Guitar Skills Course Timeline

Level up your guitar skills

Learn some of the best guitar techniques and exercises

Level up your guitar skills with warm ups, technique & speed improvement exercises, improve muscle memory, accuracy & fretboard knowledge, and more…

Bienvenido A

GUITAR SKILLS

There are a few techniques and exercises that can turn you into a world-class guitarist.

This guitar course shows you some of the best ones!

BIENVENIDO

Improve your guitar skills with some of the most effective exercises and techniques

This course gives you complete control over what you learn and when.

Mi nombre es Chris Ochoa, seré su instructor de guitarra para este curso de guitarra. Antes de comenzar, quiero agradecerle personalmente por elegir este curso y por confiar en él.

Your decision to learn guitar and become successful at it will change your life forever!

Primeros pasos

When it comes to playing pretty much anything on the guitar, it’s all about practicing a lot, but making sure the stuff that you practice is the right stuff.

The majority of people would think that the more exercises you do, the better the results are most likely to be. However, this is not the case and it is evident to everyone on a daily basis.

In addition to that, it also has a lot to do with what you intend to achieve with your guitar in the future. The exercises that you will need to complete to gain proficiency as a flamenco guitarist will be very different from those that will be needed by someone who wishes to play pop music.

In my experience, I have found that the most effective exercises that almost set me up for any type of music I want to play are just a few.

It is important to note that the exercises you are about to see as you work through this guitar course will enable you to become a fluent guitarist. I would like to point out that the idea behind these exercises is to enable you to be able to play pretty much anything on the guitar regardless of what your ultimate goal is.

Depending on what you are trying to achieve, there might be a few different exercises that are not listed in this course.

In light of that, please give these exercises a fair amount of time to show you what they can do for you.

As in any sport, you will find that your body adjusts and builds the necessary muscles in no less than three months for you to be able to perform new activities.

This being said, let’s jump right into the course and see what we can learn.

Enjoy your journey and best of luck!

CALENTAMIENTOS

We need to warm up our fingers before playing or practicing guitar in the same way we warm up our bodies before playing sports.

Calentamientos

The following warm-ups will get your fingers ready for practicing or playing guitar in an efficient and convenient way.

Hard to believe...

The warming-up process is something that is so simple and easy to do, but most of us underestimate it and rather than warming up first, just jump into playing and stay there as long as we can, and often this is due to the tedious and boring nature of the process.

The reason I am aware of this is because I was one of them. There was a time when I used to just jump into playing and become frustrated when I could not perform because of the limitations I felt in my fingers.

In the beginning, I thought that maybe I wasn’t practicing enough or that maybe my skills were fading away, but it was really just one small step that I was missing – and that was warming up before I began my practices.

As soon as I figured this out, my skills skyrocketed.

Now, whenever I want to play guitar, I choose one of my favorite warm-ups and do it for at least three minutes before picking up the guitar. A simple warm-up like this is all I need to warm up my fingers to the point where I can play whatever I want.

Among the hundreds of ways guitarists might warm-up, I narrowed them down to two!

They are only warm-ups, so we shouldn’t spend much time doing them.

The same is true when it comes to staying in shape: just a few exercises will keep you fit. Rather than walking in a hundred different ways, just walk consistently as you normally do.

Warming up our fingers, which involve muscles, is basically the same thing.

As soon as you warm-up both hands just enough, you will be able to begin your daily playing or practicing routine.

With the two exercises I came up with, warming-up has never been easier and more enjoyable for me.

1 Buzzing Sound

As I like to call it, the buzzing sound warm-up is one of my go-to warm-ups and I think it is possibly my favorite as well. Because it feels great, it is not boring, it is challenging, and because of all of those reasons, you will perhaps be more inclined to do it on a daily basis whether you are going to play guitar that day or not.

As a bonus, your picking technique will also be boosted by this simple but efficient warm-up.

Using only 2 strings, this is a 6 note run using 6 notes per string

It is important to understand that the idea behind this warm-up is to start slow, deliberately to make sure that every note is heard clearly. In order to achieve the buzzing sound of a bee, gradually increase the speed until you have achieved it.

