My Wrong Ideas About Guitar Practice

Be careful when choosing advice regarding guitar practice. Advice that I thought was true when I began playing the guitar actually made improving my guitar technique and skills more difficult than it needed to be. Here’s why:

One of the problems people encounter when practicing is deciding what, when and how much to practice a given technique, solo or song. Much of the confusion comes from the huge amount of guitar information available today—some of it is good, some not so good. Often, there are many conflicting views on the same subject. Nobody wants to waste their time or practice in ways that don’t give maximum results in the shortest time.

When I started getting serious about guitar, I sought out as much information as I could from every source I could: lessons, magazines, books, reading interviews with musicians I liked and trying to learn by ear from recordings and tablature. The problem I had was I couldn’t always tell the good information from the “not so good” information. I had no real way of knowing what worked and what didn’t. Many times, I would work on a technique, song or solo and make little or no progress and wonder what I was doing wrong. I wasted much time, effort and experienced a lot of frustration trying to figure things out. If I had known then what I know now I would have made much faster progress toward my musical goals and eliminated a lot of wasted effort and aggravation along the way.

If I listed all the wrong things I believed back then and all the dead-end practice techniques I tried, I would probably run out of space here! Here are the main guitar technique and practice myths that sidetracked me and slowed my progress along the way:

Myth #1

Always practice slowly if you want to be able to play fast. For a long time, I practiced scales, solos and songs, always playing slowly, and wondered why I didn’t get any faster. I didn’t get any faster because I didn’t push myself to get faster. It is very true that much time must be spent practicing slowly and deliberately, developing and refining the technique you are practicing without ingraining mistakes and sloppiness—especially when the material you are learning is brand new to you. However, as you learn and memorize the lick, song or riff, at some point you need to push yourself to the edge of your ability to play it cleanly. You don’t want to practice at the “edge of ability” speed for long periods of time, but this type of practice is necessary in order to take your technique to the next level. When practicing a scale or technique, some part of your session should include some speed time—just make sure that it is not overdone to the point that sloppy playing and bad technique get ingrained. Immediately after pushing your speed, it is good to go back and practice the same technique at a speed you can play with cleanly and perfectly—it will feel much smoother (and should be much easier) to play after your “speed push” session. Practice slow to play it clean, practice speeding it up to get it faster.

Myth #2

Never practice scales, arpeggios, etc. using distortion. If the primary style of music you play uses overdriven and distorted guitar, it is absolutely necessary to practice using a distorted guitar sound. A long time ago, when I first learned the opening guitar part to “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love” by Van Halen, I practiced playing it without an amp—making sure I could finger the notes and pick them cleanly. When I plugged into an amp with distortion and tried it, I didn’t sound very good. I could play the right notes at the right time, but I didn’t yet understand the importance of how to use muting to make everything sound clean. Strings that weren’t supposed to be sounding were ringing out and the whole thing sounded “messy.” I learned that if I was going to play using an overdriven tone, I needed to practice using that tone—it wasn’t enough just to practice the notes using a clean tone or playing without an amp. If your playing is not clean, the distortion will make it sound even worse—you will hear the mistakes that would not be apparent using a clean tone. Your practice needs to use the same amp sound you use when you play.

Myth #3

Always hold your pick, left hand etc.“this way.” Regarding hand positions and pick grip, always be wary of the word “always.” There are no absolutes—there are more efficient techniques, but no one way is always the right way. For example, both Paul Gilbert and Yngwie Malmsteen have monster chops, but if you look at their pick hand technique, they are both very different. Gilbert picks more from the wrist and Malmsteen more from a combination of fingers and wrist. Both ways of picking work well for each player. We all have different hand shapes and sizes, play different styles of music and guitars. If you are having difficulty with a certain technique, the best advice is to find a good teacher who can help you find the best way to develop a solution to your problem. Most technique issues can be resolved in more than one way, and sometimes a little help is needed to find the solution that will work for you.

Myth #4

Learning theory will ruin my creativity and originality. I read more than one interview with famous guitar players (who I won’t name! ) where they said everything they played came from “inspiration.” While they were certainly creative and inspired players, I believe that somewhere along the way, they learned some music theory. At the very least, they learned scale and chord patterns on the guitar and learned how to apply them to get the musical result they wanted. Learning theory is like learning to read and write a language—if you can’t read and write, you are limiting your ability to express yourself and have others understand what you are trying to communicate. Learning theory opens new doors to creative ideas that most of us would not come up with on our own.

Myth #5

You have to practice X amount of hours a day for X number of years to be really good. This one is partially true. Any guitar player with advanced skills had to put some serious practice time in somewhere along the way. However, it is not necessary to lock yourself away in your room for four years and practice twelve hours a day (although you probably would get pretty good at the guitar! ) The key is to find the most efficient and effective ways to use the practice time that you have so that you can do the things you want to be able to do on the guitar. If your goal is to be able to strum some Beatles songs, your practice routine will be much different than if your goal is to be able to play like your favorite shredder. You need to determine the specific skills you will need to develop to play what you want to play. Think about it—what would you really like to be able to do on the guitar? Get out a piece of paper and write down what those goals are. Once you have your goals, then you can develop a plan to reach them. If you are just starting out, a good teacher who can play well in the style you are interested in can be very helpful in helping you reach your goals in the fastest time possible with the least amount of wasted effort. Having clear goals and finding a good teacher who will help you reach them is one of the best ways to maximize your practice time.

