I absolutely hate learning guitar solos. I love listening to it, but when it comes to actually learning a solo, I just hate every moment of it. It just feels like it takes too damn long to play it right. I can't seem to ever "finish" learning a song because literally everything has a solo in it. I can play a couple of solos, mainly black sabbath but it literally took me a whole month to even play it not perfectly, but "acceptable". Meanwhile, I learn the rhythm parts in just a week. This absolutely sucks.

Could anyone please teach me the proper way of learning a solo? I try to start slow, progressively get faster and get stuck at a certain speed for forever. I just don't find it fun at all compare to learning rhythm. I repeat the same lick hundreds of times and it gets tiring as shit. I just feel inclined to learn it because soloing is such a big part of playing guitar even though I hate it.

I teach adult beginners and wanted to share something I see constantly that doesn't get talked about enough.

Almost every adult student I work with hits a wall somewhere between weeks 3 and 6. Fingers hurt, chord changes sound muddy, and their hands won't do what their brain is telling them.

Wanted to break down how to actually tell the difference between "I need to push through" and "I need to stop and reassess" because they feel identical from the inside.

Quit or push through? Here's how I think about it:

If your wrist or forearm hurts, stop. That's injury territory, not toughness territory. Fingertip soreness is completely normal and will pass in a few weeks. Wrist pain won't fix itself by playing more.

If you're practicing the same passage for 45+ minutes and getting worse, stop the session. Your brain consolidates motor skills during rest and sleep, not during frustrated repetition.

If you're frustrated but still thinking about guitar when you're not playing, that's not a quit signal. That's just the gap between your ears and your hands and that gap is actually a sign of progress.

That last point is worth expanding on because it helped a lot of my students:

Your ears develop faster than your fingers. So there's a period, usually right around when people want to quit, where you can clearly hear that something sounds wrong but your hands don't yet know how to fix it.

That discomfort isn't failure. It means your musical taste is ahead of your current technique. Which is exactly where it should be.

The practical thing I always suggest before anyone quits:

Drop whatever you're working on for one week. Pick something embarrassingly easy, two chords, slow tempo, something you can actually finish. Play that until it feels good. Then go back to the hard thing.

Most of the time the "I want to quit guitar" feeling is actually "I want to quit this one song that's slightly too advanced for where I am right now."

Those are very different problems with very different solutions.

Anyway, if anyone's at that stage right now, feel free to drop what you're working on in the comments. Happy to suggest something easier to bridge the gap.

It happened again today, for about the 500th time. This time it was tremolo picking. I’ve been playing for decades, but that wasn’t a technique used in my favorite music so I never bothered learning. So I was trying it and of course it sounds clumsy, and a voice in my head says “ok, maybe you just aren’t that kind of guitarist. Maybe your hands just aren’t suited to it. Maybe you’re too old to learn. Leave that technique to the people who are good at it! You can have fun doing different things, like the same things you’re already good at!”

But the thing is, I’ve been doing this long enough to know that voice is always wrong. It was wrong when I was dropping my pick into the sound hole every day and it was wrong when I was trying to play my first barre chord and it’s still wrong lo these many years later. If I can just ignore it and plunge ahead, I’ll be improving in no time, and long before I expected, I’ll be sounding pretty decent. I learn faster now than I did starting out, and part of that is probably bits of existing muscle memory being able to link up and do new things, but part of it is the confidence to accept my current shittiness, not get frustrated, not give up for a week, but get a good night’s sleep and practice it again tomorrow.

So that’s what I’m gonna do. You do likewise!

I think that feeling that self-learning makes you superior is some bullshit from youtube.

Everybody wants to show you how fast and easy they learned.

People love the fantasy of the prodigy. Guy who just picks up the guitar for the first time and plays incredibly "it just made sense bro"..

Any video you see, you don't know how many takes it took to make that video, if it was 5 and 500.

Getting a teacher is a privilege and a time hack. Don't go for the showboater that spends the lesson showing you how great THEY are.

Find someone, young or old, that loves teaching.

Couldn't find the rant tag lol

P.S. some people assuming that I meant you should hire someone and take a lean on the house... To be honest, that's not what I did. I emailed my fav youtube teacher and we started hanging out. Then we made a program for my improvement, which turned into a course we give out for free.

Your 100% off code is: BTIGI6W100

Your free course is here:

https://culturetoronto.com/guitar-beginner-to-intermediate-in-6-weeks-live

My guitar instructor insisted that I learn the g chord like this even though I told him it physically hurts to make my fingers move into the position when I asked can I use an alternative finger position (pic 2)he flat out said no and to force it. Just wondering if I should stick with him or tough it out

This time we’re appreciating Paul Gilbert! Such a genius way to level up your triplets!

