5 Things Guitarists MUST know (Patreon)

How's everyone feeling? I'm celebrating this week because my 40th birthday falls on Friday the 13th!

To commemorate over a quarter century of shredding, let's talk about 5 techniques every guitarist must know

1. Picking

The exercise below uses alternate picking or down and up strokes to execute a neoclassical sequence

2. Legato

Legato is when you use hammer ons and pull offs. It's intended to sound smooth and connected. Try out the exercise below descending through the F harmonic minor scale

3. Sweeping 

Now it's time for the fancy stuff. Sweep picking is a practical way to slice through arpeggios with a smooth glide of the pick. In this exercise, I use add9 chords in the key of D minor to sweep through an Iron Maiden chord progression (Bb-C-Dm). It ends with a stairway to heaven line cliche

4. Tapping

Don't be afraid to get both paws on the board and tap that axe. I love the sound of this FmM7 chord using string skipping. So EVIL

5. Hybrid Picking

Most people forget to practice their hybrid picking but don't miss out! Impossible licks like the F Lydian run attached below become easy when you combine the fingers and the pick muhahaha!