A lot of people has heard of the saying “Practice Makes Perfect”, and that is the biggest lie I’ve ever heard.

Practice makes permanent, not perfect. You practice the wrong way for 20 years, you are going to play the wrong way for the next 20 years.

My goal in this post is to give you some very effective practice tips that will whip your playing into shape, but keep you safe.

“All I’m doing is practicing the guitar, what’s so unsafe about that?”

I’m glad you asked!

I started noticing a reoccurring theme among veteran players that I used to see play. A lot of them complained of hand and wrist fatigue. A lot of them had to where braces while playing, because they’ve spent years practicing the wrong way, and now they have carpel tunnel.

Playing the guitar can add a lot of strain on your muscles and tendons within your hand and wrist. So it’s very important that you take your practicing time very seriously. Use it as a time to sharpen your musical abilities, but also use it as a way to get your hands into shape.

Would you repeatedly go out and try to bench press 500 pounds, if you’ve never worked out before? No!

Because you could wind up killing yourself. But if you go out without proper training, conditioning and warming up, you can kill your chances at becoming the Rockstar of your dreams.

Exercise 1 – Stretch, Stretch, Stretch

Don’t dare pick up the guitar until you’ve spent at least 5 minutes stretching your hand. This will loosen up your muscles and tendons, and get the blood flowing to your hands. This is imperative to having endurance in your playing. Muscles need oxygen, and the blood it what get’s it there. So stretch your fingers, hands, wrist, and forearms.

Exercise 2 – Timing, Timing, Timing

Get a metronome, always play with a metronome, live, breath, eat with a metronome. You have to develop your timing. That’s the most important part about being a musician. That’s what set’s the greats, from the wannabe guitarist.

If you ever think that you don’t need a metronome, then you show your inexperience.

Exercise 3 – Use chromatic scales

These are no brainier exercises, with the sole purpose of conditioning your hands in mind. ItÆs the quickest way to increase your speed and dexterity, and since you donÆt have to worry about what whether or not you’re playing the right note; it’s and easy exercise you can do anywhere, anytime.

I used to sit for hours a day just practicing the chromatic exercise below, and I owe my speed and agility to just that one exercise.

Practice this every single day, and you’ll be able to zip around the fretboard in no time flat.

E|—————————————–1-2-3-4———-|
B|———————————1-2-3-4——————|
G|————————-1-2-3-4————————–|
D|—————–1-2-3-4———————————-|
A|———1-2-3-4——————————————|
E|-1-2-3-4————————————————–|

Once you play this then, reverse it:

E|-1-2-3-4——————————————|
B|———1-2-3-4———————————-|
G|—————–1-2-3-4————————–|
D|————————-1-2-3-4——————|
A|———————————1-2-3-4———-|
E|—————————————–1-2-3-4–|

Always practice using alternate picking!

Once you’ve done both of those exercise, then move everything up one fret and play it again. Once you’ve don’t that, then move everything up a fret and play it again.

Try to work all the way up the 11 fret and back down again.

If you start feeling a burn (which you will), then finish that exercise, and then stretch your arms, wrist, and fingers before continuing.

If you follow these tips then you’ll be the Schwarzenegger of monster guitar solos.

Music theory is a subject that still intimidates even the best players, but it shouldn’t. I used to think that if I wanted to be a professional player, then I would have to learn how to sight-read sheet music.

Well I found out that’s not the truth.

Now it is important to have a basic music theory knowledge, but you can make a full time living being a highly paid musician, without knowing how to read a single note.

The reason why is that most major producers and studios don’t use sheet music.

They use the number system (Nashville System).

Music theory comes down to number not notes. To this day, I still can’t tell you what note I’m hitting right on the spot. All though if I look I can tell you quick, but I never think that I’m playing a C, D, E, I only think about the numbers that I’m playing.

The reason why the number system is so popular, is that you can quickly transpose music on the fly. Instead of spending hours re-charting out the notes in conventional sheet music.

The number system adds for quick communication among musicians in live playing situations, which breeds on the fly, creative compositions.

So what is the number system, and how do you use it?

Well the number system is based off the major scale.

