Top Ten Principles To Being The Best Guitarist You Can Be

la szum said:
That seems like an entire book in one sentence. :) Could you unpack that and be a little more specific
on what you think "proper practicing" actually is.
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Ok, here’s a basic example. Most people don’t even use a metronome. On top of that how many actually can count when they play.
 
To me a metronome is not always a good idea. I think it can induce a stiffness to one’s playing. I love performances that feel loose and dynamic. Andres Segovia had this great performance of Layenda where the tempo changes within a measure, and it’s mesmerizing. To me a better way to sense rhythm is to record oneself and analyze what sounds wrong, if you can’t perceive problems at first while you practice. Even better if you’re playing with another musician. But a metronome to me is a spirit killer.

I used to teach, and I would just base it off whatever my student loved about music. Regardless I’d link it to theory, but I’d direct their practice toward wherever their hearts lay. I’d work to find a way to help them get there through understanding what they loved, and technically pulling it off with efficient movement that would not cause physical problems or limitations.

The idea of proper practicing is a whole philosophy. To me it’s like mediation or something. The goal is to get in touch deeper with your spirit, as flakey and stupid as that sounds haha.
 
2204JCM said:
Ok, here’s a basic example. Most people don’t even use a metronome. On top of that how many actually can count when they play.
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I wholeheartedly agree with practicing with a metronome. It was one of the first things my clarinet private teacher told me to buy, and use, and he could play with feeling and swing any time he wanted, as well as play technically-challenging music, all perfectly.
You use a metronome to learn to play in time. It's simply a tool. The "feel" thing is definitely also important, and is developed in a different manner, imo.
 
TSJMajesty said:
I wholeheartedly agree with practicing with a metronome. It was one of the first things my clarinet private teacher told me to buy, and use, and he could play with feeling and swing any time he wanted, as well as play technically-challenging music, all perfectly.
You use a metronome to learn to play in time. It's simply a tool. The "feel" thing is definitely also important, and is developed in a different manner, imo.
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Exactly but I guarantee there are people reading this that can't even play with a click.
 
If I may add some that I have found useful on my journey:

1. Play bass. Once you learn how to hold down to root harmonic content with a marriage to the percussion of a song, then you learn as guitarist how to sail on top of what the rhythm section is doing so that you are not locked into extending what the bass is doing with mirroring the same rhythms or same neck position chords.

2. Don't play all the notes of the chord. Let the bass, keys, or other instruments play some of the notes in the chord. It makes things more interesting to the listener and allows you to edit the story you are telling in the song.

3. Have a musical conversation with the other instruments. Just as people in a conversation do not all talk simultaneously in a conversation, neither should all the instruments do the same thing and blaze away simultaneously and constantly in an arrangement . Call and response between instruments is a magnet for a listener's ear.

4. Limit the sonic real estate that you take up in your tone. Don't create your tone in a way that masks the bass, percussion, or other instruments.

5. If two guitars are playing together, play different chord shapes or partial chords in different regions on the neck with different tones. It will allow you both to be noticed by a listener and you will avoid "more me" battles and frustration regarding both of you not being able to cut through in a mix.

6. Tell the story with your playing. There's a difference between doing fingerboard gymnastics up and down the neck like playing finger exercises and deliberately feeling the notes with a beginning, middle and end to your phrases in each part of a song.
 
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dr bonkers said:
2. Don't play all the notes of the chord. Let the bass, keys, or other instruments play some of the notes in the chord. It makes things more interesting to the listener and allows you to edit the story you are telling in the song.
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Voices Carry. First time I tried working it up, I realized he wasn't playing the root. No wonder the chords sounded fresh. And that chorus!
dr bonkers said:
5. If two guitars are playing together, play different chord shapes or partial chords in different regions on the neck with different tones. It will allow you both to be noticed by a listener and you will avoid "more me" battles and frustration regarding both of you not being able to cut through in a mix.
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Queensryche did this a lot. For that very reason. Iirc, one would take the basic chord, and the other would take an upper note of that chord, and add his own extensions, and together they'd produce a more complex chord.

It just goes to show all the ways you can make music sound more interesting, while still using the basic building blocks, so to speak.
 
Not sure where I heard this idea, but I think it's a great one for breaking out of a rut, and/or incorporating fresh ideas into your playing:

Learn music written for, or on, a different instrument. Once in a while I'll pull out my old "32 Etudes for Clarinet" book, which has an amazingly-wide array of musical styles and difficulty levels in it, and try learning some of it on guitar. Talk about different from what I'm used to! It also forces me to read, a skill I never transferred to guitar, but depending on what you want, that aspect could also sharpen your skills.

One of the coolest things I ever learned was Pagannini's Caprice #5 in Am, I think it's called. The way he weaved the chord shapes and keys throughout the melody still fascinates me every time I play it! Lots of arpeggios too, which forces you out of your comfort zone. And I only learned the first page. Lol

Another one that comes to mind is Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, which was fingerstyle on acoustic. A fantastic piece of music. Get out of that box!
 
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