The Idiot's Guide To Peak Performance, Part 1

Hello, and welcome to the first article in what should turn out to be a successful series. The aim of these articles is to get your guitar playing skill up to where it should be, not where you've resigned to let it be. I hope you enjoy the articles, and that they do help out your playing. Always remember to push yourself and have fun at the same time. Guitar playing shouldn't be a chore, so if you start getting stressed out at these riffs, go back and play something simple. Try things like tapping your feet or chewing gum while playing to help relax you when you're playing if you get stuck on anything. Your first goal should always be having fun playing instead of being good at playing.

Guitar playing skill, much like many other things, can be rated on a bell curve. From point A to point C, with point B in between, there are times when you actually learn stuff, peak in the amount of skill you have, and then begin to lose things you used to know. The problem with this curve is that it's impossible to know from the start where and when you will peak, and even then, once you've peaked, you never know what you have left to climb. So here's why I'm writing the article. Are you as good a guitarrist as you should be? Do you feel you can do better, but you just aren't? Playing guitar is an art form, and a painter doesn't decide he has enough colours to splatter on a piece of paper. A singer doesn't decide she has a decent enough range spit out a melody that a skinned cat could pull off with more grace, and an actor doesn't decide that because they can cry on command, that they can make it big. You're the artist, and you're in control.

Many misconceptions about learning to play well and fast exist. The most horrible one to imagine is that you need a "shred" guitar to be able to shred. Saying that you need an Ibanez RG to play well is like saying that you need to have a BMW to be able to drive well. It will help you along later, but when you're on your way to becoming the next Zakk Wylde, you won't be helped out that much. Learning how to be disciplined on a beginner's guitar teaches you to be disciplined on an expensive guitar. Learning to respect your 200 dollar plank of plywood will teach you to appreciate your 2000 dollar finely carved piece of mahogany show-off.

Keep in mind here that this article isn't meant to teach you how to play guitar, and it is not meant to show you all you will ever need to know. This is geared towards people who have learned to play simple songs based around powerchords well, and think that they have learned all they need to know. It takes many, many years to learn how to play fast enough for standard rock solos, and even more for playing metal. Even now, I laugh at the fact it took me over four months to play a simple, three note legato flur that I know incorporate to all of my improvisation. I hope that you learn something from this article and the others to follow, but I also hope that you do not stop or begin at where my articles stand. All my articles encompass are technical playing abilities, which I am only showing you the notes to play. The style is yours to take up, and style is something that takes years to develop. Creating your own sound is something that can take years, and you are foolish if you think you have found your sound after only a year and a half of experience. The point of these articles is to help you learn about the technical aspects of guitar while you still have the ability to learn them, and it is not to teach you everything. Learning is up to you, and I encourage you to learn as much as possible.

So, leaving that aside, let's start with some guitar playing.

Getting Started

The formula to becoming a better guitarrist is to never stop learning. Once you've learned to move your hands up and down the neck, don't stop there. Just because you can play some popular songs that people will like doesn't make you good by any stretch of the imagination. I can remember me being like that. After about 3 or 4 months of playing, I had exhausted the use of any learning material in my reach, and began playing simple tabs extensively. But I became mad for learning how to play better, and after reading up on some learning books in Guitar World, I felt I needed to have a new book about really learning how to play. I picked up a copy of a book called "Real Rock Guitar" by Kenn ChipkinThere are many books like these that offer a whole library of licks and riffs from the days of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Rolling Stones, and who has now become one of my largest influences in soloing, Eric Clapton. I can singlehandedly attribute my current playing skills to this book, and the fact that it took me from a level of guitar playing consisting of mainly power chords to a world of pentatonic scales and classic blues-rock riffs.

Now, when searching for a book on your own, there are two things you have to make sure of. The first of these is that there are things inside that you will be able to play, and the second one is that it will last you long enough so that you will really be able to play. After all, you can't learn to play guitar by attempting to be Jimi Hendrix right off the bat - you have to ease yourself into everything. Make sure there is a good selection of songs or riffs inside that are simple enough to play if you become frustrated, and that there are complicated solos for when you feel adventurous. Play-along CD's are almost a must, as tabs are damn near impossible to sight read.

