Stop practicing this exercise
It’s time to talk Guitar Technique. Everyone who learns electric guitar will sooner or later encounter this exercise: There are many possible variations on the basic idea, like these: You might hear people refer to them to as warm up exercises, or the “Finger Gym” exercises, or “Technique” or “Speed Building” exercises. I’m going to refer to […]
I bet you CAN’T play Smoke On The Water
Several years ago I started seeing this comment appear regularly under guitar videos on Youtube: “Nice, but can you play Smoke On The Water?” In case you haven’t seen the comment before, let me try to explain. It’s posted after someone has played something, usually something technical, and it’s an in-joke. It’s saying this: “Smoke […]
Those days when you just suck at guitar
Have you ever had one of those days when you pick up your guitar and for no apparent reason your playing feels WORSE than it was the day before? Suddenly you find yourself making mistakes left right and centre with things you thought you had down. Things aren’t happening, and your playing feels stale and […]
Why starting guitar with chords is the STUPIDEST idea ever
Start guitar lessons with a local guitar teacher and the chances are the very first thing they’ll show you is how to play chords. Did your first experience of guitar begin with chords? I know mine did. In fact, when I started out, I went through so many months of frustration and difficulty with chords that […]