The Best Of 2018 Articles On Guitar Playing, Music Career And Teaching Guitar

by Tom Hess

Most musicians would like to learn the fastest ways to reach their musical goals, and you probably do too. Problem is, there is so much information out there that it's hard to know where to look to get the answers you want.

Wouldn't it be great to have an in-depth source of guitar playing, music career and guitar teaching wisdom, so you can get where you want to go a lot faster and easier?

You're about to learn:

How to make rapid progress when you have little time to practice your guitar.
How to play guitar fast and clean, even if you’ve struggled to build your speed in the past.
How to get a record deal (using strategies that really work).
Why you might struggle to attract guitar students and how to change this forever.
How to avoid becoming a starving artist in the music industry and make a great living doing what you love instead of working a day job.
How to defeat your musical frustration and become a great guitarist faster (while enjoying the process every step of the way).

Check out the most popular guitar playing, music career and guitar teaching articles of 2018 (read by over 200,000 musicians!) to learn how to achieve the musical success you’ve always wanted for yourself:

1. How To Improve Your Guitar Technique - Stop Unwanted Guitar String Noise And Sloppy Guitar Playing

The easiest way to make your guitar playing sound better is to clean up sloppy string noise in your technique. When your playing is clean, you always sound good, no matter what you play or how fast you play.

151,829 guitarists have read this article and discovered:

2 types of unwanted string noise to avoid in your guitar playing and what causes them.
3 effective (and simple) techniques that eliminate sloppy noises from your playing, even if you play with a lot of distortion.
How to use both your picking hand and your fretting hand to mute string noise, to ensure that your playing sounds perfectly clean every time.

Read this article to learn how to make your guitar playing sound better than ever before.

Additional Resource: Double your Guitar speed While Cutting Your Practice Time In Half (free eGuide)

2. How To Get More From Your Guitar Practice - 8 Steps To Develop A Very Efficient Practice Schedule [2^nd Edition]

It’s frustrating when you practice guitar every day but make very slow progress. Imagine how much faster you would improve if you knew what to practice to reach your goals and how to make more progress without increasing your practice time.

This article (read by 116,544 musicians) shows you how to squeeze every drop of progress from every minute of your practice time. Read it to discover:

6 guitar practice myths that slow down your progress and make you frustrated.
Why most guitar players don't use effective practice schedules and how to become one of the few who do.
8-steps to creating guitar practice schedules that ensure you get better every time you pick up your guitar.
How to ensure that you stick to your practice schedule even if you are very busy.

Read this article to learn how to accelerate your progress and enjoy the process of becoming a better guitar player.

Related Resource: Get the free Guitar Practice Schedule Cheat Sheet that takes guesswork out of creating your practice schedules.

3. Top 15 Mistakes To Avoid When Trying To Get Into The Music Business [2^nd Edition]

What do you think are the most likely things that keep you from making it in the music industry? Hint: it has nothing to do with your age, your musical skills or the city you live in.

It has everything to do with mistakes most people make when trying to get into the music business by trial and error.

Join 120,761 musicians who read this article and learn:

15 things to avoid when you build your music career that cost you a lot of time and money.
11 ways to make money as a pro musician, so you never struggle to support yourself in the music industry.
The right way to build music business relationships that lead to big opportunities in your music career.
What record companies look for in you, so you can be light years ahead of other musicians who continue to dream about a record deal.

Read this article to learn how to build a music career without a lot of risk, so you can have the life you’ve always wanted for yourself.

4. Music Industry Secrets That Help You Land A Record Deal [2^nd Edition]

You probably already know that working with a record company grows your music career a lot faster than anything you can do on your own.

What most musicians don’t know is how to get the attention of record companies, make them want to work with YOU (vs. thousands of other musicians who contact them every day) and actually get signed to a record deal.

In the article “The Pursuit Of A Record Deal” (read by 86,575 musicians), you will discover:

5 proven steps for getting a record deal that work in today’s music industry. You can start doing them right away to prepare yourself for big success in your music career.
What record companies expect you to know before they begin to work with you. This knowledge will save you A LOT of time, frustration (and many thousands of dollars).
The #1 goal record companies want to achieve and how you can help them achieve it (so that your chances of getting a record deal go way, WAY up!)
How to make yourself stand out among thousands of other musicians who contact record companies every single day (even if some of them are better musicians than you are).

Read this article to learn the tried-and-true music industry secrets that help you get a record deal and achieve success most musicians only dream about.

