Come with us as we take a look at one of the most common guitar playing myths, that buying expensive equipment will give you great sound. Join us as we discover what the true secret is to capturing professional sounding tones.

There is one aspect of playing the guitar that can be quite elusive, even for the best of guitarists, and can even become an obsession for those who can never seem to find it. This crucial and pivotal aspect of playing the guitar is the tone. Every person who is serious about the guitar and strives to master the instrument understands that playing guitar isn’t simply about skill, but about skill that sounds good.

Trying to discover the perfect tone is like searching for the Holy Grail. You’re not sure if it exists, but there are a lot of myths and stories that seem to offer clues about where it can be found. There are a lot of myths about how one can achieve the perfect tone and sound from their guitar, and just about all of them are false.

One popular myth about achieving great guitar tones is that you have to have a certain type of pickups. While certain brands and types of pickups can improve the quality of your overdrive tones and give you some nice bottom end and some sweet highs, these pickups still won’t give you great tone. There are a lot of individuals who think that getting a new set of humbucker pickups will solve their tone issues and that immediately they’ll begin playing like Eric Clapton. These individuals drop a lot of money to get these pickups put into their guitar, only to plug in and find that the sound they’re looking for still isn’t there.

Another popular myth about guitar tone is that you have to have a Marshall half stack in order to get professional, warm sounding tones. A lot of individuals get duped into thinking that if they buy the most expensive amplifiers from the biggest brand names it will automatically give them professional quality tones. While it is true that top notch equipment can really help you to fine tune your sound and help you expand your creativity, it’s still not going to make you sound like a professional, and it’s still not going to give you the sound quality you’re going for.

The only way to truly achieve professional sounding guitar tones is to focus on your playing abilities. You can have all the best selling, top of the line equipment there is and still sound like an amateur. In order to develop a great sound and a nice tone, you have to perfect your skills. The reason some of rock music’s greatest guitarists sound so good is because they are good. If you want great sound, focus on how you play and on mastering your instrument and that will take you down the path to achieving great sound.

Come with us as we examine several different methods you can use to improve your guitar improvisation techniques and learn how to incorporate some basic music theory knowledge into improvisation.

Guitar soloing and improvisation is one of the most artistic and expressive types of guitar playing that a guitarist can learn. It is a showcase of precision, skill, technique, and creativity that blows the mind and leaves awestruck faces in every crowd.

A lot goes into perfecting guitar improvisation and all the techniques that can be used in this style of guitar playing. Guitar improvisation requires dedication, patience, time, and practice, practice, practice. This is the first and most important tip that anyone can give, even though it may seem typical and not very advanced. It’s amazing how many people try to grow as musicians without perfecting their skills and practicing their craft daily.

Another tip that can greatly improve your guitar improvisation is to play along with a CD. Put on one of your favorite CDs and when there is a pause or a bridge somewhere in the song, play some chords or a scale in the key of the song over the music playing in the background.

You can also learn the chords to the song and play some arpeggios over the changes in the song. Learning how to play arpeggios is a crucial skill to learn to improve your improvisation technique, and if you don’t already know how to play them, you should learn them and put them in your arsenal of improvisational tools.

Another great tip for guitar improvisation is to try playing chord scales. When you use this method you are simply using chords instead of scales and melodies. The main idea of this is that you are playing a scale with a chord connected to it.

One great method to use when you’re trying to improve your improvisation skills is to use guitar backing tracks. Guitar backing tracks are great for improvisation because it’s like playing with a whole backing band, and allows you to improvise and put into practice all of your skills and tools in putting together awesome leads to go with the track. Playing along to a backing track will also help you to perfect your timing skills and will increase the enjoyment you get from playing along.

If you are a serious guitar student who has already mastered the basics of music theory and the basic skills of guitar playing, then you’re ready for the tips and techniques mentioned in this article.

Have the basics...

When you first learned how to play guitar, chords were your first priority. Then you most likely moved onto other interests such as strumming and chord progressions. However, you soon start to find the guitar boring. Why is that? Because it is!

You may be thinking to yourself, "Who is this guy and who does he think he is telling us that the guitar is boring?" No, guitar is not boring but it can be if everything starts to sound the same. I remember when this began to happen to me roughly a year after I had started playing.

I became extremely unmotivated and didn't want to continue down the path where everything sounded so bland. Chords are wonderful to a point. After that point, it's up to you whether that chord takes on a life of its own or not.

After going to the conservatory, I soon got back on the right track. Save yourself the money and read this article. You don't want to miss out on learning a few key steps you can take to make your music more interesting.

I relate it to the pallet an artist uses to paint a picture. It's you, the pallet of paint, and a blank canvas. You have the tools at your disposal to make beautiful art with vibrant colors that speak to your audience, or you can paint the canvas red and leave it like it is. Which would you prefer?

Regardless of skill level, you can make the most mundane chords sound extraordinary. In the case of the guitarist, there's you, the guitar with notes (the paint), and chords (the canvas). By adding or subtracting notes you can add color to your music and discover many new sounds. Let's get started.

Expand your chord vocabulary...

The more chords you know, the better. Whether you play rhythm or lead, it will enhance your ability to play the guitar. While there are numerous chords that you should know, we're going to focus on a few specific chords you form when you add notes to a regular chord.

If you want to add color to your chords, learn how to play 6th, 7th, 9th, add9, sus4 and 11th chords. Sound complicated? They really aren't. What are they exactly? These chords are Major chords with a few extra notes added on.

You can do a lot to manipulate a major chord to give you something a little bit different. Take these chords for example, C6,C7,C9,C11 :

...Sus4 and add9 chords look like the following:



Notice how most of the above chords has the basic C Major chord shape within the chord? All of the notes around the chord are what changes the quality of the chord. The notes that surround the usual C Major chord add color and depth to your music.

Are you still playing a C Major chord? No, because you are adding notes, which changes the intervals. However, the tone of the C Major chord is still heard quite clearly. Here are some more popular chords for you to use, .E sus4, G9, A sus4, A add9

I encourage you to look up new chords that have the different extensions we have listed. The minor chords follow the same basic principal. What is seen above is only a fraction of what's available to you. Once you know them well, you'll wonder why you didn't learn them sooner. They are worth the time!

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