Two-Chord Song: Goldwatch Blues, Donovan

Two-chord songs are always popular with beginner guitarists here on Not Playing Guitar. Today's song, Goldwatch Blues, was recorded by Scottish born singer-songwriter Donovan and released on his debut album "What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid" in 1965.

Donovan emerged from the British folk scene and developed an eclectic blend of styles from folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music. Donovan came to fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with a series of live TV performances and his popularity spread to the USA and other countries.

Goldwatch Blues was written by Mick Softley, a British singer-songwriter and guitarist who was a figurehead of the British folk scene in the 1960s. He and Donovan played and sang together and collaborated on several recordings.

The song uses only the chords of Am and C, you can find Goldwatch Blues tab at Ultimate Guitar.

Listen to Goldwatch Blues by Donovan on You Tube, or download Goldwatch Blues mp3 from Amazon.

Gary

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Roland Micro Cube Amp

If you are looking for a practice amp then the Roland Micro Cube is an excellent bet for your money. Equiped with 7 amp models it covers just about any kind of sound you'd want, and very well too. Take a look at the video below to hear it in action and learn more about its features.

The amp also runs on 6 standard AA batteries, and will run for 20 hours according to specs. Several reviewers have reported that the batteries last for ages, plenty for a night's gigging in a small venue or for busking.



The price for this versatile, robust and great-sounding package? $117 at Amazon - Roland MicroCube Amplifier.

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Funk Guitar Lessons

Funk guitar is great fun to play. If you are familiar with a few blues guitar chords and scales then it is not too hard to get started. Today you've got a big collection of free on-line video lesson links to help you get into the groove.

Beginner Funk Lessons

The lowdown on funk strumming, muted strums and the incontournable James Brown chord, Yeah! I feel good...

Free Funk Guitar Lesson Inspired by James Brown - a video lesson showing basics of funk strumming from Next Level Guitar.

Chicken Grease Funk Video Lesson - Create funky rhythms on an E9 chord inversion without string muting by accenting certain beats.

James Brown Style Funk Strumming - excellent James Brown inspired funk strumming lesson from Free Guitar Videos.

Getting Harder

Here's some videos that get you adding little riffs, licks or chord movement to your basic funk strums. There are tons of ideas to explore here, so take your time (Bookmark this page to come back to it later).

Learn the Funk Electric Guitar Lesson - Hendrix style funk chord and blues licks from Next Level Guitar.

Learn n Master Funk Guitar Style of James Brown - go beyond the basic 9th chord with these rhythm tricks over a I-IV-V progression from Next Level Guitar.

The Secrets of Funk, Using It and Fusing It a lesson previously featured here with funk guitarist Leo Nocentelli courtesy of the Rock House.

Funk R&B Rhythm Playing - funky blues rhythms based on standard 7 chords. From Next Level Guitar

Cool Funk Strumming Pattern - another E9 chord based funk riff played in two positions, from Elmore Music.

How to Play Funk Guitar - video showing some muting and single note riff techniques around a single-chord groove.

Playing Funk - a cool funky groove with some chord movement from the UK's Guardian newspaper. Learn how to play the riff all over the neck. You can also get some accompanying articles on funk guitar with tab and audio.

Funk Guitar Lesson John Frusciante Style - G minor funky grooves in the style of the Red Hot Chili Pepper's guitarist. From Next Level Guitar. Get another Red Hot Chili Peppers funk lesson here, this one's in B minor.

Guitar Jazz Funk Chord John Scofield Style - a jazzier funk in C minor from Next Level Guitar.

4 Lessons from Arlen Roth and Gibson that will get you into the funk, Some Funk Rhythm Guitar, Hammer-ons and Pull-offs for Soul and R&B Guitar, Percussive Funk and R&B Fills, The Right Hand is the Drummer.

Single Note Funk Licks

Funk Muted Notes - single note funk riffs with muted notes to enjoy from vGuitarLessons.

Funk Guitar Lick - video lesson for a lick based on a descending chord pattern from Lick of the Day

Funk 101 - Funk Soloing - a video introduction to funk soloing on an A minor pentatonic scale. Lots more funk guitar lessons here on Infinite Guitar, but you gotta pay.

Bumper Bonus Collection

34 Funk Video Lessons from Guitar Master Class - everything from basic rhythms to soloing and wah-wah in this collection of 34 videos with backing tracks.

