Economy picking is a monster of a technique that will allow you to play licks faster and with less effort than alternate picking once you master it. Many also refer to it as speed picking, a phrase coined by Frank Gambale who is credited with the invention of this technique. It is basically a combination of alternate and sweep picking.

For example, if the first note is on the fifth string, and the next note is on the fourth string, the pick will use a downstroke on the fifth string, and continue in the same direction to a downstroke on the fourth string.

Economy picking lends itself well to three note per string scales. Allow me to illustrate. If you begin a three note per string scale like the one I have shown below using an alternate pattern you will notice that after down picking the third note you would then be crossing over the next string in order to up stroke the next note. That's a lot of extra movement if you think about it.

Economy picking eliminates this unnecessary movement by down picking from the third to the fourth note in the scale. The resulting picking pattern is down-up-down-down-up-down-down-up etc.

To summarize: economy picking involves using alternate picking except when changing strings. Then you incorporate a mini sweep in the direction of the next note.

Although economy picking lends itself well to three note per string licks and scales, it can be applied to many situations. Basically, whenever you have just played a down stroke and the next note is on the string below just keep going down and then resume the alternate pattern. The same holds true if you use an up stroke and the next note falls on the string above.

A good way to start getting your pick hand used to this motion, and believe me it is awkward at first, is to play just the open strings on your electric guitar. Starting on the sixth string, play three notes per string using a down-up-down-down-up-down-down-up pattern. Play up to the first string and then back down to the sixth using an up-down-up-up-down-up-up-down pattern. When this becomes more familiar to you go ahead and practice it with three note scale patterns like the major scale below.

The economy picking technique sounds as though it would require more conscious thought to execute, but many guitarists learn it intuitively and find it an effort to use alternate picking. I personally found it rather difficult an in some situations prefer alternate picking, but don't let that discourage you from attempting to tackle this beast. I have seen what it can do and it is pretty amazing. If you would like to hear what applying this technique to your playing might sound like I strongly suggest you listen to Frank Gambale the father of economy picking, or speed picking as he refers to it.


Here is the three note per string G major scale mentioned above.

I recently made this video of me playing guitar for a guy who wanted me to do some video guitar lessons for his website. I thought I would post it here for fun!

Enjoy!

The blues guitar scales are really based off of the pentatonic scales with one extra note added. We call that extra note the "blue note" because it gives the pentatonic scale its obvious "bluesyness." The only real difference between the scales on the guitar and the same scales on any other instrument is the fact that there is more than one way to play them on a guitar. This is due mostly to the fact that the guitar is a stringed instrument and there are at least 3-5 ways to play any unique note.

The minor pentatonic scale is created using the root (or 1), flatted 3rd, 4th, 5th, and flatted 7th of a major scale. Notice that there is no 2nd or 6th scale tone used. There's an interesting reason for that but it requires a substantial amount of music theory to explain it and this isn't really the place for that.

To create the minor blues scale we take the minor pentatonic scale and add a flatted 5th (or sharp 4) to it. In the key of A, this creates a scale with the notes A, C, D, Eb, E, and G in it. Some people don't differentiate between the minor and the major blues scales. If someone calls a scale a blues scale, assume they mean the minor version.

A major pentatonic scale is created with the 1st (root,) 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th tone of a major scale. In C that would be C, D, E, G, and A. To make it a major blues scale you add a flatted 3rd which gives you C, D, Eb, E, G, and A in the key of C.

Notice that the rule governing relative major and minor keys/scales is also in effect here. If you look at the keys of A minor and C major, which are relative, meaning they contain the same notes, you'll see the same group of notes.

The A minor blues scale is A, C, D, Eb, E, and G. The C major blues scale is C, D, Eb, E, G, and A. Same notes, different starting point. This sort of thing happens all the time in music. This is of particular interest if you're playing blues lead guitar because you can see that your blues guitar scales really do double duty. Once you learn one pattern, it's really useful for 2 keys, one major and one minor.

So how to we apply this scale to a standard 12 bar blues chord progression? What's cool is that the simplest approach is really simple. Whatever the first chord of the chord progression is, let's say it's A7, use that minor blues scale to solo over the song. There's no need to change scales at any time.

Keep in mind that this is only one possible approach, and in many cases it's not the best approach. There are several ways to play over a 12 bar progression, or any other kind of chord progression. Many of these approaches use some combination of major and minor blues scales.

It is easy to find the 5 "boxes" or patterns of the blues scale on the internet. A simple search should turn up hundreds of choices. Once you learn the blues scales and have them under your fingers. You'll want to start jamming with them and learning how to make the sounds you want to hear.

For more blues guitar lessons and help with your blues guitar scales, check out Playing Through The Blues, my blues lead guitar course.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Griff_Hamlin

Many people the world over decide to pick up the guitar and start playing because they are inspired by their favorite blues artists. Learning blues guitar is a fun and rewarding experience and in reality is not much different than learning how to play many other styles. In fact playing blues guitar is a great lead into other rock and jazz styles and many would argue that these later styles were influenced heavily by the blues. Below we will discuss the three components that make up the blues style.

Learn Blues Guitar Part 1 - The Feel

Mastering the feel of the blues is very important if you truly wish to become an expert blues player. In a normal 4/4 time signature eight notes break up the measure into eight equal parts.

For example: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &

In the blues you will commonly hear of the music having a swing feel. The swing feel is created by dividing each beat into three pieces like so:

1 & a 2 & a 3 & a 4 & a

By dividing each beat into three equal parts we are creating what is referred to as eighth note triplets.

Listen to your favorite blues recordings and see if you can identify how many of them are using the swing feel.

Learn Blues Guitar Part 2 - Chord Progressions

Aside form the feel the blues chord progression is another dead ringer of the style that can't be missed. Almost all of the greatest blues songs every created follow the same I, IV, V chord progression and they also tend to follow a 12-bar pattern that repeats throughout the duration of the song.

The I, IV, V chord progression is most commonly played using all dominant 7th chords. For example if we were playing in the key of E the the I, IV, V would be E7, A7, and B7.

So it can be said that a big part of learning blues guitar is learning to play dominant 7th chords. So what is a dominant 7th chord you ask? It is basically a major chord with a flatted seventh added to it.

For example, if you have an A7 chord, you know that the chord starts on an A. Dominant 7th chords use the root, third, fifth, and flatted seventh of the major scale. An A major scale has the notes A B C# D E F# G#. So the notes in an A7 chord are:

root=A
third=C#
fifth=E
flatted seventh=G

You can use this same formula to find any dominant 7th chord or just get yourself a chord chart.

Learn Blues Guitar Part 3 - The Blues Scale

The final characteristic that distinguishes the blues from any other form of music is the use of the blues scale. For those of you who do not know this scale it is basically a minor pentatonic scale with a flatted fifth scale degree added into the mix. The blues scale is built from the root, flatted third, fourth, flatted fifth, fifth, and flatted seventh degree of the major scale.

Again let's take the A major scale (A B C# D E F# G#) and add the note qualities of the blues scale.

root=A
flatted 3rd=C
4th=D
flatted 5th=E-flat
5th=E
flatted 7th=G

So the notes in an a blues scale are A C D E-flat E G. You might remember that the notes in an A7 chord were A C# E G. Notice that the blues scale has a minor 3rd in it and the Dominant 7th chord has a major third. This relationship plays a significant role in the way blues music sounds to the listener. The other big factor is the flatted 5th in the blues scale. In fact this note is often referred to as the blue note because of its unique sad quality.

BB King once said "The blues is the easiest music to learn, and the hardest to master." There is definitely truth in that statement. The ideas above are the fundamentals to playing the blues and they are not very hard to understand. But learning blues guitar is not just about playing the notes and making them sound good. It's about tapping into your inner thoughts and feelings and just letting them spill out onto the guitar.

