The Worst thing to Avoid when Practicing Guitar. Three killing Remedy!

Apr 12, 2016

Practicing Fingerstyle Guitar

What’s the worst thing you can do when practicing fingerstyle guitar. Knowing the difference between a good or bad can make a huge difference in your daily or weekly practice schedule. After years of teaching, I came up with the “Worst Thing to avoid when you practice Guitar.” These are the things you want to avoid 100%. Save time and improve faster! Keep making these mistakes, and you will be wasting time, lose confidence, and give up playing guitar.

How do you know you are practicing the right way? This is quite a difficult question to answer. When you practice at home, and your teacher isn’t around, you can easily practice songs, chords, scales, and techniques in the wrong way. Beginners and intermediate guitar players face the same problem all the time when practicing fingerstyle guitar. Most of the time, you practice for a week then realize the exercise isn’t right. In most cases, you can easily pick up the bad habit too. Let me show you what’s the worst thing to avoid when you practice or play guitar.

Posture

Why Bad Posture is Killing Your Playing!

Pianists, violinist, flutists, and drummers always have a nice, correct, and healthy posture. They look so relaxed and energetic.

On the other hand, guitar players always come up with new, interesting, and completely wrong ways to play guitar! Wrong posture, eh … too energetic, couch playing, and wrong size guitar.

The first thing you have to do if you want to improve faster and avoid bad habits is to practice using your hands’ right position. Sitting on a chair isn’t enough, though. You must follow three things if you want to as much benefit as possible from your daily practice.

Remember: Practicing the guitar is just like a workout routine. Try to lift iron using the wrong posture, and you will get injured.

Hand Position

There is a major rule you must follow when you are practicing fingerstyle guitar. Your hands must play and pluck correctly! It is quite easy to pick up bad habits such as wrong position, unusual plucking, and buzzing frets. I am going to give you all the info you need to use your hands correctly. Follow each rule and stick with the plan. You will improve faster!

Right Hand

When it comes to fingerstyle guitar, their right position looks like this one:

The thumb in front of the fingers, pluck downward (most of the time on the bass notes). The fingers pluck the strings smoothly. You can either use nails or just flesh. When plucking, the palm doesn’t move at all (or very little).

There is one major rule you want to follow when you pluck the string:

Make sure you use finger articulation only. No grabbing or pulling strings!

Fingerstyle mistake 1

The thumb is far too close to the index finger if you have this position; the thumb and index clash when plucking simultaneously.

Fingerstyle mistake 2

– Leaning the fingers on the body as support. This is a technique that Mark Knopfler uses. Although guitar players are using this approach, I highly recommend using the standard or “Classical” posture. With this technique, you are sacrificing the ring finger. Also, it doesn’t really help you playing a fast arpeggio.

Fingerstyle mistake 3

Grabbing and pulling strings. This is something kids do quite a lot. The sound is usually sloppy and buzzing. Make sure you pluck the string gently with flesh or nails.

Left Hand

The left hand is probably the most difficult thing to get right, especially if you are self-taught. The problem here is that it is quite simple to get it wrong. Thumb and fingers must work together in harmony. Misuse the thumb, and you will compromise the quality of your playing.

Mistake 1 – Left Hand Thumb

Most of the time, especially if you are self-taught, the thumb position guitar players use is completely wrong. The thumb should always be placed STRAIGHT BEHIND THE NECK. I have seen all kinds of weird approaches: horizontal thumb, the Hook thumb, and the Upside-down thumb. If you currently use one of these three weird approaches, you probably struggle with bar chords, stretch, intermediate chords, and fluidity. Chords change quite difficult and sloppy, and you are wondering why it sounds so bad.

By using the right position, you will gain more control and accuracy. You will be able to hold the chords down for longer. The bar chords will sound much better. The stretch will improve. Practicing fingerstyle guitar can be quite frustrating if you don’t follow these few rules.

Let me show you a quick exercise you can do every day to fix the thumb problem. It is an asymmetrical exercise up and down the fret-board that forces you to keep the thumb straight. Do this simple exercise every day for five minutes. I can guarantee you will improve the position of your thumb quickly and with no pain. But remember: You have to do it every day for at least a couple of months. Are you up for the challenge?

In “Fix the Thumb, you will be work on your thumb and finger positions. Follow these three rules if you want to gain more control and fix your fingers.

Keep the thumb straight behind the neck. It should be placed between the 1st and 3rd fingers. Bring the thumb with you when sliding up and down the neck. Your thumb’s fingertip should be below the neck edge so, no thumb sitting on the top neck. This is the classical guitar posture! Get this position, and your playing will improve drastically.
Hold the fingers down at all times. Notice that the left-hand finger pattern is always the same 1-3 repeated on different positions. Make sure that when you play with the 3rd finger, the 1st finger is still down. Check the pic down below.
Always alternate index and middle finger with the right hand. Don’t double pluck with the same finger. By using alternating fingering, the exercise will sound smooth and fluent.

Work hard to improve your thumb position. It will change your playing!

Mistake 2 – Left Hand Fingers.

Fingers are another painful thing to fix. Most of the time, if you are lucky, you will naturally use the left-hand fingers correctly. It is quite straightforward. You press down the string with the fingertip. However, there are people you would struggle to figure out how to play the notes correctly and come up with something like that:

Now, this stuff is hard to fix. If you got used to playing that way, I could guarantee you that:

You can’t stretch your fingers at all.
When you play a melody, you can’t hold the note down for long.
Speed is impossible.
Hammer on and pull off just doesn’t work.
Bar chords … forger about it.
You probably also have sore fingers all the time.

How do you fix that?