The first type of riffs you'll be wanting to play are complicated rhythym riffs. Now, this doesn't mean hard - it requires the full use of your hands. Let me introduce you to a word called coordination. This means both your fretting hand and your plucking hand must be working in unison. Make sure that you will be able to pluck a string with one hand and be able to fret that proper string with your other hand. This is one of the most essential skills of guitar playing, being able to sense where you are. Here's a classic Led Zeppelin riff that's a good starting point if you're among the generation of power chord fanatics. Notice the use of power chords in the riff, and notice that more than one power chord can be played every two seconds.

To listen to a soundclip, please click here.

(play bar twice)
E|---------------------------|----------------------------------------
B|---------------------------|----------------------------------------
G|------------------2--0--2--|--7----7-6-5----5-4-3-------------------
D|--2-2-2-4-4-4--5--2--0--2--|--7----7-6-5----5-4-3-------------------
A|--0-0-0-0-0-0--0--0-----0--|--5----5-4-3----3-2-1-------------------
E|---------------------3-----|----------------------------------------

E|---------------------------|
B|---------------------------|
G|------------------2--0--2--|
D|--2-2-2-4-4-4--5--2--0--2--|
A|--0-0-0-0-0-0--0--0-----0--|
E|---------------------3-----|

The riff requires use of all four fingers - use the index finger for fretting root-fifth parts, and use the ring finger for the root-sixth parts (i.e., the first bar). Make sure you're using your first, third and fourth fingers on the power chords, and in the short chord stabs at the end of the first bar, use your third finger to fret the third fret at the sixth string. It's a very easy, cool sounding riff to master, and getting quick coordination on chord riffs like that gets you on the right road to learning how to solo.

Here is another riff, in the style of Leslie West of Mountain - its quite similar to the previous riff, but is slightly more demanding on the hands. Check out a sound clip here.

E|--------------------------------------------------------------------
B|--------------------------------------------------------------------
G|--7-9--9--9-9\-----------------------7-9--9--9--9\------------------
D|--7-9--9--9-9\-----------------------7-9--9--9--9\-------------2~---
A|--5-7--7--7-7\-------7-----5--7------5-7--7--7--7\------------------
E|------------------0-----7--------0--------------------0--3--0-------

Make sure you use a vibrato technique on the last note of the riff - its just like doing a string bend, but you quickly bend the string up and down, without a lot of depth to the bend. If you have larger frets on your guitar, you can also push down on the string while fretting, and lightly release it to bend the pitch up and down slightly. If you have a whammy bar that doesn't detune easily, this may be a time to learn how to use it, if you wish.

Riffs like these should be standards in your guitar vocabulary. They're essential, well-known riffs you can play in stores while trying out guitars, to get an idea of how the action is.

Finger Speed

So now that you've gotten better at moving your hand around in chord formations, try to move on to something a bit harder - individual finger positioning. It can be as hard as you want it to be, so make sure you're doing everything right - arch your fingers properly so strings don't buzz unnecessarily, and try to utilize all fingers so they develop equal strength.

Here's a very addictive riff coming to us from the Fab Four, and your parents may recognize it as Day Tripper. Again, the soundclip can be heard here.

E|--------------------------------------------------------------------
B|----------------8--7----------------------------6-5-----------------
G|------7--7-5----------7--5--7-------5--5--3----------5-3-5----------
D|-------------7--------5--5--5----------------5-------3-3-3----------
A|--5------------------------------3----------------------------------
E|--------------------------------------------------------------------

(play twice)
E|------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------13---12--10--12--10--|
G|------12--12--10--------------10--10--12--|
D|-----------------12-----------------------|
A|--10--------------------------------------|
E|------------------------------------------|

Pay close attention to make sure you're fretting all the notes properly, and that you're using all your fingers to get those notes. The pinkie finger does play an important part in the smooth playing of that riff, so you have to make sure that you're not using improper technique.

If you're finding that riff a bit too much of an overload, try this simpler Beatles' riff as a warmup to that excersize. Soundclip can be heard here.

E|------------------------------------------------------------------
B|------------------------------------------------------------------
G|--------------5----------------5---------------5--------------5---
D|--------5--7-------------5--7------------5--7-----------5--7------
A|--5--5-------------5--5------------5--5-----------5--5------------
E|------------------------------------------------------------------

While the riff sure looks childishly simple, try to use it to your advantage - it's set on a pentatonic scale. You can run up and down it quickly, as an introduction to soloing and quick finger movement. Only the first and third finger should be used in that movement, so resist the temptation to use your second finger.

