Total Guitar

2 HOW TO LEARN DIFFICULT SONGS

Our four-point plan will help you tackle the toughest tracks in your repertoire

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Whether it’s a solo or a whole song, some pieces of music feel just too damn hard to master. Start by dedicating time to the easier parts. It may sound obvious, but get those easy lines down first – they’ll form a framework for the harder parts. From there, you’ll need a plan...

1 FRET-HAND PRACTICE

Practising one hand at a time lets you focus on specific areas. Starting with your fret hand, play a short section of your track without worrying about speed, timing or how you pick. Identify where you make mistakes and practise those parts slowly.

2 PICK-HAND PRACTICE

Now, pick the strings without fretting any notes. Mute the strings then, starting slowly, pick the notes in order and home in on tricky points. Most likely, it’ll be a rake, an arpeggio or a skip to a non-adjacent string that’ll need practice.

3 GLOSS OVER THE HARD PARTS

It may sound counter-intuitive but, now, ditch the most challengin­g parts and play a rough version of your song (or section). Literally, ditch all troublesom­e notes. Gradually reintroduc­e these notes one by one.

4 PRACTISE SHORT PHRASES

Most of the time you’ll at least be able to play short phrases from the tough songs you want to learn. Use that to your advantage and practise super-short lines. Just a few notes at a time will do. It’s just a matter of time before you start to link it all together.

Sometimes as guitarists we can be too focused on developing technicall­y without seeing the bigger picture. For example, working on your picking technique without also ensuring your fret hand can keep up might not give you the results you want. When it comes to playing live, it’s all about improving your all-round game, so these tab examples will ensure both hands get a workout.

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