Jamorama is one of the oldest and largest guitar learning sites on the net. These are good guys and have helped thousands of people learn to play the guitar. They stand by their products and have always honored their money Back Guarantee. If you want to give it a try, know that if you aren’t happy you can cancel the rebill and know that you’ve only shelled out $1. If the rebill goes through and you’re still not happy, simply request a refund – I believe Luis or Dan from Jamorama will help you with that personally.

Click here to grab your guitar course: $1 Jamorama Sale

It’s a no brainer, and a great low risk offer with a discount on the package. Grab a copy and go learn some guitar today.

This one dollar promotion ends tonight! Go Here To View The Deal:

The Jamorama $1.00 Trial is now available. Get your hands on one of the most comprehensive beginner to advanced, step-by-step course for a full 10 day trial and only pay $1.

Click here to get your Trial: Jamorama $1 Trial

This is only available to you now, so don’t delay. Visit the sales page now and see just how easy it is to start improving your playing at no risk and little cost.

Have another read of what’s actually in the course:

• Beginner Course Level 1 – with 54 Video lessons & 16 Jamtracks
• Beginner Course Level 2 – with 90 Video lessons & 10 Jamtracks
• Jamorama Acoustic Focus Lessons – with 5 Video lessons & 26 Jamtracks
•  Jamorama Chord kit – 72 chords, 3 variations, multiple style progressions
•  Jamorama Tuning Guide Book
• Jamorama Bonus Software including: – Jadye Musica Pro, Guitearit!, Guitar Tuner Pro and Jamorama Metronome
• 30 day SongPond starter pack – learn two songs of your choice for FREE

Click here to check out the full details & offer: Jamorama $1 Trial Details

A couple of days ago, I mentioned a special offer from Jamorama on their great guitar course that is perfect for anyone at the beginner/intermediate level of playing.

I received a few questions regarding purchasing and the one dollar trial. It’s simply one dollar up front and 10 days of access to their membership site where you can instantly download the lessons. If you enjoy the course you simply carry on using it and you will be billed the remaining $38.95 ten days later. Note: That’s a 20% discount on the normal website price with only $1.00 upfront to get access to everything.

They accept ALL major credit cards and the payment processor they use is one of the most trusted on the net. A number of people also asked if I could give more information about what each course covered, so I got in contact with the guys at Jamorama (they’re really helpful) and they sent me back this course breakdown:

The Jamorama Beginner Book contains 15 chapters of lessons. Here you will learn the open chords and basic strumming patterns. The book sets you up for reading tab and some basic guitar theory. By the end of the beginner course you will be able to play along with a variety of jam tracks.

The Jamorama Advanced Book contains 26 chapters of lessons. This is where you will learn all major, minor, 7th and barre chords. At the end of the course you will be able to play the majority of chords on the guitar and have the strumming confidence to learn a whole heap of songs. If you complete the Jamorama Advanced course you will have all the skills to go forth and tackle those songs you have always wanted to play or even start jamming with friends in a band situation!

The Acoustic Focus Book covers the same principals that the beginner course goes through, and provides some finger picking lessons, which will help develop your right hand and build strength and dexterity helping your overall ability to play complicated rhythm guitar

The Jamorama Chord kit – is a resource to always have on hand. It includes high quality photos and three variations of each chord. Any teacher will most likely write these out for you on paper, which can easily get lost. But all Jamorama members have access to these chord resources.

The Jamorama Bonus Software package is a gift to everyone that takes up the one dollar trial. Even if you choose to cancel within 10 days. The guys at Jamorama care about their students and offer this like a gift to all members.

PLUS The SongPond Starter Pack 30 days FREE access with 2 FREE song credits. This is their library of songs which all members have access to. If you already play a little guitar and want to develop your skills this bonus will put a smile on your face.

As you can see, it’s a pretty comprehensive course that will definitely help improve your playing. As I mentioned in my earlier email, the only rub is that it’s only going to be available for a limited time. So I’d suggest putting a reminder on your calendar, your fridge, your phone… anything to make sure you don’t miss out on this great offer.

