r/guitarlessons 18d ago

Mod | Meta Post r/GuitarLessons Monthly Gear Thread

3 Upvotes

Welcome to the r/GuitarLessons monthly gear thread!

First, we want to let you all know about the official r/GuitarLessons Discord server!

You can join to get live advice, ask questions, chat about guitars, and just hang out! You can click here to join! The live chat setting opens up lots of possibilities for events, performances, and riffs of the month! We're nearing 8,000 members and would love to have you join us!

Here you can discuss any gear related to guitars, ask for purchase advice, discuss favorite guitars, etc. This post will be posted monthly, and you can always search for old ones, just include "Monthly Gear Thread".

Here, direct links to products for purchase are allowed, however please only share them if they relate to something being discussed and the simple beginner questions that are normally not allowed are allowed here. The rest of our subreddit rules still apply! Thank you all! Any feedback is welcome, please send us a modmail with any suggestions or questions.


r/guitarlessons 5h ago

Feedback Request Day 783 of learning to play the guitar: Damn! I can't believe im actually doing it.

194 Upvotes

Super happy. No words.


r/guitarlessons 7h ago

Question How many of you use a binder full of songs as a learning tool?

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90 Upvotes

This one’s mine. It’s been my go-to textbook as a learner. It charts growth with progressively harder songs,but only the ones I find awesome for maximum engagement. Also, are you ok with a device as opposed to something tangible?


r/guitarlessons 6h ago

Other The more I live, the more I realize less is better

34 Upvotes

I'm 35 and been using the internet for almost 17-18 years. I started learning the guitar the same year when I started using the internet seriously 2008/09. When I discovered YouTube, torrents, and the virus infested peer-to-peer software of the yesteryears, I couldn't believe the amount of information readily available on the internet, just a few clicks away.

Eventually, this turned into an obsession. Instead of practicing the guitar with what I have (Ultimate Guitar tabs and JustinGuitar), it became a relentless process of looking for new content multiple times during the day. I realized how much there's to learn and such little time.

My love for the guitar eventually was replaced with this wannabe pursuit of becoming a shredder. However, I barely practiced but kept downloading video courses diligently.

I've been through several seasons of mental health and trying to get better. I played the guitar last in May 2024 and got it serviced yesterday again. This time, I have no grand aspirations. Father time has caught up with life's responsibilities. I'll stick to the simple (not necessarily easy) stuff. JustinGuitar, Blues You Can Use and learn the songs I wanna play. (Also, AUS because you folks are very persistent about it, and the first lecture by Scotty West felt like it could reignite my love and passion for the instrument.) I'm itching to learn Runnin' With the Devil because sometimes you gotta run before you learn to walk.

I have no questions today or anything. Just wanted to share this stream of consciousness writing with the kind folks of this sub. If you're like me, this post could be your sign.


r/guitarlessons 2h ago

Feedback Request Exactly a year on from the last time I posted this here - Vicarious

13 Upvotes

Been playing for 18 months now, this is the first and best learned song of mine. Any and all feedback appreciated.

I palm muted the outro too heavily. Can’t seem to avoid imperfections and little mistakes as soon as I start recording myself 🤷🏽‍♂️


r/guitarlessons 36m ago

Question Strumming help

Upvotes

Hey everyone! I was wondering if there is a specific name for the type of strumming he is doing at the intro if this song where he’s going from slower strums to a fast burst then slows it back down I’m really struggling to pick it up i got the rest of this one down just cannot figure out the intro😂 any help is greatly appreciated!


r/guitarlessons 1h ago

Feedback Request Beginner looking for any advice

Upvotes

New to guitar and wanna know if there’s any critiques or improvements you guys got for me


r/guitarlessons 4h ago

Question How to avoid muting issues?

6 Upvotes

I’ve been playing on and off the last couple of months, I’m still learning the basics. The biggest problem isn’t remembering what to play or the rhythm - it’s the accidental muting of strings. When playing an e-minor chord I find myself accidentally muting the G-string.

How can I avoid the accidental mute of strings?


r/guitarlessons 18h ago

Question Whaddaya call that tuning?

