If you’re just learning guitar, getting started with playing solos might seem daunting. It’s a big change to go from strumming chords to your favorite songs, to playing lead lines. The best thing is to start out easy, but not too easy. The more you challenge yourself, the better a guitarist you’ll become. Just remember to take everything in bite size chunks as you’re learning. To help you get started with solos, I’m recommending a couple that I’d learn if I was just getting started - one from three different genres. The feeling of learning and playing lead is amazing. Let’s get into it.
I’ve observed hundreds of guitarists over the years from all different skill levels, and the ones who are making a lot of progress often share a lot of the same traits - they have a plan when they sit down to practice, they know the people to go to when they’re facing a hurdle in their playing, and they’re endlessly curious about guitar and music in general.
But outside of all of that, there’s one habit I’ve seen that all of my favorite guitarists have - they practice active listening.
Reading lots of books and practicing what’s inside of them is one of the quickest ways to become a better musician. You get the author’s years and years of knowledge, and for what books typically cost, that’s a crazy good value. You know what’s even better? When I’m giving a guitar book away each month!
Today’s new video focuses on 3 easy finger exercises every guitarist can incorporate into their practice schedule. You can also use these while warming up before a gig! If you practice these for just 5 minutes a day, you’ll notice better flexibility, better hand strength, and the ability to tackle trickier musical situations, without fatiguing your hand.
40 exercises done, 10 to go. If I keep working at the rate I did tonight, look for it on sale Monday. 😁✌🏻🎸 https://t.co/yzKPH8vI75
— Chasing Sound (@ChasingSound) May 17, 2018
Every once in a while I find some really amazingly well designed webpages. This time, I found one that has to do with tuning your guitar. If you're brand new to the guitar, or just want to check out an awesome website, you can click the title of this post!
Fundamental Changes makes some of my favorite guitar books on the planet. They're always informative, chock full of cool riffs, and have great teachers doing the writing.
In addition to their books, they also have a great website full of lessons. If you don't know how to read music, you should check out this post which is very helpful in getting started.
