Everyone knows how to study, right? Wrong. The truth is most people have never been taught how to study and therefore never learn. People who underachieve often do so not because they are not intelligent, but because they don’t know how to apply their intelligence. Recently I came across a “Study System” that I think applies to music. It’s called sQ3r. Sounds high tech. Actually it has been around since 1946. It works like this:

Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review.

It can be applied to learning music in a number of ways. Here are two examples.

Say you need to learn theory and you just purchased Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music Theory. (Good Choice) First survey the chapter. Look at all the headings, graphs, etc. Then ask yourself questions concerning what you just saw. For instance what are intervals, why are scales called major, etc. Then read the entire chapter. Afterwards recite the key points and the answers to your earlier questions out loud. The next day come back to it and review.

This can also be applied to learning a piece of music with some slight modifications. First, survey the piece. What is the key? the time signature? Are there any repeated sections (the form)? What looks tough? What is the chord progression? Then question the piece. Why did the composer write it the way they did? Is it a sad piece, does the writing reflect this? Next read through the piece beginning to end. Afterwards play the difficult sections over and over until you have them (the musical equivalent of the recite phase). And when you have the whole thing learned review it from time to time to keep it up. Have fun.

Playing guitar correctly involves using the weight of the left arm not just the strength of the left-hand fingers. This is difficult to achieve. Some feel as if their hand is frozen when they try to do this. For this I would suggest that your arm’s weight needs to be held up between notes, or in other words only use your arm’s weight when a note is making sound. Two suggestions on how to try this.
1) Practice playing with your left hand thumb not touching the guitar neck at all. You will feel the guitar wanting to fly out and your right hand forearm keeping it in place. I wouldn’t suggest doing this all the time, but it is a good way to develop the feel.
2) Play things slowly. Feel your arms weight being used while a note is sounding, and feel it being relieved when the note is complete. I like to picture a faucet being turned on or off. Make it clearly on or off, no drips.

Disorganized about your practice? Try out our GuitarGames.net’s Online Practice Schedule. If you haven’t been making progress in your guitar playing lately the reason is most-likely lack of focus. Get focused and watch your playing soar. I know it doesn’t sound cool, but it works.

Looking for an easy introduction to music theory? I’ve struggled for years to find one that my students would like and get something out of. So far this seems to be the best one. Take a look if you want to tell your minors from your augmenteds.

When I was in college I had a number of amazing teachers. One of them was Dr. David Ward-Steinman, one of the world’s great composers as well as instructors. I remember one day sitting next to him as he sightread an entire orchestral score at the piano. That means he played on the spot about 20 parts of music at the same time on the piano. As if that wasn’t enough he was transposing for various instruments (e.g. clarinet, saxaphone, etc.) Even more amazing was that he would nod his head for the page to be turned while he was only half way through the page, meaning that he had memorized all the music that was still on the page before he played it!

In order to play a piece of music well, at sight (sight read) that is what you need to do, to look ahead. How does one learn to do this? Try this. Put a piece of music in front of you that you have never seen. Start playing. As you near halfway through the first measure have a friend cover it up the whole measure with a piece of paper. Did you have to stop? If so, try again and this time look ahead. As you go your friend keeps placing the paper over what you are playing leaving only what comes ahead visible. Fun!

One problem with sitting down and “practicing” is that we guitar plays tend to noodle. Now we may start with the best intentions but soon find ourselves off on a tangent. Here’s an ideas that will fix that but still allow you to have fun while practicing. Write down five things you want to accomplish. Not things that you want to accomplish over the next year, but over the next hour. Then when you sit down to practice start working on getting them done. When you have those five checked off, you’re done, play whatever you want. Do this for a week or two and you will make more progress than if you had practiced aimlessly for three hours a day. It’s all about quality not quantity.

