I’m getting the chords position right but it’s not ringing smoothly. I try lifting my fingers from touching other string and it improves. But when I press down harder it sounds better but then It hurts a little too much to the point where I can’t hold down the chords long at all.

Is it just a matter of building the calluses?

What are some tips to improve the sound of my chords?

Triads are awesome in many many contexts. But do you know them up and down the neck? There are only 3 inversions per 3-string set, for a total of 12 per chord. You can do it!

Or if it's overwhelming, just do a few chords up and down on the highest three strings, those are kind of the best ones anyway.

I know it's tempting to try and memorize the order of the shapes, but I beseech you to stay connected to the notes.

If you don't know the notes on the guitar, you will when you've done this every day for a month or two!

Chord tones really cut through the clutter if you're trying to understand how to solo. This is the antidote to aimlessly going up and down your scales. You're basically using an easy system to create a very simple melody.

Once you're good at this, use your knowledge (if you have it) of your scale (in this case C) to add notes in between, and treat the chord tones as target notes. If you don't know your scales/keys, go here:

Major scales:

https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarlessons/comments/1muvwxk/basic_theory_lesson_how_to_create_any_major_scale/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

This progression/backing track are cheesy, but this works in any style, any progression.

We don't have any blue notes yet, or tensions, but you gotta be able to rock the basic chord tones first imo.

If you don't know how to create triads, you can go here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/guitarlessons/comments/1hstify/basic_theory_timetriads_if_you_want_to_play/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

As per the title, I have a new student that started with me a few weeks back.

He can play some basic chords and was clearly not too bad...many years ago. He's very rusty and holds the guitar in a way that is likely to end with a carpel tunnel op.

He wants to learn an incredibly complex piece of classical music. I'm fine with that, I learned the piece and it's a nice bit of music.

I put together some exercises that will help him achieve this, some are a little basic from where he used to be some years ago, but they go some way to correcting his hold and reacquainting him with some chords and fingerstyle techniques.

He phoned me at the weekend to say he doesn't want to do the exercises and just wants to learn the piece of music.

With all respect due, he's miles away from being able to play this piece, and I told him that as diplomatically as I could, but he's insisting that's what we work on.

I fear that if I were to actually do this, he'll damage himself, first and foremost, and secondly, will become dissapointed and dissolutioned when he finds he can't play it.

I mean, I've been playing 40 years, and it took me over an hour to get it right. This is not something that's going to be an easy win.

What do I do here?

In the past, students have asked for similar but have all understood their limitations and the reasoning of the exercises produced by me to get them to that goal.

Okay, sorry for the silly question, but I could really use your thoughts here. I'm a beginner-intermediate guitarist, but I haven't practiced the instrument in over a year.

It will still be a month until I get to practice my guitar. But until then, what can I do to "practice" the guitar for the 30 minutes I get every day? I eventually want to be able to play 80s hard rock and metal but I wanna develop my ears too.

TIA for the help!

What do you recommend(site,platform,youtube channel) to learn slow and good the scales on the guitar?. I play chord and apreggios like a 3 years ago, but i´m stuck in the point of scales and improvisation with track.

Hi. I have been trying to relearn guitar after 17 years. I have been practicing scales and reading about theories. What is your usual practice routine everyday? I have been struggling to have a time as I work 13 hrs shift per day for 4 days a week. I find it hard to focus when I am on my fays off because I am always tired and needed a full rest. What advice can you give me guys? Thank you so much!

So I'm a professional bass player and fairly competent at rhythm guitar, but I really want to get better at guitar solos, especially in a pop/rock context. I'd love to learn some iconic solos to expand my vocabulary. So what would you guys say, what are your essential solos that can really help getting gud at soloing?

So I just got to the up/down picking lesson on Yousician guitar course (which I’m enjoying a lot btw, despite yousician’s slightly naff aesthetic!!). The lesson talks about using a pick/plectrum to pick up down and speed up one’s picking rate. However I mostly play classical and use my fingers for picking, not a plectrum. So is up down picking also a thing with finger picking? Feels a bit weird twanging the string with flat back of nails on the way back up…!

