Guitar Hero

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20 Simple Tips That Will Place You on the Path to Life a Guitar Hero

20 simple tips that will place you on the path to life a guitar hero

By Justin Sours

http://www.guitarmadeez.com

Practice how you play

When you practice guitar chords, scales, songs, etc., make sure that you focus on quality and not quantity. The guitar sounds a lot better if all the notes in a chord ring or you hit each note in that scale with perfect timing instead of rushing through a scale or before a live audience a chord and having some notes be muffled. Just remember to focus on before a live audience things slow and with excellent technique (This is Key!). Learn whatever you are trying to learn slow and then increase the speed small by small until you get where you want to be. That’s how you guitarists learn to shred or solo extremely quick. They start before a live audience a scale or riff slow and then gradually speed it up with a metronome.

Keep your guitar out of the closet or storage space

This is probably one of the largest mistakes that a person culture guitar could make. KEEP YOUR GUITAR OUT IN THE OPEN!!! Keep it next to your bed or in your family room on a stand or anywhere where it is out of the closet or out from under the bed. If it’s out in the open, this will force you to play it and force you to mess around and practice.

Memorize the fret board of the guitar

Memorizing the fret board of the guitar can turn out to be an fascinating task. There are small tips and tricks that allocate you to find notes really quick. The reason why all guitarist who want to get excellent should memorize the fret board is because it allows you to play make chords in different shapes, find notes in different areas of the neck and allows the guitarist to familiarize and open up to before a live audience in different parts of the neck. Memorization of the fret board is also very beneficial in soloing and improvising.

Jam with other people with different styles and techniques

You will not believe how much your guitar before a live audience will improve when you jam with other people. If you ever feel like you are reaching a “plateau” (you feel like you’re not being paid any better) in your before a live audience, jamming with other people will certainly open you up to new tips and tricks. There’s always something to learn from someone else that plays guitar no topic how excellent or terrible they are. Also, everyone’s individual stylishness is different and the more open minded you are to other styles, the better player you will become.

Listen to new types music and try to play it

I know it’s hard, just force yourself to do it. When all else fails go back to the basics of music. A fantastic way to do this is to listen to some classical music for inspiration. Elton John is an incredible musician and he says whenever he reaches a dull moment or block in his before a live audience, he refers back to church hymns that he learned when he was younger.

Read guitar magazines

Guitar magazines have allot of cool stuff, but they also have allot of filler. The one business I despise about guitar mags is that they are extremely complicated (not for beginners). The articles, tales and advice are cool but some of the lessons are intense! The well ahead guitar lingo having to do with intervals of certain modes and technical guitar talk gets to me sometimes. It’s nice to know that stuff but ehhhhhhh….. It can be dull.

Go to concerts

Nothings more inspiring then going to a concert and considering someone rock out on stage and really impress the crowd. I remember a couple of years ago; I went to Vans Warped Tour. Immediately after the show, as soon as I got home, I ran to my room and tried culture allot of the songs I had heard. When I saw The Eagles back in October of 06′, I couldn’t stop culture all their songs. It’s incredible to be extremely inspired and motivated once again about before a live audience guitar and going to concerts certainly rejuvenates my interest in before a live audience guitar.

Buy concert DVDs

If you’ve never seen any ACDC music video or concert DVD…. then we certainly need to talk. Angus Young is an incredible guitarist and It’s just incredible to see that this scrawny small Australian guy can play like he does and with such attitude and soul. Considering that guy rip up the fret board certainly shows us that anyone can play guitar… all it takes is practice, restraint, motivation and commitment. Concert DVDs are fantastic because they show you up close and in really excellent quality what exactly a guitarist is before a live audience, unlike music videos where bands just dance around and they add in the music later. Concert DVDs are filled with raw footage of guitar before a live audience at its best.

Always use your guitar belt

This is another biggie. When first culture how to play guitar, I never wore my guitar belt. I finished up paying for it later and basically having to relearn guitar standing up instead of sitting down. If you always play with your guitar belt on, there will be no difference to you while before a live audience either sitting or standing. Before a live audience with your guitar belt will also allocate you to get to the “show-off” level so you can impress all your friends earlier.