I should have a link soon for you to gain access to the promotion. You won’t find this deal on their website other than from the link.

Brett “Papastache” Papa who is a regular guitar instructor for Marty Schwartz’s GuitarJamz.com did a cool video that is aimed more for the intermediate and advanced players where he shows some really good warm up exercises.

For you beginner guitar players, here is a good warm up routine that Lisa McCormick of GuitarTricks.com put together

I get asked to review guitar courses all the time. I never even tell you about most of them because I usually don’t feel like they live up to my standards. But this is DIFFERENT.  I recently got my hands on a course called, “Jamorama – Ultimate Guitar Learning Package ” I thought the name sounded a little “hyped” up. I mean, “ultimate”? Come on. Anyway, I downloaded the course. I read the description of each chapter and I decided I’d try the “beginner guitar” lessons first.

After only a few minutes, I gotta admit I was impressed by all the open chords, barre chords and strumming exercises included in the first book. Actually, I ended up going through the entire course that same day. And, I gotta admit this is GOOD stuff. And that’s just one of the courses included in the package. It will take you months to get through to the advanced book which leads nicely onto playing more advanced strumming patterns learning songs from their song library and plenty of play along jam tracks.

If you have heard about Jamorama already, the good news is that there is a special promotion coming up which means you can get access to the full Beginner guitar course for a $1.00 Trial. That’s 10 days of lessons completely risk free and if you enjoy the product you can pay for the remainder at a discount.

Have a read of what’s actually in the course:

• Beginner Course Level 1 – with 54 Video lessons & 16 Jamtracks
• Beginner Course Level 2 – with 90 Video lessons & 10 Jamtracks
• Jamorama Acoustic Focus Lessons – with 5 Video lessons & 26 Jamtracks
• Jamorama Chord kit – 72 chords, 3 variations, multiple style progressions
• Jamorama Tuning Guide
• Jamorama Bonus Software including: – Jadye Musica Pro, Guitearit!, Guitar Tuner Pro and Jamorama Metronome
• 30 day SongPond starter pack – learn two songs of your choice FREE

 IMPORTANT: You can ONLY get this one dollar trial for a limited time so keep an eye on this site or sign up for my newsletter for a link to get in on this offer.

Bottom line: If you really want to learn how to play guitar, this is THE course to help you get there. And with the special discount and offer I worked out for you, it’s a no brainer! Stay tuned…

Music is a medium of communication. There’s something inherent in each of us that recognizes and responds to music and allows us to connect and understand one another, despite language barriers. As guitarists, we speak to our listeners not only through what we play, but how we play. The more articulate and emotive we are, the more effectively we’re able to express ourselves. 

When thinking about phrasing as it relates to the guitar, it helps to consider how we speak. We use words to convey meaning. We combine these words to make sentences. But it’s not only word choice that gives meaning to what we say and how the listener interprets what is being said, it’s also how we say those words—the modulation in our voices and the rhythm of our speech. If we’re angry, for instance, we might raise our voice and speak with pointed words. If we have a secret to convey, we might whisper it in haste. We may pause for effect or to take a breath, and put emphasis on certain words to give them added meaning. The way we use words when speaking is called phrasing.

To further understand this concept, let’s imagine what it might be like to read a book that has no punctuation, no capitalization, no paragraphs or chapters. A passage might read something like this: There were dead faintly seen in offices to either side he climbed out over a fallen wall and made his way slowly toward the voices in the stairwell in near dark a woman carried a small tricycle tight to her chest a thing for a three year old handlebars framing her ribs they walked down thousands and he was in there with them he walked in a long sleep one step and then the next there was water running somewhere and voices in an odd distance coming from another stairwell or an elevator bank out in the dark somewhere. You get the picture. Pretty tiresome and confusing stuff, no? Well, the same principle applies with music. A guitar solo that consists of two minutes of non-stop sixteenth notes will sound like a bunch of gibberish, and you will eventually lose your audience. It takes phrasing to make your sound interesting and meaningful.

