I can never stress enough the need to approach the guitar as a musician, not just as a guitar player. Sure, you need to learn many techniques to get the most out of your instrument; however, once you begin to master these techniques you should concentrate on developing your own unique voice.
Guitar mastery means being able to present your ideas without strain, to effortlessly be able to transfer the sounds in your head to your fingers, and then into the realm of audible music; in essence, to sing through your instrument. Singers do this unconsciously. Singers don’t think about how to constrict their vocal cords in order to hit a note. It happens naturally. You should strive to attain this fluency on your instrument.
Here are some exercises to help you move forward in this direction -
Sing a phrase and then try to play it.
George Benson, famous for doubling his guitar lines with his voice
If you “can’t” sing then you better start practicing; every musician should be able to sing, to some degree. Sing an idea that pops in your head and try to play it. If you can’t think of something original try thinking of a melody from a commercial, a song, etc.Now play this on your guitar.
First thing you will need to do is to find your starting note. Sing your phrase and find that first note on your fret-board. Now, figure out the rest of the phrase. As you study music you will learn to recognize scales and arpeggios, and especially intervals. If this is not easy for you, then consider this an area that you should improve on.
Mimic vocal melodies on the guitar.
This is a great exercise for improving your phrasing: how you actually play a note. If a singer bends a note try to match his bend. If he uses vibrato try to match it: does he immediately use vibrato or does he sustain the note and then apply vibrato? Is it a fast or slow vibrato, shallow or deep?
You might be surprised how much you can learn from this exercise. Furthermore, these are the same techniques you will use when you try to figure out a song or solo by ear. Axiom: if you cannot “hear” something you cannot actually play it. This doesn’t mean that you cannot finger the chords and pluck them, but if you can’t hear in your head how you want your guitar to sound you will never be able to achieve a very satisfying tone.
Play and sing notes simultaneously.
(Think George Benson) This is a cool technique and a lot of fun. I saw Mike Keneally open up for Steve Vai awhile back and he was harmonizing in seconds with his guitar. That’s taking all this to the uber-extreme, but hey, I was impressed. Good luck!
Related Posts:
To Read or Not To Read, That is the Question – Why Guitarists Should Learn to Read Music
Lifting Weights – Structuring Your Pracitce Regimine
The Mental Game: Preparing Yourself to be a First-Rate Guitarist
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