In my experience an ideal practice session is split into two halves: exercising and performing. Let me explain what I mean. Exercising focuses on the physical aspect of guitar playing. Training our bodies to the act of playing. It starts out with warm-up, and using the Exercise Setup, I concentrate on mechanical exercises that improve…
I’ve never taken a lesson from him but I always pay attention when the Japanese guitar master Tomo Fujita talks about best practices. He just has this uncanny ability to pick out kotsu — a Japanese word for hidden pointers that can make significant difference — when it comes to getting better on guitar. Here…
Because I didn’t take lessons (a big mistake) I always wondered, if my goal is to increase my speed, then should I stay slow, or gradually increase my speed? And when am I playing well enough to notch up the tempo? This line of thinking comes from equating guitar playing to weight lifting. If you…
This is one of the common mistakes I see myself and others make. Stopping when you make a mistake. Yes, it’s understandable, but make a habit never to stop when you make mistakes. In particular, don’t break out of rhythm! Keep going! Why? It’s because that’s how it is in performance. When you’re playing to…
Sweet spots are something guitarists often talk about, but mainly in reference to pickup height or settings on amp/effects. Well, I think there are sweet spots on your fretting fingers. It’s a tiny area that’s very close to the finger nails. To hit them, I have to fret in such a way that the fingers…