John Robert has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about playing the blues and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering the blues you owe it to yourself to check out PlayingThroughTheBlues.info

It's hard to find a beginner guitar lesson that is actually fun to learn and play. Most teachers like to show you twinkle twinkle little star or mary had a little lamb. Sure they make for a first easy guitar lesson, but do you want to run home and practice a song you haven't listened to since you were in diapers?

While a few of my friends were still fumbling their way through nursery rhymes my guitar instructor was showing me real guitar riffs that rocked.

So lets kick things off with an beginner guitar lesson that won't just rock the cradle. : )

In this easy guitar lesson I would like to share with you my first ever lesson experience.

I'll never forget my first guitar lesson. I was playing an old black acoustic guitar that my dad had bought for 50 dollars. I had wanted an electric guitar badly, and asked him if I could get one. I remember him saying, "If you stick with playin' that cheap acoustic then I'll see about getting you an electric one."

From that moment on I was determined. After about a year of taking lessons and practicing on my own that christmas I got my first electric guitar and 15 watt guitar amp. So if your in my situation hang in there.

Ok now where were we?

In my first ever guitar lesson my teacher showed me a basic blues chord progression. It was fun and not to difficult to play. I remember practicing it for about 30 minutes a day, just playing it over and over until my hand began to cramp up.

Download first easy guitar lesson here.


I have written this riff out two different ways to show you how you can play the same basic rhythm on different parts of the neck.

The first example is the way that I learned it all those years ago. You will notice on the tablature that some notes are held on the same fret numbers but are on different strings. Make sure when playing them that you bar your first finger across the fret board in order to hold the notes down.

Not sure what I'm talking about?

When you bar your finger across the fret board you lay it down flat so that all strings on that fret are pressed down. This is a hard technique to master in the beginning because it takes a considerable amount of hand strength. And practicing bar chords is the only way I know to get better at it. So use this first example to help build your hand strength. Trust me you will need it later when you start learning other bar chords.

The second example is much easier to play. Instead of those awful bar chords you will be playing simple two note per string chords called power chords.

When playing this beginner guitar lesson strum the strings using all down strokes.

The best part about this easy guitar lesson is that it wont take much of your time to master and you will be learning something that is fun to play.

I'll bet once you play it you will realize how many rock and blues songs use these kind of chord progressions in their music. Players like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and B.B. King to name a few.

So have fun with this easy guitar lesson and when you have mastered it check out my other lesson on pentatonic scales. The two go hand in hand.


Serious about learning the guitar?

Visit the #1 online guitar teaching program now!

"Fender" is the dream of every lover of the guitar. It's one of the most popular guitars, being used by many guitarists. Before going to buy one of the various types of fender guitar, let us take a overview of the Fender musical instruments corporation.

Arizona is the home of this guitar manufacturer. The wild success of Fender's "Stratocaster" and "Telecaster" guitars has helped it's rise to fame. A solid body is a feature of both of these electric guitars. Even though many popular brands of electric guitars are on the market today, the reputation and likability of Fender guitars is without comparison.

To date the Fender guitar at the top of the popularity list is the Fender Stratocaster. The Stratocaster is a solid body electric guitar which features a maple neck and maple, rosewood or ebony fret board. This versatile guitar also has three single-coil pick-ups. The Stratocaster is known for being able to produce a very diverse spectrum of sounds. Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and many other guitar greats have chosen to use Fender guitars.

Likewise, another well-known Fender guitar is the "Fender Telecaster". This electric guitar has two single-coil pick-ups. The Telecaster is popular for its prominent sound quality. Even today, after almost six decades of its birth, the Telecaster continues to impress millions with its crystal clear sound. Many beautiful melodies have been developed on the Fender Telecaster.

Fender manufactures other electric guitars like the "Fender Esquire". Designed in 1950, the Esquire had one single-coil pick-up. This guitar is also a solid body guitar. Though essentially being a single pick-up guitar, the Fender Esquire never failed to impress the audience with its perfect tone and melody.

If you know the type of sound quality you want in a guitar, then it's not hard to select a Fender guitar to meet your needs. Fender electric guitars are available worldwide, plus there are many online music stores where you can purchase your chosen musical instrument.

Browse dozens of Fender guitars and hundreds of other electric guitars at The Guitar Center. New merchandise every day!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Wright

Learning to play the blues is a rewarding but challenging task for many guitarists. The first thing I think we all learn is how to play the 12-bar blues chord progression. All though the concept of playing a 12-bar blues is easy to understand getting it to sound like B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and other blues guitar greats is actually pretty difficult. The intent of this lesson is to show you some easy blues chord progressions.

The 12-bar blues form commonly consists of just three chords. The I, IV and V chord of the key you are playing in. For example if we were playing in the key of E then the I chord would be E, the IV chord would be A and the V chord would be B. So the only chords we need for playing blues guitar in the key of E is E, A and B.


In it's simplest form the 12-bar blues would look something like this. Will use the chords in the key of E as an example.



| E / / / | E / / / | E / / / | E / / / |


| A / / / | A / / / | E / / / | E / / / |


| B / / / | B / / / | E / / / | E / / / |


E = I chord
A = IV chord
B = V chord

To spice things up we can add what's called a turnaround to the above progression.

The same progression above with a turnaround will look like this



| E / / / | E / / / | E / / / | E / / / |


| A / / / | A / / / | E / / / | E / / / |


| B / / / | A / / / | E / A / | E / B / |

There you have it! Some simple 12-bar blues chord progressions to get you started. I suggest playing them until you have them memorized and then start experimenting with moving the chords around a bit. Their are no real rules as to which chords should be played when so if it sounds good go with it and most importantly have fun. That is what playing blues guitar is all about.

Learn how to play blues guitar like the greats!

The minor pentatonic guitar scale is one of the most influential scales guitarists use. It is a scale made up of five notes per octave. To hear some of the many ways it is used just listen to any one of your favorite rock bands. Almost all rock songs use the scale in some form. It is also used heavily in blues. The beauty of the pentatonic scale is that you can't really play a bad note.

This scale is derived form playing only five of the seven notes found in the natural minor scale. If you take out the 2nd and 6th notes of the natural minor scale you are left with intervals 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7. These are the notes that make up the minor pentatonic guitar scale. In the key of E minor the notes are named E, G, A, B, and D for intervals 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7.

Below is the fingering pattern for the minor pentatonic scale. I have written it out in the key of E minor but you can move the pattern up and down the neck to play the same scale in different keys. For example if you played the same pattern starting on The 7th fret of the sixth string you would be playing the B minor pentatonic scale.

E minor pentatonic:

|--X--|-----|------|--X--|
|--X--|-----|------|--X--|
|--X--|-----|--X--|------|
|--X--|-----|--X--|------|
|--X--|-----|--X--|------|
|--X--|-----|------|--X--|
*12th fret

This is one of the truly amazing characteristics of the guitar that set it aside from any other instrument. It is easier to play in different keys because the fingering patterns remain the same. All you have to do is move them up and down the neck to accomadate whatever key your jamming in.

For this reason I suggest that after you memorize the scale patterns I am showing you today try moving them up and down the neck. While doing this take notice of each new tonic note. Say it out loud if it will help you remember. Get this under your belt and when someone your playing with says lets jam in B minor you will know exactly where that is and have a minor pentatonic guitar scale pattern under your fingers to rock out with.

Unleash the Power of the Minor Pentatonic Guitar Scale

In order to play songs your first mission will be to learn some easy guitar chords. There are at least a dozen easy guitar chords you can learn right now that will give you the means to play hundreds of popular songs for the guitar. Below we will showcase some easy guitar chords and discuss some tips for practicing them.

