10 Guitar Techniques Every Rock Guitarist Should Know
10 Guitar Techniques Every Rock Guitarist Should Know
Technique is a practical method or art applied to some particular task. When it comes to the guitar, or any instrument for that matter, technique extends to physical tasks needed to make music on the instrument. For guitarists, every genre has its own set of techniques that define it. Some techniques cross over into other genres. For folk and classical guitarists, finger picking is an essential technique. Flamenco guitarists have strumming techniques known as rasgueadoa. Rock guitarists also have their own sets of techniques. This article describes 10 essential techniques that all rock guitarists should know and even try to master.
1. Alternate Picking
If there is one technique that all guitarists should know, it's alternate picking. Alternate picking is using both up and down strokes when you pluck the strings with a plectrum. Not only will alternate picking help you increase your speed but it will also impact the fluidity of your playing, positively. It's important to use proper technique when alternate picking as a lot of guitar players will become stiff when they first start alternate picking especially at medium tempos. It's important to stay relaxed no matter what speed you're playing. Playing with a forced and stiff technique could lead to repetitive use injuries like carpel tunnel syndrome and tendonitis later on in life.
2. Hammer-ons
The hammer-on is one of a few legato techniques. To play legato means to play smoothly. To achieve maximum smoothness on the guitar, the first thing you should do is eliminate the pick to avoid a harsh attack. Hammer-ons are used for two notes that ascend. They involve using your left hand fingers to produce notes. They're called hammer-ons because you're hammering down with a left-hand finger to produce the note. With a little practice, you can gain quite a bit a speed and smoothness with this technique as it doesn't involve coordination between the two hands.
3. Pull-offs
Pull-offs are the opposite of hammer-ons in that they are a legato technique for two descending notes. Instead of using a finger to 'hammer' the next note, you start with two fingers pressed down on the same string and "pulling off" the higher note to produce to lower note. This is all done with the left hand only so it allows for greater speed and fluidity. A lot of beginner guitarists tend to just lift up one finger to produce the lower note but this causes that note to be weak and soft in sound. The proper way to execute a pull-off is to snap off of the string with the higher finger effectively plucking the string with that finger to produce a stronger tone.
4. Slides
The third legato technique most commonly used by guitarists is the slide. It is performed as it sounds. You're basically sliding between two frets with one finger. There's not too much to this technique but it's good to be able to do them with any finger. Some sliding techniques involve picking the second note and some do not. Slides can move up or down the fretboard.
5. Harmonics
Harmonics are a way of isolating the overtones of a specific strings. When a harmonic is properly produced, a chime-like sound is heard. There are many ways to produce harmonics. The two main kinds of harmonics are natural and artificial harmonics. Natural harmonics are produced with the left hand only. They involve light touching the string with no pressure on certain frets and picking the string to produce a chime. Not all frets are created equal with natural harmonics. The 12th, 7th, and 5th frets produce clearer harmonics than those on other frets. The other type of harmonic is an artificial harmonic. They involve producing a harmonic with the right hand. The left hand frets a note as normal and the right hand picks the note as normal with the addition of the edge of the right hand finger or thumb to produce the chime. This technique is much tougher than the natural harmonic as you must find the sweet spot on the edge of you thumb or finger to produce a strong harmonic. You must also locate points on the string to pick the harmonic to get a clear tone. There are many other ways to produce harmonics but those are really just variations on the themes mentioned above.
6. Palm muting
Palm muting involves using your right hand palm on the bridge to dampen the string upon attack. The effect is that the string only resonants a fraction of the time it normally would if the string wasn't dampened. The short decay time makes the notes stacatto and controlled. The sound is much cleaner because theres is more space between notes and less ringing out of strings. With a lot of distortion, palm muting produces the "chunk" characteristic of heavy metal.
7. String bending
String bending is a guitar technique that is heard in many genres including rock, blues, and jazz. There are many ways you can use string bending to get different effects. The most straight-forward bend involves striking the string in its normal state and then bending the string either up or down to raise the pitch of the note. Other types of bends include reverse bends, which include bending the string before you strike the note, bend and release, and unison bends which involve striking two strings and bending the lower string to reach the same pitch as the upper string.
8. Sweep picking
Sweep picking is an extended technique used by some guitarists and avoided by others. It is like a slow strum where every note is heard distinctly. Sweep picking involves "raking" across multiple strings with one pick motion. The left hand generally forms a chord shape in order to produce a rapid arpreggio. In order to pull off a sweep cleanly, the left hand should stop the string after its note has been produced. In other words, the right hand hits the string, a tone a produced, and the left hand lifts off the fret (but not the string) to kill the note. When this procedure is performed rapidly across multiple strings in succession with a single pick motion, a clean and quick arpeggio can be achieved.
9. Tapping
Like sweep picking, tapping is an extended guitar technique that some guitarists use and some don't. Tapping is basically a hammer-on produced with the right hand. The right hand finger can also pull-off the string after the tap to let notes in the left hand. Adding hammer-ons and pull-off with the left hand allows you to produce quick and smooth phrases. Guitarists can use tapping on one string ala Eddie Van Halen or tap across multiple strings to produce complex phrases and arpeggios. Learn More about Tapping here.
10. Vibrato
One often overlooked technique on the guitar is the vibrato. As the name implies, a vibrato is using a finger to shake or vibrate a note. Vibrato adds expression to a note that would otherwise sound flat and stagnant. Generally, vibrato is used on notes that are long. There are many type of vibratos each with its own character. There are side-to-side vibratos which are narrow and subtle, up-and-down vibratos which are wide and bendy, circular vibratos which are wavery, and vibratos produced with the whammy bar which are very wide.
Learn the Guitar at our blog here.
Classical Guitar And Brain Disconnect - How A Simple Finger Tapping Exercise Reveals The Problem Guitar Tutorials - Learning Beginner and Advanced Heavy Metal Techniques Learn Guitar Speed and Learn How To Shred Find lots of music songs, funny videos of your choice How to Avoid Being Cheated When Buying a New Piano Jamorama Acoustic Guitar The Panasonic Viera TC L32X1 - LCD TV For Video and Music Lovers Jamplay - Online Guitar Classes Collaboration of Hire Musicians Music promotion techniques Download Jeremih featuring 50 cent Down on Me song and music videos Online Guitar Lessons Vs Private Guitar Lessons How To Arrange Your Own Fingerstlye Solo Guitar