3 Important techniques – Guitar Lessons

I give Guitar Lessons in Cary North Carolina. As a guitar instructor there are 3 important techniques every guitar players should learn on their journey. These 3 techniques will enhance the songs they are learning and will also give them various ways to approach the same song in a group class or live band setting.

1. Strumming.

In order to play any song that you come across you would need to know various rhythms and strumming patterns. The good news is that there are a small number of key rhythms, and then some variations on those.  If you know these basic rhythms you can play most of the modern songs that are on the charts at the moment.

I use a method where I record the rhythms for my student instead of always notating them. Saying something like “down down down up down up” I find that when they learn faster by imitation. After all, the goal is to get to play the music you love as fast as possible.

2. Flat-picking.

Flat-picking is a technique where you hold down chords with your left hand and then use your pick to pick various strings individually. This is a great tool and is used in many genres. Seeing that the root note of the chord is extremely important you usually will pick that note first. Then choose a string pattern that can be repeated over all the other strings. You can choose multiple variations.

This technique is a great way to practice accuracy on your guitar. It’s a great way for your righthand to learn the distance between strings. Or learning the distance between a number of strings if your pattern involves string skipping.

3. Fingerpicking.

Knowing how to put your pick aside and use your fingers instead will really add to your guitar playing. Again, the use of finger picking spans many genres. When you play basic fingerpicking patterns on an acoustic or even an electric guitar it can add a softness, intensity or rhythmic bounce to the music which will greatly enhance what you play. You will once again use your thumb to pick the bass note(or root note) and then let your fingers choose a pattern that you will repeat over the following chords.

With finger picking your thumb can travel to more than just the bass note and can be part of the pattern you choose. In addition to picking individual strings you can also decide to pick multiple strings simultaneously which can give you a great rhythmic feel.

You can find a great variation of pics at Guitar Center. As you can see, these techniques will really add to your guitar playing. Feel free to visit my website: www.owenhurter.com

So work hard and add these 3 important techniques for guitar players to your tool belt and see the magic happen.

I give Beginner Guitar lessons to Adults and Children in Cary, NC.