The simplest of guitar chords will come in two different qualities. Major and minor. A major chord has a bright and almost happy sound, where as a minor chord can be said to have a dark, somber or sad sound to it.

Here are a few easy guitar chords of the major quality to get you started.

*If you have never read guitar tab the horizontal lines represent the strings on the guitar. The bottom line is the top fattest string when your holding your instrument and the top line is the bottom thinest string. The numbers tell you what fret to place your fingers on that string. A zero means an open string with no fretted notes. The numbers I have placed to the right of the lines are the suggested fingers for fretting the notes. 1 being your index finger and 4 being your pinky.*

E major:

|--------0------------------
|--------0------------------
|--------1------------------ 1
|--------2------------------ 3
|--------2------------------ 2
|--------0------------------


A Major:

|--------0------------------
|--------2------------------ 3
|--------2------------------ 2
|--------2------------------ 1
|--------0------------------
|---------------------------


G Major:

|--------3------------------ 3
|--------0------------------
|--------0------------------
|--------0------------------
|--------2------------------ 2
|--------3------------------ 1


C Major:

|--------0------------------
|--------1------------------ 1
|--------0------------------
|--------2------------------ 2
|--------3------------------ 3
|---------------------------


D Major:

|--------2------------------ 2
|--------3------------------ 3
|--------2------------------ 1
|--------0------------------
|---------------------------
|---------------------------


And now for some easy minor chords.


E minor:

|--------0------------------
|--------0------------------
|--------0------------------
|--------2------------------ 3
|--------2------------------ 2
|--------0------------------


A minor:

|--------0------------------
|--------1------------------ 1
|--------2------------------ 3
|--------2------------------ 2
|--------0------------------
|---------------------------


D minor:

|--------1------------------ 1
|--------3------------------ 3
|--------2------------------ 2
|--------0------------------
|---------------------------
|---------------------------


Easy Guitar Chord Practice Tips

The best way to get good at playing chords is to just start doing it. I suggest first that you learn each chord listed above and it's name. Memorize the fingering. When you think you know them well test yourself by having someone else name them off and see if you can play the chord from memory or use flash cards.

Once you have mastered each chord individually start putting them together. Try changing form one chord to another smoothly. It will be difficult at first but persistence is the key to success. Remember, even though your brain knows what to do your fingers have never had to move like this before and need some training. Practice for at least a half hour a day mixing up as many chords as you like. Experiment with what sounds good and most importantly have fun.

I hope you have found this lesson on easy guitar chords interesting and informative.

Happy Practicing!


Learn easy guitar chord songs

Hey everybody.

Today I decided to do something a little different than the usual guitar advice articles that I normally post on this blog. I wanted to do something fun and share with you a cool new site I stumbled upon the other day.

The site is www.guitarshredshow.com

Take a minute to search around. At first I thought it was a little stupid because it takes a few moments to load but if you love shred guitar I promise you will get a kick out of this web site.

Here is the link one more time. www.guitarshredshow.com

Enjoy!

Come back and tell me what you think!

Tablature was created as an easy way to share music and ideas for stringed instruments. Although many view it as a modern cheat sheet some of the earliest forms can be traced back to the 1300's. During that time the lute and other stringed instruments used it to notate many popular folk songs. Today it is most commonly associated with the guitar.

It has long been debated whether using guitar tablature is good or bad for the development of the player. While it is a stripped down version of standard notation I feel that is an essential part in the development of any guitar player.

As a musician it is important to be able to play by ear. Listening to a song and figuring out how to play it on your own is a rewarding experience and a vital learning tool as well. Using guitar tablature allows you to see where the notes should be played, while figuring out on your own how to play them.

When using guitar tablature as a learning tool a teacher can quickly explain and demonstrate what is written with out the student becoming confused with the notation.

So how do you read tablature?

The guitar tablature staff is composed of six lines instead of the traditional five found in standard notation. Each line represents a string on the guitar.

Here is where some people first get confused.

When you are looking at the staff always remember that the bottom line represents the sixth string on your guitar.

Don't know which is the sixth string?

When holding your guitar in your hands the sixth string will be the top fattest string on the guitar.

The top line on the staff is the first string and the bottom skinny string on your guitar.

Given that I think you can figure out which is the second, third, fourth, etc. :-)

That's half of what you need to know to start reading and writing basic guitar tabs.

Easy enough right?

On the staff of strings you will see numbers as in the example below. The numbers you see on each line represent the fret you need to place your finger on.

So where on the guitar would this be played?

If you said the third string, seventh fret then you are correct.

Their are two ways in which you will see the numbers laid out across the staff, horizontally and vertically.

When you see the numbers moving horizontally across the page from left to right they are sounded individually. Numbers that are stacked on the grid vertically are sounded together.

Here are examples of an e major chord written vertically so that all notes sound together and horizontally so that they are played one after another.

Using guitar tablature is a breeze but their are a few more advanced notations you should familiarize your self with.

Here is a list of other symbols you may encounter while reading tablature.

• h - When placed before the number tells you that the note is to be played using a hammer on.
• p - When placed after a number indicates a pull off.
• t - When found before a note means that you should tap the note with your right hand.
• / - This symbol placed before or after a note tells you that you need to slide your finger up or down to the next note.
• b - When placed before or after a note will tell you to bend the note.
• ( ) - You will typically see this after a bent note along with a number for example (9). This tells you that the target note of the bend is the 9th fret. On some occasions you will not see a b before the bend.

  *Any note in paranthesis is assumed as a target note that is either bent up to from the previous note on the staff or first plucked in the bent position and then released to the next note on the staff.*

• ~ - This symbol indicates that you play the pitch with vibrato.


• x - An x is used to notate a string mute. Several in a row on adjacent strings will notate a rake.
• < > - Any number found surrounded with this symbol should be played as either a natural or artificial harmonic.

Now that you have a better understanding of how to use guitar tablature find some great tabs of the songs you like and use this tool to help you learn to play them. Learning to play songs in their entirety will greatly increase your playing and help inspire new ideas in your own playing. There are many sources on the internet that supply free guitar tabs of popular songs.

Understanding the major guitar scale and how it is constructed is the first step in understanding western music theory. Chords, modes and other scales will almost always have a direct relationship to the major scale. Once you learn the major scale you will quickly be able to understand how chords are built and where the seven different modes of the major scale come from.

Major Guitar Scale Basics

The major scale is a seven note scale and is sometimes called the Ionian mode. It is made up of a series of intervals that have a specific relationship to one another.

What is an interval?

An interval is the distance between two notes. For example on your guitar the distance between the 1st and 2nd frets is considered to be a half step. Likewise the distance between the 1st and 3rd frets is a whole step.

The major scale is made up of a series of whole and half steps in the following pattern:

W W H W W W H

To further illustrate let's take the C major scale. The notes in a C major scale are:

C D E F G A B

If we now take the notes and the interval make up we get this:

C(w) D(w) E(h) F(w) G(w) A(w) B(h) C

The second C at the end is an octave at which point the cycle repeats itself.

Many people use numbers to identify the different tones in the major scale. Since there are seven different notes in the major scale they are numbered 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 accordingly. Compare this to the C major scale and you have the following:

C(1) D(2) E(3) F(4) G(5) A(6) B(7)

This is important to understand because when you begin to study other scales and chords they will refer to these numbers as being either flatted or sharped. For example if you saw something like 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 this would mean that you would need to flat the 3rd, 6th and 7th scale degrees of the major scale. So the notes in the C major scale would end up being C D E-flat F G A-flat B-flat and the name of this new scale is actually the natural minor scale.

If you do not understand it yet don't worry. It's a lot to wrap your head around the first time. Just make sure that you understand that their are seven notes in the major scale and that they are numbered 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 respectively. Also memorize the W W H W W W H interval make-up. You will better understand the rest when you learn other scales and modes.