When it comes to soloing, most guitarists focus on what to play instead of how to play. Fact is, the nuances of phrasing, how the notes are played, is the most important aspect of creating dynamic guitar solos. So why do so very few guitarists learn to develop this key element of their playing? And what exactly is phrasing anyway?

Phrasing, as it applies to language, is defined as a word or a collection of words that the mind focuses on momentarily as a meaningful unit, and is preceded and followed by pauses. In musical terms, it refers to the grouping of notes in a line of music into distinct phrases. Phrases can contain any number of notes, possibly even a single note played in a distinct rhythmic fashion. To think of phrasing in vocal terms, it is a length that doesn’t exceed what the lungs can handle. What fits in the space of a breath. Phrasing is instinctive—it isn’t just something you understand, it’s something you feel. It’s the punctuation of music. The lifeblood of a song. The beginning of the subjective and interpretive aspect of being a musician and making music. Phrasing is what distinguishes a solo from just a bunch of scales and arpeggios. It’s what you do with all those notes and licks you already know.

A rather bloated yet oddly vague definition, but phrasing is an inexact term. Music can be abstract and there is often more than one definition and/or correct answer to any question on phasing. We’re dealing with the expression of ideas here. Ideas that change and are interpreted in different ways.

Most beginning guitarists concern themselves with everything but phrasing. Consequently, many of their solos sound nearly identical to one another. Often times when we become frustrated with our soloing, we think the answer is to keep on learning things, like new scales, when what we really need to work on is our phrasing. While notes are a very important part of phrasing, guitarists too often get wrapped up in them. You can know all the scales in the world, but if you can’t play those notes with dynamics, rhythm, and articulation, your solos will be dull and lack meaning. It’s a bit like memorizing words of a foreign language but being unable to use them to converse. You must connect to the music if you are to speak through it. Let the words feed through your fingers and out your strings.

Unfortunately, guitar phrasing is something that is rarely taught well or learned effectively. As a result, most players lack the ability to fully express themselves on the guitar. As I mentioned earlier, a lot of phrasing is instinct, which comes with time and practice. There are many things you can work on to help with phrasing though. Here are a few suggestions and basic exercises to get you started.

First of all, when learning to solo, don’t copy someone else. You don’t speak exactly like the person next to you, do you? Everyone has a unique voice and perspective, and this is what needs to come through in your guitar playing. Dig deep.

Start equating your playing with speech. Think about all the things that make up speech and try to implement them into your playing. Think in terms of sentences when you play a phrase. Try pausing more often as you do when you are speaking. Think about how you can use your instrument to make notes sound more like speech by using inflections, volume, vibrato, bending, legato, staccato, etc.

One of the best things you can do to create better guitar solos is to listen to and carefully study your favorite singers. Learn every little nuance of their vocal phrasing and vibrato, and most importantly, the musical contexts in which they made various phrasing and vibrato choices when singing. Notice the difference between their vocal phrasing (how they sing their notes and phrases) and your guitar phrasing (how you play your notes and phrases). Then listen carefully to how these singers construct their phrases and compare that to how you create your guitar solos. When you start to pay attention to this, you’ll probably make some very cool and powerful observations that you can apply to your own guitar solos.

You can also improve your phrasing by actively listening to some of your favorite guitarists. Many of us make the mistake of thinking that music can be learned and mastered simply by reading books and articles on the matter. As helpful as these resources can be, music is an aural art form. Active listening involves full engagement with the music. This is not the kind of listening you do when you’re driving down the road with your friends. Use a good pair of headphones or good speakers and limit your distractions. Listen for things like dynamics, articulation, how the players respond to each other, textures, rhythms, tone, etc. And don’t limit yourself to only the genres, players, and instruments you like. Branch out.

Another idea you might try is call and response. Play a short lick, let it hang a little on a tense note, and then reply to it. Make a conversation of your phrases.

