Nashville Guitar Guru | Guitar Lessons in Nashville, TN

Dave Isaacs, Nashville guitar guru and master teacher

Assorted Guitar Lessons

How to make a guitar sing.

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Some people can play a lot of notes, but the best players make the guitar sing.

Why do some musicians command attention with a single note? Chops are impressive, and speed and flashy technique have their place. But the notes are just the beginning. Expression on the guitar comes from the player’s touch, and the way that subtle variations in pressure and movement can shape a melody.

Many players seem to get distracted in their explorations of lead guitar. This often starts with learning scales, which is important for a variety of reasons. But memorizing patterns on the fretboard is just the first step in a longer process, and can even be misleading. Why else would so many students express that they’ve learned the forms up and down the neck but still can’t seem to make music with it? If you’ve learned about bricks but not mortar, you can’t build a house.

 

Good lead guitar starts with attention to phrasing.

This is much too large a topic to explore with any depth in a single blog post. But for now, we can hugely simplify and just say that the problem most people have is that they try to use the scales as a foundation for improvising. But music is built on gestures: smaller melodic phrases with integrity of their own. Even a long, continuous line can be broken down into smaller segments that together form a larger gesture. The scales give you one possible set of notes to choose from, and this often works very well. But it’s the choices that make your playing musical, not the set you choose from.

Once you’ve begun to trim your ideas down into smaller pieces, you can start to look more closely at the way you articulate the notes instead of just the notes themselves. Playing melody is like speaking, and no one wants to listen to someone droning on in a monotone. Phrasing, dynamics, timing, and articulation are essential elements of communication. An experienced actor can make the same words convey different meanings by the way they deliver the line. To be an expressive player, you need to have the same kind of flexibility with notes.

 

1. Repetition and variation

Again, the simple idea is just to do less. Make statements: play a few notes, pause, then play an answer. This is called “call and response” and is an easy way to make your ideas more organized. Pay attention to how many notes you play in each statement, as well as how long you wait between them. Trying varying the amount of time between phrases. Use repeated rhythmic patterns to tie things together, then mix them up to create interest. Nearly all music balances the opposing techniques of repetition and variation to create a coherent whole that holds the listener’s attention.

2. Articulation

How many different ways can you approach a note? You can land squarely on it, or slide in from above or below. Remember that slides can be timed, in which both the starting and ending notes have a specific duration, or untimed, in which the first note is a “grace note” with no time value of its own. You can slide in from an adjacent fret, further away, or an indeterminate pitch.

We can also use slurs: “hammer-ons”, when coming from below, “pull-offs” when coming from above, or simply tapping the neck (another type of hammer-on where the note is sounded by the finger landing on the string). This also leads us to what in classical music is called ornamentation: trills (moving very quickly back and forth between two notes, from above or below), and turns (approaching a note from directly above or below, moving past it, and then returning to land on the target note). These can be played strictly with fretted notes or might also incorporate open strings.

Then there’s the question of picking hand attack. Are you using a pick or a bare finger? How hard do you strike the note? What about the force of the attack? Does the string ring out cleanly or is there a percussive “snap”? Are you simply passing through the string or “popping” it away from the neck? (This doesn’t have to be a dramatic movement, although it can be). Changing the angle of attack can radically change the tone, as does striking the string in different places. Tremolo picking – quick repeated back-and-forth strokes on the same note – is another powerful and memorable effect.

3. Vibrato

Vibrato involves moving the finger back and forth on the same fret, pushing and pulling the pitch slightly. This has the effect of essential sounding the note repeatedly, creating more sustain and a more vocal, singing sound.

There are two basic types of vibrato. One comes from the wrist and forearm, in which the arm is rotated slightly back and forth. This works best with the index finger. The movement can also be from side to side, which is effective with any finger. This is the kind of vibrato you see used on bowed instruments like the violin and cello, as well as the classical guitar.

The second is more dramatic and comes generally more from the arm. Balance on the fingertips and lightly move the arm up and down. This tends to work best with multiple fingers resting on the same string. Try varying the speed to create a different effect. This is the type of vibrato you probably associate more with the electric guitar, especially in blues and rock settings.