Major Guitar Scale Patterns

To see how the major scale works across all six strings of the guitar here are a few different fingering patterns for the C major scale with the root on the 6th string 8th fret. I have numbered the notes in the scale as we discussed above.

1 |--7--|--1--|------|------|
2 |-----|--5--|------|--6--|
3 |--2--|-----|--3--|--4--|
4 |--6--|-----|--7--|--1--|
5 |--3--|--4--|-----|--5--|
6 |-----|--1---|-----|--2--|


1 |--6--|------|--7--|--1--|------|
2 |--3--|--4--|------|--5--|------|
3 |--1--|------|--2--|------|------|
4 |--5--|------|--6--|------|--7--|
5 |--2--|------|--3--|--4--|------|
6 |-----|------|------|--1---|------|


1 |------|------|--2--|-----|--3--|--4--|
2 |------|------|--6--|-----|--7--|--1--|
3 |------|--3--|--4--|-----|--5--|------|
4 |------|--7--|--1--|-----|--2--|------|
5 |--4--|------|--5--|-----|--6--|------|
6 |--1--|------|--2--|-----|--3--|------|

In part 2 of guitar chord theory we discussed how to construct major and minor triads.

Remember a triad is any chord consisting of three notes. The root, third and fifth of the major scale and the different chord qualities like major and minor are made by either flatting the third of leaving it the the same.

For a quick refresh of this visit guitar chord theory part 2.

Today's lesson will consist of learning how to construct diminished and augmented triads. First let's discuss the diminished triad since you will probably encounter it more frequently than the augmented triad.

Guitar Chord Theory - Diminished Triads.

Diminished chords are nothing more than minor chords with a flatted 5th.

Minor Chord

l-----l------l------l-------l
l-----l------l------l-------l
l-----l-m3-l------l-------l
l-----l------l------l--1----l
l-----l------l------l--5----l
l-----l--1---l------l-------l

Diminished Triad

l-----l-------l-------l--------l
l-----l-------l-------l--------l
l-----l-m3--l-------l--------l
l-----l-------l-------l---1---l
l-----l-------l--b5--l--------l
l-----l--1----l-------l--------l


So if you build this chord off of a C major scale like we have done the previous major and minor triads you will have the notes C, E-flat, G-flat as your root, third and fifth chord tones.

Guitar Chord Theory - Augmented Triads

Augmented triads are the opposite of diminished triads. Starting with a major chord you will then want to raise the fifth to get the augmented triad.

Major Triad

l-----l-----l------l-----l
l-----l-----l------l-----l
l-----l-----l--3--l------l
l-----l-----l------l--1--l
l-----l-----l------l--5--l
l-----l--1--l------l-----l


Augmented Triad

l-----l-----l------l-----l------l
l-----l-----l------l-----l------l
l-----l-----l--3--l------l------l
l-----l-----l------l--1--l------l
l-----l-----l------l-----l--#5-l
l-----l--1--l------l-----l------l

Now you know how to build diminished and augmented triads using the major scale as your guide. Their are many different ways to play these triads across the guitar neck. I recommend getting your hands on a good chord book or chart that will show you basic chords along with their inversions. This will enable you to be able to play chords in any position on the neck.

Discover thousands of guitar chords at Guitar Chord Legend

Bending Guitar Strings is a method used primarily by lead guitar players to give the guitar a more vocal quality. The idea behind a string bend is to raise the pitch of the note without lifting the finger off of the fret-board or using another finger to fret the note. The result is a smooth glissando into the next note.

This can be a difficult technique for the beginner to master. The easiest way for you to accomplish a string bend is to use two or more fingers. For example, fret the note to be bent with either your second or third finger. Bend the guitar string with that finger as far as you can. Not so easy is it? This time place the first and second fingers on the same string behind the note you intend to bend. Now bend the guitar string as far as you can. It's a lot easier isn't it?

When playing you can either bend the string up or down to create the desired effect. Both are equally efficient. The idea of bending guitar strings, is to bend up to a specific pitch. Practice this by playing a note and then moving down the string one, two or three frets and bending the string back up to the original note played.

As you become familiar with this technique in your guitar playing you may want to find a few new creative ways to use this method. Here is a few tricks I have picked up along the way.

• Try bending a note into a few different pitches. For example play the original note, bend up a half step (one fret), then release the note and bend it up a whole step(two frets). David Gilmore uses this approach in quite a few of his signature Pink Floyd solos. Experiment with the concept targeting different notes to bend up too.


• Another popular technique among many blues players like Stevie Ray Vaughn and B.B. King is to pre bend a string before it is picked and then release it to it's original note. Pretty cool huh!

I hope you will enjoy using string bending in your playing and utilizing some of the more creative approaches that I discussed here.

Become a master of guitar scales

Vibrato on Guitar is a subtle technique that almost always goes unnoticed to the passive listener, but you should familiarize your self with it because it is a great artistic tool to have. It can add warmth, depth, and sustain to a note. I suspect you probably already use this technique, but maybe never really thought about what it really is or how you can control it.

Vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch up and down. The amount of change is usually a very small amount just enough to make the note sound like it's shaking or vibrating.

Their are two ways you can achieve this while playing the guitar. The first method is called radial vibrato. This method involves actually bending the string up or down from the original note and back at a continuous rate. This type is most commonly associated with rock music and is the way most of us learn how to do it. The second method is axial vibrato. To use this method you have to rock your finger from side to side. It does not create as wide of a change in pitch as the radial method due to less overall movement, but it can be rather fun to experiment with.

Their are certain electric guitars I have seen that facilitate the use of the axial method. Electric guitars that have a scalloped fret board like that played by Yngwie Malmsteen allow the player to actually push down on the string to vary the pitch.

The effects of vibrato on guitar are subtle, but mastery of it can really bring out emotion in your playing. Practice it in your playing, but don't just throw it in there and move on. Experiment with what it would sound like if you used axial instead of radial or if you varied the speed a little.

It's time to shake it up!

Become a master of guitar scales

The sweep picking technique is an advanced guitar technique in which the player picks notes on consecutive adjacent strings by moving his/her pick in a continuous down or up stroke. The term sweep is used to describe the continual motion across the strings. If you have never heard just how wickedly awesome this technique can be listen to players like Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Jeff Loomis, and Frank Gambale.

The best way to explain it simply is to compare it to strumming a chord. Strumming and sweep picking are similar in that your pick moves across several strings in the same direction. The difference however is in the fretting hand. When strumming a chord you would hold the chord shape and allow all notes to sound in unison with one another. This is not the case with sweep picking. The idea behind sweep picking is to play a broken chord or arpeggio, sounding each note individually.

To execute the sweep picking technique you will first need to practice the right and left hand components separately. Begin with your right hand. Let the pick fall from string to string as if you are strumming a chord. It should be smooth and continuous. Do not separate each pick stroke by lifting up or away from the string. Instead, drag the pick over the strings in a fluid motion.

Mastery of the left hand is going to be the most difficult. I know it was for me. the trick to get each note to sound individually is to immediately mute each note after picking it. To do so lift your finger off of the note so that it is resting on the the string.

*Important! Lifting your finger completely of the string in a fast motion will create a pull off and the open string may ring while playing the next note. That is why you need to mute each note after it is played.*

Many times you will see two or three notes that are on the same fret. In this case you will have to roll your finger, simultaneously muting the previous note and letting the current note ring.

Sound hard? It is.

I suggest taking each finger one at a time and practice rolling it over two or three strings. Make sure your goal is to get each note to sound cleanly.

So are you still excited about sweep picking?

