50 ways to Improve Your Playing.

try to feel the groove when jamming, by either bobbing your head, or just moving around to the beat. I find it easier than just tapping my foot, which can get uncomfortable.

Metronome. if you dont use one, you suck :cool:

# whatever -

get out and play with other people. I found that to be the best way to find out what I was missing and to see how others do it. I totally sucked the first time I got on stage at an open mic but I can tell you that playing in front of other people with other people really made me open my eyes to just how much there is to this (and all other) instruments...

just so cool

912) warm up

It's not a very good idea to try to find and use tecniques that cause instant sucsess.doing correct, fluent practice, will increse your skill. :D

buy as much guitar as you can afford .

nuff said

Whenever possible, play or practice with some form of audible beat, whether it be a metronome, drum machine, keyboard, etc.. I used a little cheap casio keyboard when I started out, and it helped me with my timing and phrasing tremendously. I've always suggested this to others starting out, and they've all said it helped them become better players. In my experience, I've known many guitarist who sounded awesome while playing by themselves, but totally fell apart when trying to jam with others or to a steady beat. They had never developed a strong sense of rhythm, which is the foundation of music. And without a strong foundation......you just can't build a strong creation. :cool:

Ask God to give you ability to learn how to play guitar and then If you want to make better your playing, try to teach someone what you already know (of course, practically).
God bless you all
Damir

Try figuring out a classical piece for yourself..like i just did:

Rolfgangs turkey march!


ok it's a crappy basic recording along to a drum machine but I just used it by way of a couple of hours practice...thats my excuse for all the 'fowl' ups anyway :rolleyes:

The right hand's for tone, the left for notes.Experiment with different tones and dynamics. If you're on acou try picking in different parts of the strings, near the bridge for 'cold' trebly sounds, near the fretboard for warm sounds. If on electric try using the pickup selector in different positions or use the tone knob like a wah-wah. Best of all there's the volume knob so you can swell the notes from zero cutting out the trebly atack of the note. This creates a soft warm sound that's brill with some delay. Bear in mind that palm muting's great too. If you alternate that sort of thing up with pinch harmonics the tone difference adds something cool to your playing.

Get a good vibrato. There's the across fretboard type (AKA butterfly vibrato) with a wide sound to it and the along the strings classical type (which modulates pitch up and down instead of just up and is narrower). Takes heaps and heaps of practice and I'm still not there but it's getting better.

Try some new scales. If you're bored of the ones you know it's time to try something new.

Try pinch harmonics, they're a great way of jumping in pitch without having to move your fretting hand so far.

Add chords to your soloing, it gives it some rhythmic structure in a way that accentuating single notes just cannot do.

Learn all the noises your instrument can make and learn to use them musically. This skill is often underappreciated for no good reason. Learn to play "random notes", they sometimes sound much less expected then the ussual Yngwie runs. If you tap them, it sounds like a 50's SF movie spaceship interior. Contrast control with madness.

P.S. Try playing a piano that's badly out of tune. It's better than farting, everyone suffers while you enjoy.

practice what you do not know. don't just "perform" for yourself. It makes us feel awkward to play things we can't do well, so we avoid them. But eventually we end up doing them well.

Let go, pay no mind to song structure, rhythm music theory or anything at all. Sit down from time to time with the intention of coming up with absolutely nothing while also not playing anything you've already come up with. let your mind wander and let the music follow with it.

Eat burritos. They are mind-expanding.

Play music, not scales

In contribution to my earlier statement. Don't practice the same routine exactly the same. If you're practicing scales, practice a minor scale instead of a major. Give your fingers a different direction, skip two strings instead of just one, just hammer on and pull off for a change, just change something a little bit in a way to keep things fresh and focused on true growth. Sorry if I'm repeating something someone else already said.

dont copy guitar world on 50 ways to improve

Find out a few frets note names everyday, and after you learn a few, sing them to the same pitch of you're guitar/keyboard/whatever.
Sorry if I'm repeating another post, I got bored going through all the pages. :o

Step number "0"

Before playing wipe off all white stains that are left on the guitar from last night. That goes to all us men...
Also, I dont think we have to worry about girls, there very good when it comes to white stains...(I hope no one got offended by that comment)
Just laugh it out..lol ;)

that should be the first step :D

practice posing... yeah like the male/female models...but use your fingers.....
pose them just above the frets....don't press down...keep em low and steady. Play your scale, arppegeio or lick ...It really teaches your fingers to not rely on This is a cool technique to get your fingers to OBEY you! The MASTER. hehe
Oh yeah...when you do get your fingers back on the board, play correctly always! Remember practice does make perfect and playing it wrong only reinforces your muscles to make mistakes!
Enjoy!
Stratmahn :)