The first thing you have to do when practicing fingerstyle guitar is to make an effort and commit every day (or every time you practice). The good news is, you know what to fix. I see many guitar players getting frustrated because they can’t play certain things yet; they don’t ask the “Why” and “How” questions.

“Why I can’t play it” and “How do I fix that.”

Fix the left hand’s fingers with this simple exercise. Make sure that:

The thumb is straight behind the neck.
Press the fret with the fingertip and not the phalanges.
Stretch the fingers as much as you can.
Place the fingertip close to the fret-wire.

Mistake 3 – The Left-Hand Position.

Another important thing you must get right is the left-hand position—the angle.

Notice how important it is to have the palm and wrist in line. The fingers are perfectly placed, and the thumb is straight behind the neck. This is the right position to use. I highly recommend you work hard to get the left-hand position right. You will gain:

Stretch.
Control.
Speed.
Accuracy.

The only thing you can do to have a perfect left-hand position is to make sure you follow the roles you have learned about thumb and fingers.

The worst left-hand position on the guitar.

Pic 1: The palm touches the bottom neck. This is a horrible way of playing guitar as it reduces the ability to stretch the fingers. Chords, even the basic ones, are difficult. Lower the thumb and always make sure you have space between neck and palm.

Pic 2: Weak fingers. In this position, your fingers “bend” downward. This position is quite annoying because it makes your playing flaky and weak. It would help if you always kept the fingers strong with the joints going upward.

If you struggle with your technique and you are willing to make an effort and improve it, make sure you work on one thing at a time. There is no point trying to fix everything in one go. It takes time to fix a bad habit. Don’t get frustrated. Try every single day. You will be surprised to see how you can improve your technique by working on it even just a few minutes a day.

Good luck!

Fingerstyle Secret! Improve your Fingerstyle Technique in three steps.

Apr 9, 2016

Fingerstyle Guitar Tips

Hey, what’s up, guys. Today I feel I want to share with you a fingerstyle secret. This is a lesson that my old teacher gave me when I was a kid. I struggled a lot with fingerstyle guitar, so he gave me these three exercises that changed my life. Today I am going to share them with you. Just a couple of things before we start.

1 – Make sure you play “Safe”: I say that all the time, please, make sure you stop immediately if you feel pain or a burning feeling in your wrist, fingers, or forearm.

There is a pattern you can follow that will undoubtedly improve your fingerstyle guitar technique. I have been there! I was struggling a lot with this technique. Today I am going to give three killing exercises that are going to improve your fingerstyle technique instantly. Your right hand will improve faster, gain accuracy, and feel more natural than ever. You have to commit, though. You can’t improve your technique if you don’t practice hard.

The right hand’s thumb is the first thing you need to improve if you want to become great with fingerstyle. I am going to give you one exercise you must practice every day for five minutes. It is essential, though, you follow the rules and use the same fingerings and plucking pattern.

In this first exercise, you are going to change the position of your right-hand thumb. This little change will give you more control, almost straightaway. You might need a little bit of time to adjust to the new position, but I can guarantee you that your control and accuracy will improve instantly once you nailed this approach.

In this exercise, you are going to play a melody on the 2nd and 3rd strings. For each fretted note of the melody, we are going to alternate the first open string. The exercise looks like that.

The secret here is to keep the thumb on the adjacent string at all times. From bar 1 to 5, lean the thumb on the third string. On bar 6, move the thumb on the fourth string.

By changing this simple thing in your playing, you will reduce the movement of your right hand. You will gain more control, accuracy, and volume. Notice how I always alternate index – middle finger using a broad movement. This is voluntary. I highly recommend you overemphasize the movement (at least when you start) develop muscle memory faster.

If it’s easy, you don’t want it. If you’re going to improve your fingerstyle guitar, you need intricate patterns. By practicing the exercise I am about to show you, you will enhance your finger-style technique, speed, and accuracy. This exercise was given to me by my old teacher, and it is quite similar to a Villa Lobos Classical Piece.

The right-hand arpeggio is quite complex, so you want to make sure you practice one bar at a time. Speed isn’t important at that stage so, take it slow and focus on getting the right pattern.

The right hand should always follow the strings as you go up and down with the arpeggio.
Keep the thumb in front of the fingers.

Practice one bar at a time. Speed isn’t important at that stage.

Make sure you follow the right-hand fingerstyle pattern on the Tab. Notice that the thumb pluck quite a lot of strings. It takes time to get used to using the thumb like that. If you feel pain or a burning feeling, stop immediately, rest for a couple of minutes, and then try again.

Double down the speed for few seconds will help you to improve your fingerstyle technique faster. The third secret, the sprint, is a great technique. It’s usually used on electric guitar when you want to build speed. I have used the same concept on the acoustic guitar (you can apply it everywhere) for my fingerstyle technique, and the results are astounding. I am going to give you an example of the “Sprinting” approach with the next exercise.

Double down the speed for few seconds will improve your fingerstyle technique faster!

How much money can you make as guitarist. Three killing tips to make more money!

Jan 6, 2016

Hot topic. Let’s talk about money! How much money can you make as a guitarist? If you are thinking of becoming a guitar player, this is the post you want to read. How do you make money? Even better: How do you make more money? Why people think that musicians are broke and why you shouldn’t listen to them. Is there a formula that you can follow to increase your income? Why are musicians so freaking disorganized? There are so many things we can talk about … I will give you three killing tips on how to make more money. Let’s get started!

Why is money so important?

I don’t know if you have noticed, but life is getting really expensive. If you live in the countryside or in a small town, you might feel less stressed about bills, mortgage, gigs, and happiness. I am from a small town, but I moved to London five years ago. In such a big city, things are tough. The rent is really expensive, public transport constantly increasing and quality food … scarce.