This is not a technique for the squeamish. It will take a lot of time and frustration to master. I suggest practicing it at least 20 minutes a day sometime during the middle of your practice session when your hands are nice and warmed up. Start with smaller arpeggios that span maybe three or four strings. As you get better try playing the big daddy arpeggios that cover five and six strings at a time.

Become a master of guitar scales

In this alternate picking guitar lesson you will learn why it is by far the most important picking technique you should learn. No matter what other techniques you decide to apply in your playing you will find that it is the mainstay for all guitarists. Guitarists like Steve Morse and Al Di Meola use it almost exclusively in their playing, claiming that it is the only guitar technique that will allow a player to achieve the purest tone possible.

It's up to you to decide which picking techniques you will incorporate into your own playing, but if you master nothing else, master the technique of alternate picking. It will add to your style a great sense of clarity and a sharp unmistakable tone.

The concept is simple. Your pick hand uses a down-up-down-up etc. pattern continuously for the duration of whatever lick or riff you are playing.

This can be difficult when playing licks containing only one note per string such as arpeggios, and also riffs that skip strings. That is why techniques like sweep picking, economy picking and hybrid picking were developed.

A good way to get your pick hand accustomed to this technique is to simply play any open string on your guitar using the alternate down-up-down-up pattern described above. Practice switching strings without stopping. When you feel comfortable moving your pick hand from string to string while using the technique then it is time to start adding some fretted notes with your other hand. For some great exercises that will help sync up your right and left hands check out my guitar lesson on building finger strength.


Alternate picking guitar lesson exercises.

Learning good guitar technique is an essential part of your development as a player.

If you have been teaching yourself how to play guitar up to this point their is a good chance that you probably have picked up some bad habits along the way.

In my own playing I have been aware of a bad habit that has haunted me for years. For those of you who must know; my problem is that I sometimes start an alternate picking sequence with an up stroke rather than a down stroke. It's not usually a problem until I encounter a lick that could have been executed faster by starting with a down stroke.

I remember my first guitar teacher pointing this habit out to me, but he never really enforced correcting it and I was too young to really care. So if your thinking that this stuff isn't important to you yet believe me it is. Taking the time to get it right now will save you from any future headaches and a fortune on pain medicine. : ) Simply put, developing good guitar technique is more important and easier in the beginning.

This is why I stress to you; develop good playing habits early on before you find your self stuck in your ways.

Developing good guitar technique is easy with the Jamorama guitar e-course.

Become a master of guitar scales.

If you are learning the guitar as a beginner, as a slightly more advanced player or as someone coming back to playing the guitar, you can appreciate how frustrating it is learning the skills and techniques without seeing any noticeable results. The time and effort that many put into exercises don’t seem to be reflected in their standard of playing. There also seems to be a frustration in the lack of quality information on the market.

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In addition to the quality information in the glossy two book series, the team at Jamorama has spent 1,000s of hours developing 148 video examples and exercises so the student can hear and see exactly what they should be doing. The Jamorama team have also included two exaexclusive educational computer games to develop your skills in reading and training your ear to transcribe music. They also included the pro version of Jayde Musica and GuitEarIt! as free bonuses that give the student the ability to train their ear to recognize notes and transcribe songs from the radio. Both of these programs are very well made and presented, and most of all are easy and fun to play.

Add to this package the two additional free bonus ebooks "Advanced Learning Techniques for Guitar”.and “How to tune your guitar”. Advanced Techniques introduces the idea of mental visualization, which is a powerful tool in speeding up your rate of learning. Mental visualization uses the same pathways inside your brain other than the fact you are not performing the activity physically. The second bonus book, “How to tune your guitar” solves the problem with tuning guitars, and introduces the reader to the most effective way of tuning a guitar.

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With all of the information in this package there really is no excuse to delay learning to play your guitar. The Jamorama team has given the reader four high quality books, two fun educational games and access the Jamorama forum with all the resources you need to play like a professional in no time.

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Being able to play your favorite songs is one of the most rewarding things for any guitar player. You can also score some cool points if you can play requests at parties. I have put together a short list of popular songs for electric guitar that you can rock out with your friends or to impress that special someone.

Songs for Electric Guitar #1

Freebird: by Lynyrd Skynrd. This song is a rock and roll classic that any one who hasn't been living in a cave for the last 50 years should know; and if they don't why are you hanging around them?

The guitar chords for Freebird are simple but for some reason everybody thinks it's such a difficult song to play. The main verse is G, D/F#, Em, F, C, D and the chorus is F, C, and D. You may want to play along to get the changes and repeats down. Finally the outro is just G5, A#5, and C5 over and over and over and over... You'll see what I mean. Get someone to play with you and learn the lead parts from any of the free tabs found online.

Songs for Electric Guitar #2

Dirty Deeds: by AC/DC Another rock classic that everyone should now and is fun to sing and play. The intro is: [E] [G5] [E] [A5] [E] [D5/A] [E] Verse: [D] [E] Chorus: [A5] [G5] [A5], [E] [D] [E] Break: [B] [E] Once again listen to the song for the structure.

Songs for Electric Guitar #3

Smells Like Teen Spirit: by Nirvana A timeless classic in it's own right. I can't believe the amount of radio play this song still receives. Nevertheless it is a good one to have in your repertoire. The main riff and chorus use the following chord progression. [F] [Bb] [Ab] [Eb] These are played as bar chords. This is the only real chord progression in the entire song. The verse is simply two single melody notes. To play them bar your finger over the first frets of the first and second strings and pick them one after another letting them ring. To get the same sound as Kurt Cobain you will need a flanger effect.

There are many great songs for electric guitar that you can learn to increase your repertoire and improve your playing. Try the above three for starters and then after you have mastered them start picking out your favorite songs to learn or ask other people what they would like to hear. You can buy tab books for almost any artist, but first try to figure out as much of any song as you can by just listening to it. This will develop your ear and greatly increase your ability to learn things you hear for the first time.

John Hughes has been playing guitar longer than he can remember. His innovative teaching techniques have helped many guitarists maximize their practice time for optimal playing potential. Discover the hidden secrets to quickly and easily play your favorite songs for electric guitar by visiting Jamorama.com

You can spend money on a private instructor and countless hours practicing, but if you are not doing the right things it will take years to accomplish what some players seem to master overnight. The reason for this is not because they have more talent, but either someone revealed to them or they took it upon themselves to master the guitar using a similar, if not same approach as outlined in this lesson. The two methods you are about to read will dramatically increase your knowledge of the guitar. This guitar lesson aims to unlock the secrets of the guitar so you will be able to quickly and effortless learn new things.

The first point in today's guitar lesson is to learn the names of all the notes on the guitar. Many players can tell the names of the open strings and probably up the neck on each string up to about the fifth or seventh fret, but how many can instantly name off all the notes in the higher registrars of the guitar neck. Unless you're one of the few who can I suggest you first get a diagram of the fret board that lists each note and study it intently. Second, sit down with your guitar without the diagram and name off as many of the notes as you can while you play them. This is the most important point because it lays the foundation for the next step.

After you have a good working knowledge of the notes on the fret-board you will find that it is much easier to find new chords and scales. To illustrate this point play some of your favorite scales and chords. Now try to find the same chords and scales in different positions on the fret-board. Being able to quickly and easily learn and identify chord shapes and scale positions will increase your ability to find new and innovative ways to play the guitar.

You now have the secrets to improving your guitar playing ten fold. Do not delay. Find a diagram of the fret-board at your local music store or online that shows the names of all the notes. Drill them into your brain then practice your scales and chords. Move them around to different positions and explore the neck. All to often guitar instructors and beginning players fail to utilize the methods I have shown in this guitar lesson. Don't pass up this opportunity to truly excel as a guitar player.

