by admin on July 10, 2009
Another commonly asked question is ” How do I learn sweep picking as a beginner? “.
My quick answer is: If you’re a beginner learning to play guitar, sweep picking is one of the last things on your ” to learn ” list 
Sweeping is not easy and takes a lot of left and right hand co-ordination.
Sweep picking is going to be one of the hardest skills you will attempt to develop as an electric guitarist, and many guitar players still have trouble with it years down the road. There is really no fast route to learning this, despite what all the online guitar tutorials say. The key is practicing slowly, and lots and lots of repetition. You will need to play as slow as possible so that you build up super-accuracy especially in your fretting hand.
So here are some tips and advise for sweep picking:
- If you can, use both your hands to mute the strings that you’re not picking. If you do not do this, it will no longer be sweep picking but strumming instead as all the notes that you picked will still be ringing.
- On your fretting hand, you need to lift up your finger with a delayed action. What this means is that after you’ve picked the string, you will want to lift the finger up a bit slower than your normal rate. This will immediately mute the note you’ve just played, and on you go with the next string. Do this with every string you pick. If you notice a lot of ” string noise ” or unwanted notes, then this is the area you’ll need to check and correct yourself.
- For my own playing style, I use the tip I just mentioned above, as well as using my right hand to mute the strings I’m not sweeping. So if I’m doing a downward sweep, I’d be using my palm ( picking hand ) to mute the strings above, continually.
- Angle your pick slightly at a 45 degree angle as you sweep, this will help you to get a smoother sweep as your pick slices or glides smoothly from string to string.
I hope this has been helpful to you. You can email me for further help if you wish.
Technorati Tags: guitar tips, sweep picking, string muting
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by admin on June 12, 2009
Most guitar players become good at lead guitar improvisation by imitating their favorite guitarists and through plenty of repetition – myself included. I spent hours upon hours playing the same riffs or solos that I learnt by heart from guitar tablature.
Eventually, I managed to learn how to improvise over simple songs initially. Over time, things just happened and I became fluent with guitar improvisation. It took me about a year before I even begun being competent at it.
Many people have asked me if this was an effective way for a beginner to learn improvisation, and my answer is..
YES!
However, you will need to make certain tweaks to your practice routine in order to speed up the learning process so you don’t take as long as I did.
You will firstly need to learn solos of other songs by heart. That’s how you start. It’s important for 2 reasons:
1. Playing your favorite songs inspires you to play more.
2. It builds up your musical vocabulary – What we guitarists call ” Chops ” or ” licks ”
You will find that when you DO start improvising in the very near future, you will tend to borrow these guitar licks from other songs you have played, and these will make your lead playing sound so much more professional!
Tags:
guitar improvisation tips,
improvisation,
lead guitar playing,
tips
by admin on June 12, 2009
Here is a quick tip for maintenance of your guitar should you need to travel, to minimize any chances of damage.
I fly quite frequently and take my Les Paul along on my journeys all the time. There are a few things that you need to be aware of:
- If you can, try and ask the airlines if you can take your guitar up on the plane with you. Some flights allow you to do this and all your worries are over.
- If you have to check your guitar into cargo, you will need to buy a hard case specifically made for guitar transportation. These hard cases are available in most good guitar stores and they come in moulded hard plastic or metal. Either one is good but I prefer the plastic cases as they’re much lighter.
- Loosen the guitar strings a little to relieve the pressure on your guitar’s neck. The reason for this is, if the case is dropped hard, the sudden shock plus the FULL tension of the guitar strings could very easily snap the neck.
- I usually bubble wrap the entire neck to help with absorbing shock if the case is dropped. Make sure as well that the guitar headstock sits way clear of the base of the case. If the head contacts the case’s base, that will most definitely break the guitar neck.
Tags:
guitar neck,
Guitar Tips,
travel
Hey there! Mark here. Thanks for visiting. Feel free to drop me an email with any questions that you might have. To know more about me, click on the "About Me" link.