5. How To Earn A Lot More Money In Your Music Career And Avoid Becoming A Starving Artist In The Music Industry [2^nd Edition]

“How do I make money in music?” is one of the most common questions musicians ask when they try to break into the music industry. The answers are revealed in the article “How To Earn More Money As A Musician” that was read by 47,943 musicians.

Here is what you’ll learn:

Proven money-making principles that all successful musicians know and use that help you build an amazing life for yourself in the music industry.
How to sustain your income over the long-term, so you can keep doing what you enjoy most (making music) without ever having to go back to a soul-draining day job.
How (and why) you can earn a lot of money in the music business even if you aren’t a world-famous rock star.
The real reason why most musicians don’t make a lot of money and what you can start doing today to gain big competitive advantage in your music career.
How to think like an entrepreneur and make your music career a lot more safe & secure than any day job.

Read this article to learn how to make a lot of money in the music industry and build a great living doing what you love.

6. How To Overcome Musical Frustration And Get On The Fastest Path To Incredible Guitar Playing [2^nd Version]

Do you sometimes feel very frustrated with your musical skills? We all do… and it sucks to feel this way, doesn't it? When you are frustrated, you start to doubt your guitar playing potential and may lose your motivation to play music.

20,039 guitar players have read the article: “How To Overcome Musical Frustration” and learned:

3 common causes of musical frustration that make you want to put the guitar down and proven solutions to each one that help you become a better guitarist faster.
How to turn frustration into inspiration, so you become more motivated than ever to become an incredible guitar player.
What to do when you feel frustrated with long plateaus in your guitar technique and musical creativity
What Kurt Cobain and Ludwig Van Beethoven can teach you about overcoming your guitar playing frustrations.

Read this article to learn how to overcome your musical frustration and become the awesome guitar player you’ve always wanted to be.

Related Resource: [Video Guitar Lesson] Learn 10 simple things you can do right now to improve your guitar playing, break out of your musical ruts and feel great about yourself as a musician.

7. How To Effectively Teach Guitar Chords To Beginning Guitar Students [2nd Edition]

Imagine the smile on your guitar students’ faces when you help them master chord changes and play their favorite songs.

16,041 guitar teachers have read this article about teaching guitar chords and learned:

How to make chord changes feel easy for your guitar students after just 1 lesson, even if they struggled to play chords in the past.
2 wrong assumptions most guitar teachers make about teaching chords that slow down your students’ progress.
3 guitar teaching techniques that help your students finally master chord changes (including barre chords!).
How to help your guitar students change chords without excess muscle tension, so playing guitar becomes easy for them.

Read this article to learn how to help your students master chord changes and make them feel happy about taking guitar lessons from you.

Related Resource: Learn how to keep your guitar students taking lessons from you for many years and dramatically increase your guitar teaching income.

8. Perseverance - It Will Make Or Break You As A Guitar Player [2^nd Edition]

Your guitar playing potential is virtually unlimited… but most guitar players never fully achieve their potential because they lack one trait that all great guitar players possess: perseverance.

16,095 guitar players have studied the article “Perseverance - It Will Make Or Break Your Guitar Playing”. Join them and learn:

7 powerful guitar playing tips you can apply right away to speed up your progress. These tips help you persevere through the process of becoming a great guitarist.
How to overcome your guitar playing challenges easily, so you improve faster and don’t feel frustrated with slow progress.
Simple way to inspire yourself to keep practicing, even when your progress takes longer than you’d like.
Why practicing guitar in a geometric way (versus a linear way) makes guitar practice more fun and effective at the same time.
How to feel in control of your musical progress, even when you practice things that are very hard to play (it’s a great feeling!).
The most important musical skill that transforms you into a true musician instead of just a guitar player.

Read this article to learn what it takes to play guitar the way you’ve always dreamed about.

Related Resource: Learn how to make your guitar practice effective and fun at the same time, so you look forward to practicing guitar every day.

9. How To Become A Better Guitarist Faster When You Have Very Little Time To Practice [2^nd Edition]

Ever wish you had more time to practice your guitar? You are not alone.

15,303 guitar players have read the “How To Practice Guitar With A Limited Amount Of Time” article and learned:

6 strategies that make your guitar playing improve like crazy, no matter how much (or how little) time you have to practice.
How you can practice away from the guitar and dramatically accelerate your progress (it is easy and fun to do).
Simple ways to create effective guitar practice schedules that help you squeeze more progress out of every minute you spend practicing guitar.
How to know what you should practice to improve your guitar playing most quickly.