In an earlier edition of guitar chord theory we discussed how to stack thirds on any scale to build the chords for that key. Using the same C major scale as in guitar chord theory part 1 we are going to look at how chords are built from a different stand point. The objective of this lesson is to recognize the intervals that make up major and minor chords

What is an interval?

An interval is the distance between two notes. On the guitar one fret is considered a half tone and two frets is a whole tone. The major scale is comprised of seven tones: C D E F G A B that are spaced as a series of whole and half steps. The exact interval sequence is W W H W W W H where W = whole tone and H = half tone.

Notes in C major

l--B--l--C--l------l------l
l------l--G--l------l--A--l
l--D--l------l--E--l--F--l
l--A--l------l--B--l--C--l
l--E--l--F--l------l--G--l
l------l--C--l------l--D--l

Interval sequence starting with root note C

l--W--l--H---l------l------l
l-------l--W--l------l--W--l
l--W--l-------l--W--l--H--l
l--W--l-------l--W--l--H--l
l--W--l--H---l------l--W--l
l-------l--C---l------l--W--l

In modern western music theory the major is considered to be the mother scale as to which all others are related to. There are seven tones in the scale and they are numbered 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 accordingly. This is where it gets tricky. A major chord is said to be made up of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th tones of a major scale. This means that by playing the 1st, 3rd and 5th scale degrees of the major scale we will get a major triad.

Numbered Scale Degrees

l--7--l--1---l------l------l
l------l--5--l------l--6---l
l--2--l------l--3--l--4---l
l--6--l------l--7--l--1---l
l--3--l--4---l-----l--5---l
l------l--1---l-----l--2---l

Major Triad

l-----l--1--l-----l------l
l-----l--5--l-----l------l
l-----l-----l--3--l------l
l-----l-----l-----l--1---l
l-----l-----l-----l--5---l
l-----l--1--l-----l------l

You can see from the diagram that all the notes in the chord correspond to those in the scale.

Minor Chords

in guitar chord theory minor chords are said to have a flatted or minor third scale degree. This means that their interval make up as based around the major scale would be 1, minor 3rd and 5th. Notice below how moving the 3rd down one half step we get a minor chord.

Minor Triad

l-----l--1---l------l-------l
l-----l--5---l------l-------l
l-----l-m3-l------l-------l
l-----l------l------l--1----l
l-----l------l------l--5----l
l-----l--1---l------l-------l

When building chords off of scales by stacking thirds you will not always need to think of them as described here, but it is useful to understand this part of guitar chord theory because many instruction books and other people will refer to them in this intervalic manor.

John Robert has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about guitar chord theory and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering basic guitar scales you owe it to yourself to check out Jam-o-rama.info

I know it isn't everybody's favorite subject, but it is beneficial to learn some basic guitar theory at some point. The easiest place to start is with guitar chord theory. There is a formula behind the way chords are constructed and the intent of this article is to help you better understand guitar chord theory.

To understand the way chords are built we must first look at the major scale. Lets take the C major scale for example. The notes in a C major scale are C D E F G A B. Now that we know the notes of the major scale we can build the chords involved with the key of C by stacking thirds.

Stacking thirds is basically stacking every other note. To get a C major triad all we need is three notes. Starting on C we will go every other note until we get C E G. These are the three primary notes in the C major chord. C is called the root note, E is called the third an G is called the fifth. All of your major and minor chords will be comprised of a root, third and fifth.

Now let's take this lesson in guitar chord theory one step further. We can build all the chords in the key of C major by stacking thirds starting on each different note of the scale. If D is our root note, then F is the third and A is the fifth. Do this for all the remaining notes in the C major scale and you should end up with seven different chords all related to the key of C major.

You can apply this lesson in guitar chord theory to any scale to get the different chords associated with it. There is much more to learn about guitar chord theory, but for know just think about what you have learned and how the chords that you practice are 'stacked up'.

John Hughes has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about guitar chord theory and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering the guitar you owe it to yourself to check out Jam-o-rama.info

If you are interested in learning how to play lead guitar your first step should be to learn some basic guitar scales. Scales are the building blocks for lead guitar playing and once you master the basic guitar scales mentioned below you will be ready to jam some killer licks over your favorite tunes or perhaps your own chord arrangements.

Basic Guitar Scale #1

The minor pentatonic scale is the easiest and most common scale used in rock and blues styles. Here is the pattern. You can play it starting on any part of the neck.

l--X---l------l-------l--X---l
l--X---l------l-------l--X---l
l--X---l------l--X---l-------l
l--X---l------l--X---l-------l
l--X---l------l--X---l-------l
l--X---l------l-------l--X---l

Basic Guitar Scale #2

The major scale is the most popular in western forms of music and is the starting point for all music and guitar theory. It is the do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do scale we all learn in grade school music classes. Here is the pattern.

l--X--l--X--l------l------l
l------l--X--l------l--X--l
l--X--l------l--X--l--X--l
l--X--l------l--X--l--X--l
l--X--l--X--l------l--X--l
l------l--X--l------l--X--l

Basic Guitar Scale #3

The minor scale is another popular one is western music. It is the sixth mode of the major scale which means if you played the major scale starting on the sixth note in the scale and continued up an octave you would essentially be playing a minor scale. Here is the minor scale pattern.

l--X---l-------l--X---l--X---l-------l
l--X---l--X---l-------l--X---l-------l
l--X---l-------l--X---l-------l-------l
l--X---l-------l--X---l-------l--X---l
l--X---l-------l--X---l--X---l-------l
l--X---l-------l--X---l--X---l-------l

Basic Guitar Scale #4

The blues scale is an easy one to learn once you know the minor pentatonic because it is basically the same scale with an added note. This added note called the "blue" note gives the scale its unusual sad quality. You can use the blues scale in rock and blues styles and it will sound great. Here is the pattern.

l--X--l------l------l--X--l
l--X--l------l--X--l--X--l
l--X--l------l--X--l------l
l--X--l------l--X--l------l
l--X--l--X--l--X--l------l
l--X--l------l------l--X--l

I hope you will enjoy playing the basic guitar scales above and learn to incorporate them into your lead guitar playing. These are the most basic scales and for some people it's all they ever need. You would do well to master them inside and out. Visit my blog for tips on mastering guitar scales in record time.

John Hughes has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about playing guitar and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering basic guitar scales you owe it to yourself to check out Guitar-Scale-Mastery.info

When I was a younger guitarist I used to watch in awe at players that could effortlessly jam with other's playing lick after lick of great lead guitar. I thought I would never be that good until I learned the blues scale for guitar. The blues scale opened my eyes to the world of improvisation and within a month I was up there jamming along with them. This article will show you how to play a blues scale for guitar and also give a few pointers on successfully using it to play lead guitar.

First a little background on the blues scale for guitar. The blues scale is derived from the minor pentatonic scale. If you play a minor pentatonic and add one note (the flatted fifth) you get the blues scale. This added note is what gives the scale its sad, dark quality. In medieval times the flatted fifth was known as the 'The Devil's Note' and its use banned in some kingdom's. Today though people are more forgiving of this unusual tone and some actual prefer it. The blues scale can be found in almost al forms of music whether it be rock, jazz, blues, heavy metal, and other world music.

Here is a diagram of the Blues Scale for Guitar

¦--X--¦------¦------¦--X--¦
¦--X--¦------¦------¦--X--¦
¦--X--¦------¦--X--¦--O--¦
¦--X--¦------¦--X--¦------¦
¦--X--¦--O--¦--X--¦------¦
¦--X--¦------¦------¦--X--¦

The X's and O's represent the notes that make up the blues scale. The O's are the flatted fifth or 'blue' note. If you were to omit these notes from the pattern you would be left with the minor pentatonic scale.

