If you've plateaued as a beginner to intermediate player, there's a good chance you don't need another video on the perfect way to pick, sweep or play legato. You might just need more physical ability in your hands.
This is how I approached the technical side of my playing when I had a few months to get good enough for music school. It's not about theory or the other parts of the application. It's a way of blocking out the noise and focusing on what actually moves you forward.
The story ▶ 0:47
I went to the University of Birmingham to study business. Over the summer before, and into my first few months there, I was playing a lot of guitar: learning songs, improvising, all the usual stuff. After a few months I realised uni wasn't for me, and at the same time my passion for guitar kept growing.
By coincidence, walking back from a lecture one day, I saw a billboard for BIMM, the British Institute of Modern Music, which was opening a new campus in Birmingham. So I thought, why not apply?
I had a few months to prepare. I knew I'd have to perform a song, do a bit of improvising and answer a few basic theory questions. Funnily enough, I understood the theory a bit and I knew how to improvise. The problem was that I didn't feel my technical ability was where it needed to be. And with that time pressure, I couldn't mess around trying different ideas. I had to find something that worked and make progress.
What bouldering taught me about technique ▶ 1:53
I love indoor bouldering, and there's a good parallel here. In climbing, you're generally meant to hold yourself at arm's length rather than with your arms tense and elbows tucked in. That saves energy in your upper body and lets you climb for longer. It's good technique.
But it puts a lot more strain on your fingertips, hands and forearms, and they burn out fast. So you could easily think you're doing something wrong. You're not. The problem is that to use the technique, you need a certain level of strength. The technique is correct, but if your hands can't handle it, it's not much use to you yet.
Without realising it, that's the approach I took with the guitar.
Build physical ability first ▶ 3:14
I didn't spend hours on YouTube looking up how to sweep pick, how to do legato or how to pick faster. I just improved my physical playing: strength, dexterity and coordination, all through very basic exercises.
For example, I found a tempo where I could comfortably play my scales without mistakes. Every day I played every scale shape, starting on each different fret, and I put the metronome up 1 bpm every two days. That's a lot of practice.
I didn't worry about which finger to use or how to hold the pick. I just did it a lot, because the physical strength wasn't there. And my picking and scale playing got significantly better. I did the same with chords and with sweep picking. I didn't look for different ways to approach them. I just did them loads and built up my hand's ability to do what I told it to.
That all sounds really obvious, but in my opinion it's 80% of what gets you there.
Great players with "wrong" technique ▶ 4:15
Look at players like Marty Friedman or Zakk Wylde. They hold the pick in quite a weird way, and no sane guitar teacher would tell you to copy it. But they play faster, more creatively and just better than almost every guitarist out there, and to a much higher level than most guitar teachers.
Why? Because they play a lot, and they got really good at playing the way they play. Is it optimal? No. They may even be great in spite of their technique. But the hours on the fretboard are what made them great.
Simplify to a few exercises and play them a lot ▶ 4:48
So if you've plateaued, whether you're more of a beginner or a bit beyond intermediate, it may be that your physical ability is what's limiting you, and no amount of searching for the perfect solution is going to fix that.
Simplify your practice down to three exercises and play them every day, a lot. Don't worry about whether you're holding the pick right or your hand's at the right angle. Through trial and error, and naturally experimenting as you go, you'll figure out what works for you.
Does that mean you should ignore good technique? Of course not. But those techniques mean nothing if you don't have mastery over your fingertips in both hands.
The exercises I'd start with ▶ 5:29
Honestly, one of the best exercises I ever did was a simple hammer-on drill. Hold your first finger on the 1st fret and hammer on to the 2nd fret with your second finger, hard and fast, for a minute. Rest for a minute, then go again.
e|-----------------------------------| B|-----------------------------------| G|-----------------------------------| D|-----------------------------------| A|-----------------------------------| E|-1h2-1h2-1h2-1h2-1h2-1h2-1h2-1h2---|
Then work through every pair of fingers in the same way:
- First and third
- First and fourth
- Second and third
- Second and fourth
- Third and fourth
You'll burn out pretty quickly, and that's a sign you need to build some strength and coordination in your left hand.
Same with picking. How long can you down-pick at full speed? Probably not very long. Or think about how you actually play your scales. A pentatonic scale is two notes per string, so mute the strings if you need to and pick two notes per string, then speed it up and keep going.
Keep these exercises simple. Ask yourself what physical things you need to do to have complete control over what you're trying to play. It's often very simple.
Look at technique once the hours are there ▶ 6:21
If you're putting enough time into this stuff, then absolutely look at technique. Try different things, see how Yngwie or Eddie Van Halen play something. But I'm willing to bet most of you are stuck on the physical side. I still often find myself stuck there.
There's a far greater likelihood the reason you can play the solo is you sat and did it for hours and hours.
A lot of pros will tell you that you need to do this or that to play a certain technique or solo, and that may well have worked for them. But there's a correlation and causation problem. If you play for hours a day and tend to slant your pick a particular way, you could be fooled into thinking the slant is why you can play that solo. Pro guitarists are great at being pro guitarists. They're not always great at knowing what got them there.
A guitar teacher might tell you the opposite of all this, so it's up to you how you approach it. But if you want to try it: pick three simple exercises that target what's physically holding you back, set a comfortable tempo, and play them every day. Track it in a practice log and nudge the tempo up as you go.
