So, you can play basic chords, but you feel like you really can’t ‘play’ guitar? What can you do to become the player you really want to be? Do you spend a lot of time on YouTube looking for tips and tricks to help you become a better guitarist? Then this article is for you! Follow the steps below and double your skillset over a 3-month period.
1. Decide what guitar hero means to you. This is often overlooked. Think about this description and WRITE DOWN EXACTLY what type of guitarist you want to be. Do you want to be a high-level country player like Glenn Campbell? Or is heavy metal Randy Rhoades more your style? Dimebag Darrell? Django Rhinehart? Write down in detail the songs you want to play and how you want to appear before an audience. Visualize how you feel on stage and the audience reaction. The more detailed, the better you can identify an action plan forward.
2. Based on the description that you wrote down, ask yourself what techniques does that guitarist use? Do you need to practice wide vibrato like Zakk Wylde? Do you need to learn sweep picking like Vai or speed work like Malmsteen? The ONLY way you know is to be detailed in the type of guitarist you want to be. Do you lack basic skills like knowing what notes are in a scale or the where to find specific notes on the fretboard?
3. Rank order the skills you need to learn. You want to be a shredder, but you don’t know the fretboard. Fretboard mapping comes before sweep picking. You need to be able to move fast, which means KNOWING the fretboard, so be careful in how you categorize your list.
4. Come up with an action plan to spend focused time each day on the skills you need to learn. You need focused and rotate skill-appropriate exercises that change each time your skill level goes up.
5. Repeat this each week. That’s right, the real magic is iterative. Repeat this exercise each week and you will be a guitar hero in no time.
These are the steps that we take with our students. They must decide on what type of guitarist they want to be, and we focus their practice and skillset on those exercises that are meaningful. NO WASTED TIME ON EXERCISES YOU DON’T NEED! Playing the guitar is hard enough, you don’t have time to waste so don’t. If you follow these steps, your skill will increase week to week without question. If you’re not sure how to execute this, contact us and we’ll set up a session to go over these steps in detail. Remember if you’re tempted to ditch your training session to surf YouTube….DON’T! Spend your time training using the right exercises and the right amount of time. Increase the levels of complexity as needed. You, too, can be that guitar hero!
At Peak Music Studios, we teach guitar and singing in upstate New York where we serve Latham, Clifton Park, Albany, Troy, Niskayuna, Schenectady, Watervliet, Cohoes, Green Island, and surrounding communities.