Explanations and Theory

Let your guitar cool down while you brush up your funk knowledge with these lessons in text and tab format.

Make it Funky - A Primer on Playing Funk Guitar - a four part primer from about.com showing you basic technique, funk chords, funk rhythms and funk riffs.

Funk Guitar Basics - a series of 10 articles explaining the funk style and techniques. Lots of good ideas tabbed out for you.

That's a whole lot of funk for you to work on, so take your time. Bookmark this page so you can come back and work on the lessons at your own pace. And if you know a good funky guitar lesson that ought to be here, leave a comment below to share it.

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Photo by jemsweb.

Learn Guitar: Your Next 10 Steps?

Do you know what the next 10 things you will learn on the guitar are? If not, you could be in danger of wasting learning time as you wonder what to do next, or spend too much time going over something you already learned again and again. Here's a simple technique that will help you avoid both these dangers.

When it comes to learning to play guitar there are usually so many possible next steps that you can easily waste time as you try to decide the next thing to learn and practice.

An easy way to get rid of this problem is to make your next step obvious. If the next step is obvious you won't spend time wondering what it is, or whether it's too hard, or too easy, or how to do it. You can simply get on with it. One very easy way to make your next steps obvious is a "Next 10 Things" list.

Next 10 Things List

To make your next 10 learning steps obvious at all times write them down on a Next 10 Guitar Steps list.

On your sheet you might list ten songs, ten new techniques, chords, or scales, or a mixture of songs and specific skills. Whatever you choose to include in your list, make sure they fulfill two important conditions.

1. They are things you are enthusiastic about
2. They help you progress towards your guitar playing goals

Put Your Next 10 Things To Work

Once you've created your list the next critical step is putting it to work. Put your list in a prominent place where you are sure to see it often. I leave mine in my guitar case, on top of the guitar so I see it every time I take out the guitar. You might want to make several copies and leave them in places where you'll be reminded regularly.

Put yourself to work to learn the ten things on your list. You might work one at a time, or have two or three on the go at once. Whatever approach you choose, focus only on the things you wrote on your list. Don't waste any time searching for new ideas or lessons.

Rinse, Lather and Repeat

As you near the end of your list, say around number seven or eight, it's time to start thinking about a new list of learning steps. Note down ideas that come to you, questions or problems that arose as you worked through the current list.

Then take a fresh worksheet and write down your next ten learning steps, and start again to work through it.

Remember, don't start to look for new things to learn until you get to around item seven or eight on the old list. Too many lists will only lead to distraction and reduce the focus of your guitar practice.

The 10 next steps list is a great technique for creating a clear path to navigate through the dangers of over analysis and procrastination. You can use it to further your guitar learning. Write your Next 10 Guitar Steps list today.

Thanks to Chrisopher Knight at Ezine Articles for this idea. It was originally proposed as a way to plan articles to write, but I found that it works well for guiding my guitar practice. I hope you'll find it useful too.

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Better Guitar One Chord At A Time

Would you like to play more guitar chords than you currently do? Growing the number of chords you can play is a sure way to improve your guitar playing. Here's an easy to use process you can use increase your chord mastery way beyond its current level.

Feeling Overwhelmed?

It's easy to feel overwhelmed when you think about all the chords you have to learn. There are so many different fingerings and positions that you can have a hard time knowing where to start.

But you can transform this feeling into action so that you progress and can make sense of things. Instead of worrying about the huge number of chord fingerings you don't know simply create some forward motion to learn more.

One Chord This Week

Get started by setting yourself an easy goal - learn one new chord this week.

Make things as easy as you can to start with. Choose a chord not far from what you know already. For example, if you already know some open chords then pick one new one, even a simple variant on a chord you know already will do. Know the E major chord? Then learn to play E7 this week.

Once you've chosen your chord go ahead and practice it every day. You don't have to spend hours, five minutes is enough.

Don't fall into the trap of spending ages trying to get it perfect in the first day or two. Remember you have a week to learn it, so if it's not perfect after the first two days that's OK.

Limit yourself to a few minutes practice, then move on to whatever else you have to practice. By the end of the week you will have made great progress with your new chord.

More Chords Every Week

One new chord in a week is a great start, but to make real headway you need to repeat the process.

Here are a few ideas to help you easily pick new chords for the next week, and the week after, and the one after that...

