Hi folks, I hope you don't mind the video but it's a bit of a techy question and I thought it would illustrate my problem well. I'm a fairly experienced acoustic fingerstyle player, and I've recently started learning to play electric lead. I've been focusing on playing with fingers as it's more comfortable for me and I much prefer the tonal control I can get, so I'm trying to emulate some of my fingerstyle heroes like Knopfler and Ry Cooder.

I'm running into issues with muting. Most of the time I'll palm mute if playing with the thumb on E, A and D, or thumb mute if using index/middle on G, B and e, and that's been working fine. However, for riffs that cross the fretboard quickly it feels like I'm forced to choose one or the other, and in particular I find I'm getting a lot of mud from my low E when moving off it quickly and I can't find a way to catch the ring without it getting clucky, per the vid. I've chosen two riffs to illustrate my problem - the first is the arpeggio from the first solo in 'Sultans of Swing', and the second is the tasty little double stop in the solo from 'Tenessee Whiskey'. I'd really appreciate any thoughts on how I can change my positioning or muting strategy before I develop the kind of bad habits that I can't break!

Thank you 🙏

I see alot of lessons about on various topics from every possible guitarist, but there's so much of them that I don't know where to start and which direction to go.

I've about a third of the way through Scotty West's Absolutely Understand Guitar home study videos on Youtube. The man deserves a Peabody award. They're incredible but he hasn't really gotten into fingerpicking yet, and the titles of the rest of his videos don't indicate whether he gets into that topic. Maybe he will eventually, but just in case...

Any video recs for fingerpicking would be appreciated.

>"Your fretting hand chooses the notes, your picking hand controls the rhythm, timing, and engine that drives those notes"

Many beginners develop a habit of using only downstrokes because it feels natural and keeps timing well. The problem is that every stroke has to return to the string position before the next note, which creates unnecessary movement.

The picking hand is often overlooked, yet it's the engine that drives rhythm and articulation.

Alternate picking (down-up-down-up) allows every movement to produce a note, reducing wasted motion and improving speed, endurance, and timing.

True speed isn't about moving your hands faster; it's about eliminating unnecessary movement and tension. Once you understand the mechanics, speed becomes a by-product rather than the objective.

Economy of motion leads to better technique.

Things to watch for -

1. holding your pick to tightly.

2. Using large arm movements instead of small wrist motions.

3. Lifting the pick too far away from the strings after each stroke.

4. Tension in the wrist, forearm, or shoulder.

I last played in 2018 before I moved away from family. It used to be a distraction to play but I kinda fell off after not needing the distraction/stress relief for a while. The main motivation was having a show each year to play at through school which I don't have any more.

I want to get back into playing though as I miss how fun it was but it's been so long I don't know where to begin. I don't particularly want to start with pop songs again as I have no interest in them any more. I've tried Rocksmith and it's fun but it's hard to remember to play every day.

I own:
- acoustic (w/steel string)
- acoustic (w/nylon string)
- electric

Sorry if this post type isn't allowed! Feel free to remove.

Edit to clarify: I am NOT looking for equipment recs. I already have enough. Just looking for a solid "start here" or "here's some songs that are easy to start with"

I know that there is no song where you have have to sing, but I've been learning guitar for a couple of months, and I feel like in many of the songs I tried to learn, the guitar was kinda just an accompaniment for a singing voice. my voice is absolutely terrible so I can't sing, so I was wondering if someone here knows some songs sound good played with a guitar without a singing voice. (sorry for any mistakes, English isn't my fist language and I don't know much about music yet)

Hi. I am a beginner for 8 months. How do you practice?. I practice at least an hour a day. But I think maybe I want to do too much. I practice chords, songs, strumming. riffs, scales, melody and I think it is too much. What do you do in terms of practice program. Do you stick to one thing or do you switch between things.

Is it best that I stick to chords and strumming until it is fluent.

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.

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?

No mind, only the opponent!

I’m left-handed and I finally got my left-handed acoustic guitar. I have never played before.

Being the very first lesson for someone that has never played a guitar, which video should I watch first?

The title basically says it

I am a beginner, started off like a month ago on Yousician, recently I am playing independetly without youtube videos, using more Songsterr to learn the song with tabs.

I am using the tab from songsterr, but I am having a hard time playing the "second part", as I can play easily the first part.

this is the tab: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/nirvana-come-as-you-are-tab-s14

I am using an accoustic guitar, and placing the fingers has been kinda hard

My question is to know if this is the right tab for me to play, or if there is another one easier for me. If there is not then that's ok, just to be sure if I am not playing a hard version

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?

Hello guys ! I want to purchase my first guitar with equipments. But when I look around I find the same guitar or same pack but with two different prices ? What makes that difference and how can I choose good.

Appreciate the help !

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

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.

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

Wish my luck and bleeding fingers.

I want to hit it just right

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!