Welcome
WHEN YOU’RE YOUNG you feel invincible. There’s no question those lithe limbs and sinuous torso, that can perform virtually any task presented to them, could ever feel otherwise. But add a decade or two, plus the odd pie and pint to the equation, and things take on a rather different slant. It’s only natural wear and tear but, as any warranty card will tell you, you get nothing for that.
So last month, in the knowledge that GT readers tend to take their playing a little more seriously than most, we thought a full warm-up routine that doubled as a work-out would be handy. It looks to have gone down rather well. But so did the previous issue’s 50 Acoustic Tips, so it seemed perfect timing to build on the warm-ups and work-outs with another 50 Tips feature, this time for Electric Mastery. The three features together make one monster course in strength and chops building, both pumping up the theory and learning new and interesting things.
We didn’t want these lessons to feel like square bashing; that’s fine for those moments when you need to commit a specific scale to your brain and muscle memory; but for daily ‘guitar gym’ purposes it’s far better to play actual music while honing the technique safely (very important with some of the scary stuff we give you), and also learning things you can use in your day-to-day playing.
Like Quist, who brought you that amazing warm-up routine, Jon Bishop is both a busy tutor and a working muso. It’s Jon that’s created this month’s cover feature so you know it’s going to tick all the right boxes. And even if you think your picking is up to scratch, your bends perfectly in pitch and your Pentatonics properly pucker (I bet they’re not!), follow Jon’s tips rigorously and you’ll definitely learn something, and notice an all-round improvement too.
If you missed those earlier issues you can get them from www.myfavouritemagazines. co.uk in print and digital form (it’s still only the iPad version that gives you the moving tab synched to the audio, but we are working on ways to get round that).
Anyway, do let me know if you’ve enjoyed these features as it helps us to know what other lessons to create.
See you next month!