GUITARHABITS

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Give Your Kids the Gift of Music

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March 29, 2021 by Klaus Crow

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If your kids show any interest in playing an instrument, then I can’t tell you enough to encourage them to go for it.

You probably have no idea how much of a difference you’ll be making in their lives by letting them explore and develop a talent that will do more for them than you think.

Playing the Guitar Changed My Life
When I first picked up a guitar in the seventh grade, little did I know that my life would never be the same.

My Dad was a guitarist and he couldn’t wait until his son got old enough for him to jam with. He bought me my first real guitar for Christmas: A sweet blood-red Peavey electric bass. It was a great beginner bass guitar that played just as smooth as anything twice its cost. Plus it sounded twice as great too.

It was only a few months of practicing before I was in high school and the my guitar playing really changed my life. When you’re young, you seek out other people who are like you. So naturally I became friends with pretty much any other musician I could find. Before long my evenings and weekends were filled with more band practices and good times than I would have ever predicted. Everywhere I went, we all went as a group.

At a time when most other teenagers were being loners or just plain awkward, being in a band gave me the opportunity to hit the stage at the local talent shows, dances, and other hot spots around town. And with every performance I became more and more adventurous about performing live in public and meeting other people.Continue Reading

The Eight Amazing Spider Exercises for Dexterity

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May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

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The spider exercises are one of my favorites. The spider is a cross string picking exercise that is designed to develop dexterity in both hands.

If you’re having trouble with either your right hand or left hand coordination and you want to see real improvement then these are the perfect exercises.

Do you think your hand coordination is superb then try the exercises below to confirm your assumptions or go back to your room to practice some more. :)

Depending on your skills the spider is not exactly for the faint hearted. It can be quite challenging but careful once you get the hang of it, it’s a really addicting exercise that won’t get rid of you.

How to practice
Start out slow, real slow and play through each exercise a couple of times until it feels comfortable. Once you can play the exercises slowly without faltering try playing along with a metronome. Again begin real slowly and gradually increase the tempo of the metronome.

Pay attention to the quality of the exercise. Make sure all the notes sound clean and clear. Apply alternate picking technique with your right hand (down,up,down,up).

Focus fully on the exercise. Observe your left and right hand while playing and see if there’s anything that needs to be corrected or improved. The slightest change can make a huge difference.Continue Reading

The Importance and Value of Learning Lead Guitar Solos

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May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

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When I first started playing electric guitar (4 years after I picked up the acoustic guitar) all I wanted to do is learn those almighty guitar solos of Slash, Nuno Bettencourt, Joe Satriani, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Scott Henderson, Marty Friedman, Kirk Hammet, Dimebag Darrel and other great legends.

It was the best thing ever. Unawarely I built my guitar vocabulary like that.

After a while fellow musicians, guitar teachers and guitar players from around town that I looked up to were advising me to develop my own style and learn to improvise. It was the obvious next step to becoming a better guitar player.

I practiced scales, sequences, licks, arpeggios, intervals, just about anything I could get my hands on and continued to work on my improvisation skills. Freedom on the fretboard at last.

Then I started playing in bands doing covers, creating and performing my own music. Playing some more and more and more. Time went by and I gained a lot of gigging experience, developed my own style, learned a lot of new things, but on the other side I also stopped building and expanding my guitar vocabulary.

Years later I got back into transcribing and practicing solos by other guitar heros that found my interest. It was refreshing, inspiring and opened up new worlds. It took my soloing to other places and improved my playing once again.

To gain input and keep educating yourself you got to keep practicing, studying and memorizing guitar solos regularly. It’s like reading a new book or watching a brilliant movie to fuel your inspiration.

Besides that there are also other important reasons and benefits to learning lead guitar solos.

Check them out:Continue Reading

How to Build an Awesome Repertoire

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May 14, 2019 by Klaus Crow

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Building, learning and mastering a repertoire is part of being a musician. It’s your chance to show who you are as a musician.

It’s a great feeling to be prepared and feel confident whenever someone asks you to play something, to perform spontaneously in front an audience because you know you can or just to be able to play a bunch of songs when you’re relaxing at home, on the beach, on a holiday or when you’re hanging out with family and friends without having to rely on your sheet music.

You will feel free and liberated.

Building a repertoire when you’re playing in a band can be a fun challenge too.

Depending on the number of musicians, what kind of musicians and instruments in the band (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, male vocal, female vocal, bass, drummer, keyboard, trumpet, violin, cello, accordeon, steel guitar, etc.) they will definitely influence the choice of songs and the styles you pick for your repertoire.

For every instrument so many ideas come to mind. Such a pleasure :)

So how do you go about building your own repertoire?

Let’s take a closer look.

Picking the right songs
Take out a paper and pencil or a laptop if you prefer. Choose songs you love and songs that are appealing to the audience. It’s likely that the songs you choose will remain on your repertoire for quite a while so choose wisely. If you’re playing covers and you want to play songs that do well by a large number of people then songs by the Beatles or Eagles or always a good pick. Of course it also depends on the style of music you play, the average age of your audience and where your show is located. Continue Reading