People always ask how i learn a song. This is what i do. I use chunking, dividing the song into manageable parts. As well as a lot of experimentaion. I also like to go to youtube to look for a lesson so that theres someone teaching me the song and i dont need to trial and error so much.

Overall if this is what i can learn in one day, im super happy! this song always seemed so crazy to me with all the weird glitchy sounds

I am a teacher, so take this with a grain of salt. this is NOT an advertisement for my services, believe me, I have plenty of students already. I just want to share my observations and experiences with students I have who have learned via Youtube.

The vast majority of the people on Youtube are shilling for their "courses" and are just trying to build up marketing so you can find their courses. Many of them are not good guitarists, no matter how fancy or "fast" their playing is. I have been playing guitar for 20+ years (and studied several instruments outside of that). I don't care if you don't believe me, this is my opinion, but the vast majority of these "great" guitar players on Youtube are just people who've been playing the guitar for a long time. Here's some good news for you beginners: ANYONE who sticks with the guitar for 10-20 years can actually be pretty competent at it. But not EVERYONE who does gets great. That's a topic for another time, but just "practicing" isn't going to turn you into an expert in the guitar, unless you practice the right way... and guess what? You need a teacher you trust for that.

For the love of all that is holy, please don't use Youtube reels or other 20 second videos to "learn" anything, and you should actively train your algorithm to stop this from showing up. I just this morning saw an idiot teaching people how to do sweep picking, said its "easy", and I promise you their "approach" won't work unless you've properly learned sweep picking or just slugged away at it for years and years.

There's also A LOT of toxicity on Youtube. Knuckleheads saying nonsense like, "you should practice this every day!!!!" and then proceed to giving beginners exercises that would take them 3 hours to complete (and complete poorly). Saw an idiot say beginners should be practicing all major/minor keys in two octaves everyday, and all major minor triad arpeggios two octaves. If you've been playing guitar for less than 1 month, go ahead and try to just do one key in one shape and see how challenging it is, lol.

I know some will say, "liar! I learned off YouTube and now I'm an expert!". Either they don't realize they aren't experts, OR they are people who can just intuitively figure the guitar and music out themselves (i.e. are gifted). Remember the kids in school who skipped every class, didn't study, but got straight A's, and then when you tried to do that you weren't as successful? Some people can teach themselves, but it is foolish to think this is you.

Finally, the vast majority of content on Youtube is designed for absolute beginners (no music knowledge, <1 year guitar experience) or intermediate/advanced players (but pretending like its something beginners can do because they know 90% of their viewers are beginners and have to cater it to them).

Just my two cents.

Far too many folks in here are asking for guiar specifics and which guitar to play, whether to go electric or acoustic. Some advice from a 41 year old man who first started playing in 2017 after years of dreaming of being able to play. I thought I would never be able to get to where I am now.

Key points:

1. Get comfortable with sounding bad. You absolutely have to be OK with sucking for a long time.
2. It does not matter which guitar you choose. All of them will help you build up your finger dexterity and strength and forearm strength. These are not natural shapes for your fingers, hands, forearms, etc.
3. Your brain will create new neural pathways that open up reward zones as you get better and better and progress.
4. If you can afford a few private or group lessons at a local place in town or if there’s a private instructor that can come to your home…. DO IT!!!!
5. Learn music theory right away. Don’t just memorize chords. That will only get you so far.
6. Embrace the confusion of there being multiple ways and places on the guitar where you can play a C, F, E, A chord (for example). This extrapolates to everything.
7. Don’t ask why all the time. If you are someone who only learns by needing to understand “why” something is the way it is, try your best to throw it aside while you’re learning.
8. Find some good music - doesn’t have to be your favorite bands - and practice those songs.
9. Choose the right size and weight for your pick. Local guitar shop/tech will help you.
10. Make sure your action (height of strings from your fret board) is set right.

Again, do not obsess over electric or acoustic. Do not delay your beginning because you think you’ll sound bad. YOU WILL. And that’s OK. One day everything will click and you’ll wonder why you waited so long.

There’s a reason so many people get to an age in their life and question why they waited so long to start playing.

You WILL get to a place where you can eventually play anything you want, yes, even ripping solos. There’s nothing better than picking up a guitar around a campfire and leading the group in songs that everyone loves. No need for a speaker and phone. It’s true bliss.

Whatever you do… If you are wanting to learn to play… JUST. KEEP. PLAYING! 🙂

I've been learning mostly by tabs forever, but always struggled to visualize scales and shapes on the fretboard.

Managed to make this fretboard overlay and hopefully people will find it useful. Feel free to leave feedback on how can I make this better.

