Heavy Metal Rhythm Guitar: A Comprehensive Guide to the Techniques, Equipment and Effects Needed to Play Heavy Metal

Once you have learned some easy songs you will find that more advanced music is no longer a mystery to you. This is the stage where you make your repertoire of songs your own property. The song was composed by someone you do not know but you are expressing yourself through their work. New instrumental and vocal possibilities will present themselves the more you play and the more you practice.

So the first step is get a fairly solid idea of the kind of song that fits you best, and do a search on the internet for some song titles. If your first searches give you versions of a song that look a bit advanced for you, include words like "easy tabs" or "easy arrangement" in your search. It will not take long for you to collect some easy songs to start you off as a guitar player.

The search for easy songs will reveal to you an amazing fact. You do not have to learn a multitude of chords to learn to play a range of songs. The basic chords you learn will be fairly easy to play, and after a few weeks of practice you will find your self-confidence growing. At this stage of your guitar playing career you should remind yourself each day to begin fresh, as though you had not spent hours practicing the day before. Let your fingers take their own time to find the chord shapes as they warm up.

No matter how you explain it to yourself, the basic reason behind your need to play the guitar is self expression. You might close your eyes and imagine yourself impressing a whole lot of people with your talent or you might feel that you have something important to say. Either way, the bottom line is something in you wants to get out. To enable this self expression you must think about which songs you like. Not about whether they are easy or not, just if you like them. Next think about communicating with your audience. The songs you play on the guitar are just part of the bridge between you and the people listening to you. If you like introspective love songs, then look for easy love songs. Do not learn gospel music or rock songs just because they appear technically easier. Trust me, you will find easy songs in your genre.

Easy Songs For the Guitar

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So, lets cover some of the techniques Ive found to be very effective in my playing. Using these techniques can add color to your performance. Think of it as a small toolbox of tricks you can pull out to add character to your songs and live set. Effective pick-hand technique provides the kind tone and textures that can give a personal touch to an old classic or to provide a step off point for other creative musical endeavors.

Try Different Styles and Genre

Bang on it like a hand drum. Strike or tap the strings with the inside surface of your fingers as if you swatting a fly. Now dont bang on it to hard. I dont want to be blamed for someones guit-box being damaged. Let your fingers kind of bounce off and away from the strings for them to ring-out. Experiment with different taps all up and down the fret board and back side of the neck too! Use the top of the guitar as a drum. Ive seen duos with one person playing the guitar and the other person playing the percussions on the back of the guitar laid flat across the their lap. Remember to use the different parts of the hand to include knuckles, fingers -rings, etc.

"Again, I hope Ive sparked some imagination for playing without a pick. These ideas will help you develop your own style too!"

Im starting to understand the arpeggio-phrasing technique a lot more. Gatemouth Brown is a legend and a true musician. He plays acoustic / electric guitar in all genres. He can also play the fiddle like nobodys business. He is also a drummer, harp player, and banjo playing fool.

Use your index finger to snap those high strings when playing lead solos. Try yanking lightly on each string, releasing it against the fret board with a bright snap. Give those strings a real pinch when needed too (Don't be shy...). This is good for rock and blues flavored solos.

Play the root notes with your thumb. The down-strums with the tips of your fingernails, and upstrokes with just you finger tips. Get yourself a metronome and play to different speeds, Do some stagger strumming. Strum to the off beats. Download or find music that you might not jam to. Try a calypso feel. Do some cowboy songs and Yes hammer-on those top bass strings and get into some alternate picking, etc. Try a walking bass line while playing the three higher strings open. These are just ideas to opening your mind!

Put Some Snap into Your Playing

Bass players use this technique for rhythmic power. Use the outside of your thumb joint to attack the strings. If you experiment with this approach, try getting bell like tones out of those bass strings.

Slap and Pop Technique

Use Muting and Volume in Your Playing

Reasons to Ditch Your Guitar Pick

Turn Your Acoustic into a Percussion Instrument

Lately, I havent been using my guitar pick all that much. I got this tab book of some good ol Gatemouth Brown finger picking blues. Ive been enjoying myself so much trying to get this fingerpick thang goin."