Work on bending slowly. Bends start somewhere and go somewhere. Don’t rush them. There is a time and place for fast bending, but try bending slowly to hear and feel all that bend has to say.

Work on vibratos. They add life to sustained or held notes that would otherwise sound vapid. Vibratos intensify the impact and the emotion of the music and help give it character. The best time to apply a vibrato is when the note is going to be held for a period of time. Slide your finger back and forth rapidly along the string within one fret. Even though the finger is not sliding or moving outside of the fret, the sound becomes slightly sharper when you move it towards the nut of the guitar, and flattens when you slide your finger towards the bridge of the guitar.

Develop dynamic variation when playing your scales. Dynamics refers to changes in volume. Amateur guitarists tend to play in monotone, never changing their dynamics at all. Take a familiar scale pattern that you are very comfortable with. Play the scale starting off at a very low volume and try to steadily increase it until you are at the top of the scale pattern. Then steadily decrease the volume on your way back down the scale pattern. Try to be as drastic as possible with this exercise. Then experiment with more subtle variations. It’s far more difficult to decrease volume steadily than it is to increase it, so be aware of that while you’re practicing.

Articulation brings your music to life. It involves many guitar techniques like bends, slides, legato, staccato, vibrato, hammer-ons and pull-offs. To help you improve your articulation, find a simple melody that’s easy to play, like “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.” Choose one of the techniques listed above and use it to embellish and enhance the melody. Try playing it as smoothly as possible once, then as staccato as possible after that. Try sneaking in a few bends wherever you can. See how many variations of this simple melody you can come up with.

Let the notes breathe a little bit. Slow down the phrase and maybe stop playing all together. The silence in music is just as important as the music itself. Silence, or holding a note a little bit longer, draws the listener in and creates a sense of anticipation.

Change the meaning of a song by accentuating certain notes. For instance, thinking in terms of speech now, consider the phrase “Take me there.” Three short words. But if you accentuate and put emphasis on different words within that phrase, the meaning drastically changes. “Take me there.” “Take me there.” “Take me there.” If you say those phrases out loud, accentuating the italicized words, you’ll hear the difference. The meaning of the phrase changes. Now apply this to your lead playing. Stress a few notes by making them louder or softer, longer or shorter, and you will change the whole context and meaning of a phrase.

Phrasing is a vast subject and one worth devoting time to in your practice sessions. I’ve only scratched the surface of the concept here to try and give you an idea of what phrasing can do for your music in terms of self-expression. Do yourself a favor and delve further into it. Killer phrasing is what stands between you and greatness.

Give a listen to what Anders Mouridsen has to say about phrasing in his tutorial, Intro to Blues Phrasing. 

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How many guitarists can you name who you consider to be truly original and innovative? No doubt you can come up with a few dozen, but consider for a moment how grossly disproportionate that number is to the number of guitarists out there. This raises the question of whether it’s really that difficult to be original. Have all the good chord progressions, melodies, riffs and licks already been written? Do we stand a chance of saying something new with our music, or are we doomed ad infinitum to recycle old material and lift the sounds and styles of the legendary guitarists who have come before us?

Almost everyone who picks up a guitar starts out by mimicking solos from their favorite guitarists. It’s a time-honored way to develop your library of licks, as well as a good way to discover new concepts and ideas. But if you aspire to join the ranks of the greats, you certainly can’t sound exactly like them, and I’m not talking about guitarists whose influences are evident in their playing. Guitar beasts like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Django Reinhardt, and Jimi Hendrix may have borrowed ideas from their influences, but they took those ideas and put their own spin on them, which resulted in music that was unique and revolutionary. No, I’m referring here to people who play the same gear, emulate the same tone, wear the same clothes, write songs in the same vein using the same scales, riffs, chords, and rhythms as their guitar heroes, essentially becoming clones of their idols. A surefire way to make you easily forgettable.

