Ok, it's that time again-I repost this every couple of

years--80 guitar tips that will break up your playing/practice routines.....

All of my students receive this--very useful if you need some new inspiration.....some are
easy....many are not...

Guitar Tip #80--Sometimes the best and most uniform sound is accomplished by playing your
melodies up and down a single string..

Guitar Tip #79--Practice improvising ascending melodic lines over chord progressions that descend-
-and vice versa.....
Guitar Tip #78--Keep a "resource journal". Things to work on, songs to learn, rhythmic figures, new
techniques, song ideas--all go here...
Guitar Tip #77--For a consistent sound when improvising solo guitar, keep the volume of your single
note lines the same as your chord work.
Guitar Tip #76--Practice improvising AVOIDING the root of each passing chord--a great way to
discover new "directions" for your melodies.
Guitar Tip #75--Write chord progressions consisting of completely random chords (E7#9-FMaj7-
Db9-Eb11-Gadd9-F#7#5#9-C6, etc), then improvise!
Guitar Tip #74-Practice improvising by alternating ascending and descending lines. ex.
Gm7(ascending), C7(descending), FMaj7(ascending) etc.
Guitar Tip #73--There is no such thing as "old jazz". How can improvised music, played in the
current moment be "old"?
Guitar Tip #72--Play melodic lines, scales, licks, and arpeggios from ANY beat but "one". Displacing
rhythms should reveal many new ideas.
Guitar Tip #71-Try starting melodic lines with a large intervalic leap followed by a scalar "return". Try
ascending and descending leaps.
Guitar Tip #70--Repeating an idea in different octaves creates the illusion of one very long line.
Easy and effective!
Guitar Tip #69--Try using different arps over various chords. For example, an E triad over
G7=G13b9. FMaj7 over G7=G13sus, Bm7b5 over G7=G9.
Guitar Tip #68--Bebop scales! For major chords, add a #5 to a major scale (C-D-E-F-G-G#-A-D-C).
For dominant add the b7 (C-D-E-F-G-A-Bb-B-C).
Guitar Tip #67--Work on your time feel. All the scales, licks, arpeggios, and chords don't mean a
thing if you can't "groove".....
Guitar Tip #66--The more years we play, the more techniques we learn. Create 10 minute "warm-
ups" for each one to maintain all your skills.
Guitar Tip #65-Practicing is important-some days you have lots of time, other days you don't. 5
minutes here and there can still be helpful.
Guitar Tip #64--Use minor 2-5-1 licks over major 2-5-1 chord changes and vice versa if the two keys
are relative keys (C/Am).
Guitar Tip #63--New to ear training? Practice singing intervals from all roots every week. Week 1-
sing Maj 2nds, week 2-Maj3rds, etc.
Guitar Tip #62--Run melodic patterns from arp tones only instead of entire scales. This will help you
learn to "spell out" the changes.
Guitar Tip #61--Establish the key you are in first. Then, simply move the scale, or lick up a half step
and back--easy "outside" sounds!
Guitar Tip #60--A rootless 7b5b9 (3-b5-b7-b9) the same as a dominant 7th chord whose root is b5
away. For example, a rootless C7b5b9=Gb7.
Guitar Tip #59--A rootless 7#5b9 chord is the same as a m7b5 chord a whole step below--for
example, a rootless C7#5b9 is the same as Bbm7b5.
Guitar Tip #58--Memorize WHILE you learn. The sooner you get away from the written music, the
sooner you make the new material your own.
Guitar Tip #57--Play a tritone (E/Bb). Moving this interval down the neck by 1/2 steps you are
playing dom chords around the circle of 4ths.
Guitar Tip #56--Always check the key and time signatures BEFORE you start reading. Find all
repeats, DCs, DSs, etc. ahead of time as well.
Guitar Tip #55--Have fun when learning scales. Don't just practice them in straight eighth notes--try
playing them in 3/4, 5/4, 7/8, 6/8....
Guitar Tip #54-One way to get outside sounds is to take a short repeatable phrase and move it
around the fretboard in symmetrical intervals.
Guitar Tip #53-Reading something difficult? First play the passage with a single open string until
you KNOW the rhythm. Then grab the notes.
Guitar Tip #52-Practice legato technique by playing scales slowly, leaving your finger on a note until
just after the next note has sounded.
Twitter Tip #51--Learning in a rush will always lead to mistakes and bad habits that will only have to
be corrected later. Slow down...
Guitar Tip #50--Pentatonic Ideas: Alt Dom chords-major pentatonic starting from the b5 of the
chord. 7sus4-major Pentatonic from root or b7.
Guitar Tip #49--Changing the key of a song may help you discover beautiful effects like open string
chords not available in the original key
Guitar Tip #48--Practice tremolo picking daily for two minutes on each open string. Apply both
gradual, and sudden dynamic changes.
Guitar Tip #47--One way to find new chord voicings is to switch any note on the low E string to the
high E string, and vice versa.
Guitar Tip #46--A single mistake is the "universe" telling you that you're practicing too fast. Slowing
down will fix all guitar problems.
Guitar Tip #45--Books/vids are fine, but won't make you a great player. What makes a great player
is experience in playing and listening.
Guitar Tip #44--Experiment with dynamics. This is a lost art in much of today's music. Add more
expression to YOUR music......
Guitar Tip #43--Try applying slides, bends, vibrato, tremolo, hammer-ons, pull-offs, sweeps, and
harmonics to your existing vocabulary of ideas.
Guitar Tip #42--Learn to stress notes at various times in any phrase. We stress certain words when
we speak, so why not when we play?
