Don’t even think about practicing your guitar without having a pad and pencil handy (or pen, if you prefer). The pad/pen complement the digital timer I suggested in Guitar Practice Tip: Use a Countdown Timer. See my post, How to Practice Guitar With a Metronome.First, I like to use a mechanical pencil, with a decent eraser. One … Read more
The ideal place to buy a guitar is at a local music store or guitar shop. This ideal music store will have a good selection of guitars for sale, at a fair price, with a knowledgeable sales staff, and an on-site guitar technician. Depending on where you live, you might just find such a music … Read more
I recently submitted a Youtube video to an online Blues contest — called the Blue Noize contest — hosted by one of the heavyweights of the guitar blogosphere, Guitar Noize. The challenge was to create a solo over a blues backing track provided by the organizers and submit it to Youtube to be judged by a panel of musicians. Since … Read more
In their quest to guitar mastery, many players will hit a point where they wish they had started playing earlier. How often have you heard someone mutter something along the lines of, “If I had only started playing when I was 8, I would have been so much better than I am now!”. Perhaps you … Read more
A great jam session is one of the best things in the world, in my humble opinion. A great jam session in which you take an active part is an even better thing in the world. You know that feeling; you’re playing something previously unrehearsed with other musicians, and the whole song just flows. It is like … Read more
You may be wearing one of the most effective guitar-practice tools on your wrist — a digital watch with a countdown timer. If you don’t have a countdown timer on your watch get yourself a digital kitchen timer. I bought a kitchen timer for about $7 at Target. Mine has a magnet and I can … Read more
Why do you want to play guitar? What do you want to get out of your guitar playing? Why practice? — to master a new tune? to learn to sight-read? to get faster? to pass the audition? Even if you don’t realize it we all practice to achieve some guitar-playing goal. To get the most out … Read more
Many players are unsure how they should be holding the guitar. Others simply haven’t given it much thought. Bad habits will hold back your playing, make it unnecessarily difficult for them to play the guitar, or will cause awkwardness or discomfort, and can even contribute to strain and injury. Good habits will improve your playing, … Read more
One of the most daunting and potentially expensive things that people learning electric guitar often have to deal with is buying their first electric guitar.If your dad or your roommate or somebody has a guitar and they’re happy to let you use it, then lucky you. You’ve dodged a bullet man; just keep playing that … Read more
When you first learn guitar, there is an entire vocabulary of brand new words you come across. Here are some of the most basic of them explained:Parts of the guitarNeckThis is a guitar neckThe neck is the “middle” of the guitar, with one end attached to the body, and one end attached to the headstock. … Read more