If we go to the key of C Major, the we have the notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C

This is how you should play it on the guitar:

E|————————————————–|
B|————————————————–|
G|————————————————–|
D|——————-9-10—————————|
A|———-8-10-12———————————|
E|-8-10-12——————————————|

So forget about what the notes are for a second, just play the notes in the order above, and count to 8.

So instead of saying, C, D, E, F,:

Put a number to the notes, only refer to the notes as their number. I.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (octave)

All you need to know is the key, and you’re able to improvise on the fly.

Learn the major scale, because no matter what key you’re in the 2 chord is always in the same position, the 4 chord, is always in the same position. So you can play and transpose the music on the fly.

So instead of saying, play C-F-G, I just tell you; “Hey we’re in the key of C, and we’re doing a 1-4-5 progression”.

But if at the last minute I say switch the keys to Eb. Then you don’t have to try to run around figuring out what chords to play. You know where the 1 chord is, the 4 chord, and then the 5 chord.

Let’s say spontaneously I want to go to the 6 chord to take the music into a different direction. All I have to do if we were in the key of G is say the number 6 vs. trying to mouth go to E minor.

By studying the number system youÆll be able to increase your communication to any musician, and increased communication equals better music hands down.

Every guitarist has their solo. The solo that just shakes them to the bone. That one guitar solo that makes the world a better place. That legendary solo.

For me it’s Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd. When David rips into the most beautiful, melodic, flawless solo that I’ve ever heard, my day is instantly better.

The tone, the power, the careful phrasing is so moving.  So how did he, and so many other rock greats, create their legendary solo?
Let’s dissect some of the greatest guitar solos of all time, and unlock the secrets that you can start using in your soloing today.

Step 1 – Tempo is more important than you think!

When I was young and wet behind the ears, all I ever wanted to do is play fast. I figure if I could play faster than anyone else, then I would be better than anyone else.

Nothing can be further from the truth.

Now, the only the thing I think about while playing my guitar is how little can I play.

Music is the language of life, and if you want to truly live as a musician you must learn how to listen.

Think about it, what makes a good conversation? The person who talks non-stop, or the person who sits there and listens.

So think about setting back into the moment, into the groove. Let the music breathe, and then begin your solo. Play a few notes, then rest. What is the music saying back. Then respond with a few more notes. Then rest.

I know that this sounds a little kooky, but it’s the secret to being great. Just because you can play 300 notes a beat and never repeat the same lick twice doesn’t mean you’re great, it just means you you’re fast. In a relationship, would you rather be known for being great or fast? We’ll just leave that one alone.

So how do you add space and make your solos remarkable?

Step 2 – Hooks are everything, it’s what catches the biggest fish.

A musician is nothing without his audience (fish), the bigger the audience the bigger the musician. Writing hooks within your phrases is the key to getting a bigger audience.

That’s why it’s so important to learn the melody of every song you play. Jimi Hendrix did it. He could play every note that he sang, and it added an element to his music that many people of that time didn’t have.

Most guitarists just want to know what key they are playing in, that way they can just pull out their bag of recycled licks.

Always learn the melodies first. You can then use your licks or knowledge to expand on the melody, but it’ll give you a base to solo around. By sticking with the melody and creating hooks, you ensure that people remember you.

Step 3 – Tone, Tone, Tone, Tone, Tone!

Spend time crafting your tone. Distortion can kill the mood! This is something that has been lost over the years. If you look at the list of best solos of all time, even the hard southern rock giants, Lynyrd Skynyrd, had relatively clean tones. Many people misinterpret the intensity of their music as just distortion.

They just played with pure passion, raw intensity, and power, and that’s why they have landed themselves as one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

Concentrate on making great music, not just a great solo, play with everything you have. Use hooks, melodies, and space to craft your solo, and you’ll create something that will be remembered for ages to come.

Feel free to add your favorite solos, and any personal tips and tricks in the comments below!

Your tone determines your greatness. If you have great tone, then you really don’t have to be the best guitarist in the world, but you’ll get respect.

Guitarist are on a never ending search for THE tone.