Make sure that you perform this warm-up at least 5 times.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

2 The following is an example of six notes per string played on all of the strings between fret 1 and fret 12

Starting on the 6th string and progressing to the 1st string, then moving to the next fret, and so on until you have reached the 12th fret. It is totally fine to go beyond the 12th fret if you wish, but not necessary for this warm-up to be effective.

Do this warm-up twice.

Even though they look simple, these two warm-ups will get your fingers ready for practice. Sometimes I just have a few minutes with the guitar, so rather than playing a song or chords, I just do these 2 warm-ups and it feels like I practiced a lot.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

TECHNIQUE

To improve your technique, you should make sure you practice the right things and in the right way in order to avoid having to correct or re-learn later.

Technique Improvement

The following topics will help you improve your current technique. They can also help you understand your approach to practicing.

Make your technique better

There are times when we go along doing things our way without knowing that later on it will affect the quality of our performance in some way.

When practicing, it is really critical to make sure we are using the right technique and form to avoid having to re-learn something or having to get rid of bad habits that make it difficult to play effortlessly and will cause you to lose your ability to play.

There have been guitarists who have succeeded without having the best technique or form, but someway they have been able to not let their lack of technique or form hinder them from reaching their goals.

This being said, it is your responsibility to check if your current technique and form will not have an adverse effect on the way you play in the future.

Play clean!

The most effective way to have perfect technique would be to always practice either with an acoustic guitar or with an electric guitar unplugged or with a very clean sound, whichever you prefer.

There is no doubt that building up your own sound with gear can be fun, but it can be very distracting at times, and it can be very misleading to think that your technique might be right when the sound is probably coming from your amp rather than your technique.

When you practice with an acoustic guitar, you are almost like a singer who practices a cappella without any background music or effects added to their microphones when they are practicing.

The problem is that if you do your practice at home where there are a lot of people around, the acoustic guitar tends to be a little too loud, and you naturally think about playing a little soft to avoid disturbing others, which can affect your technique.

In my experience, the best way to practice is to do so with an electric guitar unplugged, so that you can hit every string with the proper strength without feeling like you are being too loud at the same time.

Many people will disagree with this statement and will argue that you should not be concerned about what other people think.

It is, however, important to keep in mind that the reason this is a real challenge for most of us is because it is something that happens naturally and we don’t have much control over it.

When we practice loud enough, our ears begin to tire. As a result, it will become natural for you to start hitting each string softer just to be able to lower the volume of your performance or practice, and this will have a detrimental effect on your technique.

Chords

It is important to place your fingers in the most effective possible way when playing chords in order to improve your chord technique.

There is a huge difference between how you approach chords if you usually sit down rather than standing up while practicing.

Ideally, we would like to be able to play sitting down as well as standing up without compromising our ability to play well, effortlessly, and clearly.

So it’s better to practice in a way that covers both scenarios.

To be able to play chords and still be able to play either standing up or sitting down, you need to make sure that you are using the right fingers on the right strings to make sure that you are playing the chords correctly.

Aside from that, you should also make sure that you keep your fingers straight and symmetrical at all times.

Why is this important?

In order to play notes clear and effortlessly, you have to press each string with the right area of your fingertip.

If you’re not sure if you’re playing chords correctly, sit down, play a chord the way you usually do and then stand up and see how uncomfortable that change is.

You may need to work on your form if there is a noticeable difference.

Picking technique

To ensure our picking technique is not hindering our performance, it’s important to make sure we’re doing it correctly.

Similar to what we did with chords previously, we can check this. What happens when you stand up if you’re used to playing sitting down most of the time? If you notice a drop in your performance, you should correct it as soon as possible.

Again, this is only relevant if you’re aiming to improve your technique in both scenarios, sitting down and standing up.

When it comes to playing flamenco guitar, you should probably practice sitting down.

Let’s say we want to combine both scenarios. Keeping our picking hand in the correct form will improve our overall technique.

The best method for picking is to keep your picking hand relaxed at all times, regardless of whether you are sitting or standing up.

SPEED

Having the ability to play fast will not make you a better guitarist. Nonetheless, knowing how to play fast when and if necessary is a valuable skill.