Work hard and have fun!

To receive a free E Book with six 15 Minute Guitar Lessons, go to www.paulkleffmusic.com/ebook.html.

© 2008 Paul Kleff

Comments

[Eklund]

Good article, indeed.

(and by the way, am i really first? I've been told that's awesome)

[Daniel8488]

Good read

Im actaully learning at the moment and i do feel like that some of the information im reading and learning from is infact some one's opinion on the matter and may not be the best way for everybody, i agree about the speed part too.

[LightxGrenade]

Nice work, I mos def. agree with the myth about music theory, so many people want to just "feel" the music. While some ppl are lucky enough to be good enough and intuitive enough to get by on that, most of us are not.

[Zapfire]

That was really good, nice job

[kop4]

in fact, it is sometimes better to play a certain lick without distortion first. As for me, I find it easier to hear the mistakes I make without any effects.. even when it comes to rock/metal.

[Food Fighter]

Good Article, learnt a lot, im gonna push myself now to play good!

[fast-lagardo]

I really liked the "Myth 1".

[Noxkid457]

I agree with the distortion thing. I don't understand why people say to learn a part clean first if it has distortion. You just have to learn what clean sounds like with distortion. I find that I can get things clean must faster if I use distortion, because like you said it typically makes so much more extra noise than a clean tone.

[thedarkblues06]

I agree, great article.

[Kayfan]

People learn the part on the clean channel first because it allows you to keep time better, there's no extra sustain on notes. That's as far as I've been instructed

[AMDkid1]

Agreed!!

[m4l666]

Eklund wrote:

Good article, indeed.

(and by the way, am i really first? I've been told that's awesome)

It's a very good article indeed. But I don't get how being 1st is so awesome.

[Joey Radical]

Great article! This actually helped me get some perspective on stuff. Thanks a lot!

[ChadCrawford]

Great article. I appreciate your take on speed. I have observed the sane thing - learn a new technique on slow and then ramp up the speed. If you never practice fast you will never play fast. But is is important to lock in the technique at lower speed.

Also agree much on the distortion/clean thing. The guitar and amp respond differently on high gain and it requires subtle differences in right and left hand technique to play cleanly.

[HelloHalo]

Thanks, your article gave me some perspective. I always believed Myth #1 and 2 =P.

[Smithsc]

awesome article I couldn't agree more with this!

[Bonorly]

Great point in #1, it's so easy to forget to push yourself and just play slow and careful when learning.

[Jackolas]

Great article, well done. The first point will be sticking with my for a while.

[lestat1836]

anohter good article.

[RCH15]

m4l666 wrote:

Eklund wrote:

Good article, indeed.

(and by the way, am i really first? I've been told that's awesome)

It's a very good article indeed. But I don't get how being 1st is so awesome.

Yes, yes. You've made your point. Saying "First!" is stupid. Very perceptive.

I've been playing for a little more then a year now, and I didn't realize that I was following those myths. I'll defiantly correct that.

[JoHNNERz]

It's generally a very good article but I have to take issue with Myth #3. You say:

"There are no absolutes—there are more efficient techniques, but no one way is always the right way"

But there are many wrong ways! Why do you think Yngwie has serious carpal tunnel issues and Gilbert doesn't? It's very easy to get into bad habits with your picking and then rationalize it as, "well, correct pick position is a myth." It really isn't, and it'll affect your playing down the road.

[Nick Layton]

Excellent!

[Veroth]

bitchin article, and i definitly agree about myth #2 im workin on sweeping at the moment, and i thought that if i could play it nice and clean without ditortion then i could make it sound real nice like when it was distorted. but like you said i ended up wasting lots of time seeing as how i had to completly change my right hand technique when i decided to put some fx in the mix.

[Charlie4]

These things seem obvious yet a lot of people don't really know them.

Good article.

[lockdown91]

amazing article

[misfitsramones]

i agree to most, but not all.

the picking 1 i have been struggleing with, i resently changed my style because it thought it would be more effient, even tho i was able to play tempos around 200, i changed and now can olny play 150 at most. i think that picking using your wrist is the best way.

[Phe4rTheGod]

JoHNNERz wrote:
But there are many wrong ways! Why do you think Yngwie has serious carpal tunnel issues and Gilbert doesn't? It's very easy to get into bad habits with your picking and then rationalize it as, "well, correct pick position is a myth." It really isn't, and it'll affect your playing down the road.

Very true...for instance playing with your elbow will lead to tendonitis and playing fast without stretching and warming up will kill tendons, muscles, etc...

Myth #4 is very true, I used to be that way, but once you learn theory it's easy to see the difference between playing in key and sounding good and playing in a box (like almost all theory experts play)...the importance is learning the difference...

[Caressing Death]

JoHNNERz wrote:

It's generally a very good article but I have to take issue with Myth #3. You say:

"There are no absolutes—there are more efficient techniques, but no one way is always the right way"

But there are many wrong ways! Why do you think Yngwie has serious carpal tunnel issues and Gilbert doesn't? It's very easy to get into bad habits with your picking and then rationalize it as, "well, correct pick position is a myth." It really isn't, and it'll affect your playing down the road.

This guy knows what he's talking about. But yeah, other than that, nice article.