Once you get beyond the beginning stages of guitar playing, your goals should include expressing yourself. After all, isn’t that really what being a musician is about? If you truly want to touch people with your music or make some sort of impact with it, you have to try to say and do something new. The real trick to making music that stops people in their tracks is to take what you learn from your influences and make it your own.

Originality, that certain hard-to-define quality that stamps a piece of music as yours rather than a note-perfect copy of someone else’s, is nothing more than gathering all your life experiences and influences and filtering them through your own unique perspective. It originates from within, and doesn’t ask that you be different from everyone else, just that you be yourself. Originality is not what you want, it’s what you are.

In the history of the world, there is no thought or emotion we can think or feel that someone, somewhere throughout time, hasn’t already thought or felt. All of the typical things done on the guitar, pretty much every note or combination of notes that can be dreamed up, everything you might think to do, has already been played by someone before you. So relax. Your job in playing more authentic music is to take those notes, mix them up, and inject your own personality into them via phrasing techniques such as rhythmic variety, bending, slurs, slides and vibrato so that your guitar playing stands out from the pack.

Even if you aren’t the least bit interested in becoming the next big thing in the music world, you should still strive to be unique in your guitar playing. Why? Because music is a medium of self-expression. You don’t think, act, speak, dance, or dress in the exact same manner as anyone else, so why would you create songs that are note-for-note replicas of someone else’s work. The point of creation is to communicate to the world something that is uniquely you. Even if it’s just some simple melody you thought up.

While there is no magic formula for originality, the following are some tips to help you in your quest to play music that not only speaks to you, but about you.

The first step to originality is to get clear on what it is you are trying to express. Common sense, right? But you might be surprised to know how many people shoot arrows while blindfolded, expecting to land a bull’s-eye. If you’re unfocused, your music will reflect that confusion. Take some time to craft a clear vision of what you want your music to say. It’s not enough to pick up your guitar and randomly improvise some riffs, melodies or chord progressions, then stumble onto some ideas that sound good but with which you have no personal connection, mash it all up, and hope for something momentous to result. At all stages of the creative process, ask yourself what feelings, what thoughts, you want to convey to your listener.

Create what you like to hear. When you are creating something musical, ask yourself what it is you want to hear next, and not what it is you should do next. Another obvious and simple concept, right? But again, what is simple isn’t always easy. Asking yourself what you want to hear next is natural and instinctive. There are no rules and no limits. Most importantly, it’s your true original self that answers.

Some musicians find it difficult to hear music in their head. If you are one of them, what you might try is to first develop a phrase, and then imagine or try to “hear” the next phrase in your mind. Instead of always falling back on some old technique you do well, get quiet and listen to what your mind’s ear is telling you to do. It doesn’t matter if what you hear sounds totally different than anything you’ve heard before, or if it sounds like something you’ve heard a million times. It’s important not to confuse originality with being different than everyone else. Never avoid doing something ordinary or common out of fear that your idea won’t be original. Seek to be neither the same nor different than others. Be yourself.

And if in taking this advice to heart you still find your can’t “hear” the music in your head, try improvising by using your voice. Create simple melodic ideas by humming or singing anything that comes to mind. Using your voice will free you from always relying on your fingers for ideas. The voice can bridge the inner musical self with the outer musical world.

Take your favorite licks and vary the rhythmic feel. Say a phrase you’re working on has straight eighth notes. Try changing some notes to triplets. Change the note values, hold some notes longer and some shorter than the original phrase. You might also try varying the note sequence. Change the pitch of one or two notes. Change the order of the notes. Play the riff backwards. Change both the pitch and order of the notes. Play around with the licks you already have in your arsenal to come up with something new and different. Let your fingers be moved by the beat and the rhythms in your head and heart.

Phrasing, improvising and songwriting are the main application skills in music. Don’t fall short in these areas. No matter what your abilities are at this point, make room in your practice schedule to work on these skills alongside chords, scales, theory, and everything else. Don’t wait for that elusive day when you think you will have mastered the guitar to do so. Incorporate these skills into your practice sessions now.