In a place like London, if you make less than 2000£ a moth, you live in scarcity.

How guitar players make money in London?

There are though many different things that a guitar player can do to make money in a city like London. Let me list them all:

Gigs – Pubs, Clubs, Function, and private events.
Touring.
Musicals.
Busking.
Studio session.
Teaching.
Selling your music.
Composing.

Gigs – How much money –

Let’s have a look at how much money a guitar player can make with gigs. For me, gigs are different from touring and play in a musical. Let’s get into details:

Pub Gigs – 125£ with a duo –

Pub gigs usually pay between 50 and 250£. If you play and sing, you could think about playing alone and keep the fee. If you are a singer, one thing that really works in a pub is a duo guitar and voice. I use to do many gigs in pubs when I started playing guitar here in London, and the max I got for a pub gig was 125£, which is not bad. It was a duo guitar and voice. I also had some gigs with the band (4 pieces), so we had to split the fee 50£ each, which for me it’s not worth the trouble.

Pub Gigs are good but try to reach better venues like music clubs or musicals/theater gigs.

Club Gig – 150£ average –

For me, clubs are slightly bit more exciting than pubs. Sometimes I have a chance to play at the Ronnie Scott or Pizza Express jazz club in Soho, which are amazing music clubs. They pay much more than pubs. You can get 150£ each with a full band (5 pieces), so you get good fees plus you get to play in a nice club with people listening to your music, eating good food and drinks.

Clubs are good and pay more. You are more likely to get long contracts.

Musicals – 125£ a day –

For me, musicals are a nightmare! You get to play the same songs eight times a week for months and months. Money is really good, but I think after a year playing Thriller or We Will Rock You, you probably just want to kill yourself! I have friends who played in musicals, and they were really happy with the salary but quite frustrated after six months. I think is a great way to push perfection to the limit because you play the pieces every day and you must keep a high level of energy, but on the other hand, can be quite degrading playing the same stuff over and over.

Really good money but quite frustrating after months of playing the same things every day!

Functions – 200£ average –

Gigs like weddings and private events are really good for the money. The minimum fee is usually around 150£ if you don’t travel, but it could go up to 350 if you go outside London. It really depends. I used to do a lot of functions before, but in 2014, I decided to quit this industry for good. I don’t like the idea of driving for five hours, play, and then drive for another five hours to go back home. The whole day is wasted!

Good money but a lot of travelling and a drunk audience. There is always someone stepping on your gear. Upsetting!

Touring – Not sure –

I never really had a chance of touring with a major or minor artist, so I don’t think I can help you with that.

Touring is great but make sure you don’t get underpaid.

Busking – 50£ a day average –

In London, you can sell your talent playing in the street. There are buskers in the Tube station and also in some of the most crowded streets in the center. Some areas like Piccadilly and Covent Garden became the showcase of many street acts. You will find dancers, musicians, and entertainers. How much money can you make with basking? It really depends. I have a friend who makes between 50 and 100 pounds every time he busks. Sometimes I ask him, “Why you can’t find a better gig ?” and he goes like, “I don’t care, mate! I play when I want, and I don’t have a responsibility”. I make a bit of money here and there, and that’s fine for me! I find the whole thing about busking too flaky and depressing. I never did it! What do you think? Would you do it?

Do busk if you are just starting out or you really need money.

Session Player – 150£ a day.

If you like recording things you want to try be a session musician. I think is a great job and can also be well paid. I use to record for some minor artists back in 2013. I spent six months in a studio three times a week recording different stuff from electric to acoustic and classical guitar. 150£ a day (6 hours slot). I guess if you do it full-time, you might be able to make decent money. I really like the fact that you never know what’s coming. One day is a reggae track, the next day a pop tune with acoustic guitar. You really have to be versatile and a focus person. They don’t like when you mess up too many times. If you are really good you could also make more money than that! The horrible thing is that most of the time you don’t really get to hear the final product. Sometimes I used to record on a drum and bass track with no vocals or piano.

Studio session are really good if you are creative and versatile.

Teaching – 30£x60min lesson.

Teaching is my field. This is when I feel really comfortable and motivated. I like playing but I like more teaching. I have always been quite generous with people and I like to help so I guess teaching kind of reflect my personality. With teaching you can make some decent money too. The average rate here in London is around 30£ per hour. Some charge less or more depending on the type of lesson, grade and location (if you do mobile lesson). Obviously 30£ per hour if you work on your own. If you teach for a school you could get as little as 18£ per hour. This is what I used to get that when I first started in 2012 here in London.

Don’t teach for money! It doesn’t work!

Teaching is also really difficult because students tent go come and go quite quickly. If you are a flaky teacher, you will probably fail to make money and you will see all your student join another school or private teacher. Don’t do it just for the money! Do it because you like to help people learning how to play guitar.

Selling your music – Not sure –

This is something I don’t really do but I have friends who make a lot of money selling songs or loops. Check out MELODY LOOPs web page. You can send them small loops that can be sold for publicity or movies as well as video games. You get money every time you sell a loop. I don’t really know the pricing here but if you really want to make good money you have to sell many loops a month. If you are good at recording short idea, this is definitely something you could do (not only in London). You could also sell your songs on Itunes or Spotifie and get royalty although it’s a quite saturated market. Let me know what do you think!

Selling your music is great and you can do it at your own pace.

Composing – 300£ average –

If you like to write songs and help singer/songwriters with arrangement you could make some decent money. I have friends who make between 100 and 500 pounds for an arrangement (This is for minor artists. I don’t know how much you would get by writing and arranging for a major artists). It sounds easy but it’s not. For this kind of job you really have to know the right people. Once you become part of the inner circle you can be ask to compose/arrange a lot of music each month. You could make really good money from home recording and selling your talent. I really like that job and I wish I could do more but sometimes I can’t really deal with the stress. Composing/arranging is like a ticking time-bomb. You need to do the a good job in a short amount of time. The artist will constantly call you for updates putting you even more under stress. If you can cope with that, this is the right job for you.