Nothing annoys audiences more than an out of tune guitar (except maybe spandex). Let’s face it, most guitar players aren’t great at tuning. Part of the problem is that they still use the old play the fifth fret, tune the neck string, repeat. The problem with this is if you make a little mistake at the beginning it will show up on every string after that, and if you make several little mistakes it adds up to a big mistake in the end. Solution? Try this:

1) Tune Fifth String to a tuning fork (or piano, or tuner).
2) Play the 12th fret harmonic on the 5th string and tune the 4th string to it by playing the 7th fret on the 4th string.
3) Play the 12th fret harmonic on the 5th string (again) and tune the 3rd string to it by playing the 2nd fret on the 3rd string.
4) Play the 12th fret harmonic on the 4th string and tune the 2nd string to it by playing the 3rd fret on the 2nd string.
5)Play the 12th fret harmonic on the 3rd string and tune the 1st string to it by playing the 3rd fret on the 1st string.
6)Play the 7th fret harmonic on the 5th string and tune the 6th string to it by playing the 6th string 5th fret harmonic.

This will help for a number of reasons. It reduces the problem of compounded errors. For example the fifth string is used to tune the third which is used to tune the first, which means there are two steps involved. Compare this to tuning the fourth to the fifth, third to the fourth, second to the third, and finally first to the second. There is a lot greater chance for error there. Also, it involves tuning strings to unisons which always helps. Try it out!

It happens every time…I am the assistant director for a guitar orchestra (with about 25 players) here in San Diego. We have been together for several years, played 5 concerts and recorded 2 CDs. For each concert we rehearse for twelve weeks. During all of those weeks of practice I can’t recall one broken string. But just about anytime we do something big, record or perform, someone breaks a string. I don’t know what it is, but strings tend to break when important things happen. Like the first concert I played when I was a kid playing in a bluegrass band, SNAP! It’s almost as if the strings know you don’t have a spare with you. So bring a set of extra strings whenever you play, or even better…bring two.

These tips will help you make the most of GuitarGames.net, our sister site.

Tip No.1: Reading music on guitar is best done by approaching it from several angles.

Here is a practice routine that will help you succeed.
1) Start by reviewing the notes on the staff, (Every Good Boy Does Fine, FACE, etc.) This can be done at Note Squish , I suggest playing the game 2 or 3 times.
2) Then review the names of the notes on the guitar neck. Play Birds of Fretopia several times. And then
3) Put it all together by playing Fret Tester for ten minutes .

This three-fold approach will strengthen your reading chops in no time!

Tip No. 2: Premium Members - Work on small sections.

Are you just starting to learn the notes on the Bass strings? Or maybe you just can’t seem to remember the notes above the staff. Premium Members have access to the settings section of the games and can isolate areas of the neck, staff, etc. By isolating areas you will learn quicker. Or take ear training Can’t tell the difference between a perfect 5th and a perfect 4th? Go to the settings page and choose just those two types. Learning music is like eating an elephant (or how about a rice field for you vegetarian types). If you try to do it all at once you are in for a sore stomach. But start with one little piece at a time and you’d be surprised what you can accomplish!

I came across this tip in a guitar forum and thought it was worth passing on. It helps players learn the notes on the bass strings (6th, 5th, and 4th) It works especially well for electric guitarists who have dots on the neck at the 3rd, 5th, and 7th fret. But, it will work for anyone. It goes like this:

1. Memorize the note names on the 6th string for the 3rd, 5th, and 7th fret. They are: G, A, B

2. Memorize the note names on the 5th string for the 3rd, 5th, and 7th fret. They are: C,D,E

3. Memorize the note names on the 4th string for the 3rd, 5th, and 7th fret. They are: F,G,A

4. Notice that the notes are alphabetical and always on the 3rd,5th, and 7th fret.

5. Remember that to use sharps or flats you simply go up one fret for sharps, and one down for flats.

That little exercise will help you remember a lot of the notes on the neck. Practice this with Birds of Fretopia from GuitarGames.net and you will have the notes on the bass strings memorized in no time!