Watch your fingers
Forget the five-finger positions you learned as a child. Instead, watch your fingers at all times to make sure they’re not in the way when you need them to be. If you’re trying to shift to a different position, you need to be able to move your fingers out of the way first. This means that when you’re in the position you want to shift to, you need to make sure your fingers are out of the way. You can also watch your fingers when you’re practicing. When you’re just practicing notes, you can see what position your fingers are in. If you’re in a position that you don’t want to be in, you can move your fingers out of the way so you don’t get stuck there.
Develop a strong sense of rhythm
To become a great rhythm player, you need to develop a strong sense of rhythm. Many guitarists use a metronome to develop their sense of rhythm, but there are other ways you can use to develop your rhythm. Try playing in time with a metronome while you’re practicing, and while you’re waiting for your turn to play. This can help you to develop your sense of rhythm, and it can also give you a distraction while you’re waiting for your turn.
Play with bend and vibrato
When you’re playing your chords, you can use the technique known as bend. With bend, you can create a vibrato effect by letting the pitch of a string go down, then bringing it back up again, which creates a sound that sounds a little like a saxophone. This technique can help to add a little more color to your playing. You can also use the technique of vibrato when you’re playing single notes. This can help to create a shimmering tone. If you want to create a fast vibrato sound, you can use your fingers to shift the pitch down, then upward again to create a vibrato effect.
Try incorporating legato techniques
A great way to develop your rhythmic and harmonic sense is to incorporate legato techniques. With legato, you can play a note and then let it drift off into nothingness before continuing on to the next note with a different pitch. You can use this technique to create a smooth, flowing sound over your chord progressions.
Don’t get too obsessive over technique
If you get so obsessed with technique that you forget to enjoy playing, then you’re going to get nowhere fast. A good way to avoid this is to practice what you don’t know. This doesn’t mean that you should practice a piece that you don’t know, but rather that you should practice techniques that you’re not so familiar with. This can help to build your technique, but it’s also likely to give you an insight into how you can improve your playing.
Take care when you practice
When you practice, you’re probably going to feel like you’re getting somewhere. You may even get frustrated by how slowly you’re progressing. Don’t let yourself get frustrated when you’re practicing. When you feel like you’re getting nowhere, take a break. It’s better to take a break now than to push through it with a broken spirit later.
You should never stop learning
With guitar playing, you should never stop learning. There will always be new techniques that you can learn, and there will always be new pieces that you can learn from. It’s important to always be learning new things, and this is a great way to keep yourself on your toes. With everything that there is to know, there’s always something new to learn.