It's riffs like these that are stepping stones to becoming a better guitarrist, so make sure that you have these down tight before you go off to do bigger and better things. You learned to walk before you ran, and you obviously aren't going to get far in guitarring if you aren't learning new things constantly. I think of myself as ahead of my time in guitar playing, as I see a lot of people that have been playing for considerably longer than me quite unable to play anything beyond the above riffs.

Keep on reading for further installations of this article, where I'll be digging further into furthering your guitar skills. Getting rhythym guitar down pat in the next article, and hopfully moving on to soloing and soloing techniques. Until then, keep on practising, and don't be afraid to attempt playing songs that you thought you weren't good enough to play.

Comments

[Tim Woodrow]

Good article, a helping hand I never say know to -
unless it's from that scary guy who lives on my road -
I live in a city and this guy smells like sheep.

pretty nice article but i cant get the links to work. this is great for the beginers as you said it is for them. when do you expect the next one to be ready cause i wanna read it.

[hobo8917]

nice use of examples, keep up the good work

[Frankenfesten43]

Very Cool!

[thestripeswhite]

yeah the link s dont work

[WrappedInCold]

you make all us idiots believe

[Geldof the Grey]

Good stuff backup, but at least try the midi out next time!

[quo_vadis]

pretty good article

[nirvanafan11111]

thnx man u just helped make a decision for me too become a bluesy guitarist

[im not mental]

nice article.

[hardstarter]

Very good article that basically is geared right in my direction. Thankyou.

[Jerre]

Great article !
I have that feeling sometimes when I think I'm stuck in my learning process... but now I know what I need to do... thx !
Can't wait to read the next article... really want to learn how to play a decent solo!

[the_reaper]

helpful for beginers. gives them direction.

[pacificblue]

good article, dont i remember those examples from somewhere though?

[moonraker]

nice
fix the links

[tongue untied]

nice, this is a good colum. cant wait for the soloin one, cuz i need to get better at that. thnx

[Man Made Errer]

No! Don't listen to Geldof! Geldof Bad! MIDI's bad! I liked the real guitar sound clips and they worked fine! (j/k do what you want )

Otherwise, nice article, fun to play and can't wait for the next.

[original_rocker]

kool...it does help

[BASS-PUNK-2010]

a gr8 article !

[PLOP]

wow, kick ass, im already getting better
cant w8 4 th nxt few, u shud make a book dude!

[PLOP]

*** thts gd

[Death Of Season]

great article, the series should be really helpful

[razzum]

nice article the rifa are manageable for a beginner my frustaion comes sometimes watching other players and thinking how the hell ill never be anle to do that ive been playing for a year now . and im playing things now that 3 mos ago i though id never be able too so there is hope thanks

[life_247]

i need to learn some kick ass solos, ill of been playing 4 years in september hard to believe really. But ive only been playing full on for about 2 years i also another thing to do when you reach a dead end with you're shreding or you're pop riff is play some new styles of music.

[gooseholla]

Hey, those riffs really help me as I have gotten to that point where I am stuck on what to learn that will improve my skill, but isn't going to kill me trying to paly.

[Bilzzard_of_Ozz]

yeah the links dont work

Just right-click the link and choose "save as"- Done!
Great article btw!

[chinko]

brilliant article, we need a bass one now!

and the links rock too! did u use a mic or sumthin, cos the quality is amazing! and you might have stopped me from trying to 'shred' my bass, i dont think it's gonna be much use :P

[Mobames34]

what song is that Zeppelin riff from?

[maelstrom]

To open the links, right click 'em and copy the URL to the address bar in a new browser window. It worked for me

[Nikk]

The article was great except the 3rd riff is not "Day Tripper" its "I feel fine"

[Backup Guitar]

Well, thanks for the correction, Nik.

For all of you wondering, my recording set up went as follows:

Squier Strat -> Boss DS-1 -> Sound Recorder

I'm serious, that's all I used. Half of them were recorded while I was eating a bagel. Yum.

[Nikk]

Hey backup i have Sound Recorder too (i think, it might not be the same thing) but it wont let me record over 1 minute. do you know how i can get it to record over 1 minute?

[NordicConfusion]

"The article was great except the 3rd riff is not "Day Tripper" its "I feel fine""

Yeah, I was about to say that. *Beatles freak*

[scarlett_rose]

most articles i see on here suck, but this is a good one =)

[Corster]

is the author callin us idiots?

