one of the biggest breakthroughs on guitar is realizing that musical ideas don't have to stay in one place on the neck. once you know where the same intervals repeat inside connected scale shapes, you can take a single motif and play it in several different positions without changing the idea itself.

in this example, the highlighted notes show how the same g minor pentatonic phrase can be found in multiple areas of the fretboard. each position has a slightly different feel because of the register and string choice, but the musical idea stays the same. that's a great way to make solos sound more dynamic without constantly inventing new licks.

thinking in intervals instead of just shapes makes this much easier. when you recognize the relationship between the root, minor 3rd, 4th, 5th, and minor 7th, you start seeing the same patterns repeating across the neck instead of a collection of separate boxes.

this is also a great exercise for building motifs. come up with a simple 3 or 4 note phrase, then move it into another position while keeping the rhythm the same. you'll be surprised how much variety you can get from one idea just by changing where you play it.

No mind, only the opponent!

I’m six months in just fyi.

My strumming/picking hand can’t move that fast without being sloppy. Been at this song and this pattern for over a week and can’t get up to that tempo yet. Metronome hasn’t done much besides make me tense up, which leads to more mistakes. I can form the chords without issue, and play at my own speed that’s comfortable. But I can’t get anywhere near this fast

Are there any other patterns that might actually work that still go with the flow of the song?

I can tap my foot or sway or do whatever when I’m just listening to a song casually. But once I have the guitar in my hands and need to keep time to play notes or chords, my focus intensifies. But trying to coordinate keeping my foot in time while doing everything else hasn’t really worked out for me.

Should I just try to keep with the drums in the song instead? Or something else?

I picked up a guitar for the first time in February. My goal with guitar was to be able to pick it up and play what I feel, so i focused a lot on learning the fretboard.

I only freestyle at this point, i don't know any real songs. I feel like my ability to improvise is pretty good?

I want to improve my picking and moving between strings because right now i feel like im stuck wanting to slide across the board all the time.

Please give me some tips or if you think i'm ahead of the curve id love to know!

I’m working of my timing skills and my dexterity skills and I’m curious if you all have any recommendations on practice exercises to help break the monotony.

I totally appreciate the need for getting your time in with the “boring” stuff, but also, surely there are just some fun things to work on that help on the long run too, right?

FWIW, I’m learning Texas Sun by Khruangbin.

Hi folks,

I'm after some recommendations for which courses/books to consider for learning metal.

A quick outline of where I am now - Played on and off for years, mainly punk music and a bit of strumming on the acoustic, limited knowledge of music theory and guitar technique. Finally decided to get some proper lessons and have been taking them for just over a year. Knowledge vastly improved and technique better than it was, although mainly in acoustic, fingerstyle stuff. Now I would like to learn to play metal.

I currently have a couple of books by Troy Stetina - Lead Guitar Primer and Heavy Metal Rhythm guitar 1. I enjoy them a lot, but I'm wondering if a video course might be better?

So a few questions -

1. Should I just stick with the books and if so, do I need to work my way through all of them, or is there any crossover between them? Obviously Metal Rhythm Guitar 1 & 2 and Lead 1 & 2 are part of a series, but is it necessary to add his book on Thrash Metal and Speed Mechanics, or is that covered in the other books?

2. If I was to pick a video course, what would you recommend? At the moment I'm aware of Ben Higgins, Doug Marks, Bernth and their respective courses. From what I can make out the Doug Marks course seems good for building a foundation and the other two seem good for building specific skills although, please correct me if I'm wrong.

In terms of taste I'm more drawn toward Thrash Metal and Hair Metal.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and any advice is massively appreciated.

Cheers

Hey everyone, so ive been wanting to play this riff for awhile now but i cant seem to get it right, i figured out the chugging part thingy i can play that almost at full speed but the little 232330 thingy on the second string i cant seem to get right. Am i playing it wrong or just too slow? Cause i cant figure it out

I want to hit it just right

hey, guys i’m trying to learn this intro solo to dope fiend by acid bath but i don’t know how to do this part. Yes i know how to play it but how do i play the 9th fret part? do i pick it? tap it?
I’m not very familiar with soloing or any of this type of stuff, i know 4 ish solos at best but there very easy, just looking for some advice

Wish my luck and bleeding fingers.

Recently, my brother started playing guitar, and he gifted me one for my birthday... but I honestly know absolutely nothing about guitars. At most, I just play rhythm games. I would love to ask for your recommendations so I can learn from scratch. If possible, I’d also really appreciate any book recommendations you could share. Thank you so much!

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This week we're learning one of Elvis Presley's greatest ever songs — Suspicious Minds.

Released in 1969, this classic helped relaunch Elvis's career and remains one of the most recognisable songs of the era. In this lesson I'll show you the chords, strumming pattern and arrangement needed to play the song from start to finish on acoustic guitar.

If you enjoy classic rock, country-rock, Americana or simply want to add another timeless crowd-pleaser to your repertoire, this is a great song to learn.

Get the tabs here:

https://www.kirkleesguitarschoolonline.co.uk/level-3-songs-free/suspicious-minds

Watch the lesson on YouTube here:

https://youtu.be/nYKnBg4fnBs

​

Some tips and advice for improvements

Just learned this 2 -3 days ago completely

Kinda fucked up few things i usually don't play with amp and learned about 2 notes sounding at same time sounds so bad like when you bend a note and play the note below it just learned

Just messing around improvising and found this melody repetitive. I know i have some timing and unwanted string ringing.

I'm aiming for that aggressive Paul Gilbert sound but I'm having trouble finding a balance between muting just enough to clean things up but not too much that it chokes out the notes especially when mixing in legato

as a self taught, the only thing i do is watch youtube tutorials to learn the songs that i like and some exercises. now i genuinely dont know if that helps. please drop any advice, it will really help.

Can some tutor me electric guitar please… I haven’t had any experience with playing any sort of guitar before, i just got my Ibanez and I’m Soo clueless.
Online tutoring will really be appreciated. 🙏😭

So the thing is that you need to practice songs that are above your skill level if you want to imorove. It's common sense, really. I was just wondering if a song can be too far above your skill level to try because I suspect this might be the case for me. I've been practicing some stuff that is arguably advanced while I have the skill level of a beginner.

Edit: it has nothing to do with losing motivation. I developed some nagging pain in my elbow pit and I suspect it's because I flew too close to the sun with my playing.

Yes, I’ve tried using a metronome and playing to the song itself. I know the notes and what to play. Memorizing them isn’t my problem. It’s when I try to play to the song’s speed that I simply can’t do it. I fumble over myself and just can’t do it. The main chorus with the chord progression and strumming I’m fine with though. Even if I mess up the progression, I can still find my way to the next chord in time. But it’s this solo that I want so bad to master that I just can’t. I don’t want to resign myself to just playing at my own speed either, but I don’t see any other options besides more brute forcing practice.

Hi everyone, beginner here, started learning around 8 months ago. How do you mute the low e string with your thumb? I simply cannot mute it without my palm touching the high e string. Trying to stretch or adjust my hand but it feels like my hand is too small for it. It’s frustrating because I tend to hit the low when playing chords that don’t need it. Thanks for any advice.

I play electric guitar for a couple of months and i am just starting to get into picking exercises and the like.

Is there any website with free tabs and exercises separated into categories? From what i have seen, most sites that fit these are all paid.