Make a list of the chords you want to learn, maybe the chords you need for some songs you'd like to play. Just pick the next chord from the list each week, don't lose time thinking about which one to learn.

Another approach is to use a theme. You could choose a series of open chord shapes, 6 chords, minor chords, chords in one key... There are many possible themes to work from. You can follow a theme for as long as you like and then change to a new one.

Over to You - Get Started

One chord doesn't seem such a tall order for a week's practice, does it? If you learn just one chord, and repeat that process every week then a year from now you'll have learned 52 new chords you can play. I bet that would make a useful difference to your guitar playing.

If you want to learn 52 new chords by this time next year then don't lose any time, get started right away. Leave a comment telling us the chord you're going to learn this week and why you want to learn it.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original content for your guitar web sites. Discover guitar writing services for web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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A Guitar Practice Motivation Trick

You know that the only way to become a better guitar player is to practice. Lots. So why is it that so many guitar learners have a hard time finding time to practice?

Starting is Hardest

Our brains often put up resistance to what we perceive as a hard task. When you think of all the things you need to practice, it seems like a huge, difficult task. A task that makes you confront your weaknesses and deal with them. Just the kind of thing your brain loves to resist.

It's so much easier to flop down on the sofa and pick up the remote control...

But this lazy tendency of your brain can work to your advantage, if you know how to trick it into helping you.

Trick Your Brain

You can remove the resistance your brain puts up by tricking it into thinking you're not really going to do anything that big or difficult. Instead of setting out to practice guitar for an hour, simply tell yourself that you are going to put out your stuff ready to practice later.

Fish your guitar out of the spare bedroom, find that DVD you bought to learn all about the Phrygian mode, you could even put out your metronome and tune up the guitar. But then stop.

Leave all your stuff out ready to practice, and head off to do your day's work, prepare dinner, or whatever it is you do in between guitar practice.

How does this help you to practice guitar more? Well, the same way it leads you to watch so many bad films.

Why You Watch Bad Films

I'm sure you've seen many bad films in your life. I'm equally sure that you knew most of them were bad within the first half hour. So why then do you spend so much time watching these films to the end after you have identified them as bad?

It's because your brain wants to finish what it has started, it doesn't like to give up on something it has some kind of investment in. So even when you realize the film is a dud, it says to you, "Well, I've seen it this far, I might as well stick with it. Maybe it'll get better as it goes along...", but of course, you know it rarely does.

Now, if your brain will help you sit through an hour and a half of an appalling movie just to discover how the hero beats those wicked slimy alien bad guys, imagine just how eager it will be to find out what you're going to do with that guitar you put out this morning before you left for work.

Homework - Set Up Your Next Practice In Advance

Now, here's the challenge for you. You're really serious about getting in some good practice time, and you want to beat your procrastination and set yourself up to actually do it, right? So, decide when your next practice session is right now.

Will it be this evening when you return from work, after dinner? Or maybe tomorrow morning as soon as you wake up? Whatever the decision, go prepare your guitar, amp, book or video, metronome, chair, whatever you need to practice. Go and set them all out ready. Then head off to work, help the kids with their homework, or get a good night's sleep.

When practice time comes around you should notice that it's far easier to get started. In fact you'll probably notice that you were thinking about that practice session all through your work day, or as soon as you woke up. And I'll bet you'll feel a burning desire to get to it and practice.

Now you know how to trick your brain into helping you come to every day's practice session motivated and ready to go.

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Photo by lucas.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original content for your guitar web sites. Discover guitar writing services for web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

What You Should Know About Sus Chords

This lesson for beginner guitar players explains what sus chords are and shows you how to play some popular sus chords based on open chords.

Sus chords are used in many rock songs, often as passing chords to create interesting melodic movement in a song, a good example is Norwegian Wood by The Beatles that makes extensive use of sus chords. We Can Work It Out is another Beatles classic that uses sus4 chords.

Suspended Chord No Third

Sus is an abbreviation for suspended and is the name given to chords that don't have a third in them. The third is replaced by either the second or fourth degree, the scale degree below and above the third. The absence of the third creates a sound that seems to float, neither major or minor it is in suspension.

Suspended chords with a second are written sus2 while chords with the fourth instead of the third are written sus4, often simply written as sus.

Sus Chord Positions

There are several common forms to play sus chords frequently used with open chords. Let's take a look at some examples of these in the key of A.

