I’ve had several emails to Guitar Tutorials Now over the last month asking ” How much strength or force should I put on a pick for an electric guitar? “.

Well first let’s clear things up. You don’t put the force on the pick really, but rather the force is on the guitar strings. From my experience many electric guitar tutorials never mention the force applied to the string, and I think this is quite an important factor when it comes to your guitar playing.

The trick is to put less pressure on the strings, the faster you want to play. If you’re playing a slow Blues solo, you could put your usual amount of force on the string, but when it comes to some faster Metal alternate picking or hybrid picking licks, you would not apply AS much force.

The theory is simple really. Too much force causes you to dig your pick deep past the guitar string, and in doing so, would require you to apply more strength to get your pick past the string and onto the next one.

For faster picking, you’d only want to be applying about 2 mm of your pick ( at most ) to the string, and no more.

Try this technique and you’ll be taking your electric guitar lead playing past the speed limit in no time

Post from: Guitar Tutorials - For Beginners tips, chords, scales and course reviews

Electric Guitar Lesson – Pick Techniques

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The difference between electric and acoustic guitars is the magnet used in the pickups

photo credit: Roadside Guitars

An acoustic guitar is generally hollow on the inside while most electric guitars are solid bodies – Yes I’m sure I’m stating the obvious here. So then, if an acoustic guitar uses its hollow body to resonate sound, how does an electric guitar produce it’s sound?

The answer: ” Pickups “.

As you know, pickups are nothing more than a little device sitting under your guitar strings, so how does the sound get received and transferred to your amplifier?

Another common question I’ve been asked via email is:

” How come guitars with passive pickups still work without the need of batteries? ”

Here’s a quick explanation ( without me sounding too much like a tech geek )..

An electric guitar pickup is made up of a coil of wire that’s wound around a magnet. The magnet then magnetizes the guitar strings. Since the strings are made of steel, a magnetic field from the magnet surrounds the string.

Now, when the string is picked, it vibrates up and down and following it’s motion is the magnetic field. This movement produces a current within the coil and this electrical current produces a signal that goes through your guitar’s circuit board and then to your amplifier. The result is pure music baby!

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Electric And Acoustic Guitars – The Electric Difference

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I found in my own experience, that the transition between beginner and intermediate levels  is usually the easiest. You can be playing guitar decently in a short amount of time, but to reach the more advanced levels of play, it will take significant number of years. This instrument will be a lifetime process of learning.

As a beginner, there are many self-study guides and guitar basic tutorials that will really help you with this level of learning. Online multimedia now allows you to access all sorts of tutorials. Videos and books can now be so easily downloaded to your home and it’s almost like having a personal tutor being right there with you, guiding you on how to play guitar though step by step methods.

When you have moved on to the intermediate level, it is best you seek the advise and training of a qualified guitar teacher. Depending on which style of guitar you wish to learn, whether it is acoustic, jazz, electric or classical guitar, seek the appropriate teacher that specializes in that field. For instance, if you want to get good at jazz guitar, you wouldn’t go to a rock, a Rhythm and Blues guitar instructor, or an all-rounder. Go to seek advise of the one that is specific to your needs!

Finally, a really fast way to improve your guitar playing skills, is to just play with other musicians, go form a band. You will learn very quickly this way and it is especially rewarding, plus it really keeps you motivated to keep practicing. Jam with other musicians who are at a more advanced level than you and you will quickly notice that you’ll be a more rounded guitar player.

Post from: Guitar Tutorials - For Beginners tips, chords, scales and course reviews

Electric Guitar Tutorials