How to use the Blues Scale for Guitar

The scale pattern I have shown above can be played starting any fret of your guitar. It works well over minor chords, power chords and Dominant seventh chords. Practice the scale up and down until you memorize the notes well enough to do it without looking. Then try juggling them around to come up with your own licks.

Cool blues guitar trick: Play a note not in the scale and bend or slide into the note that is in the scale. You will have to experiment with this one because not all outside notes will sound as pleasing as other's but this is a really cool sound that will instantly make you sound like a pro.

For more tips and ideas on playing the blues scale for guitar try listening to some of your favorite rock and blues bands. See if you can jam along, or try to pick out what they are playing. Just remember to have fun with it first and then before you know it you will be able to jam out some blues and rock with anyone.

John Hughes has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about playing blues guitar and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering the blues you owe it to yourself to check out PlayingThroughTheBlues.info

I often am asked by my students to show them a metal guitar scale. Well first I like to ask them to bring me a recording of one of their favorite metal bands. This helps me to decide which metal guitar scale they are accustomed to hearing in the music they love to listen to. With the many different genre's of metal available today it is impossible to pin-point a specific 'metal guitar scale'. This article aims to show the different scales used in metal music and how some work better with different kinds of metal.

Metal Guitar Scale #1

The first and grandfather of all rock and metal scales is the pentatonic. It is often times mixed with the blues scale also. If your preference is more rock based metal and older bands like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, and even newer bands like Black Label Society the pentatonic scale is your scale of choice. This does not mean that these bands play the pentatonic scale exclusively, but they do use it heavily in their riffs and solos.

Metal Guitar Scale #2

The second scale I hear a lot in metal is the natural minor scale. It can blended with the pentatonic, but when used exclusively has a much more symphonic sound and feel. It can be found in many forms of metal ranging from 80's hair bands to speed metal bands like Slayer and Metallica. It is also popular in death metal and is probably the one scale that transcends into all genre's of metal well. Also popular is the harmonic minor scale which is basically a natural minor scale with a raised seventh.

Metal Guitar Scale #3

Another great scale metal players love is the Phrygian scale. It has a very distinct almost spanish style flavor and is found in many of heavy metal's clean guitar passages.

Metal Guitar Scale #4

The last scale that is commonly found in metal music is the Locrian scale. This scale is a favorite because of it's flatted second and fifth intervals which give it a very dark evil sound. Metal bands who use this scale are usually not your basic rock based metal bands and are usually more dark and mysterious sounding. Try listening to more death metal and black metal bands to hear this scale.

These are the four main scales you will frequently find in heavy metal. I could not say with any certainty which is a metal guitar scale because they all work well in different situations and can be used in other forms of music like jazz. My advice to you is to learn all of these scales and decide for your self which ones you like to use.

John Hughes has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about playing lead guitar and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering the use of different metal guitar scales you owe it to yourself to check out Guitar-Scale-Mastery.info

Practicing scales is one of the most important thing you can do to improve your overall playing. It helps build your finger dexterity, speed and also lays the ground work for playing solo passages later. One of the more popular scales is the minor guitar scale. It is commonly found in most rock and is the preferred scale in heavy metal. This article aims to familiarize you with the five different minor guitar scales employed by many of today's guitar greats.

Minor Guitar Scale #1: Pentatonic Minor

The pentatonic minor scale is a scale made up of just five notes and is by far the easiest to learn and play with. Many guitarists love this scale because it is hard to play a wrong note when using it for guitar solos. It also has a very unique sound due to the large intervals between each pitch.

Minor Guitar Scale #2: Aeolian Minor

The aeolian minor scale is often referred to as the natural minor scale. It is the sixth mode of the major scale. A mode is what you get by playing the major scale starting on the sixth note and ending on the sixth note. You do not need to understand this to play a minor scale though. Just know that a natural minor scale will work well with any minor chord.

Minor Guitar Scale #3: Harmonic Minor

A harmonic minor scale is a natural minor scale with a raised seventh. It has a very distinct sound and is popular among Neoclassical guitar players like Yngwie Malmsteen. The raised seventh provides a leading tone to the root note and sounds great when played over a V7 - i chord progression.

Minor Guitar Scale #4: Dorian Minor

Dorian Minor is the second mode of the major scale. It it very popular in jazz and many jam bands like the Allman brothers. To play a dorian scale simply think of a natural minor scale with a raised sixth. This scale lends it self well to any minor chord but is especially useful for minor seventh chords and minor ninth chords.

Minor Guitar Scale #5: Phyrigan Minor

Phyrigan minor is a popular one among Flamenco, Spanish and metal players. You can get a phyrigan scale by playing a natural minor with a flatted second. Use it over minor and minor seventh chords.

There is an almost endless number of licks you can use in a minor context once you learn and understand the five fundamental minor guitar scales. As you saw above they all work well over a minor chord. The only thing to watch out for is the more jazzy minor sevenths and ninths. The only way to fully master these is to practice them and try mixing them together for a truly unique sound that you can call your own.

John Hughes has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about playing lead guitar and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering the use of different minor guitar scales you owe it to yourself to check out Guitar-Scale-Mastery.info

Many of us start playing guitar for various reasons. Some want to sing along and impress girls and others want to be rock stars and party all the time. No matter what the reason, we all discover that learning lead guitar is what separates the wanna be guitar players from those who actually can play. Learning lead guitar takes a lot of dedication and practice. Below is an overview of the three most important steps to learning lead guitar.

First step to Learning Lead Guitar:

Practice as many scales and arpeggios as you can. These are the building blocks for all solo guitar work. Strive to learn them in as many different ways as you can. It is also important to play scales and arpeggios in as many different keys as you can.

Second step to Learning Lead Guitar:

Once you have mastered some scales and arpeggios try jamming along with a favorite song. Another really good practice method is to record your self playing rhythm guitar and then try to solo over it. When improvising it is important not concentrate on the notes and how they sound. I know it is tempting to play as fast as you can, but a wiser guitarist than me once said accuracy before speed. And you know what he was right. The sooner you can recognize how a scale will sound over a certain chord the easier it will be to rip through it and find a good ending point to make it sound fluid.

Third step to Learning Lead Guitar:

It is especially important in the beginning to practice exercises that will build finger dexterity and help synchronize the fret hand with the pick hand. They are not always the most fun to practice, but the pay offs in speed and agility are well worth the boredom. In fact as you mature as a player you will probably find that these exercises are very useful in warming up before performances.

Learning lead guitar is a demanding yet highly rewarding experience. The feeling you get from wailing out a hot guitar lick is one of the most exhilarating feelings in the world. I urge you to apply the techniques mentioned above for learning lead guitar. Memorize as many scales and arpeggios as you can. Improvise them to your own rhythms or jam with a CD or even better find other people to jam with.

John Hughes has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about learning lead guitar and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering the building blocks for lead guitar you owe it to yourself to check out Guitar-Scale-Mastery.info

I have been teaching guitar for about three years now and it seems in the last couple of months I have been asked several times by potential students what is the advantage of taking lessons with me over taking them online. Honestly I didn't really know what it was like to learn how to play the electric guitar online. When I was a boy I had taken traditional lessons from the local music store by my house. The whole learn how to play the electric guitar online thing was not very big in the early nineties so to answer this question I would have to do some research. This article will tell you the shocking truth to what we found.

To give an honest opinion of available learn how to play the electric guitar online courses I had to suck it up and buy a few of them. I thought this would be an expensive experiment, but I was shocked to find that for under $200 I was able to buy four different programs. While taking private lessons I used to pay $40 dollars a week.

I began reading through the course books. Each guitar program seemed to have a secret learning technique or method that the author claimed would transform any player in a matter of weeks. The only logical step at this point was to test these methods out.