[Kridd]

(Being a beginner) Till now I have been so lost on which step to take first in becoming great with a guitar. I know techniques, but they haven't been getting me anywhere. Thanks to your wonderful article, now I know that I'm lacking a foundation (theory). So I'm gonna take a music theory class next semester. Thanks a ton, Paul!

[jasonggabbott]

I don't think any time with the guitar is wasted!!!!
like saying having sex with an ugly women is wasted sex??
it all gets you to who you are as a player.
sometimes sloppy playing gets you to a different style.

[FretboardToAsh]

Now this I like, no crap no advertising, just plain old fashioned opinions based on experience, failure and succes.

Good Going.

[FretboardToAsh]

...you are 9 years old?

[Randy Johnson]

Paul,
This is great stuff. Very useful tools here that apply to many things! Thanks!

[kennyvspenny]

eh. it wasn't bad.

[SylvaShredder]

I disagree with the distortion myth. I would never PRACTICE with distortion, as it allows you overlook mistakes. If you're having problems with muting, fix it. But practice clean, as it will take more work to get out the right notes. PLAY with distortion all you want, but realize the difference between PRACTICE and PLAYING.

[Towner_45]

jasonggabbott wrote:

it all gets you to who you are as a player.
sometimes sloppy playing gets you to a different style.

*Cough* Grunge *Cough*

This is a great article by the way, helped me in quite a few ways

[Ruenis]

pretty good article
you should write another one with other myths 'bout guitar practice

[rockstarbowker]

thank you so much for myth #3.
I needed that.
so now I can tell people im not stupid.

[methusalah2]

This is very truthful article. However, I like to practice things with and without distortion. Whyy the hell not eh? A lot of peopel also don't see the 'pushing' part of building speed, as mentioned in number 1.

[RocknEf'inRoll]

sorry but this article has no truth to it whatsoever, only myth 4 (the theory myth) is true i believe. You need to know theory in order to know how create certain "feelings" in songs, but even still. Some people are born with an ear for music and what sounds good.
Myth #1- VERY important to practice slowly, but he never explained the other half of the myth. The "important" part of increasing your tempo once you mastered that speed...that is what develops skill my friend.
Myth #2- practicing clean incorporates being staccato, therefore when you go to distortion your very clean and fluid. Ex. country players...cleanest tone and amazing players. Do you think when they go to distortion that they "suck" because they practiced on clean all this time? No. They will be amazing because they practiced PROPERLY on the clean channel.
Myth #3-ok well this one is fairly correct...do what works for you.
Myth #5- Like anything in life, the harder you work the greater reward you will get out of it. I'm sorry, but yes, you need to put x amount of hours to get good at guitar. Even if you are the most efficient and effective, you NEED to put countless hours into it to get good. The efficient part only "helps", it doesn't make you an instant guitar god.

I'm sorry, but for any beginners out there reading this, this article is irrelevant and misleading. Practice hard, have fun and be dedicated....its the only way in life that things will come to you. You will never be given things for free or easy.

[ArreatsChozen]

The distortion/ not use distortion thing is a very good point although I do not 100% agree with you.
Ok the main reason why you would want to use distortion is so you can get a feel for the song/ phrase/ technique etc, in the context it's used in, which is a rock/ metal etc, song.
This leads us to things like proper string muting technique etc, but I also believe that because of the distortion, and the fact that because we are playing a new (sometimes complex) technique - take sweeping for example - distortion allows us to do it sloppy, and the distortion can hide our mistakes - plus limit our ability to hear our mistakes - so I believe that we should also be able to play the same technique with a clean tone, cleanly, as well as being able to play it with distortion.

The dude that said he switches his technique with sweeping when he changes from distortion to clean is a bit weird, because why would you change your technique...? Obviously this is showing that your using bad technique in either of the clean or distortion tone, and that you should practice playing it properly, in a clean tone, before you play it loud and with distortion - which will increase the chance of making mistakes.

I understand what the dude was trying to say though, and things do sound a lot different in distortion and clean, and i also think that if you can just stick to distortion, and play it cleanly with that, then thats cool for you.

[LordHood]

RocknEf'inRoll wrote:

sorry but this article has no truth to it whatsoever, only myth 4 (the theory myth) is true i believe. You need to know theory in order to know how create certain "feelings" in songs, but even still. Some people are born with an ear for music and what sounds good.
Myth #1- VERY important to practice slowly, but he never explained the other half of the myth. The "important" part of increasing your tempo once you mastered that speed...that is what develops skill my friend.
Myth #2- practicing clean incorporates being staccato, therefore when you go to distortion your very clean and fluid. Ex. country players...cleanest tone and amazing players. Do you think when they go to distortion that they "suck" because they practiced on clean all this time? No. They will be amazing because they practiced PROPERLY on the clean channel.
Myth #3-ok well this one is fairly correct...do what works for you.
Myth #5- Like anything in life, the harder you work the greater reward you will get out of it. I'm sorry, but yes, you need to put x amount of hours to get good at guitar. Even if you are the most efficient and effective, you NEED to put countless hours into it to get good. The efficient part only "helps", it doesn't make you an instant guitar god.

I'm sorry, but for any beginners out there reading this, this article is irrelevant and misleading. Practice hard, have fun and be dedicated....its the only way in life that things will come to you. You will never be given things for free or easy.

