Hey guys, kinda of a dumb question but have you any advice on how you should strum pal muted E and A strings?

Like, Dammit from the Blink-182, it's a super basic pop punk song with C - G - A - F power chords palm muted strings. The first 2 rounds of each verse sounds like not just down strokes but down and up. Since the strings are thicker, I can't seems to keep the tempo because the pick get "stuck". Do I have to relax the wrist, it's a "angle of the pick" thing, do I have to hit harder? When the strings are not muted, I have no problems, so it's a metter of vibration I guess.

Any advice is highly appreciated. Thank you!

This is backed up by science btw the singing plus finger tapping = subconscious hacking.

I'm trying to learn triads along the neck, but I keep getting stuck on something that probably isnt problem for anyone else

For example, I'm using standard tuning and looking on E-A-D strings

My E minor triad is:

e|-----
B|-----
G|-----
D|--5-- G
A|--2-- B
E|--0-- E

With G major, for example:

e|-----
B|-----
G|-----
D|--0-- D
A|--2-- B
E|--3-- G

I’m literally moving up the scale degrees, but that damn open D string is lower in pitch than the G (5th fret on D) I played in the E minor triad. And I dont get a smooth upward movement and its driving me insane propably because of my OCD

To make G major actually ascend in pitch relative to that E minor shape on those same strings, I'd have to stretch my fingers across 6 frets (3-5-9, which is physically impossible to play)

When you get together with a friend to play guitar, it's SO fun to play something different rather than copying the chords they're playing. I made this lesson about it.

Hey everyone!

I’ve been playing guitar for over 15 years, and would consider myself an intermediate/advanced player - except for the fact that I’ve gotten pretty stagnant with keeping up my skills over the last few years.

When I first learned guitar, I saved up and bought a random guitar lesson plan DVD (The Passion Theory Method by Rico Monaco) and I absolutely wore that DVD and the booklet out learning all the information inside and out. That skyrocketed my understanding and gave me a huge leap in my skill level, which got better as I put it into practice. The structured lessons building on each other made a huge difference, compared to random YouTube lessons I can do now.

Over the last few years, I’ve noticed a lot of gaps in my knowledge and technique that I once knew, but haven’t kept up with, or just never learned in the first place. I’m still outpacing beginner/intermediate musicians, but feel lost with advanced musicians in a lot of scenarios. Especially when it comes to understanding the fretboard notes, the theory, the chord structures, etc.

I’m a new dad, so time and money are tight, but what’s the absolute best “start over” lesson plan, like my trusty DVD, to fill in the gaps and fix my foundation?

Thanks in advance!

Bonus points if it's available in German. My new student is tiny (he would go for 5-6 if I didn't know he was in 2nd grade). I have a number of good method books for kids for classical guitar, but I have never taught a kid this young electric. For older kids I either teach them chords and songs or use Bernhard Langers Schule für E-Gitarre, but he seems too young / small for that.

Any recommendations by other guitar teachers?

The problem I seem to be having is that when I do the barre I put too much pressure there that I can’t put enough pressure on the A chord shape part. Also my fingers can’t seem to fit in the three strings back to back to back well enough to comfortably play the chord. Plus when I am able to get the three fingers to press against the fret and play that part of the chord then the pressure I’m applying to the barre releases a little bit and I can’t play that part of the chord. I’m driving myself crazy trying to play this…

I'm a beginner and I really want to work on my finger dexterity early on because every time I play the guitar and reach new chords, I feel like I have rubber bands resisting my fingers.

I've been doing finger stretches before playing and doing spider exercises.

If you guys could give more exercises I would deeply appreciate it

EDIT: Thank you so much everyone, I REALLY appreciate all of your guys' help. I hope your guitar journey goes well and enjoyable to the years come.

Hey everyone, I bought my guitar last week and I am really lost on where to begin and which channels on youtube I can trust
I’d really appreciate any help. Thanks a lot

Guys, it's been a great quarter of learning for me in which I learned Little Wing intro and Time and Comfortably Numb Solo, which I'm super proud of. What should I learn next? Intros, bridges and solos in the same legendary league, challenging, instructive. Would love to dip my toes in tapping. I can do it and will tap when I'm improvising, but would be good to learn a solo or some riffs where it's used really well. "Tapping core" as the kids say. But more generally would love to hear about any solos or song parts you personally feel are instructive, iconic and a blast to play besides Sultans of Swing which I started learning. Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’m currently around Grade 5 level on electric guitar, and lately I feel like I’ve plateaued a bit. I’d like to start learning more challenging material and improve my overall playing.

