By Verlyn Spreeman Are you like most people, when they hear the word "guitar playing technique" it brings to mind individuals spending many hours practicing scales and chords, getting their fingers to work like automatic machine guns that play each note perfectly without ever making a mistake? Making it look as easy as playing a video game. Although, when the word feeling is added to the mix, people might imagine a smoke filled room in which each and every person has a deep dark story, and the guitar as an instrument to bring out the exciting details in an emotional ball of fire. Buddy Guy is an old blues man that has had to deal with many hardships that life has put in front of him and now turns the pain and suffering into beautiful musical notes that rip into the heart and soul of every person in the room. So what's important' Both! I'm not saying that everyone needs to have technical ability but read on and find out what is important. Don't you think that a guitarist should have the technical ability to play however they feel? Technique and feeling are both vital and neither one should be neglected. Listening to Malmsteen, you can certainly feel the intense emotion in every single note. His guitar playing technique isn't just a flurry of flying fingers at random; it is the sound of someone who has mastered a guitar playing technique to the point where everything comes naturally without any hesitation. His playing has become independent of the all boundaries and limitations allowing the emotion to create the music. In another example, listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan you hear all the feeling you would expect from an outstanding blues player, but Vaughan also had through many years of practice developed great technique that makes this viable. Without this great technique his playing would not flow freely and his playing would become herky-jerky and restrained. Like Malmsteen, Vaughan's technique allowed his guitar playing to become independent of boundaries and limitations, allowing emotion to take top billing in the creation of his music. So how do you learn this? Well, if you are still lucky enough to be above ground there will always be something to get your juices flowing in the right direction. All that is necessary is to think of something you feel strongly about and let that be your guide into bringing emotion into a guitar technique . Maybe some of the latest news we hear every day can be enough to get us worked up. All you need to do is harness these feelings and let them become a part of your guitar playing technique. This is where your particular technique has to get to the point that you are not thinking about scales, modes, and chord theory or alternate picking styles and bending each note with perfect pitch. This is where it ends between practicing and playing, just let your emotions take over and let it come our naturally. Practicing takes long hours getting your fingers to work like an automatic machine gun that plays each note perfectly without any hesitation at all. The goal is great playing not unlike a great running back needs to spend many hours studying plays and practicing precision running so things come without any hesitation during the big game, a guitarist has to spend hours developing good guitar playing technique so things can come without hesitation during the big gig. When practicing a guitar technique, the most obvious thing that comes to mind is blazing speed. How fast can you rip through your scales' Even if this is a part of good technique, it is certainly not the only thing you should practice. Perfect string bending is also vital. You must consistently train yourself to bend notes to perfect pitch. Most amateur guitarists bend strings without much accuracy, which makes their bends sound terrible. Do this without forgetting that you should work on the relationship between chords and scales. Without understanding which chords belong to which scales, your guitar playing technique can get lost very easily. You should recognize how to form your chords up and down the fretboard from the scale you're using.
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