How two different players playing the same song with the same rig, skill, etc can feel “different.” Both sound good in the ear but one player just got the feel than the other one, you know.
Here I will share things I do that really helps to improve my guitar playing. I am not talking as a guitar teacher/master here. But I just want to share things that work for me as a guitar player, like you are.
These exercises really help me to play the guitar a bit better. Not in the skill level, but more in the feel you know.
I hope it can be a reference for you who still develop your guitar playing. Here they are …
Record your guitar playing
This one really changes the entire thing. Ya! by record your guitar playing you will hear yourself what needs to be fixed and what needs to enhance.
What I meant here is to record a whole song. It can be a cover song or your own song. And it doesn’t have to record it in the studio. You can simply record your playing on your phone.
Try more often play along with a jam track or using a .
What makes guitar playing feels good is when you are playing a song just in time and not off the tempo.
To achieve that, try more often practice using a metronome or play along with the jam track. Believe me, this one really works for me.
Jam with other players to Improve Your Guitar Playing
The better way to do this is to build a band with your fellow friends. If you are not ready yet, you can simply ask others to play together with you.
It’s not only good for how to play in harmony but you can share a trick with your friend. It was also great for your improvisation.
Learn a song just by ear
You may often hear this advice from a pro guitar player. That’s true, I prove it my self.
In this era of how easily you can get guitar tabs of every song. It’s better if sometimes you learn a song just by ear. It really helps to enhance your ‘feeling’ in a way.
Before the era of the internet, digital audio, etc, when in the first stage of learning guitar I still use a cassette tape to learn a song.
It’s okay to learn a song from tabs. But if you want to sharpen your musical feeling then learn by ear is the best way.
Compose a simple song
If you want to make a big jump, try to compose a simple short song or jingle. It doesn’t have to be a great masterpiece.
Just try to compose a simple song using three cords with the scale that you know and play well. This will help to understand the structure behind the song in the musical theory.
Learn the theory
You don’t have to master all the musical theory to be a great player. But at least you learn the basics and develop it your own.
You can easily find on Youtube the basic principle of Pentatonic scale, Diatonic, Legato, Phrygian, etc. There is so many master teache the basic of them for free.
If you have a chance to seriously learn the musical theory then that’s great. But even if you only know the basic principle it’s okay. At least you know what you are doing with your guitar.
Learn DIY music production (Home Recording)
Nowadays it is possible for every guitar player to record a song right from their bedroom. Yeah, you don’t have to go into a big studio just to produce your own demo.
Simply learn how to use DAW Software, buy some rig like Audio Interface, Speaker/Headphone monitors with the budget that you can afford. And you are ready to record your own/cover song and then share it on Youtube, Soundcloud to express yourself.
Despite all that stuff, it really useful for you to improve your guitar playing in an extended way. You can learn to compose, play/record a song in time by using the DAW metronome, and learn how to engineer the audio, etc all at once.
Other & conclusion
Okay, that’s things that I do to improve my guitar playing. These are not a guitar technical exercise stuff like you though maybe. You know, chromatic fingering, .
But that’s really helping me to get a little better for playing guitar with the feel. And play guitar is more fun when you play it right, right?
If you have other experience, please share with me on the comment below. Thanks for reading 🙂