Here’s another Mini Guitar Lesson by Mike Jones from Killer Guitar Tips.

Great guitar players do not just happen out of thin air. Great guitar players have practiced their art and practiced on a regular basis! But be WARNED… Many people practice the wrong things. They actually practice BAD habits. In order to progress you need to practice the right things. I know this sounds blatantly obvious but many, many people get this wrong. They practice things that they actually like which could be reinforcing their bad habits they have already acquired.

YOU’RE in the minority! CONGRATULATIONS!!!! You’re in the select 5% of people who will be practicing the CORRECT methods and techniques that will catapult your guitar playing into hyperspace.

So stay tuned…

Let’s get straight on with this mini guitar lesson…

We will start with a really cool chord progression that’s great to play pentatonic riffs over when you are jamming with a friend, it will make you sound like a great player with no effort whatsoever!

So here it is, it’s real easy… Play one bar of each chord A, G, D, and A. Now keep on playing these chords over and over while your friend makes up a solo using the Am pentatonic scale at the fifth fret!! It sounds great.

Why not swop parts and get your friend to play the chords while you solo over this sequence in Am. Just listen to yourself sounding like a top pro player!

Now now have a progression you know that will fit in at any jam night or venue. You will be able to get up with a friend and sound like a real pro guitarist. It just takes a little practice ideally with your friend.

Another great little progression that goes along with this nicely and is the backbone of many great songs is a 4 bar sequence that repeats itself over and over again and is commonly known as the ‘turnaround’.

Lets take a closer look at this so here goes:

Play the 1st bar G, the second is Em, the 3rd is C and the last is a bar of D.

Play the rhythm of 4 beats to a bar and repeat this turnaround to your hearts content.

Again this is a superb jam sequence. Why not get your friends to jam along to it in the key of G. You play the rhythm and they solo over the top then change around, you solo they play rhythm.

Oh, and dont forget that my full guitar audio/video program is loaded with lots of amazing chord sequences that will allow you to lay down great sounding rhythm guitar that will astound your friends and rock your audience.

There will always come a time when a guitarist gets a little frustrated with their progress and can’t seem to improve their skills. It’s at this point you might begin looking for the real guitar playing secrets that can change the way you play forever.

I hate to break the news to you however, but any powerful secrets to turn you into a guitar master in minutes or seconds just doesn’t exist. It really takes hard work and concentration to master the guitar. Try out these effective tips for good guitar playing to try to turn your slump around.

1. Gain some guidance in a band. A good way to gain a lot of information that you couldn’t get by yourself is from other musical individuals. By joining or creating a band, you can learn valuable secrets about responsibility, working on music with others, and playing the guitar with better technique and sensitivity.

2. Try out another guitar. A lot of the time when you can’t pull off a lick or riff that should be simple, the guitar might not be right for you. Try to research what kind of instrument is best for the genre that you’re attempting and buy at the best price.

3. Practice with other people for a change. If you can’t learn any new riffs and licks by yourself a good way to learn is with other guitarists. Make a schedule of guitar practices with a friend where you both play together and you maybe you’ll discover the secret to a couple riffs that you couldn’t play before.

4. Turn easy songs into challenging ones. When the songs you play become just too easy, maybe you can put some critical thinking and song-writing abilities to the test. Try to remake them into something more challenging and appealing and in the process you might pick up some new skills.

5. Open mike nights can break you out of your shell. Take a little more focus on important skills by signing up for an open mike night performance. Not only will you develop your live-playing skills, but you can learn new techniques by watching other performers in action.

As much as you might wish that there were some quick guitar playing secrets to solve all your problems, you’re out of luck. Try out these simple tips, along with your own discretion, and start improving and playing better.

Kyle Hoffman is known as an experienced guitarist that has been performing in popular musical acts for years. Learn his important tips about playing fast electric guitar FREE from his acclaimed guitar blog, How To Guitar Tune!

Slash’s “Sweet Child of Mine”, Brian May of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”, Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight” and Carlos Augusto Santana Alves’ “Maria Maria” Do you recognize all of these? These are songs popularized by some of the greatest guitarists of all time. People sang their music, danced with their rhythms, and enjoyed every performance they did with their guitars. But have you ever wondered how these guitars came into existence?

Guitars used to be ordinary instruments, those that could not meet the standards of classical music. In fact in the early 19th century, Fernando Sor has started the battle in raising the level of guitars in the music industry to the highest as possible. Soon enough, Sor seemed to have gained success in his quest.

Now, guitars have gained popularity as a choice of musical instrument. Basically, it’s a six-stringed instrument, but you can also find those with four, seven, eight, ten, eleven, twelve, and thirteen strings.
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The oldest graphical icon that perhaps represents the primary guitar features was an old carving of a Hittite bard. The Europeans have popularized this instrument in the medieval times, but it actually came from Indo-Europeans who existed 4000 years ago. Central Asians and Indian people have made guitars part of their cultural heritage, and this fact cannot be disregarded. Nevertheless, it was the European people who actually developed guitars into their finest.