Learn how to become a better guitarist fast, even if your practice time is limited.

Related Resource: Learn how to double your guitar speed, while cutting your practice time in half (you can easily do this even if you’ve struggled to increase your speed in the past).

10. Learn How To Teach Guitar Better Than Anyone Else In Your Area And Become The Guitar Teacher All Students Brag About [2^nd Edition]

Do you want to become a successful guitar teacher? If so, this guitar teaching article (read by 9,669 guitar teachers) is a great place for you to start.

Teaching guitar can be incredibly rewarding and fun when you know how to transform your students into badass guitar players quickly.

You are about to learn:

10 simple guitar teaching tips you can use right away to make your students progress like crazy. This makes guitar lessons a lot more enjoyable for your students and for you.
How to understand your student’s personality type so you can motivate them to practice anything you tell them to do. (This is one of the most crucial guitar teaching skills you can develop.)
The easiest way to improve your guitar teaching skills fast, even if you have no experience teaching guitar
The #1 most important thing your guitar students want and expect from you and how to give it to them (hint: it’s the same thing you expect from any professional you hire to do any job for you).

Read this article to learn how to teach guitar better than anyone else in your area and become the guitar teacher all students brag about.

Related Resource: Learn how to keep your guitar students taking lessons from you for many years and dramatically increase your guitar teaching income.

11. How To Play Tight Rhythm Guitar Like A Pro [2nd Version]

Do you know the 1 thing that improves your rhythm guitar playing faster than anything else?

Hint: it has nothing to do with your metronome. It has everything to do with a skill that most guitarists never practice that makes your playing sound a lot better quickly.

7,571 guitar players read this article and learned how to:

Play guitar perfectly tight and in time, like a rock-solid machine.
Avoid common rhythm guitar playing mistakes that make your playing sound bad (but are easy to fix).
Improve your rhythm guitar playing with anything you practice, so you get better fast, even if your practice time is limited.

Read this article and learn how to play rhythm guitar like your favorite guitar players.

Additional Resource: How Well Can You Hear Common Rhythm Guitar Mistakes (free guitar playing assessment)

12. Why You Might Struggle To Get Guitar Students (And How To Change This Forever) [2^nd Edition]

The #1 thing guitar teachers want to know is “how to get more guitar students”. Good news is that attracting a lot of guitar students is not nearly as hard as you might think and 6,483 guitar teachers now know why.

It does not matter:

Where you live
How big (or small) your city is
How old you are
What your local economy is
What your musical background is
How long you’ve been teaching guitar

…you can still attract a lot of students and make a lot of money as a guitar teacher. Attracting a lot of students becomes easy when you learn:

6 reasons most guitar teachers struggle to attract a lot of students and what you can start doing today to fill your teaching schedule.
The easiest thing to improve in your guitar teaching business to have a full teaching schedule throughout the year, help your students improve a lot faster and make teaching guitar a lot more fun for yourself.
What your guitar students really want from you (it’s different from what you probably think) and how to give it to them. This makes your students hungry to start learning from you immediately.

Read this article to learn how to attract hundreds of guitar students all throughout the year and become the #1 guitar teacher in your area.

13. The #1 Thing That Slows Down Your Progress As A Guitarist (And How To Stop It From Getting In Your Way) [New]

The fastest way to speed up your musical progress is to avoid wasting time on things that don't help you improve. Every wasted minute of your guitar practice time is a missed opportunity to become a better guitar player.

Most guitar players waste between 40-70% of their practice time without realizing it. Good news is that you can easily spot things that waste your guitar practice time and get rid of them to speed up your progress.

In this guitar practice article (read by 4,751 guitar players) you will learn:

4 damaging guitar practice habits that slow down your progress and how to avoid them to make your guitar practice effective & fun at the same time.
How to create the right guitar practice schedules that make you better every single time you pick up your guitar.
Why the order in which you practice your guitar practice materials has a huge impact on your progress (and how to determine the best order for you).
How to stop mindless & boring practicing, so you enjoy the process of becoming a great guitar player.

Read this article to learn how to stop feeling frustrated with slow progress and become the guitarist you want to be a lot faster.

Related Resource: Do you want to speed up your musical progress, but don't have any more time to practice? No problem. Use The Practice Generator to get effective guitar practice routines that put your guitar progress on steroids (without increasing your practice time).

14. Guitar Speed Secrets: How To Play Fast Without Moving Your Hands Faster [New]

The easiest way to improve your speed is to close the gap between your usable guitar speed and your potential guitar speed.

