Guitar Tips, Music Tips and Product Reviews

Practicing consistently and well is a much harder thing to do then it seems and there are many reasons why this is the case. Before I go on, I just want to say that bad practice habits affects even the most experienced blues players but it can be overcome with some help. Here are some of the issues that you may face when practicing and here are some usable solutions:

1) Problem: Getting stuck in a rut. This is a very common problem that affects nearly all guitarists at some point in time. You end up playing the same riff and lick over and over every time you play and you can't seem to move on to anything new.

Solution: I am a firm believer that you should aspire to play everything perfectly. But, if you are stuck on this one thing and you feel like practice is getting a little stale, you should really advance to something else that inspires you. It is so important to be inspired in your practice and you can always come back to something later when you are in the right mood. Jamming over to blues backing tracks will also help in your creativity and inspiration.

2) Problem: Progressing to new skills too rapidly. Also a very common problem, moving on too quickly will without doubt, eventually turn you into a "jack of all trades and a master of none".

Solution: This problem is the opposite of the last problem we looked at. You can now see that there is a balance between too much and not enough emphasis on perfecting a song. My suggestion is that you should master each thing before you go on to the next, but if you are finding a particular skill impossible to master and you are dying of boredom trying, maybe that skill is a little out of your reach. In this case, it is best to go back and learn something less difficult.

3) Problem: Becoming narrow minded in relation to the different areas of learning within musicianship. Some people get into the situation where they are practicing only one style and neglecting everything else.

Solution: Try splitting your playing into parts. For example, I might spend 5 minutes practicing new blues scales or chords, 10 minutes working on writing new music for myself and maybe 15 minutes learning a new song or part of a song. This way, your practice never gets boring and you can achieve a lot more.

4) Problem: Playing things too fast when learning them. This can cause you to become disillusioned with your playing when you are trying to learn a new song.

Solution: A fairly obvious solution here - Slow down. Most blues guitarists, including myself try playing a song or new skill at a slow speed before trying it at a fast pace.

Practicing properly and regularly is the best way to become good at anything including playing the guitar. This requires discipline; not only discipline to practice regularly, but also discipline to stay focused and on track when you are practicing. If you stay disciplined with your playing you will develop into an excellent player.

When the time comes to choosing the proper guitar for you, the most significant point to keep d in mind is what kind of music are you looking at playing?

Rock or Blues Guitar Music

If you are searching at performing rock or blues music, the best guitar would be an Electric guitar. The important here is to start small and develop big. I have seen so many people go out and buy the most costly equipment before they can play anything. You may have your heart prepared on getting big names like a new Gibson Les Paul or a Fender Stratocaster, but the costs are pretty sharp.

When selecting your original electric guitar, the best thing is a copy of an original i.e. Plywood. The voice between an original Real Wood compare to Plywood is a lot better, yet plywood is much cheaper. My suggestion is to go for small trademarks like Legend, Onyx or Orion for now. Once you have consummate the fundamental principle, then it is the time to raise.

Another option is to buy Second hand guitars from the markete. There are some great deals becoming in the local papers. When attending for a guitar, make sure you plug it in and try it out. Catch the lather if need be and put the guitar around your neck. Get every possible bit of information you can before making a conclusion.

Tips:Bear in mind that when you purchase an electric guitar, you will also require an amplifier. There are some great deals going whereby you can choose guitar, amplifier and lead in one package. One eventual tip is when selecting your guitar; REMEMBER to plug it into an amplifier synonymous to what you are buying. There is no use examining your guitar through the most pricey amplifier in the store. It will not secure the same when you play through your own amplifier at home. Choosing the right amplifier is important; this topic will be explained in the next lesson.

Classical Acoustic Music.

If you are looking at playing Classic Acoustic music then Spanish Classic Acoustic Guitar and Steel String Acoustic guitar are the most appropriate to choose.

Spanish Classic Acoustic Guitars are extremely easy and suffering nylon strings which are very soft on your fingers. They come in a range of various sizes even very small size for young kids. Spanish Classic Acoustic guitars are also a lot more commercial and softer to maintain than Steel String Acoustic Guitar.

Steel String Acoustic Guitars are a little more expensive compare to Spanish guitars. Again, with acoustic guitars, there is no need to go for big brands when you are first starting out. The most main thing is that you feel soothing playing it. Also, make sure your fingers fit around the guitar neck and it is not too big for you to play. It reckons on you as to whether you want to pickups or not. But remember to test it first before you buy.

