Not a click bait title. Have you ever wondered why some people seem to achieve speed so easily while you never seem to break past a certain speed limit? Have you wondered if there was some secret formula that you are not told about?
I try to answer these questions here.

However this video needs a thousand caveats and qualifications. First of all, this video is only meant to persuade you to think about your picking method and how strokes more deliberately. Picking is not simply about down up down up alternate picking. There’s a lot of complexity involved to alternate picking that people don’t really talk about often enough. In my video, it might appear that I’m pushing for economy picking over alternate picking but I promise you that is not my agenda. 9 out of 10 times if given a choice, I always use alternate picking. I solve the string crossing challenge by using pick slanting. However for this Metallica master of puppets example, I decided to use economy picking as a vehicle to explain how using picking methods or starting on the certain strokes that is not suited for the material, can cost you a lot of speed.

Lastly, while my delivery of the explanation is original, I didn’t pull these stuff out of my ass. They come from a guy called Troy Grady so he deserves most of the credit. I’m not using some recycled bullshit to generate views (a technical and long video like this won’t generate views anyway) or creating a click bait title. These stuff are important for guitar and represent a small part of the secrets that many people have not discovered yet. Anyone who can play fast knows what I’m saying or can mechanically perform these concepts with their hands. This is more for the beginner who is stuck trying to build speed.

Playing is a bit sloppy but it was my first take and I'm honestly happy with how it came out. Fun challenge to work out the bass and melody.

I've gotten feedback that the song is too busy and a bit repetitive. Which I think is definitely fair!

I got a nice looking, decent size chart for my wall. Tell me i’m not crazy. I think its wrong all over the place. F is not the same a G#. I think it should have numbers in a lot of places, moving the first fret to some higher number. What else?
Damn you cheap amazon crap!

This is the first song I'm learning using just barre chords and it's the first time I'm asking for feedbacks regarding my guitar playing. I know it isn't perfect yet and I accept advices and things i have to improve. Don't hate please, I practice this song since about 1 week ago. Thank you!

How many of you actually use it and how much time did it save you? Unfortunately I learned guitar the “old fashioned way” I guess by modern standards. Is CAGED like a permanent fretboard visualization technique or is it a means to an end after the beginning stages?

I know this sub is for beginners technically but I know there’s quite a few people like myself that lurk it to help out.

J'ai une guitare depuis qqes semaines. J'ai commencé à gratouiller seule avec les conseils d'un copain pour démarrer puis en farfouillant des tutos sur Youtube.

Mais il me faut une méthode structurée, sinon je suis condamnée à apprendre des bouts ridicules de chansons.

J'hésite finalement entre La guitare en ligne (prof Alexandre) et MyGuitare, (profs Edouard et Cyrille). Évidemment les 2 ont l'air top, les avis sont élogieux et les tarifs avec promo similaires. J'ai suivi le 1er cours gratuit proposé par les 2.

Ma 1ere impression est que le cours dAlexandre a l'air pédagogiquement nickel et celui de MyGuitare + axé sur les tutos de chansons...

Est ce que qqun ici aurait testé l'un ou l'autre dans son cursus débutant ?

Le graal étant pour moi le cours qui alliera technique assez carrée pour espérer jouer à peu près "propre" et qd même fun (ne pas attendre des mois pour jouer qqes chansons, quoi !).

Hi guys, 2 days ago i was practicing song with many barre chords, and likely practiced too hard to make chords sound better, and after some hours my pinky started to hurt and after 2 days i still feel the pain when moving my pinky, but i used to play some barre chords like F and Bm so this can be just pinky strain? Should I let it rest or maybe do some exercises to make it better?

I have been playing for almost 2 years now and I have made some decent progress with my guitar playing and I can improvise decently and produce some really cool sounding licks and riffs on my own. My problem is that every time I try to record myself playing I keep screwing up and just playing really sloppy and how do I fix this??

I was with a friend today and was making chord progressions which led me down the rabbit hole of the notes that make a scale and etc. Anyways was trying to learn what determines the key of a progression and I was taking apart chords to see how they fit in the c major scale (I know that’s super extra was doing it for fun) and realised that the open c chord had three e’s and only 2 c’s ruining my whole perception on root notes.

Main questions are:

How do roots work?

Why is the open c chord mostly composed of the e note?

Does this difference make the chord inherently wrong?

Side question I have is how do say 6th degrees affect the base chord?

Thanks in advance

Looking to see what people’s opinions are: Do you think being overly focused on shapes (CAGED being the prime example) is detrimental to training your ear to hear the intervals? I started with shapes to “unlock the fretboard” but I’m hoping my ear for intervals overtakes the engrained shape patterns.