Composing and arranging is an amazing job. If you are creative and perform well under pressure this is the job for you!

Tip 1 – Focus on what you are good at – Don’t just follow your passion.

The first thing you want to do to make more money as a guitar player is to focus on your strength. You must find your greatest skill and work everyday trying to improve it.

How do I find my greatest skill?

Feedback analysis! Feedback analysis! Feedback analysis! I could copy that for pages and pages. You must be able to be honest with yourself and listen to what other people say. Let me give you an example:

Let’s say you are a great performer. When you are on stage you are really creative and your playing is always spot on. It doesn’t matter which kind of gig you do, you are always confident and comfortable on stage. You have really good feedback from everybody (crowd and fellow musicians) and your agenda is full of gigs. Based on all that good feedback you know that your best skill is performing.

You are also really passionate about recording sessions. Although is your passion, you realize that the feedback is not as good as when you perform. Once you are in the studio, you start feeling under pressure. After 20 minutes of mistakes you are asked to take a break. You come back and record the song but you are not really happy with the result. It happens all the time that when you are in studio you don’t feel comfortable and your playing degrade. You keep saying to yourself “This is a waste of time”. Maybe you are not naturally good as a session player therefore there is no point in keep on trying. You are better off

Using this time to improve your skills as performer!

Be realistic and honest with yourself. Work on your strength and you will have amazing things happening in your life . Stop trying to do everything! Focus on one thing and start adding value to this one thing everyday. Reword will come!

Books related: These are some really good book that will help you figure out how to achieve more by doing less!

Tip 2 – Write down how much money you want to make then ask yourself ” Do I deserve it” and also “Why I didn’t get it yet”

We don’t like to talk about money. I know that because every time I bring up the topic people get easily fed up. People think money is the root of all evil yet they wish they had more. Even Madre Teresa di Calcutta needed money. Not for herself but for the community. Money is not always evil guys. The reason why you should write down how much money you want to make is because

You get paid in direct proportion to the amount of value you add to your job.

Look at people like Clapton, Page and B.B King. They became rich not because of luck but because they were able to add tremendous value to music . They changed people lives. They inspired generations. They deserve it all. Think also about the Google guys, Jeff Besos who started Amazon and Elon Musk with Paypal. They are billionaire because they worked on their strength to create something unique and cutting edge.

It’s not just about money!

Money is the most common way to evaluate ourselves but it is not the only way. For you it might be the number of people who watch your videos or buy your music.

It doesn’t matter which unit of measurement you use, the main thing is that you try to improve it.

Do you want more views on YouTube, write down how much more and how can you get there. Do you want to sell more music, write down how many units you want to sell and how can you promote yourself better in order to boost sales. Apply this concept and you will be successful because

A compelling vision (your goal) creates a clear picture of the future . Only after you have a clear vision, you can plan, measure and push forward.

Saying I want more gigs doesn’t mean anything. You should know which style you are the best at and focus on that. Be specific then ask yourself “Why I didn’t get it yet”. You will see that there is probably something you are doing wrong.

Once you know what’s the reason why you are not getting what you want, change it! Not tomorrow, not next week, but now!

Let me know what do you think. Leave a comment below.

Tip 3 – Own it –

If you always wait for someone to call you and offer you a gig, or a lesson or a paid studio session, you will always have to go through the middle man. I used to teach for 18£ an hour. Then I figure out that the school was charging 40£. I was making them rich while keep myself poor. Now I manage the lessons myself and you bet I make much more money. Same thing with gigs. Try to deal with the venue yourself. Be the one who pick up the phone and set the price. Be the one who call other musicians.

If you don’t build your dreams someone will hire you to build theirs! Manage yourself. You.Can.Freacking.Do.It!!

We all come from different backgrounds so your feedback is precious. Do you agree with what I say? Let me know. Leave a comment down below.

Finger Stretching Exercise for Acoustic Guitar. Three Killing Exercises!

Jan 3, 2016

Hey guys, today I will show you three killing exercises that will help you stretch your fingers. I think it’s essential to reach a good level of flexibility and stretch if you want to play chords and scales fluently. Also, with these exercises, you will be able to improve control and accuracy. As usual, make sure you are safe! Don’t compromise form and rest every time you need it. I am trying to help you, not ruin yourself, so please, follow these three rules and be safe.

Rule 1: Does it hurt? Stop immediately!
Rule 2: Does it burn? Stop immediately!
Rule 3: Do you have cramps? Freacking stop immediately!

Why do you need to stretch your fingers?

Stretching is really important for different reasons:

Prevent injuries.
Improve speed and control on a chord change.
Improve fluidity on scales.
Increase strength (you can play longer).
Give you a mental boost.

Prevent injuries.

For me playing guitar and workout are the same thing. When you go to the gym, you train different parts of your body to a better shape. You will notice, though, that when you start working out, the movement is stiff, and you get easily tired. It will take a couple of weeks to really start feeling you are doing the right movement. This is also the time when you can feel that your body is growing and improving.

When you play guitar, you go through the same process. You train your fingers several times during the week to get better. When you start, the fingers feel weird and stiff, and it takes time to really start feeling the improvement.

Go to the gym and start working out like a crazy man, and you end up hurting yourself. It’s the same thing when you play. Stretching your fingers will prevent things like sore fingers, tendons, and cysts. Trust me!

Improve speed and control on a chord change.