I dont care how good Rockn is. Dude's a tool. You almost said the same thing for myth #5, I dont get your beef with myth #1. And as far as myth #2 goes. You should practice with whatever sound you like most, you'll practice more if you like what you're hearing. The second I got distortion, my hours of play skyrocketed. Distortion's not everyone's favorite, but play to get the sound you like!

[SHORELINE GOLD]

Check out justinguitar.com if you can,t afford to go for private lessons. Also my advice is to try and play everyday if only for ten mins.

[rg321mh]

True

[Plarx]

fast-lagardo wrote:

I really liked the "Myth 1".

EXACTLY
thats prolly why im not learning anything

[chickrawker]

Eklund wrote:

(and by the way, am i really first? I've been told that's awesome)

its overrated sorry

[Ram_overdrive]

good article.....unfortunetally ..too late had to go through all all the myths myself...to reach the same conclusion..i guess every guitarist has to do it!

[flikda3flip]

this is an excellent article, i particularly like the very last suggestion, thats some information that will seriously help me, though everything was very helpful

[ultimate-slash]

I can agree with the points in the article, except for the learning theorie, off course it will help a lot of people if they know theorie, but you can also develop an ear for music, that's harder to do, but it just depends on the way you would like to get better..
also I think, that if you start playing, in the beginning you should just learn songs that you like and stuff, to get to know everything, then, start writing some riffs etc, if you write often, you'll start figuring things ouy by yourself, but only if you do it seriously, and really want to know how to write stuff, determination is the most important tool in getting better..
And last, I think that justing wanting to be good at guitar isn't gonna help you much, off course you'll get better, but just think about what you want to accomplish with you're guitar, do you wanna write songs, in the way that you always wanted to hear some things, or are you just doing it to be good at it, and make people jealous at you, for playing incredibly fast while really you're just playing someone elses stuff? There's a difference between playing a guitar and being a musician

[shreddyboy]

Good article! I liked your last one too. thank you for sharing!

[RocknEf'inRoll]

LordHood :
RocknEf'inRoll wrote:

sorry but this article has no truth to it whatsoever, only myth 4 (the theory myth) is true i believe. You need to know theory in order to know how create certain "feelings" in songs, but even still. Some people are born with an ear for music and what sounds good.
Myth #1- VERY important to practice slowly, but he never explained the other half of the myth. The "important" part of increasing your tempo once you mastered that speed...that is what develops skill my friend.
Myth #2- practicing clean incorporates being staccato, therefore when you go to distortion your very clean and fluid. Ex. country players...cleanest tone and amazing players. Do you think when they go to distortion that they "suck" because they practiced on clean all this time? No. They will be amazing because they practiced PROPERLY on the clean channel.
Myth #3-ok well this one is fairly correct...do what works for you.
Myth #5- Like anything in life, the harder you work the greater reward you will get out of it. I'm sorry, but yes, you need to put x amount of hours to get good at guitar. Even if you are the most efficient and effective, you NEED to put countless hours into it to get good. The efficient part only "helps", it doesn't make you an instant guitar god.

I'm sorry, but for any beginners out there reading this, this article is irrelevant and misleading. Practice hard, have fun and be dedicated....its the only way in life that things will come to you. You will never be given things for free or easy.


I dont care how good Rockn is. Dude's a tool. You almost said the same thing for myth #5, I dont get your beef with myth #1. And as far as myth #2 goes. You should practice with whatever sound you like most, you'll practice more if you like what you're hearing. The second I got distortion, my hours of play skyrocketed. Distortion's not everyone's favorite, but play to get the sound you like!

Name calling ain't necessary man...anyways, with myth #1 if you can't play a lick at normal speed, what makes you think you can play it cleanly when its faster. You have to slow it down and get it properly then up the tempo once you got it mastered slowly.
With myth #2- sure, practice with whatever sound you like if you want to be just an ordinary guitar player. But if your goal is to become really good at guitar if you dont sound good on a clean channel, then your technique is wrong and you will have to fix it. If your general technique is wrong, it'll show when you play clean. Play with all the distortion you like, but if you want to practice, do it clean....differentiate between "practicing" and "playing".

[PleaseDie]

Very nice article!
And I usually skip a lot when I read the articles here!! (not this time)

[BrickIsRed]

Good article.

[ShredUG]

Nice article. I was very interested about myth #4

[Scotdizzle]

People believing that music theory is bad are silly. You have to feel the music just as much no matter how much theory you know to make it your own song. The more I grow as a guitarist the more I learn that the hardest of all skills a player needs to learn is not sweep picking or jazz chords or whatever, but its actually listening to yourself, what everyone else is doing, and where you want to go with it.

[SteveHouse]

(and by the way, am i really first? I've been told that's awesome)

It's extremely awesome, particularly over at Fark. When you're first to post at Fark, make sure to always say so.





(For the uninitiated, Fark takes every version of "First post!" it finds, moves it way down the line, and replaces it with a post that simply says "boobies".)