Even the rock greats like Clapton, are constantly changing their guitars, effects, amps, anything to make that slight difference in their tone so they can be 100% satisfied.

One note on a rig that has superb tone, will always beat out a thousand notes on an “ok” rig.

So what I want to cover in this post is a few ways to get the perfect tone you’ve been searching for, even if you’re on a budget.

Start With The Wood -

The type of wood that makes up your guitar, is going to drastically effect the tone. The two most common woods used for the fret board of a guitar is maple (light, blonde color), and rosewood (a dark, brown color).

Maple woods are always going to be brighter. Think the brighter the color, the brighter the tone. You’re going to get a lot more clarity in your playing, and a ton that will cut through the mix.

Maple woods are used in a wide variety of guitars, in a wide variety of styles.

In country, you’ll have a twangier sounding axe. In reggae, a nice poppy, crisp tone. Throw a Fender Strat with a maple neck through a fender deluxe reverb, and you’ll have one of the most beautiful rhythm tones that’s ever been made.

Rosewood fretboards – Raw, gritty, fat, rich, and my personal favorite.

Think of the tone of Stevie Ray Vaughn. The way the guitar growled at you. Rosewoods are going to give you a fatter tone. Very common in 60Æs era Strats and Gibsons.

If you want a guitar tone that’ll bite you, then go with a Rosewood fret board. Just don’t go cheap!

Maple necks are often times finished which will lead to a somewhat smoother playing experience.

Rosewoods are unfinished, and on cheaper guitars often very dry. This can be irritating for the guitarist.

But a rosewood fret board on a nice high end guitar is pure ecstasy.

Next The Pick-Ups -

For the most part you have two choices. Single coil, or hum buckers. Single coils are versatile, and is going to give you a lot of clarity in the playing, but hum buckers are going to give you a nice fat, rich tone.

What a hum bucker is, is basically two single coils stacked side-by-side. This doubles the signal, thus doubling the fatness of the tone.

Hum buckers are going to give you a very big sounding tone. Great for jazz, heavy rock, or anything that you want to get some chunk out of your guitar.

Single coils tend not to hold extreme high gain situations very well, but they make for some of the best rhythm tones.

Single coil pickups really shine through any Class A/B tube amps, like the fender series amps, although they sound amazing through Class A amps like your Vox and Marshalls.

There’s Only One Choice For Your Amp –

Tube! Nothing but tube, and don’t even think about using anything else. If you have more of a strat style guitar, I would suggest sticking to the Fender Series amps.

I personally don’t like using hum buckers, or any of your Les Paul type guitars through Fender Amps, because I find it to brittle sounding. For your Gibson type guitars I would suggest sticking with a Vox, or you could even go with a Marshall (although they’re quality has significantly dropped in recent years).

Use effects very sparingly. Most people try to use effects to get tones, and that’s not what they are designed to be. They are to enhance the tone that you already have. So start with your guitar, and amp first.

That’s like saying I’m going to dump salt on cheap steak to make it taste like a t-bone. Just start with a better cut of meat, and chances are you don’t even need to add seasonings.

The pentatonic is THE scale when it comes down to soloing. 90% of the lick you here are based off the pentatonic and it’s the easiest scale to learn.

The pentatonic scale consist of only five core notes, and the best part is you don’t even have to know what the notes are.

It’s a scale that can easily be moved all over the fretboard, used in any key, in any situation, but there’s so much more to it than that.

Everyone knows the basic “box” shape of the pentatonic, but I want to introduce you to the pentatonic modes.

All that means is that wherever you are on the fretboard, you’ll be able to rip into a solo. As you begin to learn these different shapes of the pentatonic your soloing is going to take off, and the fretboard is going to open up.

Practice these shapes every day, and at the end of 7 days I guarantee that you’ll be a better guitarist.

If you don’t know how to read tabs, the easiest way to explain it is to pretend that the guitar is laying on your lap face up. So you’re looking at a birds eye view of the fretboard, and the numbers on the strings indicate which fret you need to play.

Let’s begin.