Flexible fingers will enable you to perform better chord change. When you play chords like C major, G major, or F major chord, you notice straight away how stretchy these chords are. By practicing these exercises, you will improve your chords as well as finger’s muscle.

Improve speed and control on Scales.

A lot of people think that speed and control are innate. What they fail to realize is that control, as well as speed, is something you develop with time and practice. The best friend of speed and control is flexibility and stretch. You will see that your fingers will naturally feel stronger once you start practicing these three killing exercises. Make sure you practice the exercises step by step and follow all the recommended fingers.

The mental boost.

Do you know a nice feeling after you work out? You feel your muscle are bigger, and your confidence grows. Practicing exercises like the one below, will help you improve your confidence and boost your self-esteem. We feel better when we know we are practicing the right things.

Let’s get started!

Exercise 1 – Stretch –

In this exercise, we are going to use asymmetrical pattern 134. That means you will always use the 1st, 3rd, and 4th fingers of your left hand. The right hand will be plucking the strings with an i-m (index-middle) pattern. Now, to stretch the fingers, you want to make sure you hold the fingers down! This is the only way you will be able to stretch the fingers. Check the pics below.

: Pic 1

: Pic 2 – Play with ring finger but keep index down.

: Pic 3 – Play with the little finger but keep index and ring finger down.

: Pic 4 – Change string and start again with the little finger.

: Pic 5 – Play with the ring finger but keep index down – 5th string.

: Pic 6 – Play with little finger but keep index and third finger down – 5th string.

Let’s get into details.

Pic 1: Start the exercise with the index finger. Relax the other fingers.
Pic 2: When you play the second note with the ring finger, hold down the index finger.
Pic 3: Play the last note with the little finger but remember to keep the index and middle finger down.
Pic 4-5-6: Do the same thing on the 5th string. Remember, fingers stay down.

The left-hand finger pattern is 1 3 4 on each string.

Exercise 2 – Control –

This exercise is a killer. You really want to learn it step by step and slowly. It’s based on two chords: E minor 9 and C major 9. Both chords have the same shape, so you start playing them the same way. Then, you have to shift the index finger from the 5th to the 2nd string. When you do that, make sure you hold the other fingers down to allow the stretch. I have recorded a quick video for this one. I was home, so it’s a bit noisy but definitely helpful! Good Luck! Stop immediately if you feel pain.

The right-hand pattern is P I m an m I (Thumb, index, middle, ring, middle, index). Group the notes in three. 123 123 123 123.

Finger stretching exercise for Fingerstyle Guitar by Marco Cirillo. BlitzGuitar.com from Marco Cirillo on Vimeo.

Exercise 3 – Stamina –

The last exercise is another symmetrical killer. This time we are working on a quite stretchy position so, please, make sure you practice slowly. If you think is too stretchy for you, come back in a couple of months and try again. Remember, if you damage your tendons, you could spend months before you can play again.

The exercise is based on a 124 finger pattern. The difficult thing here is that there is a fret between each finger, so the positions are quite stretchy. Have a look at the diagram.

Remember that the right hand will always pluck with the i-m (index-middle) pattern. Keep the fingers relaxed and play the exercise slowly. Remember this is a stretching exercise, so you shouldn’t play fast. The speed should be a maximum of 70bmp. Please focus on the movement, and make sure you hold the fingers down as we did for exercise 2.

Right-hand pattern i-m

Thank you very much for watching and reading. I hope you have fun!

Left hand exercise for fingerstyle guitar. Three killing symmetrical exercises!

Dec 29, 2015

Hey, Guys, welcome back to another “Killing Exercises Series.” Today I will show you three killing symmetrical exercises for the left hand to be played in fingerstyle. I reckon you could play them with the pick as well, so they are suitable for electric guitar too, but because I am keener on Acoustic Guitar, I decided to pluck the strings rather than pick them. Let get started!

Why are symmetrical exercises good?

There are many reasons why guitar players like to practice symmetrical exercises. Let me give you three good reasons:

They are easy to learn and memorize.
They are suitable for beginners and intermediate, advanced guitar players.
They work!

I understand that they are beneficial, but a friend of mine said they are boring!

Yes, in a way, symmetrical exercises tend to be quite repetitive and boring sometimes; that’s the reason why I came up with my own version. I like to keep things quite practical, so I am sure you will like them. These exercises are not like the 1234 (boring) combination your friend has been practicing. My symmetrical exercises have different characteristics:

Musical element: They sound like a little piece, so you have the feeling you are playing something musical.
Short and practical: I like to keep the exercises quite short. It’s up to you if you want to transpose them up and down the neck. If you feel lazy and keener to play your favorite songs, you can always play the short version of the exercise and go straight into playing some cool songs.
Speed: You can practice them at your own pace. Start slow, then increase the speed. Make sure you use the same intensity and energy.
Plucking and Pick: You can practice them with plucking technique (Fingerstyle) as well as picking technique (Acoustic/Electric with the pick)

How to practice.

It would help if you always practiced these exercises at the beginning of your session. You can also use them as a warm-up before a gig. If you want more warm-up exercises, you can check out my other post, ” Three killing warm-up exercises for acoustic guitar.”

What if I can practice for just 20 minutes. Do I have to do them?

Time blocking your session is really important. If you can practice only for a few minutes, I suggest you go straight playing the stuff you like. These exercises need at least 10 minutes, so … you do the math.

How many minutes I have to practice?

You should practice for at least 10 minutes, but I usually go up to 20 minutes if I have time. Stick with one symmetrical exercise per session. Don’t do all of them. Let me show you how to increase the speed so you can have resulted in a few days.

