Before you get stuck into string skipping and intricate tapping, make sure you have the basics in your fingers. By basics I mean stuff like barre chords. There are two kinds of barre chord: the half barre and the full barre. The half barre does not necessarily only barre three strings – it could be two, three, four or five – it’s just a name. The full barre, however does cover all six strings.

Barre chords are used in all kinds of guitar music and you might be wondering why I have counted it as an advanced technique for lead guitar players. The barre chord is probably the most challenging guitar technique because it asks you to exert some physical force, release that force and then exert the force again. This applying and releasing pressure is controlled by muscle memory after we have practiced barre chords for a while but if we learn how to use patience and repetition in learning how to play barre chords, this experience will help you as you learn more advanced lead guitar techniques.

The key to effective barre chord technique is holding the first finger of your fretting hand straight without allowing it to curve. You place it lightly across the strings and gradually allow it to assume a straight position rather than forcibly making it straight before it even touches the fretboard. The same with finding the amount of pressure you need to use to play a clean barre chord. Just ease the pressure on, allowing yourself to hear the muffled strings as you strum. As your left hand gradually finds the correct amount of force to use, the strings will play clean notes.

So patience and repetition are two qualities that all guitarists, lead guitar players or not, need to develop. There is no guitar technique that cannot be brought to that effortless playing that we all admire when we watch an accomplished guitarist. If you ask a professional guitar player about the boring and tedious kind of practice we need to advance our lead guitar technique he will tell you that all guitarists have faced it and continue to renew their efforts every day.

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales.

By Ricky Sharples

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It might seem like a chore, but cleaning your guitar can lengthen your guitar’s life by leaps and bounds. Here are some cleaning tips on how to easily and quickly give your guitar’s sparkle and shine back.

* Clean the fret board when you plan to remove the strings.

If you’re looking for time and convenience when you think about how to clean your guitar, then why not do it when you already plan on some routine maintenance? The next time you need to change a string or restring your guitar, use some olive oil and an old rag and wipe down your fret board. You’ll see a beautiful shine when you’re done.

* Use household window and glass cleaners for the guitar body.

If you were to ask how to clean your guitar in a guitar store, the salesperson would probably recommend an expensive cleaning polish. Don’t worry about cleaning polish for your guitar if you don’t want to spend the money.

You can easily get spots and bring out your guitar’s natural shine in the body with some household glass cleaner. Use a few sprays and wipe down with a rag and it will look great.

* Wash your hands each time before playing your guitar.

This tip is more of a preventative measure on how to keep your guitar clean. I can remember getting my guitar strings so filthy only because I forgot to wash my hands after eating chicken wings or pizza. Take a minute or two to wash your hands and you can keep your strings cleaner and your fingers more sanitary.

* Use a small sponge or toothbrush to clean nasty strings and tailpieces.

Your hardware on the guitar is difficult to get really clean if you’ve neglected a cleaning for a long time. Grab an old toothbrush and some glass cleaner once again and work into those tiny crevices. You’ll see a nice shine and less dirt at the bottom of your guitar.

Believe me. I understand just as much as you that cleaning your guitar isn’t that much fun, but I’ve held onto guitars longer than I thought I could just because I kept up on a little simple “spit-shine” every now and again. Keep your guitar in fine working condition and keep it clean.

Are you interested in more fast guitar tips? Check out my guitar blog, How To Guitar Tune.

By Kyle Hoffman

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My first guitar was a borrowed guitar from the music school. At the time I could not hear when a guitar was out of tune but even my totally untrained beginners ears could hear that it was an awful guitar. It sounded dark, flat and ugly and I was embarrassed to bring that to my teacher. Needless to say how frustrated it was to learn to play on it. Despite the guitar I practised every day, my parents saw that I was serious and three months later I had my own guitar, a brand new nylon string classical Yamaha guitar.

Choose your instrument with care.

So how do you go out and buy a good standard guitar without having to spent a ton of money not knowing where the threshold is between a good guitar and one of poor quality? Don’t just go out with a couple hundred dollars choosing a guitar within that budget.

The price of a guitar goes from a hundred dollars to thousands of dollars. Obviously the more expensive the better the guitar but for six to seven hundred dollars you can buy a decent one that goes a long way. It’s is not cheap but far from expensive and it’s worth saving until you have the money because over time a good guitar will become a better guitar while a bad guitar will never be a good one.

What makes a great instrument – Things to look out for.

If you have untrained ears ask someone with experience to go with you. You want to make sure that the guitar doesn’t have invisible damage or issues.

The neck should also fit properly onto the body. When you hold the guitar the way you would play it look at the neck where it is attached to the body. The body has a cutout and the neck should fit exactly into the space. On some guitars the cutout is wider than the neck. You should not be able to fit your bank card into the space between the neck and the body.

Just remember that what you pay less on buying the instrument you’ll pay later in sweat, more practice time and costs to repair and adjust your cheap guitar. For acoustic guitars I can recommend Martin and Taylor and for electric guitars I recommend American made Fender and Gibson.

By June Moris

June Moris has been playing the guitar since she was thirteen. She has been doing research on the use of effects full time for six months. When you hear her live it’s like there are two guitar players on stage. Some people mistake her guitar for a couple synthesizers. June lives in NYC where she plays her music and teaches guitar. Some of her lessons can be found on her website @ http://www.music.junemoris.com

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