If you can learn from these tips, you should improve as a guitarist much more quickly than you would if you had to learn the slow way. I know for myself, I'm on a journey the same as everyone else and I need to go through this checklist regularly and see how I'm going.

Sometimes you want to give up the guitar, you'll hate the guitar. But if you stick with it, you're gonna be like - Jimi Hendrix

These are essential tips that can help you to get better at guitar and go to the next level as a player.

1. Play With Lots Of Different Musicians

Play with as many different people as possible. If possible, play with people better than you. That's how you keep learning. You can practice all of your techniques, theory, rhythms, etc on your own and then forget all that when you get in a room with other musicians. You are PLAYING music, not thinking music. Play from your heart and your hands, not your head. Don't forget to watch and listen to how others are playing and responding to each other.

2. Never Stop Learning New Songs

Learning new songs will guarantee to keep you out of any rut you may be in. A song can take you away from your normal style and expose you to something new. Don't forget the music on TV and movies. People that write music for movies and commercials are professionals - they know their stuff. Lots of stuff to learn. Movies especially... Trying to create a mood? Soundtracks are designed for just that. Lots to learn compositionally.

3. Find Your Part In The Song

Find where you sit in the song and then play your part. What is your role in the song? The bass can play in the octaves you can't (or at least, shouldn't). Don't try to take over. You shouldn't ever fight your drummer. Let them lay the foundation, and you just decorate. Don't try to be the "star". Find the pocket and do things to make the band sound better.

4. Practice Not Playing

Have you ever tried to not play anything for an entire verse or pre-chorus? It can be harder than you think. Remember, silence is your friend. It makes music sound organic instead of like a sprint or unstoppable robot! Don't always be in a rush, and don't be afraid to let a rhythm or a solo "breathe" between notes and strums. Keyword: Breathe.

5. Effects Don't Cover Mistakes

Don't rely on effects. A classic mistake is using too much delay. If you listen to a professional recording carefully, you'll notice that a lot of the guitar parts don't actually have much delay at all. Yet, when we play live, it can be an easy but bad habit to use too much delay.

Also, don't use too much distortion; too many pedals; too much "cover up". I found that learning to play clean with no pedals really helped me both with my technique and my overall tone. A lot of guys hide behind pedals and when you take them away they are very sloppy or cant find their touch. Try to play without them more often and master your playing so that when you add a pedal into the mix it only adds to your overall tone.

6. Practice Every Day!

How many guitar teachers have said that practice is the number 1 tip for improving. But remember, don't just practice, you need to practice the right things. Other wise you'll just be wasting time. 'Noodling' is not as productive as 'drilling'. Also, practicing unplugged is usually more productive. Try to play in time, both rhythmically and with single note lines.
Be productive. If time is a problem for you and you only have 30 minutes a day, just plan it: 10 minutes on arpeggios, 10 minutes on chord voicing, 10 minutes on melody work, or something like that.

7. Find melodies in the scales.

To get away from going mindlessly up and down a scale pattern, try to start concentrating more on playing inspired melodies. This is where the magic of music exists. Find your own melodies within the scales and let that shine in the song. This is another reason why some people don't like super-fast shredders that simply go up and down the scales really fast. It can start to sound boring and 'same-old-same-old'.

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