Example Chord Shapes

A Major

0|---|---|---|
 |---|-3-|---|
 |---|-2-|---|
 |---|-1-|---|
0|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|

Asus2

0|---|---|---|
0|---|---|---|
 |---|-2-|---|
 |---|-1-|---|
0|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|

Asus4

0|---|---|---|
 |---|---|-3-|
 |---|-2-|---|
 |---|-1-|---|
0|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|

The open A chord lends itself easily to sus chords, both the sus2 and sus4 forms are within easy reach. To play the sus2 simply remove the finger that normally plays the second string, for the sus4 slide this finger up one fret or add your little finger to play the 4th.

D Major

The D chord is another that works very well with both sus2 and sus4 chords. On the D you create a sus2 by removing your finger from the bottom string to play the 2nd on the open string. The 4th note is found one fret up from the finger normally played on the bottom string, use your little finger to add this note.

D

 |---|-2-|---|
 |---|---|-3-|
 |---|-1-|---|
0|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|

Dsus2

0|---|---|---|
 |---|---|-3-|
 |---|-1-|---|
0|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|

Dsus4

 |---|-2-|-4-|
 |---|---|-3-|
 |---|-1-|---|
0|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|
x|---|---|---|

E Major

On E major it is quite easy to play the sus4 by adding your little finger at the second fret on the third string. The sus2 chord is difficult to play, if you simply remove the finger on the third string you create a Em chord, the 2nd would be a fret further down the neck, but there are no more frets.

E

0|---|---|---|
0|---|---|---|
 |-1-|---|---|
 |---|-3-|---|
 |---|-2-|---|
0|---|---|---|

Esus4

0|---|---|---|
0|---|---|---|
 |-1-|-4-|---|
 |---|-3-|---|
 |---|-2-|---|
0|---|---|---|

Example Chord Progression

Here's an example chord progression to get you started and give you some ideas on how to use sus chords. The example is in the key of A and uses a simple repeated pattern based on A and D chords. Play it and see how it creates a nice melody that moves the chords along.

Conclusion

Sus chords are a nice way to live up chord accompaniments, try out some of the above forms as passing chords for one or two strums in songs you know. This idea works especially well as you lead into chord changes around the A and D major chords.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original content for your guitar web sites. Discover guitar writing services for web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.


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Green Onions Lick

Couldn't resist sharing this recent Gibson lesson from Arlen Roth showing how to play the Green Onions riff created by Steve Cropper of Booker T and the MGs. You might not know the name but I'm sure you'll recognize the sound.

Anybody who saw the John Lee Hooker Boom Boom lesson should recognize the similarity with this riff.

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Guitar Chord Arpeggios

This lesson introduces beginner guitar players to arpeggio playing, a chord playing technique often used on ballads, slower songs and classical guitar.

Guitar Arpeggio Picking

Playing arpeggios on your guitar is a picking hand technique used to play the notes of a chord one at a time. You can create many simple or intricate accompaniments with arpeggio picking, and even mix it up with strumming or other techniques.

Arpeggios are used in many styles of music, often on slower tempo songs such as ballads. But it is also a useful technique to add a more interesting accompaniment to faster songs.

In this lesson you're going to learn a couple of simple arpeggio patterns to get you started. Once you've learned them you can try applying them to chord progressions or songs you know.

Basic 4/4 Arpeggio Pattern

This first example shows you a common arpeggio pattern you can play on many chords.



The example pattern starts on an A major chord. Notice when you move to the D major chord how you change the bass note to play the new chord's root. The other notes are all be played on the bottom three strings exactly as they are played on the A chord.

Use this same idea to play the pattern over any chord. Change the bass note to use the chord's root and use the same picking pattern on the bottom three strings.

Picking Tips

Here are some tips to help you play this arpeggio pattern with your fingers. To pick the bass note always use your thumb, pick down on the string.

To play the notes on the bottom three strings use your index, middle and third fingers, one for each string. Curl the tips of the three fingers slightly just below the strings; you can rest the tips lightly on them. Then pick up on the strings one at a time by curling the respective finger.

It takes a little while to master the finger pattern so go very slowly at first. It's worth a little effort though as once you master it you will be able to pick fast with very little movement.

You can play the pattern with a pick too. Use an alternating pattern of down and up strokes to play the notes, down strokes on the beat and up strokes in between the beats.

