By Michael Fletcher

Keep in mind that many guitarists are satisfied with their ability to play just a few songs here and there. There are many guitarists who enjoy performing in clubs for larger audiences. Others strive to become accomplished nationally and internationally. The practice habits for all are different, because the goals are different.

For the purpose of this article, I believe it’s safe to say that those who enjoy playing a few songs here and there, will, most likely, bypass the rigorous schedule of scale and chord practice.

For the intermediates, advanced, or professional players, scale and chord practice is absolutely essential. In fact, daily practice sessions are in line with these levels of musicianship. Why? The development of strength, endurance, recognition of melodic and harmonic structure, and, of course, more facility on the guitar.

The leap from good to great on the guitar is actually a short distance. Shorter than one might think. It’s really all about the level of desire and commitment one has, that will determine the actual distance. However, willingness without action equals fantasy. Good intent means nothing if one is not prepared to act.

None of us believe that, as guitarists, our fingers somehow magically end up on the correct note, the correct string, at the right time, merely by accident. In fact, a great melodic solo and chord work is generally reflective of many years of pure practice. It’s almost a guarantee that behind every great guitarist, there are thousands and thousands of hours of scale and chord practice. It’s important to remind ourselves of all the benefits as a result of this hard work.

For starters, practicing scales develops finger strength, wrist control, picking techniques, pivot techniques, thumb placement, fret logic, and a multitude of other essential elements needed in order to execute in a professional manner. By practicing scales as scales (not musical statements per se), we learn very good habits and general rules of performance. We also learn that rules are made to be broken. When we, as experienced guitarists, break a rule, we at least know that we are, in fact, breaking a rule. Further, we all know that it’s permissible to break certain rules due to the impositions of certain styles of music, among other things.

For the experienced guitarist, I truly believe it’s important to remember how we arrived at our proficiency level. This is important because, in reality, we should never stop learning and progressing.

As a progressive guitarist, I enjoy those over-the-top solos that generally send chills up the spine of the listener. However, I also enjoy the hours of personal practice that allows me to execute those solos. Performance is one thing and skill development is another. It’s beneficial to enjoy both.

Imagine setting aside approximately eight straight hours of practice time and devoting a good share of that time to practicing one or two scales only. The thought of this routine might surprise some of the more experienced players. Once again, why practice scales when we can solo into infinity? The answer is forth coming.

I can almost guarantee that after a few hours of practicing a scale, the strict succession of the scale tones will disappear and will be replaced with new musical statements. Further, fresh new techniques will also emerge. For example, one might discover a new way to pick a string, cross a string, mute a string, embellish the scale tones, as well as many, many other discoveries. How’s that for progression?

A hardcore practice session can easily turn into a fantastic creative session. This is great news for the original guitarist and songwriter. Need a new guitar lick or song? Practice, practice, practice.

Everything discussed thus far, pertaining to guitar scales, also applies to practicing guitar chords. In music, time waits for no man. Chord construction and execution takes practice. Especially, when dealing with extended chords and altered chords (let’s not forget inversions). Not all of us will have the opportunity to encounter a major 11 Augmented 13th chord. However, what happens if we do? Answer; play it at the speed of right.

Whatever your level of musicianship, be sure to practice for the sake of practice. Great things will result from your hard work.

©2008 Michael E. Fletcher. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

http://www.ultraguitarmethod.com/

Ultra Guitar Method is designed to place years of professional playing experience under your fingers in a very short amount of time thus, placing you light years ahead of the competition. All theoretical, technical, mechanical, and application principles contained in the method are designed exclusively for the guitar. Learning is made exciting and fun.

Make no mistake about it; if your goal is to understand the entire guitar fingerboard and experience an incredible new mechanical and theoretical freedom as a guitar player, then Ultra Guitar Method is an absolute must.

While others are losing valuable time on the standard old books of C, F and G, this is your opportunity to step directly into the future with a guitar method that is as flexible as your own personality and as vast as your imagination will allow.

Visit the Ultra Guitar Method website today. Your future is now.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Fletcher
http://EzineArticles.com/?Practicing-Guitar-Scales-And-Guitar-Chords—The-Inherent-Value—A-Reminder-For-All&id=1061964

Today I am featuring another excellent video tutorial from GuitarJamz, that I found on good ol’ YouTube.  The lesson is taught by Tony Brucco. If you aren’t familiar with Tony, I  highly recommend you check out his Website.  While you are there, be sure to check out his debut album “DreamBox”.  You can listen to the  album right from his site or  for a small fee, you can download or order a copy.  Anyway, back to the lesson…

Tony is going to talk about a very effective guitar speed building exercise, one that he has been using for years and as you will see by watching the video below, it works.  This exercise will build speed, agility and strength while familiarizing you with the entire fretboard of your guitar.  It also gives you practice with your picking.  It is just a great all around exercise that every guitarist should incorporate into their practice routine, no matter what your skill level is. Its a fairly simple chromatic exercise.  Watch the video below to learn exactly how its done.  Remember to go very slow in the beginning until you get this exercise under your fingers.