Some players create this motion more from the fingers than the arm. This generally involves more of a dropped wrist, and requires more muscular effort. This approach has its place, but to my ear the vibrato isn’t quite as controlled and tends to be more obvious and dramatic. We tend to see mostly hard rock and metal players using this approach. As a general rule I always prefer to have the muscles of the hand working less, relying on the larger muscles of the arm to carry more of the movement.

4. Dynamics

Dynamics are essential to expressive playing: again, think of a speaker with a droning monotone. Varying the volume and intensity of your phrases. Get louder (crescendo) and softer (diminuendo). This variation comes primarily from the intensity of the picking hand attack, but can come from the fretting hand as well.

The music itself will tell you when to change and which way to go. A solo might have an overall dynamic “shape”, perhaps starting more quietly and building in intensity as it unfolds. It can be very effective to suddenly get quieter, especially when it’s unexpected. And when you’re playing with a band, the feeling of a rhythm section responding to your dynamic lead is a powerful thing the audience will always feel.

These are all topics that could be explored in much greater depth, but the first step is just to get you thinking about them.

Pay attention to the ways you hear great players shaping the sound with variations in touch, timing, and melody. Some of these techniques are more challenging than others, but they all can be mastered through experimentation and practice. Taken together, these are all factors that contribute to a player’s sound. All of my guitar heroes had their own approaches and ways of using these techniques, some very distinctive and recognizable. The great Latin rock guitarist Carlos Santana once said, “your tone is your face, why would you want to look like someone else?” His sound is instantly recognizable: melodic, expressive, and yes, singing. Yours can be too.

The one lead guitar rule you should never break.

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If you’re working to really develop as a player, learning to play lead is an important part of the well-rounded guitarist’s skill set. And besides, we all love a good guitar guitar solo. When I was a teenager first learning to play it was the most exciting part of the song. I idolized virtuoso soloists like Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Randy Rhoads, and Eddie Van Halen. Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour taught me about melody and the well-placed slow bend. Eric Clapton and the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia showed me how to spin long, sinuous phrases, while Neil Young and Carlos Santana demonstrated how simplicity and intensity make a powerful statement.

I learned my scales, copied licks, and transcribed solos. Most of all, I played, just turning on the radio or putting a record on and jamming along. I learned that the lead player’s role is to be a secondary voice to the vocal. Sometimes the guitar steps in for the lead singer to take over the spotlight, and other times it provides commentary and counterpoint.

 

Good lead players use a wide variety of approaches, and the best develop a unique voice as recognizable as their face.

But there’s one thing they all have in common, one rule that applies in every style of music in any setting: fit in with the rest of the music. Above all, that means listening to everything else that’s going on and complementing it.

It might sound ridiculously obvious to say you need to play parts that sound like they belong. After all, every student of lead guitar wants to learn how to play the right things, don’t they? I’m sure the answer is yes, but I’m still amazed and sometimes even a little taken aback by how some players are terrible listeners. Or at least, how often some people choose to stop listening.

Even here in Nashville, where the baseline of guitar skill is very high, you still hear players who break this cardinal rule.

The worst offenders sometimes make an unwelcome appearance at the Music City institution called the songwriter round. In a round, multiple performers are onstage at once and take turns playing their songs. Some people like to jam along with the other songwriters they’re onstage with, and in the right hands this can make magic. But unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

Full disclosure: I love to play along with other writers’ songs, and often do. I’m sure I’ve been guilty in the past of exactly the same kind of musical blindness. But as a performing songwriter, I understand what it means to want your song to be well-represented, and how frustrating it is when a jammer’s good intentions hurt the performance instead of help it. So let’s consider this an open letter to every lead player everywhere that wants to join in and jam.

Rule number one, and really the only one: stay out of the way.

Remember, when there’s a vocal the lead guitar is a secondary voice. That means the vocals always take priority. Don’t step on the singer. Listen for the spaces between the vocal lines and pick your spots. Played skillfully, melodic fills can really enhance the song. Chosen poorly, they can ruin it. Here are some guidelines to help make sure you’re adding to the music, not distracting from it.