I’ve been playing Guitar for about four months now. I’ve been loving it but I’m starting to slow down on my progress because I don’t know what I should focus on practicing. I know the basic open chords and I’ve started to dabble in barre chords. I also know the minor pentatonic scale on all positions. What are a few things I should concentrate practice time on to advance my skills? I like a lot of Pink Floyd’s stuff so it would be cool to learn how to play with that sound.(I posted this in the guitar subreddit and it gotten taken down and I have no idea why)

I’ve been playing guitar for about three years now in the last year have been more serious with trying to practice the right things. I know all the CAGED chords, pentatonic shapes and kinda how to use them with a jam track, The basic chords, couple of songs and more that isn’t coming to mind. I’m in my early twenties and work an eight to five so I try to squeeze in practice when I can that being said what would you recommend to put into my practice routine? I currently a run through of all shapes, R35s, then chords usually in a couple different keys to a metronome. For Rhythm I have sheets with one e and a two e and an and so on turn the metronome on and try to hit the patterns I’ve written out. Sometimes I’ll turn on a jam track and use the shapes I know and improvise. I would appreciate any help my main goal is to be able to make a more structured song and be able to know the guitar better I appreciate your time thank you!

Why are some notes written in parenthesis?

Hello, I recently destroyed my shoulder and can barely lift my arm so I cannot strum my guitar. Im relatively new to guitar but completely addicted, I’ve been playing often since march so I only know some basic chords and working on singing in rhythm. I learn fastest by writing lyrics and messing around with different chord progression. Is there a way to do hammer on and pull off only songs? never worked on these skills but nows a good time considering.

I am playing for some time, I can play some songs, solos but my theory is 0. Where to start with scales?

Hey, so i recently got a acoustic guitar and started learning this song but the part where you slide from 10-12 to 9-11 3 times feels impossible, i've been trying for days already and i have seen some success on the A string but the D string just always gets muted no matter what i do, even when i practice the strings individually the D is almost impossible. Any Tips?

I have been playing guitar for 5 years but stopped in 2021/22 due to just getting frustrated from not progressing. Had too many goals and kept chopping and changing between them and not knowing how to practice.

I am keen to get back into it again and want to learn 80s metal songs starting with Hallowed be thy name. I always wanted to learn these songs but got put off by my mentality that I can never play those fast solos.

Thought I'd get back into it but with a gameplan this time and just focus on one goal. What is the best way to structure practice? Do I just get the tab on guitar pro and increase the bpm every time until I have reached the desired speed for all parts? Do I have to incorporate days or part of the practice session for technique exercises (I have seen some videos on YouTube by Bernth who gives a practise routine for alternate picking)?

Thanks and any additional feedback is welcome. Also curious how you guys structure practice sessions (daily/weekly) when you have multiple goals?

What are the best intermediate to semi difficult songs to learn on acoustic that sound good to play solo from 90s indie bands?

Looking for a really easy way to play the song London Calling using primarily power chords, but open to other kinds of chords as well. Currently teaching a kids band ages 8-13 and many of the tutorials on youtube are a bit involved/complicated for the stage they’re at. Thank you to my fellow musicians in advance.

Hi ! I started playing the folk guitar a few months ago, I have some tracks to my credit (Jonnhy Cash, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, McCafferty...) and I would really like to learn Oliver Tree’s Cash Machine. It’s mainly my friends who teach me to play and I’m still struggling to read tablatures (and even less the music notes) but I found this video on YouTube that doesn’t explain too badly how to play it. Unfortunately, English is not my native language, so I’m struggling to understand what it explains in terms of "where to place my fingers". Would someone have a tablature on hand or could translate that into chords for me ?

Thank you so much for your help, I know my request is kind of strange but I'm just a lost beginner :'

The tutorial for the chords