Advanced Archives - GUITARHABITS

How To Enjoy Your Guitar Practice The Most

October 5, 2017 By Klaus Crow Leave a Comment

There are times when practicing is a joy and everything falls into place, but there are also times we need to discipline ourselves to practice or we need the right motivation to start practicing in the first place. This is normal, we are only human beings. Don’t beat yourself up about it.

Once you’ve gone through a couple of solid guitar practice sessions you’re back in the saddle and you’ll feel the love and desire again to practice and improve yourself.

Today we’re going to give you the tools to make practicing enjoyable again when the going gets tough.

Let’s dive in!

1 – Reward yourself, set a fixed time
You’re a guitar player now so you need a fixed time to practice. Plan 30 or 60 minutes on your calendar (and don’t let anything undermine that). You don’t always have to plan a full hour, but if you can manage to do that once or twice a week you will really get into the groove.

Having set a fixed time means you have prioritised your practice and given yourself a chance to really enjoy playing your guitar. You deserve it. Don’t let the trivialities of life stand in the way. Reward yourself, you only live once!

2 – Get excited again
Why did you want to learn to play guitar in the first place? What is it that intrigued you about guitar playing? When did or do you love practicing the most? What song, solo, riff, guitar hero or dream goal makes you want to pick up your guitar? What can you do to make guitar playing exciting again? Find your spark in practice and implement it!
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New Website: YourGuitarChords

September 21, 2017 By Klaus Crow 16 Comments

Also known as C chord – C major chord

Today I’m happy to announce the launching of my new website YourGuitarChords.com

YourGuitarChords is a simple, clear and Easy-To-Use website that focuses on the most essential chords you need to know to build your chord vocabulary!

Each chord is shown in 5 different positions using the most practical, common used and best sounding chord shapes.

Whether you need simple easy chords for beginners or more challenging blues rock & jazz chords, it’s all there. And the best thing is, it’s free. :)

Let’s take a look how the website works:

Easy Navigation
The website has a top menu displaying all keys for every chord. Scroll over a key and you will see two submenus for major and minor chords. Click or scroll over these submenus to see all chord types. Chords with an arrow-down icon have an extra submenu with more related chord types.

The Chords
When you choose a chord in the menu it will appear BIG on the screen. This will give you a clear view for every chord. For each chord you can choose five different chord shapes / variations. These are shown below the main chord.

Each of the five chord shapes are played in a different position on the neck. Each time you click on one of the smaller chords it will be shown Big, Plain, Simple and Clear.

Fret Numbers
A green number next to the chord diagram indicates the fret number. For example, a “5” next to the chord diagram means that specific fret is the 5th fret on the neck. The fret below that is the 6th fret and so on.

How to Read
If you don’t know how to read a chord diagram there’s a link in the right sidebar on the website How to Read a Chord Diagram and other chord notation

YGC Help Kit
The sidebar on the right shows several posts that will help you out on your journey learning new chords.

The Essentials
I have chosen to build a website that doesn’t have a zillion chord types (which most of them you will never use), but one that contains only the most essential chords that you’ll need for the songs you want to learn, chords with beautiful sounds that will inspire you to play, practice, study and create your own music.

Updates
I will continue to update the website with more essential chords along the way and of course you’ll be the first to know. This website is build for you “The eager student”.

I hope you like YourGuitarChords and may it be a valuable tool to improve your guitar playing.

Enjoy!
YOURGUITARCHORDS.COM

Let me know what you think about the website in the comments below. I appreciate it.

Warm regards,
Klaus Crow

7 Unknown Ways To Get The Best Guitar Tone

September 14, 2017 By Klaus Crow 2 Comments

How you can get the best guitar tone? Many amateur guitarists are always pondering about this question. After all, getting the best out of your rig is necessary. It will allow you to play different songs in any given genre. It would also amplify or highlight your skills as a guitarist.

Considering these facts, it is undeniable anymore that listening to a smooth and refined tone is a satisfying experience. Of course, it is not true that only high-end guitars can achieve this finesse. Even entry level guitars can provide such performance. As long as you know the prerequisites for it, getting a good tone should not be a problem.

If you are quite curious that procedures, you might want to read this entire article. In the next section, I will be showing you some unknown but foolproof ways to improve and harness the tone of your guitar. Let’s get started!

#1: Taking Advantage of the Volume Control
There is nothing that I really need to teach you about the volume knob a guitar. As straightforward as it is, this dial can change the overall volume level of your rig. However, you can also use this knob to unleash the best tone out of your instrument.
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11 Ways To Skyrocket Your Guitar Playing!

August 3, 2017 By Klaus Crow 4 Comments

Somewhere down the road in your guitar learning journey there’s a chance your playing gets stuck in a rut. You might play the same things over and over and find it hard to get out of that vicious circle. You need a boost and get outside of that box. So how do you do that? How do you get passed that bridge and get to the next level?

Today we got 11 ways to get you out of that rut, juice up your skills and skyrocket your playing.

Let’s take off!

1 – Get the right tools for the job
First, make sure you’re playing the right guitar. Some musicians stick with a guitar just because…. But playing the right guitar is not to be underestimated. Your appreciation for a guitar is a personal thing. Your personality, your taste and style of playing needs to resonate with a guitar. That’s no bull. The way a guitar feels, sounds and fits is really important. The right guitar can motivate and boost your playing enormously.

We all have different preferences and specific needs for a particular guitar type (classical, acoustic or electric), body shape (Acoustic: Dreadnought, Grand Auditorium, Orchestra Model, Jumbo, etc. or Electric: Fender Stratocaster, Telecaster, Superstrat, Gibson Les Paul, Gibson SG, etc.), neck shape/width, string gauges, and so on. You need a guitar that feels right against your body, right in your arms, hands, fingers and one that fits your frame.

Adjusting the action of your guitar can also make a huge difference to your playing. “Action” is simply how close the strings are to the fretboard. A lower action can make your guitar a lot more comfortable and fun to play. Be careful, a very low action can cause fret buzz, so make sure it is done correctly.
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