1. Know what you don’t know.

In a jamming situation, you might not have ever heard the song before. That means there could be things you can’t predict: chord changes, rhythmic and dynamic shifts, and other musical details. Recognize that you don’t always know what’s coming. A good rule of thumb is to listen all the way through a verse and chorus before you play a note. Then when you do join in, you have a basic picture of the song. It’s also important to have enough understanding of song structure that you can begin to anticipate when something new might happen, and hang back until you know what it is.

2. When in doubt, lay out.

This speaks for itself, doesn’t it. Have a realistic sense of what you can and can’t follow, and don’t fish for notes during someone else’s practiced performance.

3. Watch for body language.

It’s pretty easy to tell when someone’s about to sing. It might be as simple as approaching the mic, or stepping away from it. An experienced performer might give you actual cues, letting you know when it’s time to step up and take the lead or calling out a warning when a change is coming. Use your eyes as well as your ears.

4. Match the singer’s dynamic

A good accompanist shadows the dynamic of the vocal, letting the singer set the tone. If you’re given a solo and the accompaniment changes in intensity to let you open up, go with it, but be aware of when that section might be coming to an end. It’s generally pretty easy to tell if you pay attention. If you’re playing fills, try to keep them between the vocal lines. Be sensitive to the singer’s phrasing, and don’t ever play louder then they sing. In most cases, your fills should be the top layer of the background rather than an equal duet.

5. Play it like you mean it, or don’t play at all.

Tentative playing never sounds good. If you have something to contribute, play with confidence and authority. If you can’t play it confidently, don’t play it.

 

The skills that allow you to jam along well will make you a better and more musical lead player in every situation. The image of the lead guitar gunslinger might be cool, but it can be misleading. Ultimately, your job is still the same as everyone else in the band: to make each other sound better. Blend into the group and pick your moments. Then when it’s time to shine, let ‘er rip!

Learning to understand harmony

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Learning to play without understanding harmony is like speaking a language without understanding what the words mean.

I should take a moment to qualify what I mean by “understanding”. It’s certainly worthwhile to learn enough music theory to able to identify the notes of a key, or spell a chord. But knowing the math isn’t enough: real musical understanding can only come from listening.

 

“Harmony” is the result of notes blending together in a harmonious way to create chords.

Some chords are more harmonious than others, though. We call sounds that blend consonant, while sounds that don’t are dissonant. There are degrees of dissonance: some sounds clash more than others. But those clashing sounds actually create the sense of movement in music as much as anything having to do with rhythm.

Try this simple exercise. Hold down the notes of an open position G7 chord, but strike only the first and second strings. The sound is clearly dissonant, maybe even unpleasant. Now play an open position C chord, followed by a G7, then return to C. This sequence creates a complete musical statement with C as our starting point, and G7 as a tension chord that resolves back to C. Now go back to G7 and play only the first and second strings again. You will probably find that the notes sound a lot less dissonant! Outside of the context of the chord pattern, all we hear is the clash. Within the chord sequence, we hear movement: tension and release.

This concept is at the heart of our Western musical system. When one chord follows another, we get a sense of movement. Every new movement in the sequence sets up an expectation in your ear: not exactly predicting what will happen next, but suggesting possibilities for what might happen. It might be a simple two-chord sequence like C and G7, or it might unfold over eight or even sixteen bars.

No matter what, though, in almost every case the sequence eventually comes to a final resolution that completes the cycle.

 

Understanding harmony means your ear can follow these unfolding sequences, and hear the implied direction as one chord moves to another.

When writing or improvising, this allows you to create a melody part that works with the movement of the chords. For a great illustration of this, give a listen to Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me” and check out my post on the song here.

Sometimes chord changes are meant to play on your expectations. Try playing the following sequence:

C          F          G          C

C          F          G          Am      C

Notice how the move to A minor chord plays off the expectation set up by the previous resolution from G to C. Instead, the resolution is delayed the second time by the unexpected minor chord before the return to C. If you play with sequence without the final C, the Am does provide some sense of completion but creates a much more unsettled feeling.