A lot of people who use guitar straps find that they fall off very simple or tend to drop the guitar. There are many different types of locking mechanisms out there (I currently have two guitars that use the DiMarzio locking mechanism and it works very well)). Go to your local guitar shop and check all of them out and see which one fits you best.

Play with passion (slash)

Have you ever heard a guitar player who is a fantastic player, but you feel that there is something missing…… THERE’S NO SOUL!!! Soul is the emotion, the like, the purpose behind guitar before a live audience. Listen to that same talented yet dull guitar player and then compare him to Gun’s and Roses guitarist or Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash. Each solo that Slash plays has so much soul, so much emotion, and so much purpose. What I want you to do is Google “Slash – Godfather theme video” or get on Napster, iTunes, kazaa, etc. and download it. This video is nuts!! Slash plays with such a fantastic amount of solo that it’s incredible. I really don’t know how to clarify exactly how to add soul into your before a live audience, but I will tell you that you will know if you choose to stick with guitar and stay committed to the instrument. It’s basically before a live audience to express yourself and not to just play because you have to or don’t want to but feel you should.

Watch the clips of legendary guitar scenes or solos

Here’s some instant inspiration…. Go to yahoo or Google and click on the “video” tab above the search bar and type in anything having to do with guitar solos. You will find some incredible solos along with incredible guitar tricks. One really cool guitar clip I remember is of this Asian guy before a live audience the super Mario brothers theme for Nintendo. That guy can play that song like you wouldn’t believe. There’s so much inspiring guitar before a live audience footage out there. It’s everywhere and anywhere you look, especially online. Also, look into the movie with Ralph Maccio from the 1980′s called “Crossroads”… there’s some incredible guitar before a live audience in it.

Try tabbing out songs by ear

This is extremely caring. Tabbing songs by ear develops your musical ear very quickly. Choose one of your pet songs and sit next to your cd player with a guitar and a piece of paper and try to figure out the chords in the song first, and then try to figure out the riffs within the chords. Once you find out the overall “key” of the song it’s simple to figure out all the riffs and chords.

Take a college music course (Beatles, history of rock and roll)

While I was at convergence college for two years studying to get my Associates Degree, I had taken a “History of Rock & Roll course”. This course was extremely fascinating. There was so much music that this class opened my eyes up to. I gained so much more appreciation for the Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who and many more bands of that era. Those bands really did change music forever. I certainly recommend compelling a class like this anywhere you can; it will certainly open up your eyes to some fantastic music out there and help you grow as a musician.

Read biographies of guitarists you appreciate

Some musicians out there have led incredible lives. The majority of them come from nothing and in the end, become legendary guitar gods. Look at Johnny Cash; he was a rural country boy that grew up nearly penniless and turned into an incredible musician through inspiration and practice. There are so many fascinating tales behind bands and musicians. Here’s some that I find fascinating (off the top of my head): The Beach Boys, Def Leppard, Metallica, Van Halen, The Beatles and Thin Lizzy. Do some research online and try to mirror yourself with these artists. It will give you a whole new plotting administer to before a live audience their songs and guitar in general.

“Steal” riffs and thoughts from other guitarists

I know it sounds terrible but each fantastic guitarist does it. Clapton stole the “crossroad blues” from Robert Johnson and the Beatles used some of Elvis’ thoughts and expanded upon them. Each musical generation steals thoughts, riffs, chord progressions from the generation before and when it comes to music… its ok. I find this to help guitar players progress a lot, especially if you reach a plateau. One of the largest things that helped me expand as a guitarist is to learn all my pet solos by my pet artists. Once I had learned them, I would play the same solo over different progressions in the same key and then play the same solos in different keys all around the neck and in different scale positions. Once I did this, I had “unlocked” all of the licks in the solo and I’m now able to use them in whatever I play. Just like how in video games you unlock new characters, levels and secrets throughout the game… you do the same in music. From there you can constantly expand upon your lick directory.