You will probably have a little trouble with the alternate picking at first, especially when you have to change strings. But in the long run alternating the pick will let you play fast and more accurately.

Over To You

Guitar chord arpeggios will add variety to your rhythmic palette and enable you to play more varied and interesting backup parts on guitar. Practice the above example using both thumb and finger picking and a guitar pick to develop your arpeggio picking skills.

When you are comfortable with the examples try playing them over more chord progressions or songs you know.


Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original content for your guitar web sites. Discover guitar writing services for web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.


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Incremental Guitar Practice

Yesterday I posted The Get It Right Now Trap, a pitfall that leads you to spend your practice time repeating the same thing over and over. The solution I proposed for this is to ensure you have a practice plan, a list of the things you need to work on, and set a limit to repeat items a maximum number of times, three say.

By coincidence later that same day I read an interview with Rob Balducci on the Rock House Blog, and Rob mentioned this problem too,

"A mistake that a lot of students make is that they will go and start from the beginning again and they practice scales again so they don’t have time to rehearse and cover everything they need to."

I wanted to share with you Rob's interesting idea for avoiding this trap and getting through the material you need to practice. Here's what Rob has to say about incremental practice.

"I also think you need to make a notebook for yourself and write in it. It’s very important for the next day that you rehearse. You don’t want to rehearse the same thing that you did the day before. You want to make sure that you go to something else so there’s not a lot of repeating."

Read the Rob Balducci interview on Rock House Blog to discover more useful practice tips from Rob Balducci.

Thanks to the Rock House Blog for their series of player interviews. I'm not familiar with a lot of the players they interview but I've learned useful practice tips from each of them.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Guitar Practice: The Get It Right Now Trap

Here's a guitar practice time wasting trap that's easy for anyone to fall into, and an easy cure so you can reduce your chances of getting suckered yet again.

Do you ever find yourself spending your whole practice session on one little exercise, desperately trying to get it right? The rest of your practice goes out of the window as you battle with this one thing. Here's how to banish this guitar practice pitfall once and for all.

Must Get It Right

This trap grabs you when you set out to practice something with the idea that you must get it right.

You start off with a list of things to work on but somehow you get hooked by something that doesn't work right, you keep repeating it over and over, slowing it down, trying different approaches, and then before you know it you are all out of practice time and the rest of your list is left undone.

Cure The Problem

Plan your practice in advance, the plan can be a simple list of things to work on each session. Decide to repeat each thing in your plan a certain number of times, three times say. Do each thing three times and then move on.

Don't worry if it's not perfect at the third attempt. This is practice, right? If everything you did was perfect you would not need to practice. If you are getting most of the things in your practice plan right then you are practicing the wrong things.

Keep On Moving

Move on when you've repeated each item, don't stop to fiddle with the same exercise or piece until you get it right.

By moving on to the next exercise or piece after three repeats or so you will get to work on a wider variety of things in your practice session.

Don't worry about getting each piece right in the first few goes. Keep working on them each practice session and they will come right in the end. This is the whole purpose of practice.

What's more, you will be more relaxed about each piece that you have difficulty with. There's nothing worse for your playing than being all tensed up with gritted teeth.

Let Your Unconscious Help

When you're not working on that problem passage you also give your unconscious mind a chance to work on the problem in the background and help you out.

Many times I've started to practice something that I couldn't play the last time only to find it suddenly works. Your brain somehow keeps working on it during the break and figures out a solution while you're not looking.

Don't Let Perfectionism Waste Your Practice Time

This practice pitfall is really a thinly disguised perfectionism. You don't want to be beaten by a measly guitar exercise, do you? You know you are better than that, so you are determined to prove you can play that piece, whatever it takes.

But this attitude is not only ineffective it also eats up your practice time and prevents you from putting in time on other things you need to practice.

Keep On Flying

"Better not look down, if you want to keep on flying
Put the hammer down, keep it full speed ahead
Better not look back, or you might just wind up crying
You can keep it moving, if you don't look down"

-- BB King, Better Not Look Down

To keep flying ahead in your guitar practice, remember these wise words from BB. Follow your practice plan, and don't keep going back over the same things too many times. Remember to keep on moving and fill your time with a valuable variety of exercises.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original content for your guitar web sites. Discover guitar writing services for web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.


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Muscle Memory – The Guitarists Friend?

