One way of developing speed, whether you’re a shredder or not, is to combine your picking and legato (slurring) techniques. Mike Phillipov lays out some step-by-step exercises to help you gain both speed and accuracy in your playing.

In the second article in this series, Tom examines the sloppines of extraneous string noise and demonstrates some excellent muting techniques that can benefit advanced players as well as beginners, giving them more control over their playing.

Mike Philippov details five important steps to making memorable and interesting guitar solos. These are not only easy to follow, they also make a lot of sense!

Sloppy technique leads to sloppy playing and you can especially notice sloppy playing on the electric guitar! Tom Hess looks at the three basic problem areas and addresses two of them in depth in this first of two articles.

Sweep picking isn’t easy. But if you look at the pitfalls you’re likely to run into, that can go a long way toward making this technique work for you. Mike Philippov examines the aspects of sweep picking that most players stumble on and provides some very helpful practice techniques.

It’s easy to know that you want a practice schedule. And it’s easier to abandon it fairly early in the game for all sorts of reasons, most of which are merely matters of perception. Tom Hess demonstrates that a highly efficient practice routine doesn’t have to be boring and can actually generate creativity. Having fun practicing usually leads to more practice and more practice leads to getting better faster.

Now here’s a list that anyone with the serious goal of playing professionally will want to have! Tom Hess goes through the main mistakes would-be professionals make when pursuing their dreams of being a player in the music industry.

The attitude with which you approach practicing can often affect just how effective your practicing is likely to be. Tom Hess explores these attitudes and gives some recommendations that will hopefully make your practice time both enjoyable and productive.

Speed, as a technique, can excite and enthrall an audience. Far from being emotionless, speed requires quite a bit of emotion and desire to achieve. Mike Philippov examines how to use a metronome to help you achieve results in speed-as-a-goal practice.

The attitude with which you approach practicing can often affect just how effective your practicing is likely to be. Tom Hess explores these attitudes and gives some recommendations that will hopefully make your practice time both enjoyable and productive.