Start at a low speed. 60Bpm should be alright if you are a beginner but feel free to adjust the speed based on your level.
Practice at that speed for about 5 minutes. If you perform the exercise without mistake, add 5bpm, and repeat 8 times.
If you can perform the exercise 8 times with no mistake, add another 5bpm.
Do that circle four times to reach 20 minutes’ worth of practice. Do it three times if you have only 15 minutes available.

How many times can I increase the speed?

As much as you want. Remember the rule of “8”. If you can perform the exercise eight times without one single mistake, you can increase the speed. Good Luck.

Let’s get started!

Exercise 1

In this exercise, we are using a 1235 (CDEG) note pattern. Let me explain to you how it works:

Bar n.1/2: The four notes we are playing are CDEG. In music, we call this pattern 1235. The number 1 is the first degree, C, the number 2, the second degree D, number 3 third-degree E, and number 5, the fifth degree G.
Bar 3/4: Same pattern 1235 but now starting from the note F; therefore, we will have FGAC.
Bar 5/6. This time we start with the A note so ACDE
Bar 7/8: Patter 1235 starting from G … Which notes we have? Leave a comment with the answer.

Make sure you, the right hand, always alternate index and middle finger (i -m plucking pattern).

Exercise 2

In this exercise, we are going to use the asymmetrical pattern on the top strings. The bass note will be played with the thumb. Make sure you always alternate index and middle finger (i-m plucking pattern) to play the top notes. Let’s get into details:

Bar 1: This is an E minor chord. Notice that the melody is repeated symmetrically on two octaves. The position is quite stretchy, so make sure you place the finger close to the fret wire. The thumb should be straight behind the neck. Right hand always alternate index and middle finger.
Bar 2: The same phrase descending. Notice that the notes are the same going backward.
Bar 3/4: Same as bar 1/2
Bar 5/6: This time, we are moving to A minor chord. The bass note will be played on the 5th string (A note) with the thumb. The position is the same as the E minor but starting from fret 7. Make sure you use the same fingers you have learned for the E minor shape. You will probably need to readjust the position of the thumb.

If you want to play this exercise with the pick (more like an electric guitar), don’t play the bass note and only focus on the top strings. Good luck!

Exercise 3

This exercise is slightly bitted more difficult. We are going to play a G major 7 arpeggio on three octaves. I am sure you gonna love this one. One thing essential: Make sure the left-hand thumb-slide smoothly behind the neck. The right hand will pluck with the index and middle finger throughout.

Thank you very much for your support, guys. Keep practicing and learning!

The top five excuses people have when it comes to learning guitar. Three killing remedy.

Dec 26, 2015

I hear that all the time. You probably too. We all have friends who procrastinate! They always talk about what they want to do, the places they want to go to, the business they want to start, and the New Year resolution failure type. When it comes to learning guitar, things are not that different. People want to learn how to play guitar, but they find all kinds of excuses to delay, dismantle, and quit!

The top five excuses people have when it comes to learning guitar!

Excuse 1 – I don’t have time.
Excuse 2 – It takes too long.
Excuse 3 – I don’t have talent.
Excuse 4 – It’s too expensive.
Excuse 5 – I’ve tried, but I didn’t improve.

Excuse 1 – I don’t have time –

Time is the most important thing we have. In his book “On the shortness of life,” the philosopher Seneca says, “It is not that we have a short life, but that we waste a lot of it.” You have to learn how to organize your daily routine!

Sometimes people really want to learn guitar. They come to see me, and we talk about their goals and motivations. They are excited and ready to start. They buy the guitar, books and pay for the lessons. After the first lesson, you give them the stuff to learn and tell them to practice. One week later, they come back, and with a bit of embarrassment, they go like:

Student: Sorry, I didn’t have time to practice.

Me: Ok, why?

Student: Didn’t have time. Too busy.

Me: Ok. But you know that if you want to improve you have to practice. You don’t need a lot. Even just 15 min a day. I am sure you can find a little bit of time.

Student: I know, but I come back from work at 6 pm, and I am too tired. I usually cook something, and I watch tv till 11 pm.

Me: So, you have time. You have to know how to use it. Let me help you organize your session to get the most out of the time you have after work.

Blocking your time is key to success!

If you complain because you don’t have time, you probably never thought about organizing your practice session. The first thing to do is to know what you have to practice. Let’s say you are a beginner, and you have to practice:

One major scale (one octave). 5 minutes
Three chords – A major, E major, and D major. 10 minutes
One song – Chasing Cars. 10 minutes.

Now that you have your timetable, the session looks less tiring. Let’s say you come back home at 6 pm like the student above. You could have a 10 minutes session after dinner. In these 1o minutes, you could practice the scale and some of the chords. Then you could take a break and watch some Tv. You could then finish practicing the chords for another 5 min and the song for 10min. The first session would last 10 minutes, the second 15 minutes.

If you find yourself not practicing even with time blocking, it might be because you don’t have enough motivation. Ask yourself this question: Do I really want to play guitar? If the answer is a big, Yes! Then you should push yourself and do it even if you are tired. It takes time and commitment! Remember: Plan your practicing schedule!

Excuse 2 – It takes too long –

If you think that learning guitar is a long process, you have to ask yourself this question:

Which kind of guitar player do I want to be?

A professional guitar player: Yes, if you want to become a professional guitar player, it will take time and effort. You will have to practice a lot, be disciplined, and work hard. This type of guitar player love to play guitar and dream of making music his career. He wants to be a full-time musician. For him, “It takes too long” is not a problem.
An intermediate, skilled guitar player: If you want to become an intermediate guitar player with good technique and skills, it will take probably about 5/7 years. This type of player love playing guitar for fun. He doesn’t really want to become a pro guitar player but practice hard every day to improve. For him, “It takes too long” is not a problem.
A basic guitar player with a bit of knowledge about music theory and rhythm: You can achieve this level in 1/2 years. This type of guitar player learns guitar for fun. He doesn’t really practice a lot, maybe once or twice a week. He is a slow learner, and he knows it! For him, “It takes too long” is not a problem.
A super basic strumming guitar player: The “strumming” guitar player wants only to do one thing: Strum chords!. He doesn’t want to learn about music theory or rhythm. Please give him a pic, three chords, and one song, and he becomes the happiest person on the planet. You can become a Strumming guitar player in 6 months.