Expose yourself to a wide variety of music. Expose yourself to all kinds of music, not just the genres you typically favor. Take in a few indie bands. Drop by a record shop that specializes in rare music. Buy some records that maybe haven’t sold well. Just because a band isn’t popular with the masses doesn’t mean they aren’t good. Find out what you’ve been missing.

Don’t limit yourself to music when looking for musical inspiration. There is an infinite wealth of inspiring ideas to be had in other forms of art. You can draw inspiration from literature, science, nature, different religions, foods, cultures, etc. Most importantly, look inward to your own emotions, thoughts, and desires.

Forget about rules for awhile. If you don’t want to play chords, then don’t. If you don’t want to have the typical bass, guitar, drums, and singer in your band, then don’t. Have a keyboard player, or a cello, anything you can think of. Play how you want to play and don’t concern yourself with what other bands or people think. Don’t let your creativity be impeded by the internal judge. Remember, when it comes to matters of self-expression, anything and everything goes.

Experience life. Go out and do stuff, get into trouble if you need to, anything that gets the juices flowing. If you don’t experience life, then what do you have to write about? Lyrics, and music in general, are so much more vivid and effective if you actually experience some of what you’re writing about. Experience breathes life into your words and music.

Play around with your instrument. If you have written song after song in normal standard tuning, then change it up some and try alternate tunings. Or change from playing electric to playing acoustic. Go from strumming to fingerpicking, and then fingerpicking to tapping. Hit notes with less or more of the pick. Experiment on your instrument. You never know what cool things you might discover.

Less is more. Don’t try to be Eddie Van Halen with a million changes in your songs. Again, be yourself. The Ramones, Nirvana, The Sex Pistols, even the Beatles all had simple songs in their repertoires. No matter how expert you become on your instrument, don’t ever hesitate to go back to the basics. Remember, melody rules. No matter how the song is structured or its degree of complexity, people are always drawn to a good melody.

Don’t concentrate solely on covers. The tendency to want to copy your idols is very common. If you look at the amount of guitar tablature that’s out there on the internet and published monthly in guitar magazines, you realize there are a huge number of guitarists who want to learn songs note for note. And if you happen to be part of a cover band, playing a song exactly the way it’s written, or as close as humanly possible, is often essential. After all, the goal of a cover band is to duplicate songs accurately. Too much deviation from the recorded version might bring the wrath of your audience down upon you.

But the more covers you play, the less original your work is going to be. Your ability to play what you’re thinking and feeling at any given time will suffer. In order to be original, you’ve got to break away from your heroes and influences. It’s perfectly natural to emulate the guitarists you most revere when you’re starting out, but at some point you need to develop the ability to think for yourself and play new parts and rhythms to your favorite songs. Take a chance and put your own spin on a tune. Van Halen’s cover of “You Really Got Me” sounds nothing like the version by The Kinks because Eddie decided not to make an exact copy of the original. He knew people would rather hear his sound instead, and he was right. Get comfortable treating familiar tunes with something new and innately you.

And if you’re in a cover band, try working some original material into your sets. Start slipping one original tune into each gig, then add a second and a third. Before you know it, you can work it so that over half your set is original material. Keep in mind that no matter how authentic your rendition of “Smoke on the Water” may be, no one is going to wave money in the face of a musician who is a competent cover artist. Think fresh and new.

That being said, it’s a lot scarier to play something totally new and original for an audience than it is to play something that’s familiar to them. But don’t always opt to play it safe. Put yourself out there.

When next you hear that lick, that sound that gives you chills and transports you to another place, remember that a musician who found his or her own voice is playing it. Each and every one of us has been gifted with creativity and originality. As a guitarist, make it your goal to talk to the soul of your listener through your own unique style and sound.

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Here is a great video lesson from JamPlay.com on an exercise you can incorporate in to your playing to help build up your speed and endurance so you can down pick the masters of metal!