I began using each of the four courses on a different student of mine to see what kind of progress they would make. After a month 3 of my students hadn't made any drastic improvements although a 2 of them did comment that they were enjoying the lessons a little more. However the 4th student made considerable progress, unlike any I have ever seen. He made remarkable improvements in the first week and is now learning things in a weeks time that is taking the others months to perfect. Some people might say he just has more talent, but I too have applied the techniques and have noticed an improvement in my own playing. Talent or not, this technique is worth its weight in gold.

I now show this technique to all my students and guard the secret that I really got the idea from the internet with my life. Students still ask from time to time if it would be better to learn how to play the electric guitar online, and when they do I quickly change the subject knowing that if they discovered my secrets I might have to seek a new profession.

For advice on finding an online lesson plan visit my lens on Squidoo here.

Also check out the Top Three Online Guitar Courses Below:

#1 JAMORAMA

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Alright, so you know you want to play acoustic guitar but money is tight. You want a cheap acoustic guitar but it still has to sound good right. Do not fear. Locating a cheap acoustic guitar that will play well is not as difficult as you might think. In this article I aim to point you in the right direction for finding a cheap acoustic guitar.

When searching for a cheap acoustic guitar you will probably want to direct your focus on the bigger name brands like Takamine, Fender and Ibanez. I know your thinking that these are the more expensive models and they are, but these companies also make beginner models that are relatively cheap and still have good production quality. After all they have a reputation to keep and many times these companies hope that if you are satisfied you might become a life time customer. So stick to these top three if you wish to find a cheap acoustic guitar that will still sound great.

Since your going to be buying a cheap acoustic guitar you might as well buy it brand new. Buying a guitar from someone who once used it as their first guitar usually means that the guitar is not in good shape. Most beginners make the mistake of not properly taking care of their instruments. Not because they're lazy, but because they just haven't learned how to yet. My first guitar looks like hell. I know it can be tempting seeing cheap acoustic guitars on eBay for $20 or $30 dollars but believe me you will get what you pay for. Instead go to your local music store or shop online at ZZsounds, or Amazon. I would recommend budgeting between $150 and $300 for your first acoustic guitar.

I hope that this article helps you to choose a great cheap acoustic guitar to learn with. Remember to stick to the top three brands because they will have beginner series models that are cheap and constructed well. Also buy new. Resist the urge to buy a used guitar and I promise you will be much happier with your choice.

After you find your new guitar check out my lens on Squidoo for tips on learning how to play.

There are many scale that can be played on the guitar, but one of the most common ones and the first one I show all my students is the blues guitar scale. The reason I love this scale and teach it first even though the pentatonic is slightly easier and more widely used is because it sounds more musical and by learning is early on my students are already equipped with a scale that can transcend many styles of music. Below I will teach you the basics of the blues guitar scale and how to implement it into your playing.

First lets take a look at the structure of the blues scale. A blues guitar scale is simply a minor pentatonic scale with one extra note. The extra note is referred to as the blue note because of the unique sad quality it brings to the scale.

An E minor pentatonic scale would be made up of the notes:

E G A B D

To get the blues guitar scale you add a B-flat (Bb) into the scale:

E G A Bb B D

The blues scale was designed to play over all dominant seventh chords. A typical 12-bar blues in the key of E would use a I7 - IV7 - V7 chord progression. However it is not required to use seventh chords. You might also use regular major and minor chords and still the blues scale would sound great over them.

In modern times the blues scale can be found in many forms of music. Rock, metal, and country often rely heavily on it's use for riffs and lead guitar. It can also be found in Jazz although usually mixed in as a hybrid scale with some other modal based diatonic scale.

The blues guitar scale is arguable the grandfather of all guitar scales. it's unique sound and playability make it a great choice for many styles of music. I always encourage my students and any one interested in becoming a versatile guitar player to master this scale because it is easy to use in almost any application.

John Hughes has been playing guitar for longer than he can remember. Aside from teaching guitar for the last three years he enjoys writing articles about the importance of guitar scales and other guitar related topics. If you are serious about mastering the building blocks for playing lead guitar you owe it to yourself to check out Guitar-Scale-Mastery.info

There comes a time in almost every aspiring guitarists young life where simply learning your favorite rock 'n' roll songs isn't enough. You want to learn to play lead guitar so that you can sound just like all your favorite guitar heroes. Playing lead guitar will take a lot of dedication and practice on your part. This article will help you discover the three most important factors needed to learn to play lead guitar.

To learn to play lead guitar you will first need to learn some scales. There are tons of scales you can learn but for starters I suggest learning the pentatonic scale. It is the easiest and most widely used scale in any form of music. You should practice scales everyday for at lest 10 - 20 minutes until you can play then with out even thinking about them. Whenever you master one scale move on to the next.

Another important step if you want to learn to play lead guitar is to get a tablature book of your favorite guitar solos or try to pick hem out by ear. Learning how to play other guitarists solos will greatly improve your own playing. Take notice of what scales they are using and how they play them. You might also want to consider getting a book full of different lead guitar licks. The more licks and scales you can master the more unique and fluid your own solos will be.

The last thing you should practice is improvising. Take 10 - 20 minutes of your practice time to jam along with your favorite songs. If you have a way of recording your self you might even make up your own rhythm and try to solo over it. When improvising try to think of the notes in your head and then play then on the guitar. Improvisation is one of the hardest things to master, but it is by far the most spontaneous and fun thing you can do with any guitar.

If you spend 30 - 45 minutes a day doing the three things listed above you will learn to play lead guitar very quickly. Spend some time learning scales, other peoples solos, and finally try to put it all together in your own improvisational solos. It can be difficult to learn to play lead guitar, but whenever you get discouraged just remember that you are doing this because it is fun.

Learn the hidden secrets to playing killer lead guitar by visiting Guitar-Scale-Mastery.info.

Changing electric guitar strings is not a hard thing to do, but deciding which kinds of strings to buy can be more confusing than you might think. Over the years I have been asked by several students "what are the best electric guitar strings?" That can be a difficult question to answer because obviously different players have different preferences. Some just stick with what they have been playing with from the beginning and some might experiment until they find a string they like. Below I will tell you what I believe to be the best electric guitar strings and the reasons why I feel that way.

The best electric guitar strings in my opinion are GHS boomers. There is three major reasons that I have settled on them as my favorite. First of all they seem to stay in tune a lot longer than other strings I have tried. This is very important to me because many of my guitars have floating bridges. Many of the strings I have used in the past have gone out of tune on me when the whammy bar was being used heavily. No matter whether I drop tune, bend, stretch or dive the strings they rarely ever lose their pitch.

The second important factor that led me to name GHS the best electric guitar strings is their durability. Before I started using boomers I had primarily been using either Ernie Ball super slinky's and DR's. The problem was that I was breaking them all the time. Even the heavier strings would break occasionally. Maybe I was playing a little rough, but nevertheless I needed a string that could handle the abuse. The first time I used GHS I couldn't believe that I hadn't broken a string yet.

I usually change strings on a weekly or biweekly schedule depending on how much I have been playing. So I decided to leave them on for a full month to see if they would break. When they didn't break I knew they were going to be my new secret weapon.

The last thing I love about GHS boomers is they don't loose their bright new sound. If you have ever just changed one string and left the other old ones on you almost always notice how the new string just seems to sound a lot brighter then the others. All new strings have this quality no matter what brand, but some just keep their tone and sustain longer that others. The boomers definitely live up to this challenge. There's nothing like the sound of a new set of strings that you put on two weeks ago. : - )

So there you have it. The best electric guitar strings in my opinion and why I think they're so great. I encourage you to try them for yourself, but don't just settle on them because I like them. Experiment with other brands so then you'll know why they really are the best electric guitar strings.

Learn more great guitar playing tips by visiting Jam-o-rama.info