 

Since chords are collections of individual notes, every chord sequence also creates multiple melodic possibilities.

Even if the lines aren’t highlighted as a melody or bass part, these melodic “voices” reinforce and strengthen the sense of movement. Take a look at this example:

 

 

The top line gives you the chord part. The bottom line extracts two possible melodies from the chord sequence. Play the melody alone and then play the chords once more. Notice how the melodic connections between chords help to reinforce this sense of movement and “progression” from one chord to another.

 

In this more advanced example, the chords could be grouped in sets of two or three.

Each group “points” the ear to the chord that follows:

We start off in the key of C, with Dm7 and G7 pointing to Cmaj7. Shifting the chord to Cm7 sets up an F7 resolving to Bbmaj7, creating the same chord progression in Bb major. The half-step descent to A7 is an unexpected twist, as is the A# diminished that follows. But the diminished chord resolves neatly into Bm7, setting up a chain of 2-5-1 resolutions:

Bm7 – E7 – Am7 (key of A, but with a chromatic adjustment to A minor)
Am7 – D7 – Gm7 (Key of G, with the same chromatic adjustment)
Gm7 – C7 (setting up the key of F).

Notice how the first time through, the C7 doesn’t resolve to F as we’ve come to expect but to the Dm7. This is what we might call a “deceptive” resolution, but the second time through to C7 resolves to F to complete the pattern in F major.

 

If all that theory is making your eyes cross, just listen to the sense of movement as the progression unfolds.

Try to hear how some of the chord changes resolve exactly as you might expect, while others are more surprising. The surprising changes delay the sense of resolution and prolong the tension until the very end of the cycle.

If this concept is new to you, all you need to do at first is just start listening. The more you pay attention to these kinds of musical details, the easier they become to hear. Ultimately, hearing this sense of implied movement within a chord progression will make it easier to learn new songs, write interesting chord sequences, and improvise. Learning the notes and chords that belong to each key will also help complete the picture, but take in the information a little at a time. Remember that memorizing is relatively easy and quick, but internalizing into your musical ear is a longer process of assimilation. As with everything else in learning music, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Learning the notes: navigating the matrix

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One of the great challenges of learning the guitar is that the logic of the notes on the neck isn’t easily apparent. By contrast, think of the layout of a piano keyboard. Low notes are on the left, high notes on the right. Move from one white key to the next and move up or down through the musical alphabet. Skip a key and you skip a letter. To find a sharp or flat, replace a white key with the adjacent black one. It’s very clear and simple, strictly linear.

On the other hand, a scale fingering on guitar seems arbitrary and random. How many notes per string? When do you change strings? Why do the fingerings change so much from one scale to another, and why are there so many of them? The challenges this presents are enough to intimidate some people away from learning to play melody or “lead”. But fortunately, there IS logic to the guitar neck. It’s more complex than the layout of a keyboard, but there’s actually a direct relationship.

 

The notes on every string of the guitar are linear, in the sense that we progress through the scale as we move along the string.

So moving from an open string up the neck is like moving along a keyboard from left to right. Note that “up” in this sense means rising in pitch, moving away from the headstock. The frets divide the string up into a series of half-steps, just like the white and black keys of the keyboard. To play a chromatic scale, start with the open string and simply move along the string from one fret to the next. This is like striking every key of the keyboard in sequence from left to right.

The piano, of course, has a wider range than the guitar. A full 88-key keyboard spans just over seven octaves, while the average guitar will reach a little below four. (An octave is the distance between a given note and the next higher or lower note with the same letter name). Some electric guitars go all the way up to 24 frets to complete that fourth octave. A single string has a total range of just under 2 octaves, but the frets above the 12th are used fare less often and rarely on the bass strings. So for the most part, the average skilled player is working within an octave-plus on each string.

 

You can explore this by trying to play simple melodies on a single string.

The first lesson I would often give a young child would be to play “Hot Cross Buns” by sliding a finger along the first string, starting at the third fret:

example - single string

This puts the melody in the key of F, but you can play the same melody anywhere on the neck by starting on any fret above the 4th, dropping two frets, and then two more. This will change the key, of course, but not the melody itself.

