(by 5 people)
There is a big difference between being able to play guitar, and being ready to join a band, play shows, and record. The goal of this page is to help you make that jump from guitarist to musician.
Getting Better
Exercises
Just about everyone now days can touch type. We type without thinking about which fingers to use, or looking at the keys on the keyboard.
The ultimate goal for new or intermediate guitar players should be what I call touch tone. You can hear a note in your head, and just move your hand to that note on the guitar without even thinking about it.
The key to this is practicing scales, forwards, backwards, and any mutations you choose to make to the scale.
This is a list of things that all guitarists should work on on a daily basis, at least 5 minutes per exercise.
The ultimate goal for new or intermediate guitar players should be what I call touch tone. You can hear a note in your head, and just move your hand to that note on the guitar without even thinking about it.
The key to this is practicing scales, forwards, backwards, and any mutations you choose to make to the scale.
This is a list of things that all guitarists should work on on a daily basis, at least 5 minutes per exercise.
- Start off by doing a stretching exercise. Anything that consists of alternating notes of between 3 and 4 frets should do the trick. Get to where you can practice the scale on one fret without thinking about it, then work on being able to do it up and down the neck of the guitar. When your left wrist feels warm or has that good burn you get when you exercise your leg muscles, you can move on to your exercise
- Practice syncing up your left hand and your right hand by doing exercises that use odd timing, or string skipping. The book "Wild Stringdom" has a great set of these exercises.
- This step is optional, but certainly helps. I do triplits using three notes hammered. Such as 1h2h3. I start with one string and hammer all the way up until the ninth fret. Then I do the same thing only this time I add the next string(A). So it would be E1h2h3 A1h2h3 E2h3h4 A2h3h4, etc.
- Now pick 4 scales, you can choose any you wish, and practice them each for at least 5 minutes. Finger positioning and technique are more important than speed. Wait until you can play the scale up and down the neck without any buzzing before you speed things up.
Articles
Although it may seem like reading doesn't have that much to do with guitar, it is one of the most important ways to develop flexibility and breadth in the different types of music that you can play.
Theory is great to read, but the best kind of articles are the ones that explain a new technique or idea, and also provide material for you to practice with.
Some good material I have found is posted below
Theory is great to read, but the best kind of articles are the ones that explain a new technique or idea, and also provide material for you to practice with.
Some good material I have found is posted below
- Left hand exercise
- This is an excellent exercise that I have been using for years to strengthen and stretch my left hand during warmups. It consists of hammer-on/pull-off combinations. I turn the distortion up a little and do this without using my picking hand at all. This way you know when you are slacking off. If you were picking it would be hard to tell if you weren't hammering hard enough
- Alternate Picking Exercise
- Alternate picking has been a great technique for putting less strain on my wrist by using two muscle groups and not just one. It also allows you to play a lot faster if that is important to you. This is a pretty good exercise for syncing your left and right hands up using alternate picking
Great Stuff on Amazon
The Guitar Grimoire: A Compendium of Formulas for Guitar Scales and Modes
Amazon Price: $22.95 (as of 12/05/2008) 
The Guitar Grimoire: The Exercise Book
Amazon Price: $26.95 (as of 12/05/2008)
Guitar World Presents John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom (Guitar World Presents)
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 12/05/2008)