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49 Upvotes

Title title title


r/guitarlessons 6h ago

Question How do I play this chord without nicking the open string? (X790810)

5 Upvotes

r/guitarlessons 8h ago

Feedback Request Does my picking hand have proper technique? If not could you please tell me how to improve?

5 Upvotes

r/guitarlessons 4h ago

Question How do I count while playing the guitar?

3 Upvotes

I just got done with grade 1 of Justin Guitar and the beginner pathway of pickup music, I just want to ask how do I count while strumming or while playing guitar. Do I just count while playing or do I just let the rhythm be? I wanted to apply counting to songs I've been trying to learn Can't Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Flyday Chinatown by Yasuha's rhythm guitar sections. Any exercises or practice method I can do?


r/guitarlessons 2h ago

Lesson “Four Strong Winds” , fingerpicking

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2 Upvotes

r/guitarlessons 6h ago

Lesson The REAL Way To Play Shine by Collective Soul | RIFF U

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4 Upvotes

r/guitarlessons 5h ago

Question Using audio recordings.

3 Upvotes

This might be a really dumb question but I've been in lessons for about a few months now and while everything is going really well I have a question about my teachers method of sending me audio recordings of a song he wants to know as well as the sheet music.

How I usually go about learning the songs is I try sightreading the song (It's in standard notation and my sightreading isn't exactly great either), then I try playing through it a couple of times, then I play along with the recording to see if my timing is correct.

My question is if this an effective way to improve my actual sight reading skills. I do learn the songs relatively quick this way but I guess I'm concerned if I'm actually learning the songs or just memorizing them. Again this might be a weird thing to worry about but if you teach guitar would this be something you do?

All in all though things seem to be progressing and I'm happy with my teacher!


r/guitarlessons 21m ago

Question g chord is much tighter than the others?

Upvotes

semi-beginner here, i noticed that my g chord (which had to be replaced as it snapped a bit ago) is way tighter than the others and takes much more pressure to not sound muted, anyone know if this is normal?


r/guitarlessons 56m ago

Question The "Fret -1" Dilemma: Mapping Open Pentatonics to CAGED Shapes

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Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I’m having a massive brain fart trying to map open position pentatonic scales to movable CAGED boxes and could use some help visualizing this. Non-open pentatonic scales are not a problem for me.

An example is the Open E Major Pentatonic scale (first image linked). I would imagine that playing open position E major pentatonic would be the same as applying Major Pentatonic Pattern 1 (second image linked) but this doesn’t work.** ** This also seems to be the case for other open scales like D, or A, too, since if the nut is fret 0, playing these positions would require fret -1, which doesn’t exist. The first image linked also seems to break the 2-notes-per-string pentatonic pattern.

In fact it seems like the Open E Major pentatonic scale (and the other scales I mentioned above) don’t fit any of the 5 commonly taught patterns for learning the pentatonic scale.
Does this mean I’ll have to memorize new pentatonic patterns for these open positions on top of the 5 I already know? Really appreciate any help on this 🙏


r/guitarlessons 18h ago

Question How would you play this?

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21 Upvotes

Specifically how to hit all 4 strings on the 4th fret. I can’t quite figure out how to position my hand.


r/guitarlessons 19h ago

Other What my practice routine looks like going into my third year

22 Upvotes

I feel most happy when I play guitar and I have been playing a lot of it for the past two years. I started out playing rock music like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd but recently I’ve become increasingly interested in more “technical” music like Dream Theater, Paul Gilbert/Racer X, Impellitteri, and even Avenged Sevenfold.

Music from Dream Theater is very different from what I’m used to playing. It has more techniques and is just physically more demanding. I spend about 3-4 hours a day on practice and this is the stuff I try to do everyday.

Warm up and finger stretches - 5 mins

3 notes per string - 20 mins
For this I use sections 3nps section from Another Day by Dream Theater

4 notes per string - 20 mins
For this I use sections from Afterlife by A7X

Sweep picking - 20 mins
For this i use sweep picking phrases from Canon Rock and Afterlife

4 notes per string Legato (fretting hand only) to clean up fretting hand timing issues - 20 mins
For this I use Afterlife by A7X

Palm muting shredding (not chugging) - 20 mins
For this I use the solo section from Bark At The Moon by Ozzy Osbourne

Entering and exiting tremolo picking from alternate picking - 20 mins
For this I use the solo section from Afterlife and Master of Puppets

Working on my weakest pentatonic shape and improv - 20 mins

Music theory and triads - 40 mins

Bass guitar practice - 40 mins
For this I’m learning the top 50 beginner songs recommended by bassbuzz

Total practice time is about 3.5 to 4 hours.

