| Expansion | Techniques | Techniques 2 | Barre Chords | Barre Chord Songs | |
Expansion[]
By now you should know how to read tablature and chord diagrams and should be practicing to improve the following:
- Dexterity
- Strumming
- Tab and Chord diagram reading.
You don't have to be great at any of these yet, but because they are the fundamentals to playing - they will only get better with practice. Use tabs of your favorite bands to improve them. But, what if you see something in a tab that you are unfamiliar with? Like a 3h4, or a 5p4 or a 3s5? Ever seen those kind of symbols?
They represent techniques, which add style, and liven up your playing. Even as you work on your fundamentals, it's important to start learning the techniques for a few reasons.
- It will make the guitar a lot less boring to practice.
- You need to continue to expand your playing Vertically.
Vertical vs. Horizontal expansion[]
When you expand vertically, you expand your abilities. This is a pre-requisite for horizontal expansion, which is when you learn new songs, riffs, and tabs. When you expand horizontally, your learning what you need to impress people, and play amazing guitar. Keep in mind that in order to play a lot of songs out there your going to need to know the techniques, styles, tunings, and more assosciated with the song in order to play it.
Once you learn some new techniques and styles you greatly expand the amount of room you'll have to expand horizontally - New songs, more riffs you can play, etc.
Therefore, it's important you continue to learn the techniques, and styles of the guitar or you'll be stuck playing only songs of a certain level of difficulty.
Where should I start?[]
While there is a section for techniques on this site that you can use to learn on your own, you may, as a beginner, want to stick to the guided lessons which provide a more comprehensive program for you. However, it is time to start exploring some things on your own - so take a look around this site, there is a lot to offer.