7 Ways to Improve Your Technique

Guitar technique refers to the physical skills and abilities necessary to play the guitar with precision, speed, and clarity. It encompasses everything from finger placement to strumming and picking patterns, and is a fundamental aspect of guitar playing that separates beginners from more advanced musicians. Here’s a look at seven ways you can tighten up your technique.

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How to Play Slower

If you’re a shredder who’s into Yngwie Malmsteen, you probably think Eric Clapton is the slow player. If you love Clapton’s lightning-fast performance of “Crossroads” from Wheels of Fire, you might believe Robert Johnson’s original version (properly titled “Cross Road Blues”) crawls along a little faster than a hyper turtle. And if you can’t wrap your mind around Johnson’s dexterity with the slide, perhaps Brij Bhushan Kabra’s meditative Indian slide playing on Call of the Valley is more your … speed. And, at the risk of waxing philosophical, consider that an open 5th-string A vibrates at 110 Hz a second. Well, that’s still pretty fast by almost any standard! In this lesson we’ll keep in mind (with all due respect to Einstein) this relativity, and approach “slower” from a variety of angles.

PG Explains: Technique