How To Play Hammer-Ons 

Hammer-ons and pull-offs are a pair of closely related guitar techniques that involve playing notes that smoothly blend into each other, creating an effect known as legato. Legato playing allows you to create buttery guitar lines where seamlessly bleed into each other in a way that, when done well, can be quite beautiful. Hammer-ons and pull-offs aren’t the only ways to achieve a legato sound on g

Trying your hand at songwriting can be an intimidating process for reasons, not the least of which is not knowing where to even start with chords. There are many chords to choose from, and not all of them will even work together by most conventional standards. In this piece, we’re to dip just a tiny bit into music theory in order to have a framework for coming up with chord progressions to your so

If you have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the guitar, then there’s a good chance then you’ll have a much easier time picking up a bass than you might think. While bass guitars have bigger frets, longer necks, deeper notes and less strings, the two instruments have much more in common than they have different. Their fretboards are navigated the same way, notes are produced in the same manner,

When you first learned to play guitar, you were probably taught to strum each chord as a whole, singular unit. While that’s a perfectly valid way to approach the instrument, it can be somewhat limiting if it’s the only you ever strum. You can open yourself up to whole new worlds of playing by simply breaking your strumming pattern on chord shapes that already know. While there are many ways to go

  You’ve probably heard those light, high-pitched guitar notes that seem to float over the rest of the ensemble a fair amount in the music you’ve listened to. Those kinds of notes are called harmonics, and they’re to be found in just about any style of guitar music, from the “pig squeals” associated with heavy metal to the gentle chord harmonics popular in modern folk guitar. The sonic options of

The recent and seemingly sudden passing of guitar icon Eddie Van Halen has left the music world stunned. In the eponymous band he co-founded with his drummer and brother Alex, Eddie trailblazed a dazzling, virtuosity-centered approach to the electric guitar that completely redefined the sounds we associate with the instrument. He quickly rose to become one of the world’s most influential players,

  There is something about open-position guitar riffs that makes them impossible not to love. The sound of a ringing open string mixed with the punch of the low-end range of the guitar has made open position riffing a staple of just about every style of guitar-oriented music, from blues to death metal and everything in between. But despite how cool open-positon riffs may sound, many guitarists who

If there’s one technique that proves that guitarists will always strive to find new ways to play their instruments past what their creators intended, then it’s probably tapping. Tapping is a guitar technique where notes are played by pressing directly onto the fret with one finger instead of being traditionally strummed. Tapping can involve both the left and right-hand in the fretting of notes, an

  Different types of chords can have starkly different sounds from one another, and the perfect chord at the right moment can transform an entire song. Understanding the different types of chords can elevate both your songwriting and guitar playing to new heights. In this article we are going to look at the six most commonly used chord qualities, although it is worth noting that there are many mor

If you feel like you’re starting to fall into a rut with your soloing, exploring the harmonic and melodic minor scales can be a great way to pull you out of it. Both scales are similar to the minor scale that you likely already know, but with some essential notes changed, making for a formula that will force you just far enough outside your comfort zone to spark some new creativity. In this piece,