[RevelationStorm]

Very good article for beginners. I'm sure many of them will make good use out of this article. Well done dude.

[PychoArtRocker]

Could Back Up be the next frigginjerk???

[AsydBarRetT]

nioce it helped a lot.....looking forward o the next article

Maybe it's just me, but your tab for 'daytripper' is different to the file you've attatched.
Oh, and don't use midi files like someone suggested, the way you've done it is a lot better. I didn't read the whole article, but from what I did it seemed decent.

[abigape]

I like it

[bigboi82]

GOOD ARTICLE...THANX

[Desert-Fox]

you read me like a book gr8 help m8 look 4ward to the rest

[Backup Guitar]

Remember guys, if you really like the article, remember to rate it with the star function at the top of the page!

[Joey .G]

I like the article but that tab of day tripper doesnt sound right does it? Anyway it seems like the author worked hard so good job

[letsgomurphys06]

that was nice

[CryingNut]

i liked this article very much
i liked the title as well

the link to the sound isnt working just so u know

[CryingNut]

Angelfire does not allow direct linking
from offsite, non-Angelfire pages,
to files hosted on Angelfire.

This practice of 'remote linking' reduces
our ability to serve out the homepages
of our members quickly and efficiently.

[Backup Guitar]

Cryingnut is right... if you want to listen to them, just do right-click save as, and play with windows media player.

For those of you wondering, sound recorder is the basic recorder thing in windows. You can record beyond sixty seconds - when it gets to the 60 second mark, just hit record again, and it'll keep on going.

[thesums4eva]

how do you hit record if both youre hands are on the guitar
awesome article by the way, best one ive seen on here in a very long time, 5 stars no doubt

[Spl!nTeRgu!tAr]

yeah great article... looking foreward to the next 1

[masterofpuppet]

im too lazy to pull out my guitar and try this crap. but if u say it works i just might try it

[Blackbullet]

great article.....as you said for begginers so i didnt gain from it, but i like your writing and explaining style, cant wait for you to get onto more complex stuff!!

Backup Guitar, just record 60 seconds of nothing, save it, then just add it onto itself and you can make it as long as you like without having to hit record during the middle of the song.

[Danny7]

Its so true.

I've exhausted the use of everything within my range; I regularly scan my MP3 collection, in the hope I'll see something that I could learn- and although I often find a song to play, these are beginning to fall in number- and my love for the guitar is, upsettingly, slowly dwindling, because I'm fed up of playing Blink 182 songs, or the Chili's or whatever.

I'll try all of these out tomorrow when I have my guitar down here.

'Keep these articles coming..

5 stars.

[StormBringer]

I know aht you men a by: Until then, keep on practising, and don't be afraid to attempt playing songs that you thought you weren't good enough to play.

I didnt thought I was good enoug to play I am a viking by Yngwie, or any Satriani Song, but I nailed them!

[JamesV]

Finally, a worthy article. It's been a long time between drinks.

[Backup Guitar]

If you're wondering how i hit record when I'm playing this is what I do:

Hit record, count for four beats, start playing. When you stop the recording, play it back, and stop it just before the music starts playing. You can delete all the time before that moment. Then I go to the end, stop it after it stops playing, and delete everything after that position. It can all be done on basic windows sound recorder.

thanks for all the positive reviews, guys and gals.

[The_KingofClubs]

Great Article!!!! Thank you so much!!! You're helping me get even better at guitar. Can't wait for the next part of the series!!!! (5 Stars!!!)

[disposablehero7]

Learning to respect your 200 dollar plank of plywood will teach you to appreciate your 2000 dollar finely carved piece of mahogany show-off.

Thats how i learned, i went from a peavey jam pack guitar, to an SG SUPREME, it truly works

[MaliceMizer]

hmmm......not bad now where is the part 2 and 3??? and how the hell you can read those tabz???

[Chemicalwarfare]

While the riff sure looks childishly simple

its great you can play it well otherwise this article would be a real waste

[uragooch33]

that article was just super

[rockguitar417]

good article

[redneckrocker]

can't wait for the next installment. thanx

[MaliciousIntent]

Sweet article! I was thinking the same things you mentioned in the article, I'll have been playing for a freaking year, come this august. I didn't think old riffs could be so good.

[ZOFO]

this is right on the money

awesome

[PeachyBreeze]

umm...i cant read the tab!!! The sound files aren't working but they'd really help me get the rhythm, please please please try and fix it!!! Thanks : )

[driftinguitar]

wicked.

