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How to Play Acoustic Guitar and Become a Rock Star

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Howard Theatre
How to Play Acoustic Guitar and Become a Rock Star

This corresponds to the types of engagements available to acoustic guitarists: band member, self-accompanying soloist, and lead guitarist in a duet or combination. As a soloist, there will be no shortage of coffee shops, cocktail parties, up-scale social events, weddings, and restaurants where your presence (nicely dressed, of course) will add a flair of elegance and sophistication to the event, especially if you play a classical or big box jazz acoustic guitar, which piped in music cannot do.

I'm all alone...

The secret to becoming a competent soloist (the self-accompanist kind) is to perform music that requires you to play a melody, a bass line, and backup chords all at the same time. While this is no easy task, learning how to fingerpick while learning fundamental guitar chords will be very beneficial; you'll have implanted finger coordination and independence in your approach from the start.

There are several guitar TABs available on the internet that may assist you in developing a good song repertoire of fingerstyle tunes. And, to be honest, even the easiest ones to play seem much more complicated (and spectacular!) than they are.

Work done as a group:

Playing rhythm guitar in a band is simple: you're a member of the rhythm section, along with the bass and drums. The biggest issue with becoming a rhythm guitarist is that most bands' lead vocalists are already quite excellent rhythm guitarists, and there is seldom a need for two rhythm players in one band.

So, unless you're the main vocalist, you may want to study vocal harmony or become a lead guitarist once you learn to play acoustic guitar. There is, in fact, such a thing as an acoustic lead guitarist. Most acoustic duos have one or both guitarists take over lead guitar duties throughout a concert; in bluegrass bands, the guitarist frequently plays both rhythm and lead throughout a song, as in most other combos with just one guitarist.

Taking the initiative.

Luca Stricagnoli available to help you on your way to becoming a lead guitarist. The electric guitar soloing classes are much more prevalent than acoustic lead lessons, however, most of what the electric classes concentrate on (with a few notable exceptions, such as severe string bending and whammy bar techniques) can be utilized while learning to play acoustic guitar.

The most difficult aspect of learning to perform acoustic guitar solos is making them sound melodious. Making melodic solos is as easy as playing something you can sing or singing something you can play.

In other words, while practicing, build a solo by singing what you intend to perform over the chord sequence first. Then learn how to play what you've just sung. Or, if you're talented enough, compose a tune and play it at the same time. Consider George Benson's iconic rendition of "Masquerade," in which he plays and sings the solo at the same time.

You may even start by playing the song's melody on the guitar, and then develop your variants of the tune as the song progresses. Consider Willie Nelson's solo in "On the Road Again."

greater than...

There's so much more to the acoustic guitar than the fundamental guitar chords that we all start with when learning how to play acoustic guitar; with a little planning, you may be more than "just another musician." You have the potential to become the most valued member of the band.

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