Did you ever get the feeling that your guitar playing has led you to a blind alley? Though the motivation is there, your fingers are not up to the mark and you feel that you are not making any progress. This is when you should pause, step back and assess the situation. Do not be disheartened, there are ways to get your playing back into groove and show continual improvement on your Rhythm Guitar.
SENSORY OVERLOAD
You may have been practicing too much and this has led to standstill in your improvement. There is a simple solution, pack up your guitar and do not play for a week or two. Your sensory overload will reset and you can start afresh.
BENEFIT FROM DIFFERENT STYLES OF MUSIC
When you continuously play only the style of music that you like, then you may hit a roadblock and stop improving. What you need to do is to try to learn another style of music, maybe you could play rock or blues guitar instead of the jazz that you like. This will give you a different perspective and your fingers will become more adept at playing the guitar.
GUITAR THEORY TOO COUNTS WHEN PLAYING
Without a proper background, your guitar playing can get you only so far. You need to know the theory of playing and this will help you improve. If you can afford classes, go ahead and join. When your basics are sound, the rest will follow. If you cannot afford to join classes, then there are many lucidly written books on 'Guitar Theory', which will help you.
FOCUS ON YOUR GUITAR TECHNIQUE
You should set aside at least a week for improving your technique. Forget about songs for a week, just go ahead and practice hammer-ons, pull offs, finger picking etc. Do not forget to practice 'string skipping exercises' too. This will improve your 'pick hand' and 'fret hand' playing. When you feel you have had sufficient practice on your techniques, get back to songs.
PLAY HORN PARTS ON YOUR GUITAR - UNIQUE AND HELPFUL
This is a little known technique which will help your playing immensely. Learn to replicate on your guitar horn instrument sounds such as those of sax, trumpet, clarinet etc. You could also follow the same method for other instruments such as piano, violin etc. This will give you fresh inputs and a further impetus to your guitar playing.
LEARN MULTIPLE GUITAR SCALES
Most of us get into the rut of a single guitar scale and stagnate. By learning new guitar scales, you are arming yourself with a host of new skills which will lead to some mind blowing solo guitar playing.
LEARN NEW CHORDS, RHYTHM AND TIME SIGNATURES ETC
At least 80 to 85% of all guitar playing relates to chords. Buy a good guitar book and promise yourself to learn at least 3 new chords per week. Repeated usage will help you remember it. To help your Rhythm playing further, you should also learn the basics of rhythm and time signatures. This will help your sense of rhythm and improve your skills in lead guitar playing. Practice with a metronome, it will help you get the beats correctly.
These are some of the methods by which you can improve your playing the rhythm guitar. There is no substitute for hard work, practice and the will to learn something more. Your motto should be "better than yesterday, but not as good as tomorrow".
For anyone serious about really learning guitar it is vitally important that you get your hands on some really good guitar tuition software.
Fortunately nowadays you can buy guitar lessons that enable you to learn guitar online and at your own speed.
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