How to Make the Most of Your Practice Time and Become a Better Guitarist
“What should I practice?” I can remember asking myself this question many times, always while sitting in silent frustration with a guitar on my lap. You’ve probably found yourself in the same predicament.
And these days, with so much information out there, it can be even more daunting to make good, worthwhile decisions. If only I could have asked great guitarists what they practice… well, that’s what I did for this lesson!
All guitarists featured here are professional musicians working in a variety of different roles and environments. Some you may have heard of, others probably not. But I turned to them because they all know what it takes to be a successful guitarist – most importantly, the ability to be creative and musical.
So I asked them to do something they were working on that they felt ultimately helped them achieve this – something that made them say, “I’m glad I worked on this!”
Let’s dive right in! There’s a lot to present here, so we’ve split this lesson into two parts, with Part 2 coming next month. Note that each music sample has accompanying audio or video. With the exception of examples 1, 2 and 3a, all show the artist himself.
The notes and rhythms are like the lines in an actor’s script, but the phrasing and intent/spirit bring them to life
Peter Dorn
In addition to tours with the likes of Chris Cornell and Melissa Etheridge, Pete Thorn (opens in new tab) has created a hugely popular YouTube channel where he creates insightful demos for the gear lover in all of us.
Pete sent along this wisdom: “I’m glad I’ve practiced learning the songs, licks and approaches of some of my heroes, and I’ve not only tried to get the notes and rhythms just right, I’ve worked hard to get them get phrasing and spirit right.
“The notes and rhythm are like the lines in an actor’s script, but the phrasing and intent/spirit bring them to life: the drama of Brian May’s leads, the tender intent of David Gilmour’s solo phrases, or the high-octane, joyous exuberance spontaneous improvisations inspired by Eddie Van Halen.”
Let’s put this into action by taking a look at example 1, a movement in the style of David Gilmour. Try not only to learn the notes, but learn how Gilmour would play them.
Do this by paying close attention to the musical details. For example, the staccato dots that suggest shortening certain notes, and the relaxed way of letting go and then bending in bar 1.
Dal Turner (opens in new tab) is and has been a rock singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and film composer guitar world’s prestigious Hole Notes and Acoustic Nation columnist. As if that wasn’t enough, he has been a lecturer at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood for the last 21 years.
Dale made the ingenious suggestion of learning open-voiced or “spread” triads. illustration 1 illustrates how a “closed” triad – with all three notes on adjacent strings – can be magically transformed into an “open” one by simply taking the middle note and shifting it up an octave.
Notice how the middle note of a root C major triad (C, E, G), the third (E), originally fingered on the 7th fret of the A string in the first diagram, moves up an octave the 9th fret of the G string is shifted in the middle chart.
In the third diagram, Dale shows us the same voicing shifted up an octave, at no extra charge. He emphasized that splayed triads are very useful for his work as a film composer, and example 2 demonstrates the sense of drama they can create.
Bess Rogers (opens in new tab) is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter who has released multiple albums (From the ocean, Can’t remember where), licensed her music for advertising campaigns (Cheerios, Google) and was a member of the pit band for Go-Go’s Broadway musical Head Over Heels in 2019. Somehow,
Bess still finds time to run an online songwriting school and community with friend and writing partner Allie Moss called Thinking Outside the Blocks.
Bess encourages exploring new styles of music, and she recently challenged herself to play songs by blind blues and gospel singer/guitarist Gary Davis. Bess explains, “I was just learning them for fun at the time, but in the end it really opened up new possibilities in my game. I’ve written several songs inspired by the songs I learned.”
Example 3a based on Davis’ style, but look Example 3b to see Bess appropriate it in her previously unreleased song, Little Scientist.
Gilber Gilmore (opens in new tab) is an important designer for women’s fashion. He’s also a veteran of the New York City live music scene. A rock musician for most of his life, Gilber challenged himself to learn a new style of music much like Bess Rogers did, but he has done so with results vastly different from theirs.
When he discovered he loved the country guitar sound “Chicken Pickin’,” he spent two years perfecting a three-minute feat by guitarist/teacher Doug Seven. See Example 4a for one of Gilber’s red-hot licks in this style.
In addition to discovering myriad new ways to bend strings, playing country guitar also introduced Gilber to a new technique: hybrid picking, or playing a plectrum and fingers simultaneously or alternately.
But wait, there’s more! Now that he could use his picking hand more easily, Gilber immersed himself in the world of acoustic fingerstyle guitar, particularly after seeing virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel perform.
Cash Example 4b for a taste of Gilber’s acoustic playing. As you can see in the video of the previous example, Gilber now even plays country without a pick. He shows us how learning something new can take you to unexpected places.
Check out singer/songwriter Abby Ahmad (opens in new tab)is Instagram (opens in new tab) ) or TikTok (opens in new tab), you will find that she is hilarious. But Abby takes her songwriting and guitar playing very seriously. She routinely spends some of her practice time experimenting with open and alternative tunings in her quest for new sounds, often beginning with common guitar fingerings borrowed from standard tuning.
In her video, she shows us step-by-step how, by trying different tunings and using a capo, she was able to transform a stuffy guitar cliché into something shiny and new.
The resulting song Somewhere inbetweencan be found on their excellent 2021 album, Tea with shadows. In her own unique way, Abby describes this process as “taking some vanilla and pouring in a caramel swirl!”
See Examples 5a and 5b Witness the transformation from tedious to awesome.
This was so much fun that we’ll continue next month with more great practice advice for guitarists including Joel Hoekstra of Whitesnake and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Until then!
Have a question or comment about this month’s lesson? Don’t hesitate to reach out to Jeff Jacobson on Twitter @jjmusicmentor or at jeffjacobson.net.