personal) life forever! It was worth everything to me in terms of getting me where I wanted to be musically.

Increasing Guitar playing speed

Are you frustrated with not being able to play guitar as fast as you want?  Do you feel that your lack of guitar speed is limiting your ability to express yourself musically?  Although playing guitar fast is not everyone's most important guitar playing goal, those who do desire greater guitar speed typically want it badly and are often frustrated with their inability to improve fast enough in this area of their guitar playing.  If this describes you, I want to share with you several important insights about building guitar speed that will greatly help you to develop this skill. 

Good news and bad news:

The good news is that the ability to play guitar fast can be developed by virtually anyone who desires it.  Even better, you can directly control the practicing process to make it more effective and achieve your guitar speed goals in a lot less time than it takes an average guitar player. 

The bad news is that most guitarists (those who can't yet play guitar fast) are totally on the wrong track in their approach to mastering this skill.  I see this all the time when starting to work with new guitar students who come to me wanting to improve their guitar playing.  The typical path to increasing one’s guitar speed is usually limited to “starting to practice slowly with a metronome and gradually increasing speed in small increments”.  Such a tactic can be effective early on in the process of learning new guitar exercises, but if you rely on it exclusively to develop your maximum guitar speed it will lead to plateaus and frustration.  Here are a few reasons why:

1. This approach shifts most of your attention on trying to “move your hands/fingers faster”.  However, like the tip of an iceberg, the skill of moving your fingers faster is a tiny, insignificant part of the big picture of what it takes to improve in order to build guitar speed.  The most important elements of guitar speed remain neglected and under practiced with this guitar practice method.  As a result, the practice sessions often turn into a series of impatient attempts to break through a current guitar speed plateau. 

1. There are dozens of different elements that must be trained in order to learn to play guitar fast, including: 2 hand synchronization, picking articulation, tension control, mental processing speed, hand endurance at fast tempos, guitar speed with a single technique vs. guitar speed with integrating a variety of guitar techniques and many more.  Each of these 'guitar speed components' need unique practice strategies in order to be mastered effectively.  Relying exclusively on 'any single' guitar speed practicing strategy (such as the most common one described above) is not going to help you improve all of the guitar technique elements that are needed to build guitar speed. 

Great guitar players who can play guitar fast were able to successfully master all of the above mentioned elements of guitar speed whether they consciously realized it or not.  You need to do the same in order to increase your guitar speed to your maximum speed potential.  

To help you expand and improve upon the conventional approach for building guitar speed, here are several guidelines to follow:

Get specific about what problems you are having with trying to increase your guitar speed. 

Simply saying "I can't play guitar fast" is NOT specific enough.  Being unable to play guitar fast is only a symptom of a more complex problem that usually has several causes.  As you have seen above, the root of your guitar speed limitations can exist in any or all of the specific technical elements that make up the multidimensional skill we call "playing guitar fast".  Knowing exactly what is causing your problem is the first step to solving it.  When you learn exactly what is holding you back, you can focus your guitar practice sessions on the specific problems that needs to be overcome.  Having your guitar playing analyzed by an expert guitar teacher is the fastest way to get this required level of clarity. 

Use a variety of practice strategies for increasing your guitar speed. 

As your guitar playing skill level evolves, so will your specific guitar technique challenges.  Therefore, the practice techniques you use at each stage of your guitar playing must evolve as well in order to be effective.  There is no such thing as 'one' ultimate guitar practice routine for increasing your guitar speed.  Of course there are approaches to practicing guitar that are far more effective than others, but the way you organize your guitar speed training routines should be unique to your specific guitar technique and guitar speed challenges at any given time.  You can see several examples of effective guitar speed building methods that I use with my students in this free mini course on how to play guitar fast.  

Practice integrating your guitar techniques together to avoid sounding like a ‘guitar speed robot’. 

Over the years of teaching hundreds of guitar players to improve their guitar technique (as well as other musical skills), I have found that most guitarists spend very little time applying and integrating their musical skills and guitar techniques in particular.  This results in lack of musical freedom to express yourself completely and fully in any musical context. 

When it comes to increasing your guitar speed, most guitarists typically focus on becoming faster with only one technique at a time.  For example, you may practice your sweep picking for 15 minutes, then move on to 15 minutes of legato, followed by 15 minutes of 2 hand tapping. Although this approach will help you to improve at these techniques in isolation, you also need to specifically practice using all of these techniques 'together' in the same way that you will find these techniques used in real guitar solos.  Neglecting to do this will make your guitar playing sound unnatural and rather 'robotic' as you will struggle to play consistently well with using a variety of guitar techniques at once. 

Although 'guitar speed' is clearly only one out of many musical areas that must be mastered in order to become a truly expressive and creative musician, it is a highly desired skill that most guitar players do not have.  Applying the suggestions above during your guitar practice time as well as studying the free mini course about how to play guitar fast will help you greatly to build as much guitar speed as you desire for your specific guitar playing goals.