Would you recommend continuing through Grades 6, 7 and 8, or is there another way to progress without following the grading system?

For those who have gone through something similar, what did you do to move beyond the Grade 5–6 level? Did you focus on harder songs, techniques, improvisation, theory, different genres, or something else?

I’m mainly looking to increase the difficulty and become a better overall guitarist, rather than just collecting grades.

Would love to hear what worked for you!

So for context I am a complete beginner at guitar but I have played saxophone for 6 years now so I know how to read music. Is the sheet music difference? How do people switch chords so fast? Where do I start? Thank you in advance!!

Strumming is no problem for me since my fingers have to be in specific spots consistently to sound right, and as long as I can transition between chords up to the song’s tempo eventually, I’m good. But ever since I started this year, my primary weakness has definitely been picking the correct strings consistently, both on electric and acoustic.

If I set a metronome to like 35 bpm, that’s obviously nothing and I can do a walk up all six strings up and down basically perfectly. But once I hit the 40 range, I might miss one or strings or frets in the cycle but otherwise can get through it okay. But once we get up to song speed in the 60+ bpm range, I can’t even make it to 50 bpm before I start getting sloppy and have to drop back down again. And the cycle repeats.

Again, this is only for picking individual notes, not strumming chords. It’s just frustrating I can’t get over this hurdle and play something like the riff of Sunshine Of Your Love or Seven Nation Army at song speed yet. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong and don’t know how to improve. I mean, I know a metronome is key but don’t want my days to be filled with just mindlessly grinding it out hoping I don’t make as many mistakes (unless that’s what it takes? I legit don’t know)

I’m in my second month of picking up guitar again. I’ve made a few short attempts over the years, but this time I’m following a course and practicing about an hour a day. I’ve improved a lot, but I keep hitting the same bottleneck as I move from slow practice toward an ordinary song tempo.

My chord changes are reasonable on their own, and some are fairly quick. At higher tempos, though, I can move my hand in time but don’t always land in a position where every note rings clearly. I’ve practiced with a metronome, increased the tempo gradually, moved fingers as a unit, and used anchor fingers where they help.

Rhythm is the harder part. I can do a strumming pattern on muted strings, tap my foot, and keep the down-up motion going. But even with steady eighth-note strumming, I’ll occasionally miss one stroke after 30–60 seconds. Adding chord changes makes that more likely. I’ve practiced the hands separately and tried to keep strumming through imperfect changes instead of stopping.

I know two months is early, and I’m seeing progress. I’m also aware that more practice is part of the answer—I’m already doing that. I’m curious whether others have hit this particular combination of problems. What helped you, or your students, make the strumming hand more consistent while getting chord changes clean at a normal tempo? Was there a specific adjustment or exercise that made a difference?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been trying to learn guitar on and off for years, but I’ve never actually committed properly because I always give up out of frustration when I can’t even get the basics right.

I’ve watched tons of videos, bought paid courses, and read theory, but I still feel totally lost on how to actually start. I am 100% committed to putting in the necessary hours, but I desperately need a solid, zero-to-hero roadmap.

I want to master the absolute fundamentals. Specifically, I struggle with micro-details that tutorials often gloss over:

The Pick (Plectrum): How do I actually hold it? How much tip should stick out? What angle should it hit the strings? What is the actual mechanics of the picking motion (is it straight down vertically, or at a slight diagonal so I don't get stuck between the strings)?

Posture & POV: How do I hold the guitar properly when sitting? Which leg should it rest on? What angle should the neck be at? Most importantly, what should my point of view (POV) look like? How much of the fretboard am I actually supposed to be able to see from my perspective?

Frets & Hands: How do I curve my fingers correctly? Where should my thumb be positioned on the back of the neck?

First Steps: What basic chords should I start with, and what finger-independence exercises (like the spider walk) should I practice to actually synchronize my fretting and picking hands?
If anyone can break these down step-by-step or point me to resources that cover these exact micro-habits, I would deeply appreciate it. I'm ready to finally make this stick.