Be sure to check out my article Battle of the Metal Guitar Courses for a review of my favorite guitar instruction for learning to play heavy metal on the guitar.

It takes a lot of time and effort to master this particular technique. And if you’re new to playing the guitar, it will also probably hurt your fingers and frustrate you to no end if you can’t get those barre chords sounding right the first few times you play them. You will encounter a lot of problems as you try to tackle learning barre chords, but don’t worry, because there are remedies to these problems. Read on and learn more.

PROBLEM 1: There’s a buzzing sound when I play barre chords.

There are a few reasons that cause that buzzing sound when you play barre chords. One is that your fingers are not positioned properly, and this may be causing you to press down on other strings, which causes the buzzing sound. Another reason is that your bar finger may not be putting the right pressure on the strings, which causes the sound of the barre chord to be muted, or to give off that buzzing sound.

How do you solve this? Simple. Before you play the barre chord, check you’re the position of your fingers first. Make sure that your bar finger is pressing down on all of the strings required – strum the strings first when you bar your finger across the fret, and listen to the sound you create. If it produces a good solid sound, then your bar is just right. Next, position each finger carefully on the other strings. If you have to do it one at a time to make sure that you are not pressing down on other unnecessary strings, do so just to be safe. Strum again to check. Slowly but surely should do the trick.

PROBLEM 2: My bar finger hurts when I play too long.

Playing barre chords will really cause sore fingers at some point, especially if you are just starting out. There really is no easy way around this, not if you want to master playing barre chords. Your fingers will hurt because the skin is soft, plus your hands and fingers are not yet used to the pressure you have to put on the strings to make them sound just right.

To lessen the pain on your bar finger, try this little trick: roll your finger slightly so that it is the edge of your finger pressing down on the strings and not the soft part. This should lessen the pressure your bar finger feels, plus it will make “barring” easier for you.

The more you practice, and the more you play your guitar, the less your fingers will hurt because in time, your fingers will develop calluses – the skin on your fingers will toughen as they get used to pressing down on guitar strings and creating music.

PROBLEM 3: Transitioning from one chord to another.

Aside from hurting fingers and buzzing sounds, another common problem encountered by beginner guitarists when they play barre chords is transition. Playing one barre chord is one thing, but to play a number of barre chords in succession is a different matter. Sometimes it can get confusing because of all the chords you have to keep in memory, and this causes the awkward pause when you shift from one chord to another.

What you can do to improve on transitioning from one barre chord to another is to learn the different “shapes” of barre chords. When you take away the bar, these chords have a common shape, such as the A or E chord. Familiarize yourself with the basic “shapes” that make up a barre chord. Aside from this, spend time everyday to practice these chords. Regular practice and repetition is the only way for you to memorize the chords. Once you have the chords committed to memory, playing them on your guitar won’t be a problem anymore.

There you have it, the most common problems with barre chords answered and solved. Just keep playing, and don’t let yourself be discouraged when you find yourself having a hard time with those barre chords.

Want More?

When it comes to making & playing bar chords, if you get butter fingers, a sore wrist, a cramping hand, or a weird sounding buzzing noise, then check out this awesome course from Beginner Guitarist Academy called Barre Chords Made Easy:

The problem with exercises or “drills” is that they get boring and repetitive.  I give my students exercises to mix in with their song practice but the problem I found was that they wouldn’t do them.  I came across an awesome program called Finger Trainer from Shred Academy.  This program features real drums, and real guitar. You are able to play along with the example and feel like you are in a real band setting.  Once I set my students up with this, their skills improved dramatically!

Finger Trainer has Bending exercises, Alternate Picking, String Skipping,Legato, Tapping, perhaps the most difficult and desired technique of all - Sweep Picking, and something that most teaching neglects - Combinations of multiple techniques so you can learn to apply them in real life away from the training ground. They even include a lesson manual which explains what every technique is, and how to do it!

It is important as a new guitar player to begin working on key exercises that you will be able to use in every song that you learn to play.

Click the image below to check it out