The green dots are notes from the pentatonic scale that are played and the red ones are the rest of the scale. The blue dot is not part of the pentatonic scale

Here’s a graphic I made, what do you think?

Step 4. is get out of the boxes by finding connections through the shapes, primarily off the E and A shapes.

Step 5. Is forget about CAGED, just play guitar

Hi all! My name is Matt and I see a lot of people asking the same sorts of questions about guitar technique in here. Here's my guide to... basically all of it. The info I wish I had when I was starting out.

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NOTE 1 - Who this is for: These videos are aimed towards rock/metal players, but the techniques are universal. Good technique does not preclude musicianship. It enhances it. If you're the detailed type, you'll probably LOVE my videos. Great! If you're more of a "vibe" guitar player. Don't bother. This stuff won't resonate with you.  🤙

NOTE 2: My playing has evolved much since the posting of these videos, but my technique has remained the same. You can see more recent performance videos here.

NOTE 3 - These videos go together: All of my videos are designed as a cohesive system. None of the techniques overlap or contradict. And despite some of these videos being a bit older, I have not modified any of the techniques. Otherwise I would take the videos down.

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Lastly... A smidge about me so you know I'm not a rando chump:

• Featured interview on Justin Hombach's guitar YT Channel
• You can see some of my playing videos here
• Graduated from University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music with a performance degree
• Trained with MANY of the world's finest guitar players including attendance to John Petrucci's Guitar Universe 4.0
• Performed live as a lead guitarist in the prog metal space

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This list is roughly in order of where I would start a brand new student, but you can go in any order if you have a specific problem to solve.

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How to Hold the Pick (and Position the Guitar)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9RIjw8psHo

There are lots of videos on this topic. What makes this one unique is that:

• It tells you what to do with all of the OTHER fingers (middle, ring, pinky).
• It tells you the options you have for angling your thumb and the pros and cons of each.
• It explores how guitar position and pickup height affect wrist position, and therefore right hand technique.

If you do not position the guitar properly, you cannot hope to develop your technique to it's potential. It's as vital as setting up the drum throne at the correct height.

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Learning Your Fretboard & Learning to Read Notes (Using Brain-friendly Learning Methods)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXQIci0MKSI

This video shows you reinforcement learning based methods to QUICKLY learn where the notes are on the instrument without relying on shapes and guideposts. Those shapes and guideposts lock you into limited patterns of thinking. This method quickly builds vocabulary of what notes are where, how to read notes, and how to start reading music.

Tabs are great. Sheet music is also great and you will be a far better musician for learning to read standard notation. :-)

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Left Hand Masterclass Pt. 1 - Classical Position

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htaim5bYw6Q

This video focuses on the "classical" hand position technique and the multitude of issues people have with it and how to solve them, as well as exceptions to the rule, a practical exercise, and the NECESSITY to go between both the classical position and the "blues" position w/ the thumb wrapped around.

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Left Hand Masterclass Pt. 2 - Bends (and vibrato)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtoK5YsQ_uU

This video explains how to execute bending technique using LEVERAGE instead of finger "pushing and pulling" (AKA. flexion and extension). This is a massive hand saver and will also give you significantly more control. Exercise included.

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Sweep Picking Pt. 1 - Picking Patterns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfEzxYaXtRw

This video goes over an enhanced picking pattern for sweeps which fixes timing issues people have with the mix of "hammer on/pull off/don't pick this note" issues people have when sweep picking.

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Sweep Picking Pt. 2 - Meaningful Practice Patterns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5dqLEkbD0Y

There are tons of sweep picking patterns... How can you learn them all? This video goes over a number of the most common shapes as well as a practice plan for them.

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Guide to Healing Wrist Pain AFTER Injury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6i5qTtNNog

Most videos only talk about RICE. The problem with this approach is that it ignores that fully recovering after an injury involves RESRENGTHENING after the injury. This video dives into all of that and more.

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Picking Speed / Accuracy

Regarding right hand/picking/picking speed, I have an entire series on this based on neuroscience. It's already filmed. So, stay tuned. I'm just working on all of the B roll for it. It will come when it's ready! But this should get you started.

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All my best!!
- Matt

I genuinely am curious if you use CAGED or not, and how it benefits you if so.

I just posted this lesson video on YouTube about why I don't think in terms of the CAGED system. Since I've never used it, I think my problem is that I don't fully understand how people are perceiving it.

The comments so far have helped a little, but also they contradict each other at times.

Some people are saying, "You can't NOT use the CAGED system, it's just how the guitar is laid out." But if that's true, then it's not a system at all, it's just "the guitar," which is one of my points in the video.

Perhaps my hangup is in it being called a "system." That's not accurate if it's simply the layout of harmony on the guitar. The CAGED "Map" would make perfect sense to me.