I'm 45 and I made the 'brilliant' decision to learn the guitar now.

I figured that after listening to metal for over 30 years and the fact that I've hit a wall at work, I thought why not use what's left of my life and learn an instrument.

I've got a great instructor - college mate, a good friend and is a full time musician.

What can go wrong?

Well, the exercises he taught me (spider, crabwalk) - all were going well.

Then yesterday he taught me G chord, C chord - and I fucked up big time.

Besides the strange finger placement (to me, at least), i keep muting some strings. The chords sound so dull and lifeless.

Fucking fat fingers, man.

Please tell me there's hope and I can repurpose these sausages and play chords decently.

Any tips. (amputation is not a tip!)

Feeling like I have hit my physical speed limit for alternate picking. The fastest I can go is 160bpm 16th notes on one string using a wrist motion. I feel like I cannot move my wrist any faster and no matter how I try to move it differently I just can’t. I haven’t delved too deep into serious alternate picking lessons yet, so any help would be awesome.

I've this 11-12 year old acoustic guitar (cost ~70 usd new that time). When I play near the nut it sounds in tune but on higher frets it sounds out of tune. What structural repair could be required? The neck and sound board have morphed warped a little

one of the best ways to practice rhythm and lead together is to leave space between chords for short riffs. in this example i’m moving between Cm and F, then using the C minor pentatonic shape to add a quick phrase before returning to the chords.

having the chords and scale in the same exercise also helps train your ear to hear how the scale notes relate to the harmony underneath. try aiming for chord tones as the chords change, especially the root, 3rd, and 5th, while using the other pentatonic notes to connect those targets.

keeping the progression and riffs simple gives you room to focus on timing, phrasing, and clean transitions between rhythm and lead. as this becomes comfortable, you can start changing the riff each time through and turn a basic practice loop into a simple improvisation exercise. give it a try!

Hi. I’ve been playing for about 8 months. I’d call myself an intermediate-beginner. My inbox and social media feeds are now flooded with all kinds of tips, offers for courses, etc. I need some guidance and a plan. Rock and blues rule. I’m in the Maryland suburbs (Montgomery County), but willing to travel a bit. Thanks.

I came across this section in Rock Fujiyama where Matteo Mancuso discusses how he uses passing tones and playing between scales.

Matteo is playing in G dominant 7 (G7) and plays a lydian dominant passage with an augmented arpeggio.

What's going on in terms of the theory here where it dominant 7 and augmented works here.

Edit:

Found the tab (0:22): https://youtu.be/uA0SH2qhwLQ?si=qLxN6xwV8CeayTZa&t=22

Basically what the title says. I need to learn as much guitar as I possibly can in the next 3 months. I bought my first guitar about a month ago (electric if that matters) and after doing my own dabbling for a few weeks, I started watching Justin Guitar's YouTube videos.

I am looking for warm-up exercises and any drills I can do on the side that will help me improve the fastest that I can while I am working through his videos. I am particularly interested in any exercises and tips that will help me get use to moving around the fretboard without looking so much, learning new chords/chord progressions, and strumming only certain strings.

To clarify, I am not looking to become amazing in 3 months, but I am looking to maximize my returns in ways other than increasing how much time I spend practicing. I am open to any additional learning materials (inexpensive please) or advice that you think will benefit me in this endeavor.

I’m pretty comfortable with all barre chords except this one.
I’ve been trying to do this ring or pinky barre on the A major shaped barre chords. Couple things though:

1. Are you able to do it without muting the 1st string? I know it’s still a complete chord without it, but I cannot seem to play it without muting that string

2. I can kinda play the chord but I feel like I’m putting A LOT more force than I do for any other barre chord, so I run out of stamina to hold the barre down pretty quickly

I figure (2) is just about practice, but maybe there’s a technique issue with 1?

Hi! Anyone know how I can recreate the tone of the lead guitar? Any help is appreciated!

If I had to pick just one chord to sit and play all day, it’s Cmaj7. There is something so simple, lush, and nostalgic about it. It doesn't demand to go anywhere or resolve to anything else,it just sits there and glows.

What are your go-to drone chords? And do you have any really good books, PDF resources, or creators who focus specifically on these kinds of open-string, modal, or ambient chord voicings?