GUITARHABITS

Free Quality Guitar Lessons

How to Make Faster Progress On The Guitar

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Photo by mikelao26
I’m always in for finding new ways to make faster progress in different areas on the guitar.

Not so much because I’m in a hurry, but just for the fun of experimenting and see if practicing can be done more efficiently.

If you practice it’s nice to make progress instead of running into the same wall over and over again.

If you are really conscious of your guitar playing you get there much faster than spending a zillion hours of practice without real observation.

Some guitar players feel they get stuck at a certain level, that’s because there is a point where you need to observe and change what you’re doing. That’s when the magic happens.

Let’s take a closer look at the keys to make faster progress:
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8 Steps to Become a Successful Guitar Player + News

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Photo by YouWall

Yes, a beautiful guitar and a great sounding amp will get you fired up. You need songs, melodies, chords, solos, scales, licks, triads, arpeggios, music theory, exercises, skills etc.

But there is more to it than that.

What determines whether you will succeed and become successful as a guitar player is the philosophy and the lifestyle that gives you the insight and motivation to lead you and keep you going into the right direction.

In fact, the latter is even more important than being talented, knowing music theory or playing with descent equipment. Don’t get me wrong having the best of both worlds is a privilege, but these 8 steps are crucial for making it happen.

Let’s get you started:

1 – Name it
Before you can become a successful guitar player you got to know what you want. Do you want to be able to play a particular song really well or do you wanna nail a whole repertoire of 30 songs?

Do you want to become a blues guitar player, a jazz player, a classical guitarist, a singer songwriter, a performer? Do you want to teach, be taught or self taught? Do you want a band, a gig or a record deal? Do you want to be a hell raising fast or melodic lead guitar player or do you prefer to be an awesome rhythm guitar player?

Write it down on a piece of paper. If you’re not sure, then write down what you don’t want and you’ll be close to knowing what you do want. Make a top 3 list of things you want first and then finally choose one thing you want most. Number two and three come later. First focus and what you want the most and start with that.

You have to name it before you can claim it!
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The Two Most Important Scales in Western Music

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Today I’ll show you the two most important scales in western music. The “Major Scale” and the “Pentatonic Scale”. If they are not in your vocubalary yet, be eager to learn. If you know your scales you can learn how to solo, improvise and much more. We’ll start with…

The Major Scale.
The major scale is the mother of all scales, because all the other scales, modes, intervals, chords and harmony in western music can be derived from it. If you want to learn anything about music theory you need to know how to play the major scale.

And why would you want to learn music theory? Because you’ll be much faster in learning to understand everything about guitar playing. Yes you’ll become a better rock, blues, metal, country, jazz guitar player. If you know music theory you know the short cuts to playing and transcribing guitar solos, chord progressions and improvising. It makes the life of a guitar player a lot easier.

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2 Gorgeous Country Guitar Licks

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Now and then I learn some new country licks and incorporate them into my playing. Country licks always sound so fresh and uplifting. It’s really nice to have a couple of these under your belt.

Video Lesson

 

2 Gorgeous Country Guitar Licks

Today I’ll show you two gorgeous country guitar licks in the video lesson above. You can find the tablature in the post below. You can play the licks slow or fast, they sound great either way.

Sometimes I use these kind of licks at the end of a song. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a country song. It can be a folk song or anything that has the same vibe as long as it sounds good to your ears.

Country guitar players often use a technique called the hybrid picking technique that involves picking with a pick and one or more fingers alternately or simultaneously.

I won’t be using the hybrid picking technique today, but I will play the licks with just a pick.

If you want to dive deeper into this style of playing then check out some these country guitar virtuosos:
Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Ray Flacke and Jerry Reed. They are the masters of country guitar.

Have fun ya’ll!

Tablature 


COUNTRY LICK #1 (G Major)
e--3--0-----------------------------------------------------|
B--------3--0-----------------------------------------------|
G--------------3--2--0--------------------------------------|
D------------------------3--2--0----------------------------|
A---------------------------------1h2-----------------------|
E--------------------------------------3--------------------|
 

COUNTRY LICK #2 (A Major)
e-------3---------------------------------------------------|
B--3bu-----3bd--1-------------------------------------------|
G------------------2--0-------0--------------2--------------|
D------------------------1h2-----2-1-0----------------------|
A---------------------------------------3h4------0--------0-|
E----------------------------------------------------2bd----|