[Cutlass_253]

RocknEf'inRoll wrote:

LordHood :
RocknEf'inRoll wrote:

sorry but this article has no truth to it whatsoever, only myth 4 (the theory myth) is true i believe. You need to know theory in order to know how create certain "feelings" in songs, but even still. Some people are born with an ear for music and what sounds good.
Myth #1- VERY important to practice slowly, but he never explained the other half of the myth. The "important" part of increasing your tempo once you mastered that speed...that is what develops skill my friend.
Myth #2- practicing clean incorporates being staccato, therefore when you go to distortion your very clean and fluid. Ex. country players...cleanest tone and amazing players. Do you think when they go to distortion that they "suck" because they practiced on clean all this time? No. They will be amazing because they practiced PROPERLY on the clean channel.
Myth #3-ok well this one is fairly correct...do what works for you.
Myth #5- Like anything in life, the harder you work the greater reward you will get out of it. I'm sorry, but yes, you need to put x amount of hours to get good at guitar. Even if you are the most efficient and effective, you NEED to put countless hours into it to get good. The efficient part only "helps", it doesn't make you an instant guitar god.

I'm sorry, but for any beginners out there reading this, this article is irrelevant and misleading. Practice hard, have fun and be dedicated....its the only way in life that things will come to you. You will never be given things for free or easy.


I dont care how good Rockn is. Dude's a tool. You almost said the same thing for myth #5, I dont get your beef with myth #1. And as far as myth #2 goes. You should practice with whatever sound you like most, you'll practice more if you like what you're hearing. The second I got distortion, my hours of play skyrocketed. Distortion's not everyone's favorite, but play to get the sound you like!

Name calling ain't necessary man...anyways, with myth #1 if you can't play a lick at normal speed, what makes you think you can play it cleanly when its faster. You have to slow it down and get it properly then up the tempo once you got it mastered slowly.
With myth #2- sure, practice with whatever sound you like if you want to be just an ordinary guitar player. But if your goal is to become really good at guitar if you dont sound good on a clean channel, then your technique is wrong and you will have to fix it. If your general technique is wrong, it'll show when you play clean. Play with all the distortion you like, but if you want to practice, do it clean....differentiate between "practicing" and "playing".

Well...For myth 1 he's not saying to play fast. He's saying to play it slowly, but also to push yourself if you want to play faster. Playing something slowly isn't going to make you faster. That's totally true.

For #2 he's saying to practice THE STYLE of music you play with the sound you want it to have. Sure, you should practice technique clean in order to evaluate your sound best, but playing death metal on a clean amp just misses the point and doesn't help you sound good when you actually try to play it.

#5 He's saying that you do need to practice, but that you don't have to force yourself to practice on a strict schedule. Practice as much as you feel is necessary, but sticking to a schedule is not going to help you if you can't find meaningful things to do with that time.

You really need to pay attention to what you read. He made several good points that you were just itching to tear down. He didn't give any erroneous information, just his ideas on what would have helped him out.

[Cutlass_253]

JoHNNERz wrote:

It's generally a very good article but I have to take issue with Myth #3. You say:

"There are no absolutes—there are more efficient techniques, but no one way is always the right way"

But there are many wrong ways! Why do you think Yngwie has serious carpal tunnel issues and Gilbert doesn't? It's very easy to get into bad habits with your picking and then rationalize it as, "well, correct pick position is a myth." It really isn't, and it'll affect your playing down the road.

While you raise a good point, I don't think Yngwie's carpal tunnel can be said to come solely from the way he holds his pick, seeing as there are a lot of other differences between him and Paul Gilbert.

Like playing 65743938 notes per second.

(personally, I think its the scalloped fretboards that do it).

[DPClement]

Excellent Article Paul.

DPC.

[Jonny B0Y]

whatever anyone else says its still quite a good article

[lowtek]

great article

[PaulKleff]

Thanks to all who have read and responded.

[sXeforlife]

Great article. took the words right outta my mouth. although, i have learned that using clean tone is good to learn a lick, but once you know it, you have to play it using the correct tone.

[steelfingers]

heheh, when i was a beginner i did a lot of "myth 2". nice article by the way, i completely agree with you. and i like with what you said on myth 1 as well, i used to practice my chromatics slower than i needed to with no effect, but then i started speeding up and things got better

[Michael McGee]

Great article, Paul. These are the myth's I heard and have held myself back with. To all who truly want to improve on the guitar, heed this advice. Listen to Paul's music if you have any doubt's, he's awesome! It's apparent that some of the folks here don't play with distortion, or they just assume that all that noise that comes with the notes is musical and normal.To play cleanly with distortion, you must learn to mute all other strings that should not be heard. And palm muting is not the only answer!

I think about half of this article is rubbish.

[zh137dz]

Very nice. Myth #4 was well delivered. I have always fought with a friend of mine, who plays electric guitar without an amp, that learning the song is more important than being loud. He took guitar lessons, I've taught myself, and I agree it is better to play with distortion if that's what you're going for. We can play the same things, but mine sound right since I've taken into account palm muting and other things that become more obvious when the gain is high.

[Veroth]

ArreatsChozen wrote:

The distortion/ not use distortion thing is a very good point although I do not 100% agree with you.
Ok the main reason why you would want to use distortion is so you can get a feel for the song/ phrase/ technique etc, in the context it's used in, which is a rock/ metal etc, song.
This leads us to things like proper string muting technique etc, but I also believe that because of the distortion, and the fact that because we are playing a new (sometimes complex) technique - take sweeping for example - distortion allows us to do it sloppy, and the distortion can hide our mistakes - plus limit our ability to hear our mistakes - so I believe that we should also be able to play the same technique with a clean tone, cleanly, as well as being able to play it with distortion.

