Improve Your Playing By Learning
The 3 Components of Guitar Control
by Claude Johnson
Did you ever notice that guitar greats like Hendrix, Clapton, Satana, and Van
Halen play with near total control and expressiveness? Why are there so few
guitarists that can play like that? More importantly, how can YOU inject control
and expressiveness into your lead guitar playing?
In this journey of learning and mastering the guitar, I wanted to answer this
important question. I had an idea of learning "pure control" over the guitar. In
other words, a gut-level expressiveness and raw improvisational ability.
After thinking about it, (and after years of practice), I would say there are 3
essential components, that when put together, form a powerful foundation for this
kind of expressive lead guitar control.
These three components are 1) Technique , 2) Fretboard Knowledge, and 3) a
"Brain-to-Hand" Connection. These 3 components work together to allow you to
make beautiful lead guitar music in your own style.
Let us briefly discuss each component. First, technique. Technique is the basic
physical ability to play notes on the guitar. Without at least a basic technique, it is
essentially impossible to play any music at all on the guitar. If you've been
playing guitar for any amount of time, you already posess a certain level of basic
technique.
It is my personal opinion that most, or at least many modern guitarists over-
emphasize technique. For example, being able to play through a scale at a fast
pace doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to play a better solo.
What is the purpose and role of technique? If your goal is to play from the heart,
then technique should be there to serve that purpose, and nothing more. In other
words, technique's purpose is to allow you to play the notes that you hear in your
head, without stumbling.
Technique is not complex. Improving technique itself is simply a matter of
patience, practice, and consistency.
As far as actual practice goes, I tend to focus on the major/min