Speed Improvement

The biggest obstacle most guitar players face when it comes to playing fast is their picking technique. If you don’t understand how to approach the transition from one string to another as you play, you might be limiting yourself or working harder than you should.

Boost your current speed

The picking hand has the most responsibility when it comes to speed. The fretboard hand doesn’t require a lot of work in order to achieve significant speed.

Learning and mastering hammer ons and pull offs is not difficult for our fingers. It is our picking hand that has to do the heavy lifting.

Both hands do, however, need to understand each other and be in sync in order to improve speed.

We will be limited in our ability to become more fluent and faster if we get used to practicing something in the wrong way.

When it comes to becoming fast, what is the biggest obstacle we all face?

String transitions.

It took me years to realize that I was working harder than I needed to when I played guitar and my biggest obstacle was understanding how I was transitioning from string to string.

We tend to start playing something with a downstroke by default. The reason why isn’t important; it’s just something we all naturally do.

A downstroke leads to an upstroke, so your pick should end in an upstroke if you want to hit another string, no matter whether it is a higher string or a lower string.

The upstroke prepares you for the downstroke on the following string.

With this pattern, you’ll unlock your limits and reach the speed you want.

There are a few guitarists who managed to achieve significant speed without following the right pattern, and somehow they were able to make their playing effortless and smooth, but this is not something that everyone is capable of.

The fact that a famous guitarist plays in a way that isn’t natural doesn’t imply that you will be able to do that as well. It may be possible for you to do the same or better in your own way.

1 Melodic Buzz

Similar to the bee buzzing warmup, but more melodic, this exercise will increase your picking technique by more than 50%. It emphasizes the correct transition from string to string downwards.

It's a run of 6 notes per interval

We are going to start with the first string and end on the fifth string. Try to do this exercise 3 times a day at least.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

2 Palm Muted Notes

Using palm muted strings, this run consists of 6 notes per interval

Neither staccato notes nor dead notes, but rather ghost notes or palm muted notes. Your goal in this exercise is to get your picking hand to hit all of the notes with the same intensity.

Since they are palm muted, you should barely hear the note when performed correctly. Starting at the 12th fret on the 1st string, we’ll use the notes from the previous exercise.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

3 String Transitioning 1

This is a four-note interval run

Using a 4 note interval, this exercise is excellent for transitioning from string to string. Until we transition to the next string, each interval will be played twice.

The interval should begin with a downstroke and end with an upstroke. If you start with a downstroke and end with an upstroke, your pick will be positioned so that it can smoothly transfer from one string to the next.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

4 String Transitioning 2

Run with palm muted strings at 4 notes per interval

In this exercise, we are using the same notes we used during the previous exercise, but palm muted. The palm muting intensity can be decreased or increased to achieve an ideal sound.

Correctly performed, you will still hear each note, but slightly muffled.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

5 String Transitioning 3

Interval runs of 4 notes

From low note to high note transition. This is just to help you become more familiar with string transitions ending on a higher note.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

MUSCLE MEMORY

It is the ability to perform skills without thinking about them and to perform them easily. Muscle memory can be achieved by repeating specific actions over and over again.

Muscle Memory

Our muscle memory allows us to memorize skills and perform them with ease. Skills like these can last for a very long time, if not forever.

Practice in your head

Muscle memory is when you can do or remember a specific movement naturally after practicing it a lot. It doesn’t have to be physical.

You’ve seen those funny T-shirt quotes about guitar players everywhere, right? There are lots of different designs, but one specifically reminds me of muscle memory.

In the quote, it says, “I might be looking at you, but in my mind I am playing guitar”.

Although it might seem humorous, it actually helps you create muscle memory, especially if you are repeating the same exercises over and over in your head.

I do this pretty much all day, and I have little control over it. When you truly like something, it happens naturally. You think about it without even realizing how much.

The same concept applies to physical exercise. Practicing segments rather than long intervals helps more.

By repeating small segments a lot, muscle memory develops.

The chances are that you already do this naturally; in the event that you don’t, you’ll be able to improve your overall performance by doing this.

