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In this lesson, I’m going to show you how good advice applied at the wrong time can become bad advice. If you are not developing your guitar skills as fast as you would like to, it is probably because you aren’t focusing on the right things.
This is a VERY important post for any guitar player who is still studying how to develop their playing skills because despite all the great advice you’ve been given, you may still be in a place where you’re not progressing enough in your practice.
When it comes to developing your “feel and your skill for music,” there is a powerful approach that you really need to look into. And, I’m going to start into this topic with a pretty profound statement and that is, “Good Practice done in the Wrong Way Becomes Poor Practice.”
If you sit down to practice guitar and you go over ideas that you are familiar with – especially ideas that are either really easy or ideas that never make you feel like you’re stretching your ability, then I need to introduce you to a way that will help you to fix that!
What often happens is you’ll hear one teacher tell you that you need to work on rhythm, rhythm is the most important. Then, another teacher might say; you need to study scale and arpeggios - that’s what is really the most important. Then, some other teacher say’s no, no, no the most important thing is composing - you need to always be composing.
Those things individually are not what’s keeping you down. It’s focusing on things “isolated.” The bottom line is that, isolation is not the best way to get your skills together fast. Rather, spending the time to blend a group of ideas into a system will end up working wonders!
THE ULTIMATE PRACTICE SYSTEM:
Before you sit down to play or practice guitar again, I want you to learn how to integrate a powerful practice system. The system uses five PHASES in its development.
Phase 1 of the “System” involves rhythm. And, to keep it simple, I’d suggest just grabbing a drum clip, or creating a loop that’s maybe 4-bars in length. Ultimately, a drum machine is great for this stuff.
Phase 1).
Phase two involves selecting a key to work in and then choosing a group of
chords to play over the drum beat! So, let’s get into the first two
phases right now.
Phase 2).
Choose the key that you will work in (we’ll choose C Minor).
Practice the chords
Coming up next, I’m going to start moving through the next phases of the exercise... But, before we head into that, I want to tell you about a special promotional offer that’s related to my; Handouts Collection eBook.
The next phase involves recording the chord changes. This will give us the backdrop that is so important for being able to dig in a lot deeper and start practicing the use of the key.
Phase 4).
With the drum beat as your backing track, let’s get the chord changes recorded so that there is a solid jam progression established.
Now, that we have our drum loop, our key is established and the recording of the practice track is all taken care of, we can start into the next phase of practice which involves establishing the scale on the fret-board.
Once you have a scale pattern to work with, you can get into the actual study of improvising and ultimately afterward that will lead us into the world of composing.
So, let’s get started right now on learning our scale shape.
Phase 5).
The “Upper and Lower” scale shapes and their application…
Upper Scale Shape (C Minor):
Lower Scale Shape (C Minor):
The key to getting cool sounding guitar riffs is to realize that guitar riffs, (just like guitar licks), are something that can be done with persistence while playing around with a uniform shape on the guitar neck for only a matter of minutes.
While there may not be any such thing as a "riff exercise," the best thing that you can do to have the results happen much faster is to develop "riff ideas" that are based out of a small uniform neck shape. This video accomplishes that very thing - and it does so very fast!
I see so many guitarists trying to get riffs together using large "in position" scale patterns, but those large shapes all too often will not help a guitar player get the coolest riffs together. So, if you hate not being able to make up cool guitar riffs quickly and easily, then this video is going to be great for you.
In this lesson we’re going to help you both be able to play through and memorize an excellent shape on the guitar neck that will go a very long way toward helping you develop the coolest sounding guitar riffs.
Along with that, we’ll study an easy approach you can use to expand upon that shape. And then, after all of that we’ll learn a very cool sounding guitar riff which will be based out of that shape.
By the end of this video, you’ll have a GREAT way to create guitar riffs, along with a way to expand on it all. Plus, you’ll have a very cool riff that you can practice (as well as build upon) to invent your own ideas into the future! So, let’s get started…
THE MAIN PATTERN:
Example 1). Let’s get started by learning this lesson’s pattern. It’s based out of a scale shape of (in this case), “C Minor Pentatonic.”
I’ll like to have some fun and call this pattern the “Roof-Top” pattern, because the shape of it looks like the top of a house.
Pro-Tip: Just realize that this is just a gimmick that I like to use to help guitar players memorize how the shape looks as it’s sitting upon the neck.
Coming up next, I’m going to break down a way to expand upon our shape, and then we’ll get into how the pattern can be used to create a really cool sounding riff.