Another thing Tony recommends you do while  performing this exercise is to sing the notes.  Tony says this helps you hear the notes better and will help fine tune that musical ear of yours.

Guitar Speed Building Exercise

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg_jwEQuUjw

A big thanks to Marty Schwartz and Tony Brucco for sharing this video lesson. Marty is an amazing guitar player and one of the best guitar instructors online. If you are serious about learning to play the guitar, you should definitely check out his website and sign up to receive his free beginner ebook or make a small investment for his Members Only Club and get access to over 640 of his online video lessons. I can’t recommend Marty’s Website enough.

Here is another great lesson taught by David Taub with Next Level Guitar.  I feature a lot of videos from these folks and with good reason.  I believe David and the folks over at Next Level Guitar are a group of excellent guitar instructors.  Their lessons are easy to follow and you can tell its not just about business.  They have a passion for playing guitar and a sincere interest in helping others.  That being said, you can learn more about them here by reading my David Taub Next Level Guitar Review, should you want to invest into your guitar playing.  After all, free lessons can only take you so far.

In the following video tutorial, David is going to teach you a very interesting chord progression/strumming pattern.  The purpose of this lesson is to break you away from playing the same old chords and progressions and teach you something new and challenging.

The chords he will be using in the lesson below are:  Am9, Gadd6, Fmaj7#11 and Em.  Not to worry, none of these are barre chords, but you may find the Gadd6 and Fmaj7#11 chord shapes a bit challenging at first.  They both have the same shape, so it is just a matter of playing the same shape at different locations on the neck.  David will demonstrate how to play every chord within this progression.

I hope this lesson proves to be helpful and forces you to try something new so that you can bring your guitar playing to the Next Level.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dxkghIoh5c

By Michael Fletcher

Many of my recent articles have focused on information helpful to beginning and intermediate guitarists. These are the guitarists who, generally, struggle the most with musicianship, music theory, and technique. As a professional guitarist and instructor, I’ve logged approximately Forty-Eight years of experience on the guitar, the stage, the road, and in the recording studio. Music, to say the least, has been an enormous part of my life, as I’m sure it has also been yours. Therefore, teaching the guitar and helping others with music has always come naturally for me. I enjoy passing things along.

The story for many professional guitarists is, most likely, very similar. We have a passion for the guitar, music, performance, and the show-time atmosphere. For many of us, practicing the guitar wasn’t a chore, it was a pleasure. For us, learning or composing songs, writing guitar solos, and developing arrangements wasn’t time lost, it was experience gained. For the most part, we make the difficult sound and look easy. This, in short, is our job and our passion.

Recently, one of my guitar students asked how the professionals practice the guitar (out of the mouths of babes). This is a great question. Think about this for a moment. If you’re a professional guitarist (ten, twenty, thirty, forty years of experience), how do you practice? What do you practice? When do you practice? How is your practice time different than a guitarist with two years of playing experience? For me, the answer to my inquisitive student’s question was quite simple. All inclusive was my answer.

Yes, I still practice guitar scales when time permits. Scale practice, for me, is concentrated and intense. Usually, I’ll practice scales for hours at a time, resisting the urge to fly into a creative solo session or songwriting session. I’m generally looking for several results when practicing guitar scales. For instance, I reinforce my finger, wrist, and hand strength. This leads to enhancing my endurance. Coordination comes into play. Picking technique, timing, etc., it’s all there. In fact, there’s so much there, it’s almost mind-boggling. Believe it or not, my student’s question reminded me that becoming one with the guitar is exactly the way that I practice the guitar. For me, this is the only way to cover all of the aspects of practicing the guitar and at the same time, bringing music to life. Let me explain.

For the most part, I gain more as a player when I’m working on arrangements (tracks), perfecting chord changes, solos, feeling the spirit of the song, and visualizing the stage performance. In addition, theory and application is flying through my head at the same time. In other words, ALL aspects occur for me at the same time. I practice the way I perform.

It’s really a wonderful feeling to be in-spirit when playing the guitar. How else could we execute so many things on the instrument without even thinking about them (chimes, chime-picking, sweeping, muting, tapping, finger picking, chord work, dynamics, and on and on)? I’m always amazed when I think of these things. The guitar, for me, has become second nature. It is an extension of me.

It’s one thing to play the guitar. It’s an entirely different thing to make the strings breathe and come to life. It’s difficult to explain to someone who hasn’t felt this amazing out-of-body experience. For those who have, no further explanation is needed. We know that our emotions are being communicated with every note that we play. We feel it, and so do our audiences.

