I have been playing the guitar for 20 years and have never taken a lesson, and I play guitar quite well I might add. However, this year for Christmas I was given a DVD of a guitarist teaching you how to play fast. Now prior to me watching this DVD, I was a good guitarist. After watching the DVD and practicing these techniques that this guitarist was teaching, techniques I couldn't master teaching myself, my playing has increased it's speed sevenfold. I can go from one end of the neck to the other and back with little effort now. It is all technique.
Now that being said, I am going to discuss of few of these technique:
Alternate picking - Alternate picking is where your pick remains in an up/ down motion even while changing strings. You should consistently play up, down, up, down, up, down. Practicing this for a couple of hours and you notice how better your playing flows.
Alternative picking - Alternative picking is where your pick hand may go down, down, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. It is a cross that is in between sweep and alternate picking. This method is sometimes referred to as hybrid picking as well.
Sweep picking - Sweep picking is most often used in conjunction with arpeggios, that is, notes in a scale that form a chord, whether it be the 1st, 3rd, and 4th or whatever. You will repeat the notes from low to high or high to low, but your pick stays in a steady up or down motion over the group of strings. If you need more than one note on a particular string you should hammer-on or pull-off and never stop the downward or upward motion of your pick.
Hammer-on and pull-off - This is where you pick the string once and use your fretting hand to continue hitting notes that you won't to play with out picking them. The ascending notes is known as a hammer-on and descending is a pull-off.
Tremolo picking - What is tremolo picking? It is where you take your picking hand and you pick a single note on the guitar as fast and steady as you possibly can.
Does equipment matter?
Does my gear make a difference as to how I play?
The answer to that question in one word is yes. If you play on a cheap guitar, that is perfect if you are beginning. But whenever it comes time to nail that "solo of the year", you should never play on anything that doesn't feel perfect to you.
Your guitar should become an extension of your body, that is, it should feel natural. That is one of the most important things when you are playing. If the guitar doesn't feel right, you may actually not be playing at your full potential. For instance, I have a Peavey EVH Wolfgang that I bought 10 years ago and whenever I pick that guitar up and start playing, I don't have to look to see where my hand goes. I don't even have to think about where the notes are. My hand automatically hits the notes for me.
I have been playing for 21 years now, however, the instrument makes a big difference on how you play. My rhythm guitarist recently bought a new guitar and asked me to play it and it was a bad experience for me.
For any guitar player, I recommend going to a store and playing a guitar for hours if possible to make sure that the guitar feels natural to you. In the long run it will pay off. And I am not saying to purchase the guitar on that day, by any means. I can guarantee you that you will find the same guitar that you are looking at in the store cheaper on the internet with very little exceptions.
Once you get a new guitar, make sure that your strings are good. Now, every guitarist has a different choice of strings. Maybe they are on a budget or maybe they are just partial to a particular brand because they have had good luck. But most professionals, minus the ones who are given a nice endorsement contract, choose Elixir. These strings cost a few more bucks than most guitar strings, however, the end result is well worth it. If you are on a budget, instead of having to change your strings every month or two because they rust, you won't deal with that. Fifteen years ago whenever I was in college, I was strapped for cash. The college bought me a set of Elixirs, and that set of strings remained on my guitar for 14 months! They never rusted or went flat.
If you are on a budget and can't afford new strings very often and your strings rust, there is another little trick that will help your sound. Take the strings off, put them in a boiler with water and put them on your stove top. Bring them to a boil, turn the burner off and let them cool. Put them back on the guitar and they sound and feel like a brand new set of strings.
The last thing that we are going to cover is effects. What effects are good and what effects aren't good? That question is tough. You will find that it is six to one and half a dozen to another. The fact is, your effects should sound good to you. Should you spend thousands on effects? NO!
The fact of the matter is, I have a program on my computer that I use that I actually use to model my effects after. It came with the purchase of an M-Audio Fast Track recording interface and the program has great reverb, chorus, delays, and more. I will record a bit, take the disc to a guitar shop with me and try out effects boxes. Once I find one that emulates the sound that I have on disc, I come home and do my homework for pricing. Once I find the best price, I purchase the effect. Within a couple of days the box reaches my door and I have saved a few dollars and got the sound that I am looking for.
It is good advice once again to go to a music store, pick up several guitars and effects and amps for that matter and try them until you find the 'One'. Then do your homework on the internet and find the best choice for you.
