200ways to be a better player

While there is much pleasure to be had in owning guitars, which are undeniably beautiful things, nothing will enhance your enjoyment of the instrument more than learning how to play it a little better each day. The clue is in the name: it’s an instrument, designed to help you express your musical ideas with grace and precision, not sit gathering dust in its case. And improving is easier than you think – especially when you have expert advice to help you acquire new skills quickly and effectively. That’s exactly what we’ve set out to do here, in a one‑stop power‑up for your fretboard skills.

Working with our colleagues at Guitar Techniques, a fantastic mag for anyone seeking to hone their playing, we’ve selected no less than 200 powerful exercises and tips that will help you become a better player across the board. This guide also covers subjects that impact how good you sound and how frequently you’ll pick up gigs, ranging from setup and maintenance to working effectively with other musicians.

But the core of this guide concerns what happens on the fretboard, centring on how you can become a more musical, fluent and expressive player and realise your long‑held dreams of being a well‑rounded, confident and expressive guitar player. Getting good on guitar requires you to advance your knowledge on many fronts at once, from theory to dexterity. That’s why you’ll find tips, tactics and time‑proven exercises to help to raise your game in nearly every important area of proficiency on guitar.

There’s a wealth of knowledge to soak up here, so we hope this guide will give you many hours of learning pleasure and take you further on up the road to being the kind of player you’ve always wanted to be.