A Velvet Touch can only come from strength. I remember having one of my students extend his arm to resemble the guitar fingerboard (He had been struggling with guitar scales and wondering how much strength was needed.). I grabbed his arm, like I was playing the guitar. At first, I exerted a lot of strength on his arm with both the thumb and my fingers. I played a mock guitar scale on his arm using excessive force (similar to what he was putting out in order to practice scales). Then, to his surprise, I lightened up (like a speed demon Butterfly). I ran an incredibly fast (we’re talking very fast folks; pure speed) mock guitar solo on his arm. He was amazed at the super light touch I utilized. I explained that strength must come before the Velvet Touch.

Many of you know exactly what I’m describing here. Hopefully, I’m just reinforcing what many of you (the professional guitarists) already know. In fact, I’d suggest that as professional guitarists, we all stopped practicing (so-to-speak) a long, long time ago and just started playing. What a concept.

Once again, my answer to the inquisitive student was that my practice is actually playing guitar as described in this article. In other words, practice at performance level. Play for impact and delivery. Bring it to life and make it breathe.

©2008 Michael E. Fletcher. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

http://www.ultraguitarmethod.com/

Ultra Guitar Method is designed to place years of professional playing experience under your fingers in a very short amount of time thus, placing you light years ahead of the competition. All theoretical, technical, mechanical, and application principles contained in the method are designed exclusively for the guitar. Learning is made exciting and fun.

Make no mistake about it; if your goal is to understand the entire guitar fingerboard and experience an incredible new mechanical and theoretical freedom as a guitar player, then Ultra Guitar Method is an absolute must.

While others are losing valuable time on the standard old books of C, F and G, this is your opportunity to step directly into the future with a guitar method that is as flexible as your own personality and as vast as your imagination will allow.

Visit the Ultra Guitar Method website today. Your future is now.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Fletcher
http://EzineArticles.com/?Practicing-the-Guitar—Professional-Guitarists—Lessons-Learned&id=1319286

About Bill Palmer

BILL PALMER is a guitarist, composer/musician and an educational author. His style is a mix of rock tones, ambient sound-scapes and jazz-influenced harmony.

Along similar stylistic lines to Joe Satriani and Eric Johnson but with a voice all his own, Bill’s debut self-recorded album “Outlines” (ToneFreak records 2007) has garnered much critical acclaim from both music industry press and insiders and has been described as:

“Classic Satch style shred…” Australian Guitar Volume 64
“Face melting runs, complex arpeggios…” Rave Magazine 2008
“Your material is awesome, really great stuff…” Mark Holden – Aust. Idol Judge
“Great playing, writing and arranging – awesome!” T.J Helemerich (LA based producer)
“Bill Palmer’s “Outlines” is a guitar pickers heaven…” Manly Daily
“Tone, control and melody – epic sounding….” Australian Guitar Volume 64
“Plenty of heat, the songs are both catchy and original…” Manly Daily

Follow this link to reach Bill’s Website

Download Bill’s Songs from iTunes!

Video Guitar Lesson “Left Hand Dexterity” by Bill Palmer.

Having a strong and flexible fretting hand will improve your accuracy and intonation when playing and allows you to expand your vocabulary of working chords. Let’s take a look at some ways in which you can achieve this.

The Spider

Most beginning guitar players have heard of or practiced what is commonly called “The Spider” a simple 4 note per string exercise using all 4 fingers of the fretting hand. The idea is to build dexterity and coordination. (If you have no idea what I am talking about, go straight to Google or YouTube and see what all the fuss is about!)

What you’ll take a look at now though is a very similar concept but using a chord “shape” rather than individual notes.

Take a look at the following tab for some detail:

Basically, we use 1 finger per fret in exactly the same way that we would if playing the “spider” exercise only now, these fingers form a chord shape. The trick or challenge is to try and change from shape to shape smoothly and without any errors or fret buzz not as easy as you initially may think! I’ve started here on fret 5 but in theory, you can start anywhere and work your way up or down the neck as you see fit.

Stretch Chords

Another way of increasing your lefthand (or the right hand for the lefties out there) is through the use of chords that utilize a wide fretting distance. Depending on the style of music you play, these may be either common or uncommon to you. Whatever the case, fresh chords can really add a new dimension to a song or a composition.

I play through quite a few in the video and I’ve transcribed these for you below so you can come back and revisit them as needed:

There are many, many more possibilities where “stretch chords” are concerned but these are a great starting point.

Good luck and as with anything that may be new to you, start slow and work up from there!

Content Written Exclusively For:

http://www.learnacousticguitar.com/

Questions? Comments?
Email: bill@billpalmer.com.au