If we were in the key of G, the standard box shape of the minor pentatonic would look like this:

E|———————3-6—————————————–|
B|—————–3-6———————————————|
G|————-3-5————————————————-|
D|———3-5—————————————————–|
A|—–3-5———————————————————|
E|-3-6————————————————————-|

Now expand your practice, by learning each of these modes of the G minor pentatonic, remember once you have the fingerings then you can easily transpose these modes to use in any key.

E|———————6-8—————————————–|
B|—————–6-8———————————————|
G|————-5-7————————————————-|
D|———5-8—————————————————–|
A|—–5-8———————————————————|
E|-6-8————————————————————-|

E|—————————–8-10——————————–|
B|————————8-11————————————-|
G|——————7-10——————————————-|
D|————8-10————————————————-|
A|——8-10——————————————————-|
E|-8-10————————————————————|

E|——————————-10-13—————————–|
B|————————-11-13———————————–|
G|——————-10-12—————————————–|
D|————-10-12———————————————–|
A|——-10-13—————————————————–|
E|-10-13———————————————————–|

E|——————————-13-15—————————–|
B|————————-13-15———————————–|
G|——————-12-15—————————————–|
D|————-12-15———————————————–|
A|——-13-15—————————————————–|
E|-13-15———————————————————–|

And then that will lead you right back up to the octave of the first “box” shape starting at the 15 fret.

Learn these patterns, and you’ll be playing faster, and better than you’ve ever had before.

I’ve dedicated this post to the most important decision you’ll ever make in your life. How to chose the perfect rock guitar for under $500.

This is a subject that shouldn’t be taken lightly, because current statistics prove that the your guitar will out last your first marriage 10 to 1!

After owning a very decent collection of guitars in my day, I wanted to pass on some knowledge that will help your buying decision, and give you some tips that will make sure that with whatever you decide to purchase you’ll be happy.

Let’s begin:

1st step to choosing the perfect guitar – Opt for tone over looks any day!

Whether you’re new to the guitar or not, it’s easy to get caught up in a guitar that ‘looks cool’, but rest assured after you lay out the dough for that axe the hype will quickly fade if it sounds like crap.

Tone is king. Nothing will make the worlds greatest guitarist sound like horrible faster than a crappy sounding guitar. Not only for the obvious reasons (it sounds like crap), but because it’s near impossible to play good on a rig that you’re not 100% satisfied with.

The licks you used to be able to shred through with ease now sounds like pure mush, and that KILLS your confidence no matter how good of a player you are.

Lack of confidence means hesitation. That hesitation will make you sound sloppy, which will soon bring an overwhelming embarrassment that will take weeks to recover from.

If you’re looking at a guitar in the entry level market ($500 or less) then I would highly suggest staying away from Ibanez, Jackson, Danelectro, or any type of flying V, SG, or explorer type bodies.

Although these companies/brands have some sought after models in the higher price range, the cheaper counter parts have second rate electronics. (aka – crap tone)

2nd step to choosing the perfect guitar – Cheap guitar shouldn’t equal cheap craftsmanship!

The first thing you should always do is tune up the guitar (with an actual tuner, not your ear!). Play around with it, and play hard. Then re-check the tuning after about 10 minutes. If there is a drastic difference in the pitch, then that’s a little indicator that the guitar isn’t made well at all.

Itís normal for a guitar, even expensive ones, to lose tune in music shops. This is caused from dead, old, strings that are either rusted or have a years worth of caked on finger grease.

But if after playing it for ten minutes, it’s so out of tune that you can’t even distinguish what key you’re playing in, then you need to set that guitar down, and run far, far away.

This could be cause from defective hardware, often times cheap or improperly installed tremolo systems.

That’s a problem that you can not fix without paying almost as much for the repair as you did for the entire guitar in the first place.

My recommendation: If you want a good entry level guitar, that you can make sure will sound great, play great, and it’s something that you can actually keep long term, then look at a Jimmy Vaughn Signature Fender Strat.

This would be my first go to guitar for under $500 hands down. It’s built to last, sounds great, and no matter what style you want to play you’ll feel comfortable playing it on that.

Now if you want to up your budget a little bit, then we can definitely get you into an axe thatís tailored made for you, but we’ll have to deal with that on another post.