If you think it takes too long to learn the guitar, you should try the last two categories.

Excuse 3 – I don’t have talent –

This is a funny one, especially when beginners say that. I mean, how do you know if you don’t have talent if you have never played before. Anyway, let’s try to fix that.

What’s the best and true nature of talent?

I was reading and an amazing book by Matthew Syed called Bounce. In this book, he talks about talent and practice. He goes on to say that talent alone is not enough to succeed. You must be highly motivated and practice purposefully what you are good at.

In 1991 Psychologist Andres Ericsson conducted one of the most mind-blowing investigations about talent vs. practice. They selected three groups of musicians.

The first group: Boys and girls, expected to become soloists. These kids were considered to be super-talented or with a musical gift.
The second group: Boys and girls excellent but not as accomplished as the first group.
The third group: Boys and girls considered to be the least talented. I expected to become a music teacher at school.

By the age of 20 years old,

The first group of musicians had practiced for more than 10.000 hours.
The second group 8000 hours.
The third group only 4000 hours.

There is a reason why the first group turned out to be more successful than the other two. They had practiced more hours. They had also devoted thousands of additional hours to the task of becoming master performers. They had practiced purposefully.

Before you say you don’t have talent, make sure you get some practice!

If you think you have no talent, ask yourself this question: Since I decided I don’t have a musical talent? How many hours’ worth of practice do you have on your shoulder? Start practicing and give yourself a bit of time, then try to play for your friends, family, and girlfriend/boyfriend. Listen to what they say. I am sure that if you spend a few hours worth of practice a week, the outcome will be more than you expect. Talent is not the main ingredient! Trust me! Give yourself a bit of time.

Excuse 4 – It’s too expensive –

Lousy excuse. Let’s forget for a second about all the free stuff that you have on webpages like YouTube. Let’s say that you want something more than just a free video. You want to have some valuable feedback from an expert or paid quality content. Let me give you four killing cheap resources that you can use to improve your lessons’ quality.

Online guitar lesson.
Skype guitar lesson.
DVDs
Private guitar lesson.

Online guitar lesson.

Nowadays, Online guitar lessons are probably the cheapest way to learn how to play guitar. There are many different platforms that you can use on a subscription basis. The online guitar lessons offer you a huge amount of content for a fairly low price. The cool thing about these guitar courses is that you can learn at your own pace. You can watch the videos when you want and fast-forward if you need them. This is a list of the three most used online guitar courses on the web.

Jamplay – 19.95$ a month. They upload roughly 10 hours of new content a day!
Guitarjamz – 29.99$ a month. Marty Schwarts is the YouTube guy that can teach you everything.
Guitar tricks – 19.95$ a month. Same as Jamplay but with different teachers.

There are tons of other online courses for Classical and Acoustic Guitar; you just have to find the one suitable for you. As you can see, they are quite cheap, and the amount of lessons you have is almost unlimited.

Skype Guitar Lesson.

Skype guitar lessons are another cheap way to learn how to play guitar. You can talk to a teacher via webcam and pay as little as 15£ per lesson. Skype lessons are really good because you don’t really have to leave your place. I wouldn’t really recommend skype lessons for advanced guitar players, but if you are a beginner willing to start without spending a fortune in private fees, skype guitar lessons are the best way to start with.

DVDs.

I am not a huge fan of DVD courses. They are not versatile and, most of the time, boring. But they are cheap. If you really want to start playing guitar, with a DVD course (one-time fee), you will have material to start with.

Private lessons.

I am sure you are already thinking, “Man, private lessons are expensive”!! You are right bro. Private guitar lessons are costly and probably still the best way to learn how to play the guitar properly. This is still the only way you can talk one to one with a teacher, plan your music path, have specific feedback on your playing, ask questions, and fix bad habits. Private lessons are costly, but who says that you have to take one lesson a week? You could learn guitar using one of the cheap ways above and maybe once a month plan a private lesson with a teacher. The average private lesson here in London is about 30£ per session. You could book a lesson every 4/5 weeks to make sure you are learning the right things. It is good to have feedback from a private teacher! Trust me. So, do you think guitar lessons are still expensive? Leave a comment!

Excuse 5 – I’ve tried, but I didn’t improve –

If you tried to learn guitar and failed, you must ask yourself a question: How many hours did I put into it and for how many months? I am sure that you have something like: Practicing twice a week for 20 minutes for three months. If your number is close to this one, let me tell you straight away that it’s not enough. I saw people struggling to improve for more than six months before their playing took off!

Let me give you an example.

Take a look at the picture:

Two students start playing guitar at the same time. Their goal is to learn all the major and minor basic chords in two months. They split the chords into two groups: Easy (for the first month) and Difficult chords (for the second month).

Student A starts slowly during the first month with the easy chords but learns the difficult one easily.
Student B memorize almost all the chords immediately but struggle with the difficult chords.

As you check the pic above, you notice that the starting point looks different. Student A is slower than student B. After two months, though, both of them can play all the major and minor basic chords. They reached the goal at the same time. Student A struggled at first but learned the difficult chords quicker; Student B memorized the easy chords straightaway but struggled with the difficult chords.

If you are like Student A, don’t quit straight away! Results will come!

