Guitar Nine Columns: Guitar Technique

Take one thing, one approach, one pattern - and master it.

Here are different ways of musical practice that do not have to be done at home or in a studio.

You can use the Harmonic Minor scale to add exotic twists to your solos.

X marks the spot with simple but very powerful strategies on how to achieve more by playing less.

Putting the focus on the metaphysical aspects of the playing the guitar.

Mike Campese serves up a holiday treat - his take on the Grinch`s theme song.

There are a lot of ways to go about finding your signature tone.

Scott Allen begins his tour of arpeggio-land with beautiful seventh chord arpeggios.

Paul Tauterouff is back with an easy to play sequence that can help you to create some new and interesting sounds.

Nick has new ideas for making your own licks come alive.

Joe continues onward in the series of practicing techniques that require no physical practice.

Juan Coronado shows how playing circles with the pick can help you play scales faster by economizing the movement.

Just when you thought all arpeggio topics had been covered, Mike`s back with triad arpeggio practice ideas.

Do you want to improve your guitar technique, play guitar cleaner, eliminate sloppy playing and unwanted string noise?

Scott Allen continues his tour of arpeggio-land with beautiful ninth chord arpeggios.

Internalize what you are learning and use it to develop your own style.

Mike is focusing on the Japanese Hirajoshi scale in this lesson on exotic scales.

A different perspective on the pentatonic scale using arpeggios.

How about opening your mind and opening yourself up to new styles of music? It can only help your guitar playing and musicianship.

Mike is back to take your scales up to a whole new level.

Digging in with practical application of the pentatonic scale.

Oscar plays devil`s advocate in the matter of a music, or music business, education.

Playing with another guitarist can open up a lot of new musical options.

You`ve grouped in fives; now add two, and we`ll group in sevens.

Avoiding critical mistakes in learning to increase your guitar speed.

Scott Allen focuses on licks that grab attention of the listener.

If you are familiar with pentatonic scales, this may be a great way to get into modal playing.

Where many guitarists struggle is in knowing how to make sense out of general guitar practice materials and organize them into an effective practice schedule.

Virtuoso classical guitarist and instructor Jamie Andreas teaches you to put your mastery of the physical aspect of playing guitar at the service of the ultimate goal: making music.

Scott Allen focuses once again on licks that grab attention of the listener.

It`s essential to practice everything to a metronome to develop tight rhythm guitar playing skills, increase guitar speed and track musical progress.

Here is the main guitar line from Campese`s version of this holiday classic, as featured on his Christmas album.

Mike gets a little more detailed here, building on his previous sweeping columns.

Virtuoso classical guitarist and instructor Jamie Andreas teaches you to constantly be open to new ideas and new intuitions about ways to improve your playing.

Here`s a lesson in dynamics from Michael Knight - make your songs come alive with cues from bands such as Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Rush and Nirvana.

Joe discusses one of the most invaluable practice techniques known - recording yourself and listening.

Building on the last column, Mike adds more examples here, building on his previous sweeping columns.

Michael Knight returns with the first installment of his Exotic Scales series.

Is it really necessary to know how to read music? Let`s open this can of worms.

Building on the last two columns, Mike wraps up the series with a G minor arpeggio progression.

Virtuoso classical guitarist and instructor Jamie Andreas teaches you that practicing one thing affects everything else we play, for good or for bad.

Michael Knight has a 4-note diminished scale for you to add to your repertoire.