If you’ve been playing solos for any amount of time you know how easy it is to get stuck in the pentatonic rut. They call it a box scale for a reason.

You take five core notes, and decades of guitarist playing every combination of those notes possible, and you can see why coming up with fresh solo ideas can be challenging.

This is what often leads people to explore other scales or modes in search of finding fresh ideas. The problem is with guitarist, it really is hard to teach and old dog new tricks.

I don’t think that there has been a class of people who were more dedicated, and yet suffered from severe A.D.D.

When you already think you know how to play, it’s hard going back to the basics. Learning knew scales, and learning new theory.

That’s why I’ve assembled the exact way that I like to play.

If I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again, you’ll learn more in one hour jamming then you ever will in isolated practice.

So when I want to break out the box playing, or learn new styles or techniques:

I go to the masters.

I find someone who already can do what I want to know, and I mimic them. Figure out their solos.

This really serves two purposes. It helps develop a repertoire of songs you can play, and it’s an fun way to expand your musical horizons.

So if you’ve ever found yourself caught in a pentatonic soloing rut, this is what I recommend:

1. Force yourself to go melodic. Start picking up the melody of your song, and just play that. This will force you to start writing solos geared more towards the piece, instead of relying on your standard back of licks.
2. Listen to something you’ve never listened to before. Get music that you’ve never listened to before. Maybe a whole different style then you’ve even listened before. Browse the world sections of music stores and see if you can find something that forces you to think outside your traditional box.

What you listen to really does effect what you play. Each song engraves in the back of your head a musical idea. So I try to force myself to listen to something new at least once a week.

But don’t stop there, pick up your axe and try to actually play it. This is a great technique for interrupting your usual thought process when you are holding your guitar.

If you’re new and want to add a different element to your playing fast, then I would suggest listening to, and learning these two songs.

I always tell people that it is imperative that you learn these two songs if you want to be a great guitarist, because it’ll show you how to use melody, timing, and careful phrasing outside the standard pentatonic scale, while at the same time showing you how to master the pentatonic scale to its fullness.

Those two tracks are:

1. Comfortably Numb – Pink Floyd
2. Europa – Santana

If you can play these songs note for note, then youÆre on your way to becoming a great guitarist

In our last post we covered how to add the Aeolian scale to your pentatonic to make for very easy learning and instant application of the new scales. The Aeolian scale is the natural minor scale. Minor scales and chords have a darker, sadder feel.

Now let’s just into the Dorian scale, which has a happier tone. Something you can use in a lot of funk, jazz, major based chord progressions. I love using this over a good jump blues jam, as well as adding some spice to some funk licks.

Remember you don’t have to abandon what you already know, use the licks and tricks you already know.

Stick to a pentatonic foundation, just use these new modes to add some flexibility and zing to your playing.

You can find the Dorian in use by listening to greats likes Santana – Black Magic Women, or one of the best examples of how to use this scale in rock is Tony Iommi’s – Planet Caravan.

So let’s go back to the to the key of A.

Here’s the A Minor pentatonic scale –

For the sake of keeping this post short, I’m just going to cover the D, G,B, and high E strings. The rest of the strings just work of the octaves of these notes.

E|——————————-5-8—————————–|
B|————————-5-8———————————–|
G|——————-5-7—————————————–|
D|————-5-7———————————————–|
A|—————————————————————-|
E|—————————————————————-|

Now let’s add in the Dorian scale.

All you’re going to do is add 3 additional notes to the pentatonic scale above.

E|———————————–5-(7)-8———————|
B|————————-5-(7)-8——————————-|
G|——————-5-7—————————————–|
D|———(4)-5-7———————————————-|
A|—————————————————————-|
E|—————————————————————-|
The notes in the brackets mark the added notes.

So if you add all the notes together you will get this scale:

E|——————————– -5-7-8———————–|
B|————————-5-7-8——————————–|
G|——————-5-7—————————————-|
D|———–4-5-7———————————————|
A|—————————————————————|
E|—————————————————————|

So solo the way you normally would, just add these new notes as passing tones, and now you are jamming with modes that again only took a minute to learn.