Economy picking is one of the most efficient ways to move across the strings on the guitar, blending the precision of alternate picking with the fluid motion of sweep picking. By minimizing unnecessary hand movement, it allows for smoother and faster lines. Economy picking is one of those techniques that can happen naturally, but also […]

String skipping is one of those necessary evils when it comes to playing guitar. It’s a technique that can be quite frustrating to play cleanly and mistake free at first, but it’s one you have to get down. Not to worry. In this lesson we’re going to go through some simple string skipping exercises that […]

If you’re familiar with the CAGED system, then you know it’s a way to use open chord shapes to map out guitar chords all over the fretboard. But the system goes far beyond just chords to incorporate arpeggios, pentatonic scales, and diatonic scales. In this lesson we’re going to look at an exercise that that […]

Broken chords are absolutely fundamental to playing the guitar. They’re utilized in so many songs, it’s essential to hone your skills in this area, particularly your picking skills. So in this lesson we’re going to look at what broken chords are and dive into a few exercises to get your fundamentals up to speed. Let’s […]

In this lesson we’re going to take a look at some guitar finger exercises that are useful for isolating problematic finger patterns. These exercises will help build coordination and finger independence.

In this lesson we’re going to dive into some guitar exercises for the 3-notes per string major scale. These exercises will help you learn the scale patterns and improve your ability to play them fluently. They’ll also expose you to some common note patterns that can be applied to guitar solos and other scale exercises.

In this lesson we’re going to use a harmonization exercise to help you learn your 7th chords. This exercise will expose you to several chord forms for major, minor, and half-diminished 7th chords. Also, it provides plenty of repetition to help get the chords embedded into your muscle memory.

One of the most useful skills when it comes to navigating the guitar fretboard is to be able to identify a pentatonic scale pattern from a single root note anywhere on the fretboard. This will allow you to not only play around any given position on the fretboard, but also be able to move seamlessly between positions and scale patterns.

With the guitar there are limitless ways we can go about practicing things like scales, chords, and arpeggios. Something I’ve found fun is to incorporate other music elements or concepts as a way to guide a practice session. One such method is by using the circle of fifths to provide structure to practicing arpeggios. Circle […]