The dude that said he switches his technique with sweeping when he changes from distortion to clean is a bit weird, because why would you change your technique...? Obviously this is showing that your using bad technique in either of the clean or distortion tone, and that you should practice playing it properly, in a clean tone, before you play it loud and with distortion - which will increase the chance of making mistakes.

I understand what the dude was trying to say though, and things do sound a lot different in distortion and clean, and i also think that if you can just stick to distortion, and play it cleanly with that, then thats cool for you.

what i meant by that was i wasnt rolling and muting the strings correctly when i was sweeping with a clean tone so when i started to sweep with distortion i ended up making lots of extra noise. i found that the angle of the pick and the way your holding the pick also makes a huge difference.

[Jeff Vivrette]

Excellent article Paul! I'm certain a lot of people will benefit from this.

[Jeff Vivrette]

Great article Paul!

[Jeff Vivrette]

Oops! Thought the first response didn't go through...

[libertineste808]

good article but i like to think these things are guides. i found my own way learning - im sure everyone has. i go through periods of being stuck on 1 level then one day it all clicks and i move up a level. i know next to nothing theory wise, im average at lead but killer at rhythm. id rather follow my own path than be taught....

[Brian Suter]

I agree with Paul's statement about Myth #2 - I played Classical Guitar for years, but when starting to play lead with high gain and distortion, you need to practice with the same tone you want to play with and aim to damp all the strings that are not being played. In Classical guitar you mute (damp) strings to play the melody precisely "as written" e.g. to stop a bass note from ringing. With lead its different you need to stop strings that ring sympathetically etc

[mystical_1]

Well written. You're point on "no absolutes" is substantiated by the dissenting opinions of the "commentors". Why is it that when you finally find an article you can mostly agree with, there are so many different opinions afterward that you are STILL left with feelings of not knowing who you can trust, and who are the real experts out there.

I think your greatest advice of all is to find a good teacher, which may be the only way to really find out what is real and what isn't.

[deadlyMETAL]

This is a great article! Just came from a jam with the band, I think they'll like this.

[xHellbound]

Amen to Myth #2!

I find recording what you're playing helps a ton. It will help you in the moment to improve what doesn't sound quite right, and it will help you in the long run in that you can see how much you actually have improved.

[stanyls]

o dude this was really good for beginners. Really useful.

[BaptizedinFire]

I loved this article. You think just like me. I'm a self tought player, and I've always said that there is no definitive, universal way of learning the guitar that works for everyone. I've got a teacher since I year back, because I've started a musical education, and that guy always goes on about down-up-down and right hand positions and other bullshit which just makes me sick. Not ONE of the songs he's given my have caused me any technical difficulties, so I don't know why he goes on about it.

All I did was to just check out the minor pentatonic on some guitar site, and from there on I've figured out the major and minor scales just by hammering out songs along to my fave records in my room. After one year's playing along to Judas Priest, Sabbath, Maiden and stuff, I was already better than all the others at my last school, and those guys had been taking lessons for like 3-4 years. So go figure.

[Bamitchell]

Oh, myth 1 is so true. I spent FOREVER trying to get faster by playing songs that were my speed, and getting NO WHERE. Until about a year ago I found out that if you wanna go fast, you have to practice songs that challenge you.

[layzejerze20006]

All of this is very, very true. I'm a self taught player and learned basics from only tabs, so I developed my own way of doing everything and it has worked fairly well. Reading this I noticed a lot of things that I also found out along the way.

[shelovemyguitar]

It's so stupid that people ar worried about how to learn guitar. When I started I dodn't care at all about it. I just practiced what I wanted, learning new songs and now I am able to play whatever I want, almost every song that I like with guitar in it, I can play it. If I can't, it's just because there is no good tab...

[zachary175]

That was some good stuff. Just the theory part I would not agree on for this reason: If you never learn the basics of theory or cord progressions you can never play in the key people ask you, whitch bugs the heck out of me when people can't do that, but other wise good reading.

[Bu||eT]

shelovemyguitar wrote:

It's so stupid that people ar worried about how to learn guitar. When I started I dodn't care at all about it. I just practiced what I wanted, learning new songs and now I am able to play whatever I want, almost every song that I like with guitar in it, I can play it. If I can't, it's just because there is no good tab...

And that's when playing songs by ear comes in.

[Marcus Carlzon]

this was a great article, I will write down my goals idmidiately!

[Free to Guitar]

RocknEf'inRoll wrote:
Myth #1- VERY important to practice slowly, but he never explained the other half of the myth. The "important" part of increasing your tempo once you mastered that speed...that is what develops skill my friend.

"as you learn and memorize the lick, song or riff, at some point you need to push yourself to the edge of your ability to play it cleanly." In other words, learn to play it cleanly at slow speeds, then up the tempo. I don't think you read the article very well.

Myth #2- practicing clean incorporates being staccato, therefore when you go to distortion your very clean and fluid.

A staccato sound is not fluid, it is choppy. That's the point. Practicing cleanly means you play on time and accurately, not "staccato." Minor technical point but when you take someone to task, you should have your stuff together.

Myth #5- Like anything in life, the harder you work the greater reward you will get out of it.

This is simply not true. At least, not fully. Hard work in and of itself will not make you a good player. Many people work very hard and they suck because they waste effort on bad practice. You have to work smart too. I think that's the message he's trying to convey.