[MadCat]

Excellent stuff, great for brushing up too =D lol

[sickcycle]

cool guitar exercises! ..maybe you could specify which fingers should be placed on what fret. just a suggestion.=) anyway great job!

[Phoenix1979]

It wont let me hear the sound clips. Something about Angelfire and web linking. However, had I been able to hear the clips I'm positive these article would have been most informative =p

[Phoenix1979]

*this... Sorry had a typo

[playonforever]

sweet. you forgot to say that you have to throw away your frigin gay fender strat and buy a guitar that actually plays good!

[guitarabuse88]

i love jesus

[Mildly_Retarded]

Mobames34:
what song is that Zeppelin riff from?

Custard Pie.

[backup and lead]

people right click the links and download the files

[fuzi skanker]

Good article!cant wait for the next one!

[ajhmou812]

hey dude.... this one is meant for beginners... i knew all of this shit after 6 weeks of playing.. c'mon... where's the difficulty? i've been playing for about 2 years and i can't find crap on this site that's helping me learn my instrument any better... although you have some good starting points in there

[WrappedInCold]

alright, if you guys want to record music, you should all download the music program Audacity, its free, and it lets you add all sorts of effects in the recording progress

[Ethereal_Ice]

Great article, looking forward to the next one!

[fender rocker16]

thats a great article. it was funny how he made so much fun of the punk rockers whose skills only extend to power chord slamming.

[IllegalMOFO]

from experience....this lesson is telling the truth and gave useful tips.

[dialeleven]

What's the name of that Mountain song in the 2nd riff example?

Good article btw.

[Jag513]

fender rocker16:
thats a great article. it was funny how he made so much fun of the punk rockers whose skills only extend to power chord slamming.

He wasn't making fun of them, he was just saying that playing music full of powerchords is easier to play and less complex than actual riff solos.

[Jag513]

Very nice article btw. It was good to read an informative and interesting article that actually helps everyone.

[twocenttip]

niiiice. i wish i could be a beginner again. then i could learn stuff the RIGHT way. nice job, dude

[reed]

I've always loved you, Backup.

[twitch37]

if ur looking for a song to improve ur guitar skills, look up metallica: fade to black. great solo, great picking, and some easy powerchords. took me almost 4 days to learn

[strumntheguitar]

Great start, this is almost exactly what my guitar instructor (also a huge Clapton fan, and rightfully so because he is simply amazing) has taught me. Can't wait for the next articles where it starts focusing on the soloing, *****

[strumntheguitar]

oh yeah, what riff is that first from? you said it's from a Zep song, but i'm a pretty big fan and i don't recognize it...

[Guitarooman692]

ok article :/

[darkstar9814]

good, lil long though

[UnicornRulez]

Thanx man!!! You really helped me a lot. kif article.

[RHCP king]

cheers dude

[FretPopper]

I think I have fallen in love with that Day Tripper riff. I can't stop playing it.

[Shoestick]

DAY TRIPPPER? That is "i feel fine"

[fool_rat]

IT'S OK ARTICLE, BUT WHATS THE POINT OF THE TABS, CAN'T EVEN LISTEN TO IT....

[VelvetÆnema33]

Well... I don't agree with it takes years to play modern rock solos... Some people just got the talent and learn fast. I've seen people learn shit loads of song (and the solos) within a year of playing.

[strumntheguitar]

Come on man! when's the next one coming?? sorry... i'm impatient

[n9inchnails]

this site needs more articles like this and less about avril lavigne

[Vinura]

u said it man

das 1 kick ass article btw

[BrianApocalypse]

FIRST!

[metOLIca]

try doing the next one on making riffs, metal/blues/ or rock, is it just me or can you never admire your own riffs, i make a riff and my friends go ***ing insane about it but to me it just seems simple, but then hen i record it and then forget about it and listen to it when ive forgoten ho to play it, it sounds really good, becasue i cant play it, i dunno why but i only really admire songs i cant play, master of pupets an exception, but when i learn a song it doent seem that great cos i think well if i play it it cant really be that good, exception of some songs:
Enter Sandman
Master Of Puppets
Cowboys from Hell
Layla
Unforgiven
Year 3000

you know the usual.....lol

[afirocker00]

Wonderful article except for two things,the links dont work and I recognized the Beatles riff before my parents did.

[Tuds_Dustin]

well good enough cool