If you’re just learning guitar, getting started with playing solos might seem daunting. It’s a big change to go from strumming chords to your favorite songs, to playing lead lines. The best thing is to start out easy, but not too easy. The more you challenge yourself, the better a guitarist you’ll become. Just remember to take everything in bite size chunks as you’re learning. To help you get started with solos, I’m recommending a couple that I’d learn if I was just getting started - one from three different genres. The feeling of learning and playing lead is amazing. Let’s get into it.
I’ve observed hundreds of guitarists over the years from all different skill levels, and the ones who are making a lot of progress often share a lot of the same traits - they have a plan when they sit down to practice, they know the people to go to when they’re facing a hurdle in their playing, and they’re endlessly curious about guitar and music in general.
But outside of all of that, there’s one habit I’ve seen that all of my favorite guitarists have - they practice active listening.
It’s cliche, but everyone has a mini recording studio in their pocket with them at all times. Not only is it stupidly simple to record your audio ideas, you can record yourself via video as well and see everything you were working on at the time, to truly pinpoint issues in your playing. But that’s not the only reason you should record.
Let's dive into three ways guitarists can use recording to see huge improvements in their playing.
One of the number one things I like to do is be a hype man for my students. After teaching for a couple of decades, I’ve seen people go from not being able to play a simple G chord, to writing their own songs. The only reason I have so much confidence in telling them they can learn anything they want, is because I’ve witnessed myself in my own playing and in others time and time again.
I recently picked up a new M1 MacBook Air, and the first thing I did when I booted up the laptop for the first time was install my essential music and guitar apps. The apps run the gamut from transcribing software, to streaming services, media players and more.
Most of these apps are for Mac, and some can be installed on Windows as well. These apps have served me well for many years, and would make any musician’s life better.