Now look at an open position fingering across two strings:

example across 2 strings

At first, it might seem arbitrary why we change strings when we do. But consider two factors. One, we’ve established that every string has the same linear layout as a keyboard. Two, each of the six strings is tuned to a different pitch, getting gradually higher as we move from thicker to thinner strings. The distance between each pair of strings is a perfect fourth, which works out to 5 frets. (The only exception is the third and second strings, which are a major 3rd apart or four frets).

Given that even a short-scale neck has at least seventeen frets, there’s obviously going to be some overlap between the pitch ranges of different strings. So you could think of the guitar neck as six overlapping keyboards, each sharing notes with adjacent strings. With this in mind, take a look at the next diagram:

C scale with alternate fingerings

Here, we have a C major scale spelled out on the 5th string, with duplicate note locations indicated in the tab. From each note locations, there’s at least one other possible place to play the same note. So playing the scale is essentially navigating a matrix, in which you can choose one move or another to arrive at the same note.

Obviously, it takes time to learn the neck well enough to be able to navigate all the possibilities comfortably. But understanding the nature of the guitar neck helps move that process along. Memorize scale fingerings to acquaint yourself with how some of the patterns fall. But don’t fall into the trap of thinking that those finger patterns are where the music is. That comes with time, exploration, and listening.

Three simple steps to more relaxed playing

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Sometimes you don’t even notice that you aren’t relaxed when you play.

I see it in my teaching studio all the time, and sometimes I catch myself doing it too. The jaw sets, the shoulders tense, the hands squeeze a death grip. You get so preoccupied with hitting the notes that everything else disappears, including the body that’s playing them. But this kind of “body-blindness” makes it difficult to play smoothly, because you don’t recognize tension when it appears. And tension gets in the way, while relaxed playing is more natural, fluid, and accurate.

I developed a repetitive strain injury in my mid-twenties after ten years of intense classical guitar study, practicing between three and eight hours a day. I had to quit playing for six long months, and spent the next year gradually rehabilitating my guitar technique. The most important lesson I learned from this process was that I had no idea how much tension I had been carrying in my body.

My teachers certainly had addressed the issue in the past. I remember my teacher Nicholas asking me to play a passage “without using your back this time”. I had no idea what he meant until he pointed out that I had tensed my back in anticipation of a challenging passage. But I guess I didn’t pay close enough attention. A year after I finished school I started to develop severe pain in my hands. I went to see a physical therapist who told me the muscles of my forearms were so tight they were practically locked. Again, I hadn’t felt it. Over the next two weeks the pain spread from my hands up my arms to my shoulders and back, as the muscles began to wake up and let go.

These kinds of problems can be career-ending, especially when they’re a result of ingrained habit.

But the methods I learned in the process of getting my playing back made it possible for me to continue to play music. I still catch myself getting tight, tired, or sore, but I have techniques I can apply that keep the issues from becoming chronic again.

You may not be at risk of developing similar issues, although repetitive strain is an occupational hazard for the pro. But patterns of tension and “holding” will definitely restrict your playing and your growth. Learning to recognize these patterns when they arise will make you more fluid, enhance your sound, and ensure you can keep on playing for a lifetime. And you can start very simply by just paying attention to a few key points in the body.

1. Free the neck and shoulders

We guitarists tend to focus on our hands, but they’re still part of a larger mechanism. The forearm, upper arms, and shoulders are all involved in the way we move. When we do place all our attention on the hands, it’s as if the rest of the body disappears from the mental picture. Worse yet, we often compensate for the effort in the hands by bracing the larger muscles of the neck and shoulders. I’m as guilty of this as anybody, but “checking in” regularly to make sure I let my shoulders drop helps release any building tension. Be aware that this tension accumulates as you keep playing if you aren’t loose, restricting your movements more and more and making the muscles of the hands and forearms work harder. All it takes to counteract this is to pay attention, and to “ask” the tight muscles to let go.