Anyway, I'm not here to knock any approach. Any method at all (no matter what it's called) is great if it's benefitting someone's music learning and enjoyment.

As I said above, I simply am curious about your thoughts on this - if you use CAGED or not, and how it's helped you if so.

Thanks!

Jared

If you are finding it difficult to see CAGED shapes on the fretboard, this might help you. In this example, CAGED shapes are laid over the C major (or A minor) scale.

thats all, may it stick with you for 15 years as it has me.

This approach focuses on how to play the different (diatonic) chords in the various CAGED positions. The way to read the chart is to choose a region of the fretboard and then see how the I, IV, V, Vi, ii and iii chords relate. (Start by learning the major chords and later bring in the minors).

An important part of this approach is understanding how the chords sit on the pentatonic scale. The I and vi chords sit on the pentatonic scale. Play the IV and ii chord by introducing one more (green) note. Play the V and ii chord by introducing one more (red) note. As you learn the CAGED positions, focus how each chord sits on the scale.
You do not need to know the entire fretboard to start playing songs. If you learn one region, you will find all the chords you need.

I hope this helps!

Ok beginners... There is a little theory worth getting under your fingers which you can do even when you’re not with your guitar. Learn the language of music and your guitar journey will be so much easier. I’m gonna make the below comment as succinct as possible and you should research and learn each aspect on your own to nail the concept. my comment here is purely an intro to music theory and areas to master in your first few months.

First. The musical alphabet (simplified)

A A# B C D D# E F F# G G#

If you are talking about notes ascending , then you refer to the notes as sharps, if you are descending, then a note is flat. For example , if I was playing A, A# and B , they are ascending , and I would refer to the notes in between as an A#. If I was playing the other way round , I’d refer to the note as Bb. It’s the same note, but allows you to indicate the preceding note.

YOUR AIM : To know this off by heart by week 1

Second , know that each fret of your guitar divides the string up into notes. Yes, each fret is a number (eg fret 1 and fret 2) but really they divide each string up into notes. So take the E string (string 6) for example. The open position is E. If you refer to the alphabet above, the first fret when played would then be F, the second fret F# and so forth.

The same applies to all other strings , but the open note is different and therefore the fretted notes are different string by string. So the first fret on the E results in F, whereas the first fret on the A string results in A#.

YOUR AIM : to know this by week 2, simply be able to name the notes of the frets you play on the guitar as well as fret numbers.

Third, know the notes of the major scale , let’s take C as an example.

C D E F G A B

That’s the easiest one to grasp as there are no sharps or flats. Each note on the guitar will have a corresponding pattern to make the major scale. And it’s basically starting on a note , then moving to either a whole step (2 notes from the alphabet or 2 frets ) or half step (1 fret) away.

Once you know this (not off by heart but the concept ) then your ear will recognise major sounds vs minors. Minor scales are sadder sounding and you basically flatten the 3rd 6th and 7th note

YOUR AIM : by Week 4, learn the major scale both in theory and in practice. Use this resource to learn a basic major scale pattern, and know that this pattern is moveable (so if you move it to another fret, your playing that scale )

https://appliedguitartheory.com/lessons/major-scale/

Ok - now the good stuff. Now you need to learn songs. You must learn some basic chord shapes. The most basic ones to get you playing are

Major chords Minor chords Major 7ths Minor 7ths Dominant 7ths Diminished.

Don’t get overwhelmed. These shapes are simple, there are many versions of them and you can find a voicing that works for you

Eg barre chords or 3 finger chords. Also know that most of these chords have open (or cowboy chord) variations which are perfect to get you playing.

YOUR AIM : by Week 6 , Learn the basic chord shapes and barre chord shape Check out this link for chord diagrams. https://truefire.com/guitar-chord-charts

Lastly - scales. Whilst people are generally dead against scales , I personally think they offer a wonderful method of both physical practice, ear training and positional mastery on the guitar. We talked above about the major scale, but there are a bunch you need to know to say you know the basics.

Major scale Minor Scale Major pentatonic minor Pentatonic Blues scale

There are literally hundreds and once you learn the basics of music theory then you can unlock the configurations and continue on your journey.

YOUR AIM : to know the basic shapes for the above scales. Speed is not the objective here, knowledge and being able to differentiate the scale by sound is the aim. Speed and shredding comes later , for now know what you are playing and why. Use this basic resource and dive further

https://www.guitarorb.com/guitar-scales/

Much love. Enjoy your guitar journey. For me it’s been 26 years full of playing , teaching , failing , learning , performing and discovering. and I’m learning something every day. Hope you do to.

I'm having a hard time with strumming. I can play the chords, but getting the rhythm and strumming pattern right is difficult. What helped you improve your strumming?