But first, I want to tell you about a special promotional offer that I have for a collection of some of the most popular handouts that I use here in my studio, it’s my; Handouts Collection eBook.
EXPANDING THE SHAPE:
Example 02). The next stage of learning about how to use this shape will be based upon expanding the pattern to allow it more lateral coverage.
The goal will be to help you see the shape more stretched out laterally. Doing this will help to get us a little more mileage out of how it sits upon the fingerboard.
We'll begin by placing a focus upon the upper "Bb and Eb" notes that sit on the 3rd and 2nd guitar strings.
We'll additionally locate those two notes upon our 5th and 4th guitar strings. This will help to expand upon our fingerboard range when it comes to the actual use of the notes available.
In the end, our shape will look as follows:
RIFF CREATION:
Now the cool thing about learning this pattern is how versatile it can be for developing guitar riffs that are really interesting in how they sound.
The fact is that this riff is based out of the Pentatonic and the limited notes of that scale actually help to have big role in all of this.
The Pentatonic structure goes a long way in helping us to produce; more musical, very catchy melodic sounds – all based out of the pattern. Especially, when we apply 2-note ideas, (or what guitar players will call, “Double-Stops”).
Let's get started in making riffs happen with this pattern. To do that I’ve come up with a riff that you can learn right away.
Example 03). Learn this guitar riff - it is based out of the “Roof-Top” scale pattern and contains use of the "extended tones."
With their multi-dimensional freedoms, the application of these 10 skills will allow a player to consider many different concepts behind the range of guitar development and they will offer a guitarist a great deal of stability to be able to begin use of them properly.
That said, choosing the best course of action as a guitarist can be quite a challenge since there are so many options to choose from. In this video, I picked the 10 best things to know and I also give you a reason why each one has earned its spot on the list.
10x BETTER:
We’re continuing with our 10x Better Series (check out the play-list on the channel), with a new video here today talking about 10 things that every guitarist should have and should know.
In this list we’ll cover ideas that will help you produce more as a guitar player, we’ll discuss playing confidence and how you can start working on your playing with more energy and more focus.
I also have a small favor to ask of you, and that is if you have some of your own tips that you can add, please leave them in the comments. Share anything that you think would be helpful to those who are watching this!
1). INVEST IN YOURSELF:
The first thing I want to talk about is the most important and it has to do with YOU investing in your skills (invest in yourself w/education). Make that your TOP priority because the more you that you know, the more that you'll be able to produce as a guitarist and as a musician.
The results will come a lot faster if your general understanding of music is at a higher level and if your technical ability is more skillful. Think about it this way, if you are not a highly skilled guitar player and if you are not proficient with the theory of music then the ease at which you approach playing music will not be the same.
Make your first priority, your TOP priority in the important musical areas of; music theory and technical skill for playing the guitar and mastering the art of musicianship!
Coming up next, I’ll have the remaining nine ideas for you... But before we head into that, I want to tell you about a special promotional offer that’s related to my; Handouts Collection eBook…
2). ALWAYS PUT HEALTH FIRST:
The 2nd area that I want to focus on is the area of health. And, what I want to tell you is this; all of us want to be able to stay better focused on our music! And, to accomplish that, you have got to LIVE well to be able to Play well.
If you feel terrible all the time, if you eat garbage food, if you never exercise, if you can’t get a good night’s sleep – then you need to start working on these areas. For starters, invest in a good bed - sleep better – start there!
And, stop eating junk food, eat healthy, eat from the food groups and stop over-eating. Also, do something every day to get your heart pumping, (exercise). Even if it’s just nothing more than a brisk walk, or perhaps do 50 jumping jacks in your living room, 50 knee taps, anything. Seriously people, LIVE BETTER. If you do, you WILL play music better.
3). MAINTAIN YOUR GEAR:
The third thing has to do with taking the time to maintain all of your musical equipment so that EVERYTHING you own is always in top working condition. All of your equipment should always be totally dependable. Everything you have should be reliable, and that includes your; amps, your main guitars, and really any and all of your other equipment.
Also buy quality, if you stick to buying and owning top quality musical items, it really doesn’t take a lot of work to maintain them. So the real idea here is that of not to neglect the little things, with your equipment. The small things (when ignored) can - over time - work their way into becoming bigger problems. So, maintain your equipment, that way when you want to play or record, everything is always ready to go and will be in top working order.
4). PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CONFIDENCE:
The fourth thing is to never stop working on improving your confidence as a musician - which translates out to the crowd as your “playing energy.” All too often, there are way too many musicians that I meet who just don’t remember that as a musician you are an entertainer.
You cannot be a musician and forget the fact that you have a job to entertain people. So, make sure that you realize this and that you are always developing a mental clarity for this - because it’s a huge factor of who we are as musicians.
Of course we all need to study our craft (to be more confident when we compose and perform music). But, never forget that we are entertainers above all else, so our confidence is paramount if we are going to be able to deliver the music to others in the best possible way - so that the audience is always entertained.
5). MUSIC IS A BUSINESS:
The fifth thing is - no matter where you are in the scope of being a guitar player keep an interest level going for always understanding how the music business works. This will allow you insight on so many levels, from music styles all the way to what type of songs to include in your rehearsal and your set-list.
Plus, paying attention to the business of music will help us keep in mind for how the music industry changes year over year. The music business isn't the same as it was in 2000 or how it was in 2010.
Now, in 2020 (that we’re having to deal with the restrictions of Covid 19), the industry has gone more online than it ever was before. So, always keep yourself tuned into how the music business works, and where it is headed at all times.
6). RE-INVEST IN YOURSELF:
The sixth idea is all about being and working smarter by investing in yourself. And, while it could be more directed toward those guitar players who are professionals, it does have room to apply to all of us.
As you get better, (or for professionals, as you earn more income), be sure to re-invest in yourself and in your gear, in your guitars, your computers and all of your equipment.
Take online courses and educate yourself. Always continue to expand your knowledge for anything related to guitar and to music! This will include continuing to keep trying new things in your musical directions.
Talk to, play with and record with other musicians as much as you can. Build up a collection of good recording equipment, learn how to keep it all clean, learn how to fix it, and if you can even how to repair your own music equipment (as much as you can repair it yourself is dependent upon the tools that you own). Also, learn ways for doing different things that allow you to lower your overall musical expenses and keep more money in your pocket.
7). DISCOVER YOUR OWN PLAYING STYLE:
The seventh idea has to do with coming to terms and realizing – fully and completely - what style of playing that it is that YOU feel is your most NATURAL music style to play - for YOU!
Every one of us has our own style of playing music that just feels the most natural to us. And, if you’ve never tapped into this before, (as many guitar players haven’t), or even if you’ve never thought about this before, (again as most musicians don’t), then you need to start.
The faster that you can get your musical thoughts and your technical side of playing wrapped around what music style is the most natural feeling to you, the quicker and easier it will be for you to start shaping your approach to playing music.
Your natural playing approach isn't hard to discover. It will always be the one that just seems to come across to you as being the easiest path into the creation of music. And, from that point of playing everything you perform just feels easier once you discover this. Including how you compose and how you improvise.
8). FOCUS ON MASTERING YOUR STYLE:
The eighth idea is connected to the seventh. And, it involves learning to master your style in as much depth as possible. The three main areas that you need to focus on in this department are; Melody, Harmony and Rhythm.
To accomplish this you need to learn music that you really enjoy listening to. And, the music needs to be composed by musicians that you admire.
Now, this is important stuff - even though it might seem kind of superficial (in a way) it’s very important because if you start down the path of learning the music that is composed by the songwriters who you admire, it will help you to gain THE BEST perspective for that music style and the musical direction that is ultimately the best direction for you personally as a musician.
9). KEEP IT SIMPLE:
The ninth thing that every guitarist should have is a mind-set of always keeping it simple. Avoid too much complexity and never go too fast too soon. The reason for this is that the more complex you get when you’re making music, the more likely it will be for you to get lost in the music that you’re either trying to play or compose.
If you work your way through ideas that are simple and manageable yet keep learning new material at a very steady pace, you’ll get your musical ideas organized in a very solid way. In fact, they’ll be so well memorized (and so well committed to your physical ability to perform them), the music you play will become firmly integrated into your guitar playing.
10). ALWAYS REMAIN RELAXED:
The tenth idea is one of the most important ones. And, this idea centers around that you have got to make your number one priority that of staying as relaxed as you possibly can when you are playing anything.
Pay attention for any muscle tightness in your body, be very conscious about remaining loose, and when you play music verbally say to yourself “relax.” What can be helpful is to make a mantra of speaking calmly to yourself when you play.
This relaxed nature will go a long way to keeping your mind balanced and at ease when you perform music. Most of all, make sure that you are relaxed enough to be able to always hold your thoughts upon the music, and never allow your thoughts to wander off someplace else.