Spaniards have the most influence in making the modern guitars. In reality, Romans were the first to bring in a stringed instrument called cithara in the year 40 AD. After these, Moors and Scandinavians carried with them their ouds and luts respectively. In the year 1200 AD, the four-stringed instrument oud had two types, namely Morrish guitar and Latin guitar. Latin guitars became the basis for making the modern guitar that is famous nowadays.

The lower and middle classes of society used these guitars for leisure. Then, Spain had come up with vihuela or viola de mano which became popular among Aristocrats in the 16th century.

Though the three major types of guitars are electric, classical and acoustic, many guitar variations have already come up today. Electric guitars were especially made for the growth of popular music in the United States. These guitars give a unique sound to any song, since they can be amplified and be given effects. Acoustic guitars make a soulful song with its pure tones, while classical guitars continue to embody the distinct sounds that the baroque and romantic eras once had.

In addition, the industry now has a variety of guitar brands, including Yamaha, Taylor, and Jackson, to name a few.

Wendy Racklave writes articles for Playhouse MM which has information on how to purchase a left handed guitar, buying a tuner for your guitar and lots more besides.

Throughout the history of guitars, since it’s birth as an instrument, there have been several models and types that have made an impact. Not only just because of the way that the guitar has been built or that they feature the recent and most innovative designs and materials, but that they have been strummed by the best guitarists of all time.

Most likely, the most infamous guitar would be the Fender Stratocaster. First made by its creator, Leo Fender, founder of the world leading Fender Guitar company back in the 50s, the Stratocaster or Fender Strat as it is more commonly known, has taken it’s place amongst the history of music and rock and roll. Now enjoying a cult of followers from newbie guitar players and vintage guitar lovers alike, the Strat still empowers the best of todays musical groups.

The 1957 model of the Fender Stratocaster is probably considered to be the best and most collectable of the near 60 year run classic design. The 57 model features the famous 2 tone sun burst design, usually red and orange or yellow fading to black and can be seen being used by guitar greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Metallica and Led Zeppelin during the recent years. After it’s inception all those years ago, the Strat was primarily used for playing blues style music until the likes of Jimi Hendrix blasted it into another world and started pushing the guitar and music to it’s limits and crashing into a new era. Jimi was one of many who was able to combine their talents with the Fender technicians and the team behind the Fender Custom Factory to make his own white signature model of Fender Strat. Leo Fender was famous for encouraging the worlds best guitarists to work along side them to not only design their own personally designed named models, but also re-evolve their existing designs through experimentation and customization.

The Fender Stratocaster has been used on a wide variety of different musical styles over the years from blues to thrash and jazz. It’s clean, clear sound lets the guitar player have the freedom to make any style and type of music accessible and the perfect build quality of each guitar is second to none. The main body of the strat is made from alder wood and the kneck is made from maple with a rosewood fretboard. The guitar includes a set of three single coil pickups which assists the generation of the the clean sound. There is a five way selector switch that allows you to switch between different combinations of the 3 pickups to produce very different tones and a series of volume and tone knobs.

The Strat is certainly one of the guitars that will go down in the annuls of time as being an almost perfect and extremely versatile instrument that had a hand in helping change the face of rock and roll and music made by guitars as we know it today. I am sure that Leo Fender was unaware that that when he first made the Strat in 1950, he would also be creating a cult and a legacy that will span well over 100 years.

One of the biggest advantages of playing the electric guitar is its ability to create different and unique sounds. Because you are using electricity to create the sound that you hear it gives you the ability to manipulate the electrical signal the guitar creates. Today Im going to write about the three most common electric guitar effect pedals.

The first effect I want to talk about is the Overdrive, or Distortion pedal. These pedals add a warmth and thickness to the sound of your electric guitar. They do this by clipping and compressing the original guitar signal.

You can choose from hundreds of different distortion pedals. Everything from heavy 60′s fuzz to light distorted overdrive is available in a distortion pedal. So it goes without saying the you must have a Distortion in your effect collection whether you’re playing Metal, Country or Rock-N-Roll.

The second effect I’d like to talk about is the Delay Effect. The delay effect is created by replicating your original guitar signal and playing it back at an interval after the original signal. You can have the signal be repeated once or as many times as you wish to create the desired echo effect.

You will use your delay effect primarily for increasing the depth of your guitar sound as well as layering the repeats to create complex harmonies. Using shorter delay times to thicken your sound and longer delays to create rhythmic harmonies are essential functions of the delay effect. Delay effects are used in every musical genre there is.

The third type of effect pedal you should have is the Chorus effect. Chorusing is created when your original guitar signal is slightly delayed, modulated and then combined with the original guitar signal. The effect created simulates the sound of multiple guitars being played at the same time.

Guitarists use the Chorus effect to thicken the sound of their guitar. When a stereo chorus effect is used the spatial separation of the signals can give a lush, full sound to the electric guitar. Chorus effects are used in every type of music played on electric guitar.

At some point in their development, all guitarists begin to search for more sounds for their instrument. Guitar effect pedals offer an easy and affordable way to increase your tonal pallette. That’s why I recommend Delay, Chorus and Distortion as your top three choices for getting your effects collection going.