Pro Guitarist Reveals Expert Methods For Musical Expression

Sept. 24, 2012 - PRLog -- Tom Hess, guitar guru, composer and guitar player for the epic power metal band Rhapsody Of Fire has made an online resource dedicated to helping guitar players learn how to express their thoughts, feelings and emotions on guitar.

One of the most common problems for guitar players is that they practice many hours to improve their technique; only to struggle when it comes to applying these techniques while writing guitar melodies. This causes a lot of frustration in the guitar player community. In response to this, Hess makes the following statement:

“The reality for most guitar players is that they have decent guitar playing skills, a good understanding of what they want to express on guitar and a strong desire to create music like their favorite players. However, most guitarists have several limiting beliefs around what it really takes to accurately express emotion in their guitar playing. For instance, these guitarists believe that you have to be able to play fast melodies or practice for endless hours each day. Fortunately, being able to play emotional guitar solos it is not as difficult as you might think.”

He goes on:

“Most likely, all of your favorite guitarists are not necessarily shred guitar players and do not practice endless hours each day. Instead, the reason why these guitarists are so good is that they have learned how to connect together their emotions with the notes they play on guitar. They have a complete awareness of what notes they should play if they want to express a specific feeling or emotion…BEFORE they even play it. The best part is, this ability is not only reserved for the ‘naturally talented’; it is something that you can learn and incorporate into your own music just like learning guitar licks, strumming patterns, speed picking or any other skill for guitar.”

In addition, Hess uses his online guitar resource to talk about the common misunderstandings that guitarists have on the topic of music theory and musical expression for guitar:

“It is common for guitar players to believe that music theory is simply a bunch of abstract ideas on how to build scales, identify key signatures or explain the way different chords function. However, the truth is much more simple than that. Music theory is about being able to accurately express your thoughts and ideas in music to where anyone who hears it can understand what you mean. This is a crucial understanding to have in general as a musician, and is especially important if you want to be able to write highly expressive guitar melodies.”

Hess’s guitar training resource for creating emotion in guitar playing can be seen on his electric guitar lessons site: http://tomhess.net/HowToCreateIntenseEmotionsInYourGuitar...