View Post

Guitar Practice Routines – An Interview with 5 Pro Guitarists

In Guitar Blog, Interviews and Insights, Music, Practice and Technique by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

While on my ‘Virtual Book Tour’ promoting The 7 Day Practice Routine For Guitarists, it occurred to me to ’round-up’ some of my favorite players both Local and National to talk a bit about what they practice on a daily basis. These guitarists are as formidable in 2024 as they were when this article was first published a few years back. As much as I love playing and teaching the guitar… I also really love …

View Post

Guitar Arpeggios – The 7 Day Practice Routine

In Arpeggios, Guitar Blog, Practice and Technique by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

Hey, it’s Arpeggio day! In this lesson we’re going to change it up by doing some Guitar Arpeggios and sequences for guitar. You can grab these guitar arpeggios in PDF, TAB, or download below. If you missed the first 2 installments of the guitar practice routine, you can find them here: 7 Day Guitar Practice Routine: Day 1 – Warmups7 Day Guitar Practice Routine: Day 2 – Modal Workout Guitar Arpeggios Table of Contents If …

View Post

20 Essential Picking Exercises For Guitar

In Guitar Blog, Practice and Technique, Scales by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

Alternate picking for guitarists may seem like something we all take for granted. Most guitarists, even complete beginners alternate some down and up strokes naturally whether they are consciously doing it or not. As we develop our picking hand, alternate picking can open a whole new world of techniques and music not obtainable otherwise. Even if you’re familiar with alternate picking, it can often be helpful to go back and work on the basics. Sometimes …

View Post

Pentatonic Scales For Guitar

In Guitar Blog, Music, Practice and Technique, Scales by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

Pentatonic Scales for Guitar Pentatonic scales are simultaneously the most used and sometimes most purposely avoided of all scales on the guitar. In all of my years of teaching guitar lessons, I’ve found there are typically 2 kinds of guitarists: Table of Contents Funny Pentatonic Scale Story When I was teaching guitar lessons full-time, famed shredder and Mr. Big / Racer X Guitarist Paul Gilbert was doing a clinic at my music store. It was …

View Post

Five Essential Warm-Up Exercises for Guitar

In Guitar Blog, Practice and Technique by Craig Smith

Guitar warm-ups are an essential part of playing guitar or really any musical instrument, especially as we get older. Warming up both hands prior to a long practice session, rehearsal, or gig is essential. Guitar warm-up exercises build strength and dexterity while also helping to prevent common injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. These types of guitar exercises can be deceptively simple to learn, yet technically complex to master. Despite being done in only 10-15 …

View Post

Arpeggio Patterns and Fretboard Diagrams for Guitar

In Arpeggios, Guitar Blog, Practice and Technique by Craig Smith

Table of Contents Introduction Often when I improvise using arpeggios on guitar, I like to add more scale tones to the typical triads or CAGED shape arpeggios in any given key. There a few reasons why you might want to add some extra notes to your arpeggios on the guitar: What is An Arpeggio? If you need a refresher lesson, I did one a while back on standard diatonic arpeggios for guitar you can check …

View Post

Guitar Modes – Essential Guitar Scales

In Guitar Blog, Music, Practice and Technique, Scales by Craig Smith

Introduction to Modal Scales for Guitarists I know what you’re thinking. Oh, great. Another article on guitar scales. You may be asking yourself the usual questions: These are the same things I asked myself over 30 years ago when I first started using the Modal Scales in my everyday guitar playing. I remember back in the late 1980’s when I was first starting out on the guitar, reading about these mysterious scales in magazine interviews …

View Post

Beginner Guitar Chords – 20 Essential Chords

In Chords, Guitar Blog, Practice and Technique by Craig SmithLeave a Comment

Introduction to Beginner Guitar Chords If you’re new to playing the guitar and wondering what chords are suitable for a beginner guitarist, look no further. I’ve got you covered in this lesson 20 Essential Beginner Guitar Chords… and then some. Don’t be turned off by the term Beginner Guitar Chords though. If you follow through with the lesson, you’ll see it gets into some advance guitar music theory. You’ll find no shortage of downloadable guitar chord …