Guitar Nine Columns: Guitar Technique

The CAGED system as is commonly taught has a number of problems that prevent you to reach your full potential.

Here is a method to find out how much your vibrato has improved over the last 6-12 months of playing guitar.

There is a simple way to learn music theory (more than one in fact).

Two for one - a Bach excerpt arranged for guitar, along with some timeless advice.

Combining fretted notes with sustaining open strings underneath gives the illusion that the guitar has more strings than just six sometimes.

Have you ever had a hard time getting your guitar students to make significant progress from one lesson to the next? There is a simple adjustment you can make.

Paul Kleff offers a simple, orderly way to analyze songs and reduce them into small, easily-practiced parts that can be mastered individually and then assembled into the complete song.

If you are desperate to close the gap between yourself and your guitar - read on.

Are you playing too much? Well, it may be that you are not using enough pentatonic scales in your soloing!

It takes most guitar players many years before they learn how to practice guitar in a way that is both productive and enjoyable.

How to remember the notes on guitar once and for all and become a more creative guitarist in the process.

Buckner`s recent conversation with Tom Hess offers guitar practice tips.

Explaining inside/outside picking, and how it can help you alternate pick difficult passages.

Improve your own guitar playing abilities by simply understanding the entire story behind what makes Yngwie so underrated.

Showing you how to apply 5/8 time to your playing and how to change meters smoothly.

Let`s have a look at some of the problems that may prevent you and many other blues players from realizing their musical potential.

Here are some great ways to overcome guitar practice challenges.

Virtuoso classical guitarist and instructor Jamie Andreas has an answer for you - but the devil is in the details.

Here it is, it`s right here, it`s here now and it`s right here for you - scale practicing that opens up creative options.

To become an excellent 7 string guitar player, you will need to fully understand how to overcome any challenges that arise with your new instrument.

Here`s how to play in 4/4 time, switch time signatures and remain in time.

Virtuoso classical guitarist and instructor Jamie Andreas helps you become the greatest guitarist and musician you can possibly be.

Take a small pattern and turn it into a larger phrase that will sound cohesive.

Mike brings up some of the typical reasons why so many guitarists are unable to improve their musical skills.

Virtuoso classical guitarist and instructor Jamie Andreas provides some clarity on the subject of scales.

Backstage warm ups take on their own quirks, stories and connections that help to explain their success and approach to their music.

Playing high-pitched squeals that are so important in the style of metal players (and others).

Mike Campese introduces you to a cool scale sequence that is not commonly used.

Mike discusses one of the most effective methods for practicing chord changes.

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.

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

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

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

Building on the last column, Mike adds more examples 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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.