1 Repetition

The following example shows just the end of a guitar riff. To create muscle memory, I repeat that little ending over and over on different strings and fretboard positions.

2 Repetition 2

The riff is one of the most commonly played in rock / blues. Repeating this riff in different keys eventually creates muscle memory.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

PRECICION

Es solo a través de la práctica y la repetición de las cosas correctas que mejorará la precisión de su guitarra.

Precisión

The amount of practice you put in and definitely practicing the right things will determine how close you will get to your ultimate goal.

Work on your technique

You must improve your current technique in order to improve accuracy. No matter what you play on the guitar, such as chords or simple riffs, you should review your form every so often.

You can sometimes improve accuracy by just correcting your playing or practicing position. The way you hold your guitar might be affecting your accuracy, whether you’re sitting down or standing up.

The more you practice, the better your accuracy will become. We can, however, negatively affect our performance overall if we are not as relaxed when practicing as we should be.

It is possible to improve accuracy by doing exercises that are uncommon in order to have your hands adjust naturally and force our form to be able to hit the strings as well as possible.

1 Accuracy Exercise 1

One of the most effective exercises for accuracy is the following exercise. It can be done in a few ways. We want our fingers to stretch as much as possible and to press strings in unusual ways.

Starting on the low E string, pick all the way to the G string then reverse the fret pattern.

Starting on the 1st fret and going all the way to the 12th fret.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

2 Accuracy Exercise 2

Similarly to the previous exercise, this one involves strumming rather than picking. Using the same strings and frets, we will approach these notes as chords.

Beginning at the 1st fret of the low E string and continuing until the 12th fret.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

3 Accuracy Exercise 3

This next exercise will be similar to the previous one, only we’ll start on a higher string. It’s basically the same run for the middle strings of the guitar.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

4 Accuracy Exercise 4

Once again, moving to the higher strings.

This is what it sounds like

Give it a try

FRETBOARD

When it comes to improvising or creating music, fretboard knowledge will set you free. The fretboard might look overwhelming at first, but memorizing all the notes is relatively simple.

Fretboard knowledge

In order to memorize all the notes on the fretboard, you must first understand how the fretboard is laid out. The process of memorizing it becomes easier once you have a clear understanding of it.

How to memorize everything

As a first impression, the fretboard with all of the notes appears overwhelming and too complicated. However, it isn’t.

Having a clear understanding of how it is laid out, memorizing it becomes rather simple.

The best way to practice is to use segments of the fretboard and practice that segment a lot.

I was able to find freedom on the fretboard by splitting the fretboard into five parts. Then I learned a scale of my choice and played it over that one part.

Continue playing the same scale on the next part, then on the next part, and so on.

After memorizing my favorite scale for each fretboard part, all the fretboard parts repeat after the 12th fret.

On the fretboard, every note after the 12th fret repeats. With that, you have already deleted half of the fretboard.

We only need to work on the first half.

You can see the 5 parts of the fretboard in the following picture.

Over each part, memorize a scale

It looks simpler when we look at the current fretboard already divided into five parts.

In most cases, we will be playing 3 notes per string, regardless of how many notes we take from another part.

In part 1, we begin with the E string on fret 0, then F, then G, then the A string on fret 0, then B, then C, then the D string on fret 0, then E, then F. We’re hitting 3 notes per string so far, but in the next string, we’ll adjust.

For the G string, we begin on fret 0, then A, in which case we only hit 2 notes, and then we finish with the B and E strings.

A part is always started at the root and ended at the last note of that part.

In part 1, we begin on the low E string on fret 0 and end on the high E string on fret 3.

For the other parts, it’s the same.

Part 2 begins on the E string, on the 3rd fret of G, and ends on the high E string, on the 5th fret of A.

The idea is to learn the notes that are inside each part, regardless of whether they contain 2 notes or extra notes from other parts as long as you remember the fret you are working on.

KEEP IT UP!

You're doing a great job!

Your ability to reach your ultimate goal is determined by the amount of practice that you put into it. Practice is an essential part of your game. However, it is very challenging these days to find time to practice the amount you should in order to improve your performance.

There is no doubt that if you follow these exercises carefully you will get the right amount of improvement in the shortest amount of time.