[@#inyourface#@]

SylvaShredder wrote:

I disagree with the distortion myth. I would never PRACTICE with distortion, as it allows you overlook mistakes. If you're having problems with muting, fix it. But practice clean, as it will take more work to get out the right notes. PLAY with distortion all you want, but realize the difference between PRACTICE and PLAYING.

i agree with this. and also, it is always better to PRACTICE slow so you can hear the notes right but PLAY fast.

[suppashredda]

disagree with myth #1...
theres gotta be something wrong with the way U practiced... practicing slow has got me farther than i could imagine...
rest all good.... though couldn't agree with #5... u HAVE to practice as much as u can... and if u love guitar as much as i do.. that shudn't be a problem

[crazy8rgood]

Kickass article, really helpfull.

[goofyboy06]

I really don't disagree with the article at all. Everyone does things differently. I also don't feel so bad about the comments posted on a tip I shared. I don't recall hearing about many of you in Rolling Stone, nor have I gone to one of your concerts in Madison Square Garden. I'm just learning to play, but I can say that in my 20 years as a luthier, I have woked with professional musicians from all over the world. They all have their own way of playing and holding their instrument.
A few of you spoke about people developing carpal tunnel. Carpal tunnel is a repetative stress injury that can develop with ANY type of repatetative motion. Many surgeons develop carpal tunnel. Does that mean they used the wrong technique? Of course not. They wouldn't have made it to an OR if they weren't good at what they do.
I'll just have to remember that some of you are going to leave detracting comments no matter how informative something is.

[sglover34479]

Thanks. I know most of it but its still a good read.

[451F]

As far as speed is concerned, I've tried alot of things and the only way I've ever gotten fast is through playing every day for the past seven years. But that's just me. Great article overall, especially the part about not learning theory. I think I read that in a Kerry King interview once. I lawled.

[451F]

Oh and by the way, I play everything both clean and distorted equally in practice.

[Wyldeman2403]

Well i think that playing clean is ok if the lick calls for a clean tone.ithink if you have sololy been playing your licks in a clean guitar but they are suppose to be distorted i believe thatit can really messe you up. Just the way your ears percieve the tones can through you off from your timing to picking to sustain, hammar ons, pull offs etc..... Because the notes take on a totally different tonality when distorted so i think its best to learn the lick in distortion if that is the way it is played originally. As for going slow or fast i think a slower speed is a little more important when first putting the riff to memory. Once you've got it down you should go ahead and bring it up to the right speed and tempo keeping in mind to use the proper techniques you learned even at a faster tempo or else it will sound horribly sloopy. Practicing is greatly important the more the better but a little is better than none, i would makesure to cover different things each time and rotate each skill in each practice period using slow and fast tempos. So you wont become burned out on one technique.This is a good way to keep on increasing wrist strength dexterity fretting abilities etc.....i think everyone should play attheir own comfort levels when beginning, dont feel pressured because your arent up to speed with other players yet. When you see your abilities begin to improve push yourself each practice this will help you eventually get to where you want to be. This is a very good article and beginniers should listen to its words as well as us more intermediate to advanced players. Everyone keep rock \m/!!!!

[Lpruckus]

this is seriously good
it really helps, especially the picking part

[dark__echoes]

Awesome. This really helps me, especially the part about writing down goals. =D

[smellvetica]

Great post, I've been playing for 10+ years and now feel that I'm really not even scratching the surface so am starting lessons next week.

[justinredmist]

i would say with the distortion myth,practice with and without it.common sense.i found practicin slowly helped with hearin the notes and where they are on the fretboard,then fast.with distortion and without,learn to control the distortion as well as the clean tone

[hatecrewtabber]

slow sucks, speed ftw

[BlisteringDDj]

hatecrewtabber wrote:

slow sucks, speed ftw

*Facepalm*

[68_SG]

Starting slow is the key to learn,
once you have it all down, speed up until you can't play it any faster, then get that speed to a clean playing, then push it again.

[ScarifiedIbanez]

Awsome article, i totally agree with myth 1, I do this and find it to be very true.

[git-airman]

learn WITH distortion, you have a pretty good point there.

[the_elements600]

hatecrewtabber wrote:

slow sucks, speed ftw

Whilst that view might go down well with my speed freak of a music teacher, there is much more to playing guitar than the speed at which you play something.

[rockfreak666]

hey, some nice advises bro..

[wildchild6660]

I agree with all except for myth #2 (Distortion. Usually, the kind of pieces that they tell you to practice clean are high speed shred licks and these DO have to be pacticed clean.

[Oheric]

Dude on Myth #4... I totally agree. Look at Cliff Burton (R.I.P)! Well.. In 1986 ! He was amazing, and even taught James Hetfield some musical theory and how many albums has Metallica came out with ever since? 6.. Musical Theory will not curb your creativity.

[Post?Organic]

Myth #1 isn't so much of a myth... it's just that it's been regurgitated by so many people as 'how to play fast' that the people telling other people to do it, don't know what it really means.

It's all about keeping within a limit where you can actually push your technique properly. Too slow and you won't make progress, and too fast you will sound like crap.

