Guitar Nine Columns: Guitar Technique

Chords have the potential to bring a whole new element to your soloing providing cool, unique, and contrasting textures amongst the single note lines you play.

In order to be a great guitar player you must develop mastery over the fretboard.

Look deeper, and find the overlooked value that makes John Petrucci a much greater guitarist than other players.

If you are wondering how modern metal players use all these "wrong" notes and still sound great - here`s how.

Mike Campese covers the flat keys moving around the circle of fourths.

The majority of guitar players unconsciously ruin their potential for improvement by learning `too fast` in some areas of their playing and `too slow` in other areas.

Tom Hess takes you through the exact steps needed for cleaning up unwanted string noise in your blues guitar licks.

Do you feel like you are at a dead end with your guitar playing? Here are three additional killer ways that will totally change the way you play your acoustic guitar from now on,

Reynaert takes you on a journey through the possibilities of blues rhythm guitar playing.

If your guitar heroes use a lot of "wrong" notes and make them sound "right" (and you can`t), here`s how to do it.

Build incredible amounts of musical tension by combining sweep picking technique with creative guitar phrasing ideas.

Mike Campese puts both hands on the fretboard to deliver more triad arpeggios.

You must master the ability to play with both speed and creativity in order to make your licks stand out.

Read on for seven advantages and benefits of being a six-stringer.

Mike Campese delivers a fistful of single string triad arpeggios - major, minor and diminished.

UK guitarist Sam Russell has some cool ways to spice up both open chords and standard chords with modal notes.

Learn how to develop great rhythm and time with your playing.

Dealing with blues songs featuring incredibly complicated chord changes can be easier than you think.

The key to playing killer guitar phrases is focusing on how you play - not necessarily which notes you use.

To make your lead guitar playing sound great, you must understand how to play every single note in your licks with as much expression as possible.

Mike Campese gives you a nice sweep picking arpeggio workout using the chord progression from Pachelbel`s Canon in D.

Do you feel like you are at a dead end with your guitar playing? Here are five killer ways that will totally change the way you play your acoustic guitar from now on,

Tom Hess` explores creative possibilities with the low B string.

How to breathe new life in your licks and prepare for real-life playing at the same time.

Mike Campese touches on a more modern approach, incorporating different types of patterns into odd-numbered lines.

Try these cool runs which be very beneficial, get take you out of trouble.

See how one of the least exciting concepts in music theory can actually help you create awesome licks.

Tom Hess` ideas for creating massive positive change in your ability to improvise rock guitar solos.

Mike Campese delivers patterns that foster some of the fastest, most accurate picking you can imagine.

Go ahead and `burn` your fretboard with these Major 7th arpeggios.

Knowing all the notes on your fretboard is more useful and simpler than you think. Read here how.

Mike Campese returns with a second set of exercises to help you improve your picking, dexterity, and overall technique.

Wrapping your mind around the old "cowboy chords" but have no idea where to go from there? Here is a simple concept helping you break free and stimulating creativity.

Dominants should be the arpeggios you study first since they are used regularly in Blues/Rock progressions and songs.

Mike Campese is back with exercises to help you improve your picking, dexterity, and overall technique.

In order to enhance your musical expression and clearly communicate your ideas, you must understand how to think creatively when you play guitar.

Jean-Pierre teaches you about modes, with a small introduction and the `why` and `how` of their existence

Using the same guitar soloing approach as everyone else can only lead to one result: a guitar solo that has a very similar sound to nearly every other guitar solo out there.

A lot has been written on Blues soloing, but preciously little on creative Blues rhythm playing. Don`t get caught playing the usual three power chords.

Tom Hess talks about how you can by use creative rhythm guitar practice methods to write your own rock and metal guitar riffs.

Perhaps you have considered taking lessons but because someone you know had a disappointing experience with a teacher, you began to doubt if lessons are worth investing your time and money.

Pinpointing some very important factors that will help the student successfully go through and become a serious guitarist.