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.

How many YouTube thumbnails have you seen, with guitarists talking about how to get out of a rut?  There’s a dead simple fix for getting out of one, and it comes down to two things - you’re sitting down and noodling every time you play guitar, or you’re playing the same things over and over again. I only say this, because I’ve been there myself and have had to snap out of it.

Let’s just get this out of the way - of course I’m not a doctor, I just play one on the internet. And while I’m not a doctor, I can tell you that guitar has had a profound effect on my life. Playing guitar can lead to all sorts of benefits you might not have even thought about. Search online and you’ll see many scientific studies linked to happiness, improved memory, a sharper mind, and much more.

If you’ve been playing guitar for a couple of years and finally feel like you’re moving into a more intermediate level, you’ll often hit a plateau. It’s common to not know what to work on next, or to even have some gaps in your knowledge. Here are 3 books that’ll help you progress as an intermediate guitarist.

As a guitarist, the major scale is our key to unlocking all sorts of ideas in music. You can think of it like your guiding light. Here are three key reasons why the major scale is crucial for guitarists.

YouTube is a treasure trove of information for guitarists, but like having a good guitar teacher, it helps to know where to spend your time, so you can get the most out of binging guitar content.

The three guitarists below have inspired my own playing, teaching and YouTube channel.

One of the number one things I like to do is be a hype man for my students. After teaching for a couple of decades, I’ve seen people go from not being able to play a simple G chord, to writing their own songs. The only reason I have so much confidence in telling them they can learn anything they want, is because I’ve witnessed myself in my own playing and in others time and time again.