Muscle memory is a term you will come across as you learn guitar. But what exactly is it, and what does it do for your playing? In this article you'll learn the answer to both these questions and discover how to avoid one pitfall that muscle memory can cause.

What is muscle memory?

Muscle memory is the unconscious muscle control you use to perform often repeated activities like dialling a phone or tying your shoe laces. You repeat these activities so often you don't think much about the movements to make.

Guitar practice develops muscle memory for the movements required to play guitar. Having to think less to control your finger movements helps you in several ways.

How Muscle Memory Helps You Play Guitar

Whenever you start learning something new on guitar you are usually highly concentrated on all your finger movements. You are so busy with this that you can't play fast without making mistakes.

As your muscle memory develops you use less conscious effort and you can perform skills faster and with less error.

As well as letting you play faster muscle memory also frees your mind so it can pay attention to other things, like what's coming next, how you sound, or what the bass player is doing. All these contribute to better sound and performance.

Muscle Memory Problem

Although muscle memory is usually considered a good thing, it can also cause problems of its own.

The muscle memory you build through repeated practice of the same movements, the same licks and chord changes tends to hold you into the same, familiar patterns. It can lead to that feeling of being in a rut, and you are quite literally in a kind of rut, created by your muscle memory.

Variety, the Spice of Life

To avoid the muscle memory rut you need to ensure sufficient variety in your practice.

Seek out new ideas from other players, copy their licks to shake up your habits and introduce new ideas in your playing. You can find other players licks from books of transcriptions or tab sites or figure them out yourself by ear.

When you play other players licks you follow in the footsteps of their muscle memory, shaking up your own habits and breaking out of the same old patterns.

You can shake up your habits even more when you copy licks from other instruments. The collective muscle memory of the guitar players you copy is influenced by the instrument itself, and by the licks copied down from previous generations of players. A pianist or horn player will have different habits, so their licks will offer something fresh.

Another practice technique that will shake up your habits is to play stuff you know backwards. Write out your licks or chord progressions putting the notes or chords backwards, then go and practice it. You should find you end up doing some things you don't usually do.

Conclusion

Now you've learned what muscle memory is and how it helps you to learn guitar. But remember to shake up your muscle memory regularly so it doesn't lead your playing into a rut.


Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original content for your guitar web sites. Discover guitar writing services for web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.

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Is An Ideal Guitar Holding You Back?

Us guitar players love to dream about our ideal guitars, guitars that will somehow make us better players.

We think about this ideal guitar convinced that it would lead to better playing, that our current guitar somehow holds us back. But what if it was really the ideal guitar that's holding you back from becoming the better guitar player you can be?

The Imaginary Ideal Guitar

In our imaginations, ideal guitars all sound fabulous, provide that elusive tone, play faster, and look prettier.

But the problem with ideals is that they are made to be inaccessible. And while you fix your attention on this external ideal you forget about your own powers that could help you play better guitar.

Do You Set Yourself Up To Fail?

When you fix your attention on the ideal guitar your own guitar becomes an excuse for your own playing weaknesses. You think things like "If I had that guitar I could...", filling in the blank with whatever it is your ideal guitar is supposed to help you achieve, or "With my current guitar I can't..."

That kind of thinking undermines your ability to improve your guitar playing. It distracts you from what you really need to work on, work on right now with the guitar you have already.

You create a self-fulfilling prophecy with this kind of "I can't", or "I could if" phrase. Your sub-conscious takes the message you give it and makes it true for you, if you believe you can't, well then there's no point in trying, is there?

Try This Test

To get a better perspective on what the guitar does for your playing try this simple test. Go to a guitar shop and have someone who plays well play your dream guitar. Listen hard to how they play and sound.

Then have that same good player play on some other guitars that are not so dream worthy. Take your own guitar along too and have it played along with the others.

If your tester is a decent guitarist you'll probably notice that they sound good on all those guitars, right?

From Ideal to Real

After doing the test you'll probably have figured out that an ideal guitar is not really the magic ingredient you need to improve your guitar skills. At least, not about 99.9% of the time.

So now, forget the dream guitar and figure out what you really need to do to become a better player. Then go do it.

Guitar article writing: Gary Fletcher writes quality, original content for your guitar web sites. Discover guitar writing services for web sites, blogs and newsletters. Visit http://www.writescribe.com/guitar to learn more.


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