Archive for the ‘Motivation’ Category

Every now and then I’m on the look out for new handy tools online that makes the life of a guitar player easier, more efficient, effective and more comfortable.

Guitar playing and the stuff that comes with it like backing up your audiofiles, writing down your lyrics and music becomes even more enjoyable if you got the right tools for the job.

Or some nice blues backingtracks to improvise over. It makes practicing a hell of a lot more fun.

Let’s take a look at these guitar productivity tools:

- Blanksheetmusic.net Notation sheets for every instrument and vocals

- www.guitarvoice.com Awesome guitar backingtracks. Search by artist, random or genre.

- Crashplan.com Unlimited Online backup storage for all your precious audio files and everything else for only $3 a month

- Audio.online-convert.com Online audio/video/ebook converter

- Mflow is a really good sounding/looking Online Social Music Streaming Tool next to Spotify, Last.fm and Grooveshark

- Audio speed tempo pitch changer (reducing audiospeed while remaining pitch and vice versa)
for Windows: Windows Media Player 12
for Mac: Audiolobe

- Masterwriter.com Songwriter tool used by famous artists and producers including Rob Thomas and David Foster.

- The 150 Essential Chords Ebook I would be a fool not to recommend my own 150 Essential Chord Ebook. A good organized, categorized and easy to read chord book with a nice layout. Free to download.

- Reading sheet music:
A short version:www.musictheory.net
An extended version: www.readsheetmusic.info

- More Tools 21-must-have-online-musician-tools-for-guitar-players

If you know some cool guitar productivity tools, please share it in the comments.

I appreciate it.
Klaus

Photo by Jimi Glide

Working on increasing your picking speed is not just for the hell fire speed guru wannabe’s.

Once your speed increases your whole style of playing loosens up. Your fingers will feel light and flexible and you’ll gain more freedom in your playing.

Your fingers will float easily across the strings without trying so hard. It’s an important skill to work on and to maintain.

Increasing your picking speed comes with obstacles, victories, ups and downs, lots of patience and hard work. It’s all about practicing and equally important “the right way of practicing”. Just practicing a lot of hours doesn’t necessarily increase your picking speed if you don’t do it the right way.

Every individual has it’s own specific hurdles to overcome, but if you focus on these tips you are already off to a great start.

You can do it too!
Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Ashley Webb
When you learn to play guitar there are moments when you’ll feel insecure or frustrated about your playing one way or another.

You might doubt if your ever gonna learn a particular piece as well as you would like to. You may feel hopeless about your technique or you might be disappointed about your overall results.

I had many doubts, I guess I was as much insecure about my playing as I was confident.

One way I overcame most of these insecurities is when I started reading and learning about how the mind works. The wisdom obtained from Zen and Taoism can make a huge difference in your playing. The other way to find solid self asteem has to do with how you practice.

Let ‘s take a look at the keys to becoming a true confident guitar player:

As you are so is the world ~ Ramana Maharshi

What does this quote teach you about guitar playing? Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by John W. Tuggle
Guitar players (beginners and intermediate) ask me from time to time which songs they really should know how to play on the guitar.

Sure there are a lot of songs you can mention but there are always certain songs that stand out from the rest and which most guitar players want to know how to play when they start out.

I still know how great it felt and what a victory it was when I could play “Sweet child o’ mine” and “More than words” for the first time. The golden days of learning your classics you will never forget.

To give you an idea of what guitar songs have really made a name for itself I put together a list with 20 guitar classics with help and many thanks of guitar players on twitter and in real life.

I appreciate every song you want to add to this list. I know the list is far from complete and not each and every song may suit your taste, but it’s here to give you some inspiration. You might want to learn to play some great classics that have made musical history.

Here they are:

1 Hotel California – The Eagles

2 Nothing else matters – Metallica

3 More than words – Extreme

4 Wonderwall – Oasis Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Rafael Martinez

Today is your day to feel good my fellow musician.

Of course we all know how to feel good, but sometimes you just need some reminders or fresh ideas and go like.. Oh yeah!

So let’s get out of that chair and start feeling good today. Let’s make some positive changes that will make this day a great one.

In my daily life feeling good is my number one priority.

I wanna feel good as much as possible. It makes me get things done.

Getting things done will in return make me feel good. It reinforces creativity, inspiration and boosts my musical productivity.

I really get into the flow of things like writing songs and improving my guitar playing.

Life is too short to get in or stay in a slump. If you don’t like things fix it or change it.

Never forget to take care of yourself. If you are not happy you can’t make others happy.

So do everyone a favor and start feeling good today.

Think positive thoughts and you’ll attract more positive things.

Like buddha said: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.”

Let’s get you started: Read the rest of this entry »

Photo by Robert Bejil
Practicing is the whole key to becoming a good guitar player, but a good practice workout is not just about playing songs, riffs and solos.

It consists of some important elements.

Of course like a lot of guitar players I also started out practicing songs, riffs and licks of my favorite guitar heros, it’s why I started learning guitar in the first place.

But to let your skills and creativity reach it’s full potential there is a lot more to learn.

It doesn’t matter whether you play rock, country, jazz, blues or classical guitar, practicing all the aspects below on a regular basis will motivate you and make you grow into a good skilled guitar player.

Be sure the include every aspect into your overall workout. You don’t necessarily need to put everything in one workout, but spread out over a day or week.

You’ll benefit for the rest of your guitar playing life! Read the rest of this entry »