Your potential guitar speed is the maximum theoretical speed at which your hands can move.

Your usable guitar speed is the speed at which your hands can play cleanly, without mistakes. It’s the fastest speed you want anyone to hear you play at :)

6,219 guitar players have read this guitar speed article and learned how to play guitar faster and cleaner without mistakes. Join them and learn:

7 guitar technique tips for keeping your hands in tight sync, so your faster playing sounds incredibly clean and accurate.
How to avoid sloppy mistakes that make you sound worse than you are when you play.
How to “reverse” your picking motions to make your playing sound cleaner at higher speeds
How to use double picking to make your guitar licks feel a lot easier to play fast.

Learn the easiest way ever to build lightning-fast guitar speed and make your friends wish they could play as fast as you.

Related Training: Transform your guitar playing into totally freaking awesome, top-level guitar playing with the very best guitar lessons online.

15. How To Install Musical Creativity Into Your Brain And Hands [New]

Most guitarists believe that creativity is something you are born with or born without. For the last 25 years I’ve challenged this belief by transforming hundreds of ordinary people into amazingly creative guitar players.

You can learn to be more creative as a musician the same way you can learn to play a song you couldn’t play before. It’s pretty simple (and lots of fun) when you know what to do and how to do it.
3,836 guitar players have read my new article “Guitar Practice Strategy That Improves Your Musical Creativity & Makes Guitar Practice Fun” and learned:

The real reason why most guitar players struggle to be creative (it’s not lack of natural talent) and what you can do about it.
How you can literally install creativity into your brain and hands even if you always struggled to be creative when you play guitar.
How to easily create amazing guitar licks out of a simple scale and arpeggio (without playing anything fast or difficult).
How you can improve your musical creativity using a concept from high-intensity aerobics (it’s a lot of fun and you don’t have to sweat :) )
How to use rhythm to make any guitar lick a lot more creative without changing its notes (this idea makes you sound killer!).

Read this article to learn how to become a very creative musician and impress anyone who hears you play.

16. 5 Guitar Playing Tips That Clean up Sloppy Legato Playing [New]

Your legato technique can feel totally effortless or be a real struggle, depending on how you practice it.

I put together 5 of my best legato tips (read by 2043 guitar players) to help you:

Make legato the easiest technique you play on guitar.
Identify sloppy notes in your guitar playing and quickly make them sound better.
Create variations from any legato exercise to make guitar practice fun and effective at the same time.
Master fretting hand finger independence and make playing guitar feel easy.

Read this article to learn how to master legato & play guitar better than you ever thought you could.

Related Resource: Legato Technique Mastery Cheat Sheet

17. Why Tracking Your Musical Progress Is A Powerful Shortcut To Becoming A Killer Guitarist [New]

There is an old saying: “there are no shortcuts to great guitar playing”... this saying is wrong. There are shortcuts that make your guitar practice feel easier and help you improve a whole lot faster than before. One of the easiest shortcuts is: tracking your musical progress.

Tracking your musical progress allows you to:

Break through long & frustrating plateaus in your guitar speed (and avoid them before they start), so you build lighting fast guitar speed in less time.
Know exactly what to focus on when you practice guitar to improve your playing like a bodybuilder on steroids.
Identify your musical strengths and weaknesses, so you can avoid wasting practice time on things that don’t make you a better guitarist.
Make your guitar playing consistent and accurate, like a freaking machine. This helps you play at your best, even on your worst days.
Have a lot more fun practicing guitar than you ever had before, so you look forward to picking up your guitar each day.
Become a much more creative guitarist and musician.

Read this article (studied by 2,115 guitar players) to learn a powerful shortcut to becoming an incredible guitarist.

Related Resource: Want to become a better guitar player faster? Use the most powerful invention for improving your guitar playing since the existence of guitar lessons - The Guitar Playing Accelerator.

This concludes the best content for 2018. Stay tuned for even better articles to come in 2019!

Now that you understand the process of reaching your musical goals, the next step is to actually experience it and feel the incredible satisfaction of living the musical life you can be proud of.

Let me help you become the guitar player, professional musician and guitar teacher you’ve always wanted to be. Take online guitar lessons and get music career training & guitar teacher coaching to achieve the musical success most musicians only wish they had.

About Tom Hess: Tom Hess is a guitar teacher, music career mentor and guitar teacher trainer. He teaches rock guitar lessons online to students from all over the world and conducts instructional live guitar training events attended by musicians from over 50 countries.

Take the best rock guitar lessons online to improve your guitar playing quickly.