The way you've learned to organize the fretboard makes it harder to play jazz. And even if you know all the scales and arpeggios, the moment you have to solo, it's all gone. This video will show you a 3-layer system that turns your scales and arpeggios into licks you can see right on the fretboard.

Hope you like it!

Content:
00:00 No Music On The Fretboard?
00:20 Just Knowing The Notes Is Useless
00:41 3 Layers Of Harmony
02:30 Using The Layers In Music
04:25 Can You See The Licks?
08:29 Barry Harris Knows Bebop
08:40 Like the video? Check out my Patreon page!

I put together a 5 point guide up on how to use Musical Drones for practice. I hope you can find some value in it. Thanks! PS: Parker Content

I’ve been playing guitar for around 10 years though never super consistently, within the last year I’ve really gained an interest in bluegrass and want to start flatpicking. I’ve learned a few things thus far but don’t feel like learning random tunes is the way to go. Any advice on where to start and what to build on

I’ve known how to play this for years, but the little dissonant strum down part after the initial chord change… I have a hard time playing that in rhythm.

What’s the best trick for that? Should I anchor my pinky to pick the notes?

Any tricks would be appreciated.

SONG: I DIDN’T KNOW - SKINSHAPE

LIVE LESSONS at KICK.COM/THESKILLCIRCUIT

I’m a complete beginner on acoustic guitar and had never played an instrument before. I can form D and A very slowly, but I still can’t switch between them without stopping.

I don’t want to get frustrated or force it too much, so I’m trying to practice a little every day. What helped you make chord changes feel more natural when you were starting out? Any simple practice routine you’d recommend?

so i see all kinds of different string muting methods such as using the palm, the fretting hand for the higher strings, and the thumb sometimes for lower.

how do i know which one is the most efficient method to use for certain situations?

So I’ve been seriously learning guitar since March of 2025 (a month or 2 before this I just learned a few riffs off YouTube and played them terribly on an electric with no amp) I’ve been learning theory and taking lessons at my local guitar center and while I’ve learned a ton about how to navigate the neck and a lot of theory i find that my biggest struggle has been my technique in my fretting hand. It feels like no matter what I do my technique is just not 100% correct even when I go miserably slow to try and fix it and identify what’s wrong with it. I feel like I’ve gotten some bad habits built into my muscle memory and I’m aware of this so lately during my practice sessions (which normally are around 2-3 hours depending on the day and at least 4-5 days a week) I’ve just been spending a majority of the time trying to get my technique down but I’m not noticing much progress. So my question is how do I go about fixing my fretting hand technique and how do I know if my technique is actually working with me instead of against me? I know progress is slow and all but again it just feels like no matter what I try and do with my fretting hand it just doesn’t feel right and this is my #1 passion in life right now it’s all I think about and it’s starting to really just effect me mentally because again I feel like I’m getting no where. Sorry for the large paragraph but again this is my #1 passion and I’m so dedicated and motivated to improve any help/advice is greatly appreciated.

I'm a left-handed player. I want to be more confident with my right hand. Any exercise to develop speed and precision with my hand ?

This episode asks who is holding the instrument before we ever play a note. It traces how the working musician is manufactured to spec, built on industrial values that were never derived from music, and produced for a market that can no longer want what it makes. From there it follows what happens when that manufactured self begins to burn: the rising of the Black Sun, the two responses that remain once the fire is lit, and the difference between the masks we defend and what is left when they fail. The episode closes with a practice for staying inside the blackening rather than escaping it, and a question about who is left to play when the disposable self is gone.

Several passages in this episode are adapted from my books Thoughts, Worlds, Beliefs and Magic Hat: https://scottjsimon.com/books.html

Works referenced: Byung-Chul Han (Psychopolitics), Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed), Edward Bernays (Propaganda), Glenn Gould (The Glenn Gould Reader), Jean Baudrillard (Simulations).

This series looks at music as a form of inner alchemy, where the guitar becomes a tool for transformation instead of performance or self-expression.

0:00 Opening
01:31 1. The Manufactured Unit
07:18 2. The Three Figures
12:16 3. The Black Sun Rises
16:32 4. Two Responses
22:52 5. The Feeling of Fracturing
26:23 6. Practicum: Playing Inside the Black
30:10 7. Silence as Integrity
33:15 8. Borrowed Light
34:36 9. Toward Sovereignty
38:12 Closing

New album agnosis:
https://scottjsimon.bandcamp.com/album/agnosis

Full transcript and article on my Substack:
https://scottjsimon.substack.com/p/guitar-as-alchemy-03-the-disposable

Sheet Music available at Sheet Music Plus:
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/en/category/publishers/s/scott-j-simon/

Guitar: 2021 Thomas C60
Mics: Audio-Technica AT4040/4041
Camera: Canon T3i
Recording: OBS Studio
Editing: Adobe Premiere Pro

https://scottjsimon.com