Give yourself a bit of time and keep trying. Don’t give up too soon! Set up monthly, weekly and daily goals. You will be alright!

Three Killing remedies to stop procrastinating and start playing guitar!

I will go into details in another post. I really like these three remedies. They work all the time.

Work on your strength: You have to know what you want to learn. “I want to play guitar” is too generic! Try to figure out what you are good at. If you are naturally good with strumming, practice more strumming. If you are good with the fingerstyle, make sure you play more stuff with the fingerstyle technique. You will improve faster if you work on your strength.
Set up a goal: Be realistic about the time you can put into it. Even just 20 minutes is fine. By setting up a goal, you know how much practice do you need. Try not to make it too simple. Your goal should be achievable but challenging, difficult but not impossible.
Commitment: Make sure you do it, no, matter what! Commitment is an act, not a word. You have to put in time and effort every day to build momentum. You can freaking do it!

The Worst thing to Avoid when Practicing Guitar. Three killing Remedy!

Practicing Fingerstyle Guitar

Posture

Why Bad Posture is Killing Your Playing!

Hand Position

Right Hand

Fingerstyle mistake 1

Fingerstyle mistake 2

Fingerstyle mistake 3

Left Hand

Mistake 1 – Left Hand Thumb

Mistake 2 – Left Hand Fingers.

How do you fix that?

“Why I can’t play it” and “How do I fix that.”

Mistake 3 – The Left-Hand Position.

The worst left-hand position on the guitar.

Fingerstyle Secret! Improve your Fingerstyle Technique in three steps.

Fingerstyle Guitar Tips

1 – Make sure you play “Safe”: I say that all the time, please, make sure you stop immediately if you feel pain or a burning feeling in your wrist, fingers, or forearm.

The right hand’s thumb is the first thing you need to improve if you want to become great with fingerstyle. I am going to give you one exercise you must practice every day for five minutes. It is essential, though, you follow the rules and use the same fingerings and plucking pattern.

In this exercise, you are going to play a melody on the 2nd and 3rd strings. For each fretted note of the melody, we are going to alternate the first open string. The exercise looks like that.

The secret here is to keep the thumb on the adjacent string at all times. From bar 1 to 5, lean the thumb on the third string. On bar 6, move the thumb on the fourth string.

The right-hand arpeggio is quite complex, so you want to make sure you practice one bar at a time. Speed isn’t important at that stage so, take it slow and focus on getting the right pattern.

The right hand should always follow the strings as you go up and down with the arpeggio.

Keep the thumb in front of the fingers.

Practice one bar at a time. Speed isn’t important at that stage.

Make sure you follow the right-hand fingerstyle pattern on the Tab. Notice that the thumb pluck quite a lot of strings. It takes time to get used to using the thumb like that. If you feel pain or a burning feeling, stop immediately, rest for a couple of minutes, and then try again.

Double down the speed for few seconds will improve your fingerstyle technique faster!

How much money can you make as guitarist. Three killing tips to make more money!

Why is money so important?

In a place like London, if you make less than 2000£ a moth, you live in scarcity.

How guitar players make money in London?

Gigs – How much money –

Pub Gigs – 125£ with a duo –

Pub Gigs are good but try to reach better venues like music clubs or musicals/theater gigs.

Club Gig – 150£ average –

Clubs are good and pay more. You are more likely to get long contracts.

Musicals – 125£ a day –

Really good money but quite frustrating after months of playing the same things every day!

Functions – 200£ average –

Good money but a lot of travelling and a drunk audience. There is always someone stepping on your gear. Upsetting!

Touring – Not sure –

Touring is great but make sure you don’t get underpaid.

Busking – 50£ a day average –

Do busk if you are just starting out or you really need money.

Session Player – 150£ a day.

Studio session are really good if you are creative and versatile.

Teaching – 30£x60min lesson.

Don’t teach for money! It doesn’t work!

Selling your music – Not sure –

Selling your music is great and you can do it at your own pace.

Composing – 300£ average –

Composing and arranging is an amazing job. If you are creative and perform well under pressure this is the job for you!

Tip 1 – Focus on what you are good at – Don’t just follow your passion.

How do I find my greatest skill?

Using this time to improve your skills as performer!

Be realistic and honest with yourself. Work on your strength and you will have amazing things happening in your life . Stop trying to do everything! Focus on one thing and start adding value to this one thing everyday. Reword will come!

Tip 2 – Write down how much money you want to make then ask yourself ” Do I deserve it” and also “Why I didn’t get it yet”

You get paid in direct proportion to the amount of value you add to your job.

It’s not just about money!

It doesn’t matter which unit of measurement you use, the main thing is that you try to improve it.

A compelling vision (your goal) creates a clear picture of the future . Only after you have a clear vision, you can plan, measure and push forward.

Once you know what’s the reason why you are not getting what you want, change it! Not tomorrow, not next week, but now!

Tip 3 – Own it –

If you don’t build your dreams someone will hire you to build theirs! Manage yourself. You.Can.Freacking.Do.It!!

We all come from different backgrounds so your feedback is precious. Do you agree with what I say? Let me know. Leave a comment down below.

Finger Stretching Exercise for Acoustic Guitar. Three Killing Exercises!

Why do you need to stretch your fingers?

Prevent injuries.

Improve speed and control on a chord change.

Improve speed and control on Scales.

The mental boost.

Let’s get started!

Exercise 1 – Stretch –

Let’s get into details.

The left-hand finger pattern is 1 3 4 on each string.

Exercise 2 – Control –

The right-hand pattern is P I m an m I (Thumb, index, middle, ring, middle, index). Group the notes in three. 123 123 123 123.

Exercise 3 – Stamina –

Right-hand pattern i-m