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.

Ben Edwards and the team at Jamorama have bucked the trend with the latest version of Jamorama. They had considerable success with their first release of Jamorama, and given the positive feedback from the success of this package, the team decided to develop the product further. They have come up with a new package that is unrivalled in terms of quality and its comprehensive nature. This package truly does enable guitar students to accelerate their learning, and includes an impressive array of features.

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.

If that weren't already enough the Jamorama Metronome also comes with the package at no additional cost.

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.

This package is by far the most complete and fresh approach to guitar playing that I have seen in a long time. I highly recommend this product because I do believe it will deliver results and have you playing popular songs like a professional using the most effective techniques. There is something here for every guitar player, regardless of ability. And at the current cost, it really is worth every dollar spent!

Click here to find out more…and accelerate your guitar playing today!

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