GUITARHABITS

Free Quality Guitar Lessons

How to Make Faster Progress On The Guitar

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Photo by mikelao26
I’m always in for finding new ways to make faster progress in different areas on the guitar.

Not so much because I’m in a hurry, but just for the fun of experimenting and see if practicing can be done more efficiently.

If you practice it’s nice to make progress instead of running into the same wall over and over again.

If you are really conscious of your guitar playing you get there much faster than spending a zillion hours of practice without real observation.

Some guitar players feel they get stuck at a certain level, that’s because there is a point where you need to observe and change what you’re doing. That’s when the magic happens.

Let’s take a closer look at the keys to make faster progress:
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The 5 Minute Guitar Workout

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Photo by Akram
There are days when I can’t get myself fired up to start practicing.

Sometimes it’s because I think I’m entitled to a break for whatever ridiculous reason or because I’m feeling kind of tired and I’m also burdened with the thought that there is so much else to be done.

They’re all pathetic excuses so I don’t have to get off my lazy ass.

But I found a really easy way to take care of those excuses and to be honest with you it works brilliantly.

I call it “The 5 minute guitar workout”

Let’s take a closer look:

When you’re sitting in that comfy chair of yours or you’re looking at your busy schedule your mind is already going into defense mode and you’re like… “No no I have no energy left or time to play guitar for 20 or 30 minutes, let alone more than that.”

The thought of such a long guitar workout can sometimes be too much of a stumbling block.

Now replace that inner dialog and tell yourself you’re only going to practice for 5 minutes. No more. Just 5 minutes. That sounds easy doesn’t it.

That sounds even quite reasonable.

And you know what… It’s just that little push you need to get started. It’s the number one most important aspect of practicing: “Getting started.”

Once you’ve started the rest takes care of itself. And it’s okay to practice for only 5 minutes but you’ll probably end up playing longer than that, because once you’re playing you’ll get in a flow, a meditative state and you’ll be enjoying the ride.

I found that it works every time, because it’s only 5 minutes whatever the real outcome may be.

It’s so effective that I made 5 minute workouts for everything and I spread those workouts randomly throughout the day and week.

I’ve become in love with my 5 minute workouts.

Here’s my list:

– 5 minute scales workout

– 5 minute speed picking workout (working with a metronome)

– 5 minute soloing improvisation workout

– 5 minute playing, memorizing and enjoying songs workout

– 5 minute music theory workout

– 5 minute transcribing songs for my students workout

I also have other 5 minute workouts that have nothing to do with guitar playing whatsoever, but anyway here you are:

– 5 minute meditation workout

– 5 minute running workout

– 5 minute reading workout

Thanks for your 5 minutes. I appreciate it.
Klaus Crow

8 Ways to Play a 12 Bar Blues Shuffle in The Key of E

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Photo by Pablo Docal
Today I’ll show you 8 different ways to play a 12 Bar Blues shuffle. Blues shuffles sound really cool and the basic ones are not that hard to play.

In the first example I wrote out the entire 12 bar blues. In the other examples I just wrote out the alternatives to bar 1,2 and 9. More you don’t need, the rest of the bars is played the same way as those 3. Just play them in the right order. You’ll see what I mean once you’ve tried the first 12 bar blues.

The shuffle blues is one of the most common used rhythms in blues and so used by all the great blues artists like Clapton, BB King, Albert King, Robert Johnson etc. For those who are just starting out in blues, this is the backbone of blues rhtyhm guitar so I suggest you get your hands dirty. :)

If you want to read more about the origin of the blues shuffle and blues in general check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues

Enjoy!


12 Bar Blues Rhythm #1
e:-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
B:-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
G:-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|
D:-------------|-22-44-22-44-|-------------|-------------|
A:-22-44-22-44-|-00-00-00-00-|-22-44-22-44-|-22-44-22-44-|
E:-00-00-00-00-|-------------|-00-00-00-00-|-00-00-00-00-|
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