[RC52190]

Thank god you pointed out myth 2. My girlfriend pays her guitar teacher $40 per lesson each week and he always tells her how she should always play clean when she practices until she's "mastered" whatever she's learning. If you ask me that's just a way to be dissappointed; you're not going to know you've "mastered" something if the song is played with distortion but you only play it clean. You won't find out whether it's mastered or not until you play with distortion. Because of this advice, I haven't EVER heard her throw on her distortion and play with it and I've always disagreed with that advice.

[icronic]

Post?Organic wrote:
It's all about keeping within a limit where you can actually push your technique properly. Too slow and you won't make progress, and too fast you will sound like crap.

Totally disagree with this. I very much recommend watching this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhkbSBxPYcU as it totally and completely shatters the current myth about playing slowly and perfectly and gradually increasing speed as you go.

[m1chael w0rkman]

BlisteringDDj wrote:

hatecrewtabber wrote:

slow sucks, speed ftw

*Facepalm*

My thoughts exactly.

[D3M0N L0RD]

Great job...definatley helpful.

[Metallicam]

Good article. My opinion is that you should practice the song with whatever effects the song was meant to be played with. If it's a distorted riff with mutes in it, definitely practice with your pedal because if you practice clean, you have no idea if your left/right hand needs adjusting to make it sound right.

[theotherguy7145]

Freepower m wrote:

I think about half of this article is rubbish.

Although i don't think its a good idea to disagree with one of the special users with red 'm' by their name, i don't think this article is rubbish.
One problem with following what all the teaching stuff says is that its no fun if you don't just sit an mess around a bit. Whats the point in practising guitar if it doesn't sound like anything fun to play?
having said that, scales and techniques are important!

[BigPapi34]

very nice article

i am sick and tired of noobs or sophmore guitar players claiming that playing the guitar is hard

[alwaysbethere4u]

This is what i call an excellent and real lesson.....amazing stuff and knowledge.....this is really.god bless you

[dweb23]

Yep, gr8 article, nice job! No doubt I'll be referring back to this in the future!

[M.P.A.Guitarist]

nice

[xxxally]

This is what i call an excellent and real lesson.....amazing stuff and knowledge.....this is really.god bless you [2]

[deafening]

a good article, i might have been falling into myth 1 for some recent songs
thnx!

[SAINTJIMMY9999]

Good article. I love how straight to the point it is (I've been getting tired of guys using the guest column to practice creative writing instead of teach stuff)

[BlackSymphony6]

some great advise there

[RabinAtUG]

Great Advice. Thanks you.

[Jazzmandtk]

Great article. Music theory is really nescessary to get to the next level.

[Post?Organic]

icronic wrote:

Post?Organic wrote:
It's all about keeping within a limit where you can actually push your technique properly. Too slow and you won't make progress, and too fast you will sound like crap.

Totally disagree with this. I very much recommend watching this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhkbSBxPYcU as it totally and completely shatters the current myth about playing slowly and perfectly and gradually increasing speed as you go.

Maybe you misunderstood me. I don't agree with playing slowly and perfectly clear. Your going to get nowhere with that. But there has to be a limit. If you've never picked up a guitar you can't start playing Dream Theater sloppily and ever expect to clean it up (or can you? I've never seen it...) There is a point where you need to slow it down a bit.

Also, I think the 'slow it down' thing is aimed more at people who just can't really play anything properly. People who are fairly competent at guitar and can play in time are the ones who should be using the Shawn Lane technique of playing fast and cleaning it up after.

That's just my opinion anyways.

[dethmetal999]

Eklund wrote:

Good article, indeed.

(and by the way, am i really first? I've been told that's awesome)

Yes, quite awesome

[gambit_75]

Probly the best article on the site, I realized my own mistakes readin this to

[guitar351]

Great job

[ironhand1]

Personally I thought this was a good article . It was a bit generalized but very true in my humble opinion and pointed out things that I did not understand until I struggled through them myself.
Thank you for taking the time and thought that you put into this post Paul.
I have reached most of the same conclusions except for the distortion thing. Not because I disagree but because I have no intention of ever being a "shredder" LOL).
I am one of those guys that always wanted to learn to play but never found the time. Then one day I realized that I was a few years past 40 and if I was going to do this I need to do just do it and quit putting it off. The real problem I have had is that I really like all kinds of music and I cannot settle on only one or two styles of guitar playing. So I defiantly agree with the Myth on Finding a target style, but that is (for me) a lot easier said than done. It must be far worse for some, I ran into the Local guitar store the other day and found that four guys, all over 80 were just learning and in there first years! That I think is just so cool.

I find it very interesting that so many children post on these sites (under 18). Most of them have some very fiery opinions based on.....years of experience somehow? Then again if I had started playing when I was 5 years old.....Well.....
As they say as you get older the more you realize how very little you actually know....Don't be so quick to pull the trigger.

Just be kind to your fellow man and Keep on picking, and playing for the enjoyment of it all.

[Mondo Generator]

Pretty good article! I would have liked to hear some more myths dispelled.

[jamie_hough]

Liked this article it was informative and fits almost perfectly with what Ive been thinking for a while. The whole dont practice with distortion thing has always bugged me, and my tutor always makes me play scales slowly and we never pick up the speed so we're still doing the same scales at the same speed 6 months on!I always thought it was just me, now I know others are the same!

[libertines4ever]

the thing with the distortion works either way
otherwise it's a great article
don't see the point in not learning theory either