There are many possible actions when comes to taking a guitar. Whether you determine to choose an electric or an acoustic, the fundamentals are the same.

Inquire yourself. What style of music are you looking at performing? Classical Acoustic music or Rock music? How keen are you when comes to

Join us as we take a look into a popular guitar myth on the subject of natural talent for guitarist. We will be discussing this misconception and how natural talent is not a replacement for hard work and for learning the proper skills. You will also learn the benefits to mastering your skills by practicing along with backing tracks for guitarists.

A pretty common phrase that's thrown around a lot in the guitar community and just about every other style of music is the term natural talent. Some people never excel in mastering their particular instrument because of the myth that in order to be good you have to have natural talent.

That is not to say that some people are not naturally gifted as a musician or guitarist, because there are quite a few who guitar players who take to the instrument very quickly. Many musicians do have a natural talent for their style if play, but that do not mean that only these individuals can learn and master the guitar. In fact, any individual who picks up a guitar and has the drive, determination, passion, and dedication can learn and become an excellent guitarist, just like the legends.

Mastering the guitar simply requires an individual to apply themselves to learning the necessary tools and skills to effectively create music that expresses who they are and what they are about. If you want to master the guitar you have to put in the time to learn all the tools, techniques, and skills that a guitar player needs to play effectively.

This myth makes accomplished professional guitarists seem as if they just magically knew how to play, and neglects the fact that they sacrificed many hours of practice to learn and perfect their skills. There are no guitar virtuosos who haven't put in hours of practice and study to cultivate their talents and skills.

The truth is that even the most talented guitarists had to study, learn, and practice. There are a lot of different ways to practice and cultivate your skills. One of the most beneficial ways to practice your talents and skills is to practice along with guitar backing tracks. Playing with guitar backing tracks can help you perfect your skills and apply your newly learned knowledge. Guitar backing tracks can also help you develop better tone by strengthening your accuracy. Such tracks are available from retailers such as Planet of Rock

Using backing tracks are also beneficial for making practice sessions more enjoyable. Instead of running endless drills, you can play along with a whole band and perfect your improvisation techniques as well. Backing tracks for guitarists can also be used to play live shows and other types of gigs as well.

Learning how to play and improvise great blues riffs and licks s is not as easy as it might seem to a novice but the one good thing is that focused learning and practicing with a great blues backing track will help a lot in understanding blues chords and progression.

Using Blues backing tracks are important aspect of playing blues lead. Blues is considered to be one of the origins of jazz music and you will find some influence of blues even in contemporary jazz. Most of the blues music and the ones used in popular blues backing tracks are pentatonic scales and the mixolydian scales. These scales can be used in rock too and hence the ones used for blues are enhanced with the blues notes. If you understand the basic of the blue notes then you will be able to use blues backing tracks with ease. Basically, blue notes use a drop in the pitch of the 3rd, 5th and 7th of the major scale. If you hear a pro talk about a blues scale then what they really mean is the pentatonic minor scale with a blue note like b5.

There are many people who jam to blues backing tracks in the C key and the chords used could be C, C7, G7, and F7. If th tracks are meant for a solo then the Am pentatonic scale will be rather useful and perfect to a certain degree. Some of the other options of blues guitar backing tracks include C-minor pentatonic comprising of the c-blues scale and c-major and Bb major scales in Dorian mode.

Blues Chords and Progression

Here are some characteristics of the blues chords and progression, which will definitely help you to play blues backing tracks effectively:

Most of the blues chord progressions are in a 12 bar form. Apart from this, you will also find 14, 16, 24 or even higher number of bar forms for blues. The tonic chord in blues progression is basically the dominant 7th chord. The blues music has been predominantly defined not only as music that focuses on chord changes as well as scales but also on feeling. There are 3 basic chords in blues and they are all dominant 7th chords.

Some of the blues backing tracks techniques include:

Using hammer-on or even a slide right from b3 to natural 3 Mixing the Mixolydian scale with the dominant blues scale

Mixing scales is probably the best way of enhancing blues guitar playing techniques.

Blues Tabs

In the first part, you need to use the C Mixolydian scale with a natural 3. In the second half of the 2nd bar, you need to use the C-minor pentatonic scale using a flat 3. If you really want to pursue blues backing tracks techniques then the best place to learn is by listening to recording of blues guitarists or legends like BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. You can also listen to some of the compositions of famous jazz guitarists like Kenny Burrell and George Benson.