Guitar Tip #41--Try to "relax into" physically difficult right and left hand techniques. Don't forget to
BREATHE......
Guitar Tip #40--Build modern alt chords. Combine a tritone and an altered tone-(E-Bb-D#=C7#9).
Find 10 places on the fretboard to do this.
Guitar Tip #39--Need new improv ideas? Try changing keys every chorus. It's amazing how new
solo ideas appear just by moving to a new key.
Guitar Tip #38--No time to transcribe a whole solo? Simply learn the phrases you like. Memorize
them, and transpose them to all 12 keys.
Guitar Tip #37--To avoid "improvisational habits", practice soloing at half-speed for a specified
period of time--maybe 20 minutes or so.
Guitar Tip #36--Understanding chord synonyms can expand your melodic sense. Lines that work
over Cm6 could also work over F9 or Am7b5.
Guitar Tip #35--Try superimposing various arps over different chords.
Ex. Playing an E triad over a G7 chord will produce G13b9 sounds.
Guitar Tip #34--If you like to play with octaves, try adding additional intervals in between like 4ths,
5ths, and 6ths: C-F-C/C-G-C/C-A-C.
Guitar tip #33--To practice playing with a swing feel, set your metronome to click on 2 & 4, instead
of clicking on every quarter note.
Guitar Tip #32--Remember, a song is Art presented over time.....and it only happens once.....
Guitar Tip #31--Improvised solos fall into the category of "inspired use of previously learned
materials", with moments of true originality.
Guitar Tip #30--Play a Maj7 chord lick. Move each note in the lick up a diatonic step. Now you have
a ii chord lick. Repeat for iii, etc..
Guitar Tip #29--Fills don't always have to be played in the higher register--try starting your fills from
one of the chord's inner voices.
Guitar Tip #28--Work on "2-notes-per-string" arpeggios for all diatonic 7th chords: fingering: 1-4, 1-
4, 1-4, 1-4, 1-4, 1-4. Very easy...
Guitar Tip #27--When improvising, try to use the entire range of your instrument. All your ideas start
to sound the same if you don't.
Guitar Tip #26--To break out of "scale-wise" motion in your melodies, simply look for patterns, within
scales on non-adjacent strings.
Guitar Tip #25--Try to keep your arms relaxed from your shoulders to your fingertips. Your arms,
hands and fingers work as a "process".
Guitar Tip #24--Extensions---You can look at major and minor 13th chords as a 7th chord with a
major or minor triad a whole step above it.
Guitar Tip #23--Finger Style technique--when playing single note lines, try using p and m
alternately. Especially good for electric players.
Guitar Tip #22--Any chord may be approached with an altered dominant chord whose root is 1/2
above the root of the destination chord.
Guitar Tip #21--You'll be "covered" if you work in the following areas: Harmony, Improv, Reading,
Technique. MOST IMPORTANT--learn tunes!!!
Guitar Tip #20--Dominant chords with altered 5ths can be moved around the fingerboard in whole
steps and will retain their altered function.
Guitar Tip #19--Warm up before you play! Do a slow left hand exercise, then a right hand exercise.
Then an exercise that works both hands.
Guitar Tip #18--Don't be "tuner dependent"--you should be able to tune by ear--practice this! Tuners
are fine for noisy rooms...
Guitar Tip #17--Make your solos more interesting by thinking in terms of form. Create solos that
have an opening, a body, and a conclusion.
Guitar Tip #16--Instead of trying to learn an entire fingering at one time, try learning scales and arps
on only two strings at a time.
Guitar Tip #15--If you target chord tones with your middle finger, upper and lower neighbor tones
are found under your 1st and 4th fingers!
Guitar Tip #14--When learning to play physically difficult chords, press FIRMLY and HOLD for 30
seconds. Repeat. Muscle memory will kick in!
Guitar Tip #13--Place your hand in 1st position, and improvise over ii-V7-I progressions in every
key. Repeat in 2nd thru 12th positions....
Guitar Tip #12--To re-harmonize a melody, compose a new bassline for the song. This will suggest
lots of new harmonies to try.
Guitar Tip #11-- Repeating the same idea in different octaves can turn a short phrase into a longer
one. Learn everything in all octaves....
Guitar Tip #10-Each week practice in only one key. Practice all tunes, scales, etc, in C. Then the
key of F, etc. Soon you will fear no key.
Guitar Tip #9--When improvising over altered chords, try starting your melodic line from the highest
alteration in the chord.
Guitar Tip #8-add a 4th note to the major and minor triads you found yesterday to build
M6,m6,M7,m7,dom7,7#5,1/2dim, and full dim chords.
Guitar Tip #7--Find all major, minor, diminished and augmented triads on these stringsets: 654,
543,432, 321. All inversions, all keys......
Guitar Tip #6--Playing around Melodic Minor chord shapes will give you all the altered sounds you
want--cooler than just running the scale.
Guitar Tip #5--Be able to recite all 12 major triads, in circle of 4ths order, in 12 seconds.....(really, do
this...many benefits....).
Guitar Tip #4-Memorizing chord changes to tunes? Always think in the "universal key" of Roman
Numerals. This makes playing in all keys easy.
Guitar Tip #3--Memorizing Flat Five Subs? On the circle of 5ths, the notes ACROSS from each
other are a b5 apart....
Guitar Tip #2--Memorizing ii-V7-I progressions? Moving counter-clockwise, thru the circle of 5ths,
every 3 notes are the roots of a ii-V7-I
Guitar Tip #1--be able to name all the notes ACROSS the strings (from low to high) at any fret..hint:
think 4ths--3rds between G and B.

Better Success2018