This is especially important when playing an acoustic guitar sitting down. The sitting position can make you twist your upper body and raise the shoulder of the picking hand. Again, simply staying aware is the trick. Watch yourself in the mirror or on video. If you find strumming awkward or hard to control, mentally find your shoulder blade and imagine it floating on top of the rib cage as you strum. I’ve seen literally hundreds of students suddenly begin to strum more freely and musically simply by applying this thought.

2. Mind your stance

The way you stand has an impact on the overall system as well. The muscles of the upper body are freest when supported by the lower body. This means that your stance allows your weight to distribute evenly and keep you balanced. But many people lock up their legs, or put all their weight on one side. This throws the hips and spine off, and the domino effect continues up the body.

This doesn’t mean you can’t move as you play. Ideally, your body should be in motion. You’ll feel the rhythm better and you’re less likely to lock your legs. But you should be as light on your feet as a boxer or tennis player. If you play primarily sitting down, be aware of how you sit. It can really help to sit closer to the edge of the seat so that some of your weight is thrown onto your feet, supporting the body on three points. This might feel odd or uncontrolled as first, but as you explore the sensations you will probably feel your upper body relax and loosen. This in turn helps free the neck and shoulders as discussed in item 1.

3. Open the hands

Most guitar teachers seem to focus on the fingers and thumb when discussing technique, if they discuss it at all. Some misguidedly advise their students to apply as much pressure as they can, or even use the term “grips” to describe chords. This is, frankly, terrible advice. All you need to do to test this theory is tighten your hands and try to move your fingers.

Yes, you do need strength in the hands to play guitar well. But you also need coordination, finger independence, and a hand position that maximizes leverage while minimizing effort. And while there is, more or less, an ideal position, everyone’s hands are proportioned a little differently. Things like the length of your fingers and the proportion of fingers to hand are really significant. You should be able to keep the wrist basically straight and the fingers partially curled. Your fingers will probably curl more on the treble side and extend to reach the bass strings. Recognize how the wrist follows the lead of the fingers, with the position of the thumb determined by the wrist.

We can apply the same kind of mental check-in to the hands that we used earlier for the neck and shoulders. Focus on the center of the fretting hand and the base of the thumb. These are two points where tension accumulates easily, and tuning in to notice what’s actually happening there will have the same affect on your fingers that the shoulder check-in has on the strumming hand.

A core idea to keep in mind here is that the guitar in general tends to make the body compress forward an inward as we pay intense attention to the hands. Understanding the patterns this leads to creates greater body awareness, and more fluid playing as a result.

New moveable shapes from barre chords

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Barre chords are the first moveable shapes most people learn. The concept is easy: take an F chord and start sliding it up the neck. Every fret is a half-step, and because it doesn’t involve open strings the formation works in every position. Now you can play all twelve major chords using the same finger pattern.

We might refer to the F chord as an “E shape” barre, since the fingers form the same shape we use for an open E chord.

Apply the same concept to an A chord and we can play all twelve major chords off the A string as well.

 

Add the parallel minor forms of E minor and A minor and we have two ways to play every major and minor chord, using only four shapes. This is obviously very useful, since once you’re comfortable it removes the need to use a capo.

 

If you struggle with barre chords, click here for some helpful advice. If you can play them comfortably, you might be looking for the next step. And it might be simpler than you think.

 

It’s very possible that the first version of the F chord you learned was a four-note version, like this:

This form is moveable just like the larger F chord! So sliding it up two frets gives you another form of G. Continue up the neck to reach all the different chords just as you would the full barre. Essentially, this form is a partial version of the 6-note chord.

The simple idea here might actually be a revelation.

You can choose any combination of notes from the larger shape to form other, alternate versions of the chords. If you’re plucking the strings with your fingers, or muting some of the strings with the fret hand, you don’t even need to use adjacent strings. This gives you multiple new options out of every barre form, and increases your chord vocabulary exponentially!

Applying this idea to other barre chords gives you an entire new set of 2, 3, and 4-note chords that can be easily moved around the neck. It’s not hard to see how many new possibilities this opens up! Explore and see where it takes you.