Play in front of others

This is one of the toughest parts about performing music. Before a live audience in front of others is something that just takes time. Remember to relax and don’t reckon about everyone watching you. Just focus on you and the instrument. The more you play in front of others, the better you will get. Everyone’s first time before a live audience in front of others can be pretty gut wrenching. Just remember that it gets simpler each time and that you’ll get through it just fine. What you can also do is videotape yourself before a live audience and then place it on the internet. Lots of people including myself place videos on Youtube.com or other online video sites and its up to the viewers to judge. Some people will rip your before a live audience apart but most will applaud you for trying and really like it. The way I look at it… “Led Zeppelin didn’t write songs that everyone liked… they left that to the Bee Gees” – Wayne Campbell (Wayne’s World)

“What if I screw up”? Who cares?! In music, everyone screws up while before a live audience music. When huge bands record in studios they spend days, sometimes even weeks recording tracks so that they turn out absolutely perfect. What really creative people do when they screw up is to elaborate on the screw up. If you hit a incorrect note, maybe trying hitting the note again within the rhythm of the song and maybe it will sound excellent.

The Internet and Youtube are valuable tools…

Eric Clapton learned guitar by listening to ancient Robert Johnson, BB King and many other fantastic blues records on a turntable and then trying to mimick the same sounds on guitar. Eddie Van Halen would be in his room with his door closed for days just messing around with different sounds that a guitar can make just by moving his fingers around in different shapes and considering what they sound like. Alex Van Halen (Eddies brother and drummer for Van Halen) would go on dates and place the house listening to Eddie whale away at 5:00pm and then come home to Eddie still whaling away at 2:00am. These artists didn’t have the internet! They had a cassette player or record player and plenty of time on their hands. We’re incredibly lucky today to have such fantastic resources like youtube.com and the internet in general. Youtube.com is fantastic for culture how to play guitar. You can find lessons, people covering songs, tips and tricks and just about anything that you need to get off on the aptly foot when it comes to before a live audience guitar. The fantastic business about Youtube guitar lessons is that “they get to the point”. No BS. Each lesson is usually under 5 minutes and they give you fantastic info very quick, because who wants to watch a 30 minute video. Guitarists attention spans aren’t that long, I know mine isn’t. And Finally, you have the internet. The internet has absolutely everything you could ever possibly need, including Youtube.com, lessons, information, ultimate-guitar.com (for tabs), guitars101.com (for any other type of help that you may need), etc. The possibilities are endless. The point is that culture guitar today is and should be way simpler than culture guitar in the past due to the fantastic resources we have.

You can learn any riff from any song no topic how crazy or how quick…. just slow it down

Any riff is learnable, you just have to slow it down to a pace that you feel comfortable with, learn it, and then gradually speed it up. There are numerous programs out there that allocate you to do this. One very well loved one is called Transcribe. You can import any .mp3 file and then control the speed of the song. Practice the riff over and over and gradually raise the speed. If you can’t play the at a given speed, then slow it down 1%, if you can play it and feel comfortable with how you played it, raise it by 2%. Responsibility this will allocate you to master any riff, any song, anything!

Try culture the hard songs or riffs that you’ve always wanted to learn, no topic what level you are at and no topic how hard the song is…

This is what makes guitar fun, considering your improvement (ie. Quick Results). I remember trying to play songs that were at my level when I first started before a live audience guitar. Stuff like : The Animals – House of the Rising Son, and Don Mclean – American Pie. I could play them ok, but they weren’t really songs that I had started before a live audience guitar for. I wanted to play Metallica’s fade to black and Eric Clapton’s Crossroads. I place the other two songs aside and started working on the new ones that had inspired me to play guitar. I had spent weeks and months on them even even if they were outside my before a live audience level. I was determined to learn them. I kind of wanted to be one of those guys that can’t play anything else, just cover songs note for note. If I couldn’t play any other song aside from the super hard ones note for note, I’d be pleased. So I spent so much time culture these songs, and I could play them…. ok… not fantastic…. But, when I went back to before a live audience House of the rising son and American Pie, I could play them 100 times better. I played them like a pro. Its kind of like…. as long as you challenge yourself, you’ll get better. You play with musicians that are better than you… you’ll get better. You lift more and more weight than your used to… you get stronger.

A fantastic musician once said…..

A fantastic musician once said that as soon as guitar becomes a assignment and isn’t fun, that’s the moment that you should place your guitar down. Come back to it later. Now this doensn’t mean that when your first culture guitar and you get frustrated, you should place it down and forget it. Sorry, this rule only applies to guitar players who are well ahead or who have been before a live audience for a while. It sucks and is frustrating for everyone at first so you have to stick with it. The overall point is, guitar before a live audience should be fun. Don’t turn it into a assignment or a task.

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