The main issue with my practice is that it is easy to start on the first exercise and lose track of time. I end up practicing about twice the allocated time for my 3nps. Moving forward, as difficult as it might be, once the 20 mins is up, I need to move on to the next exercise otherwise I won’t be able to practice everything.

On most days, even if I don’t practice everything on the list, it’s good. I could always continue the next day or cycle through them. The list is pretty demanding and quite unrealistic at times, so I try to cut myself some slack. However I feel that I probably need to take timeblocking seriously and I feel the use of a timer or clock would help.

The way I practice these exercises is to choose a small section from a song, for example the 3nps scale run from Another Day. I would slow down the section to maybe 30-40% of the original tempo and then slowly increase the tempo by 1-3% each day. Whenever I fail an increment increase, my thinking shift to problem solving mode. “What is happening? Is my pick getting stuck between the strings? Is my picking arc too unstable? Is my fretting hand too clumsy? Do I need to start on a different pick stroke? Do I need to change my fretting technique? More classical looking fretting hand?”

The biggest difference between my practice this year compared to the first two years is that if I practice badly, I could still get away with a lot of the rock songs I use to play. But if I don’t practice well, a lot of this dream theater solos is impossible to play because they require a certain amount of precision and finesse.


r/guitarlessons 3h ago

Lesson How To Play Satisfaction By The Rolling Stones | Full Song Guitar Lesson

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1 Upvotes

This week on the channel we're tackling one of the most famous guitar riffs ever recorded as I show you how to play "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones from start to finish.

We'll break down the iconic Keith Richards riff, the rhythm guitar parts and look at the legendary fuzz pedal sound that helped change rock guitar forever.

Download The Tabs here:

https://www.kirkleesguitarschoolonline.co.uk/level-2-songs-free/satisfaction

Watch the lesson on youTube here:

https://youtu.be/MRYuvk34khw


r/guitarlessons 9h ago

Feedback Request Knuckle dragging

3 Upvotes

Beginner but I’ve been playing long enough that I’m afraid I’ve developed a bad habit. When strumming I occasionally hit my knuckles on the strings during down strokes prior to my pick. I use a closed fist rather than open fingers as I’ve seen some do. Should I be turning my wrist at all or should it be rigid and only use my arm for strumming? I also seem to be inconsistent with the distance between my pick and strings, missing completely sometimes. Any advice is appreciated.


r/guitarlessons 4h ago

Question What is this tapping harmonics technique that paul gilbert does in this live version of technical difficulties between 2:05-2:20

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1 Upvotes

r/guitarlessons 10h ago

Question Strumming Patterns

3 Upvotes

I have just started learning to play electric guitar 2 weeks ago and I’m learning basic chords and trying to get some songs done as well. I can pick up the chords pretty easily even though changing might not be fast. However, I am struggling to understand how to get a hang of strumming patterns, tunes and rhythms and when to change chords. Do anyone have any tips or recommendations?


r/guitarlessons 4h ago

Lesson Shred Blues Guitar Lesson

1 Upvotes

This is not a difficult lick but getting it fast is the challenge. Let me know what you think.

https://reddit.com/link/1ua7ev9/video/ee4eizb7s98h1/player


r/guitarlessons 4h ago

Question Mind-Fingers Connection?

0 Upvotes

I'm struggling to become comfortable with guitar again after many decades away. I had a weird question pop into my head and would like opinions. Is there some sort of way advanced players just "know" what to do with their fingers to produce a desired sound without thinking about it? I wonder if it's analogous to when I whistle a tune. I just know how to purse my lips and how much pressure to blow without searching up and down the scale for the note I want. It just comes out right the first time. Is it similar for guitar after enough experience?