Guitar Practice Circuit Training – Guitar Technique Integration

Want to play guitar like a pro and have an easy time learning songs and solos on guitar?

Then you need to practice integrating guitar techniques together. And in this article, I’ll show you a guitar practice circuit that trains you to do just that.

What does “integrating guitar techniques together” even mean, you ask?

Practicing guitar technique integration means working on guitar licks that combine multiple guitar techniques.

(You find many such licks when learning songs and solos on guitar.) 

The better you are at integrating guitar techniques, the closer you are to being able to play guitar like a pro.

Don't worry – guitar technique integration is simple to learn.

And when you use guitar practice circuit training (like the kind I’ll teach you in this article on guitar technique integration), it becomes fun too!

Here is an example of guitar practice integration – notice how quickly it makes your guitar playing sound better:

Now that you know how guitar practice integration works…

Let’s look at each step in detail, so you can begin practicing it in your very next guitar practice session.

Here are the steps to take:

Step 1: Choose the primary guitar lick to practice guitar technique integration with. This guitar lick can come from the part of your practice schedule dedicated to learning songs and solos on guitar (so you don’t have to find special licks just for this guitar practice circuit).

The guitar lick (called your “primary guitar lick” or your “primary item” for the rest of this guitar practice circuit) will likely only consist of one technique. That’s ok, because in the following steps, you’ll take it through the guitar technique integration process where you’ll combine it with other techniques.

Step 2: Choose 5 secondary items you’ll practice integrating with your primary item. (A rhythm guitar riff, any 3 other guitar licks and a single-note string bend.)

In the steps that follow, you’ll practice integrating guitar techniques from step 1 and step 2 and develop the guitar technique integration skills you need to play guitar like a pro.

Step 3: Play your primary guitar lick 1 time. Then immediately play one of your secondary items one time.

Step 4: In this step of the guitar practice circuit, you play your primary guitar lick (one time) again, followed by a different secondary item (one time).

Step 5: Repeat step 4 for 10-15 minutes.

Common questions:

Question: “Tom Hess, why do I need to do this guitar technique integration circuit in the first place? Why not simply practice learning songs and solos on guitar and get your guitar technique integration practice from that?”

Answer: When you design a specific guitar practice circuit ONLY for guitar technique integration, your integration ability develops faster. That’s because your mind isn’t bogged down by other challenges that come from learning songs and solos on guitar, such as:

- practicing hard parts in isolation

- remembering long songs

- playing in time

Question: “What elements of guitar technique do I focus on when practicing guitar technique integration using this guitar practice circuit?”

Answer: Here are the most important guitar technique elements to focus on in this guitar practice circuit:

 

This means 2 things:

- not letting your pick move outside the string trench (space between strings) when you are playing on one string (or using sweep picking to change strings).

- moving your pick outside the string trench as little as possible when you need to skip strings.

 

One of the challenges you may run into when integrating guitar techniques in this guitar practice circuit is keeping your fingers relaxed.

Here are some tips for getting tense fingers under control:

- Train your fingers to fret notes on the fingertips, while staying as close to the frets as possible. This helps your fretting hand play with the least amount of effort and keep the fingers closer to the strings.

- Keep the knuckles of your fingers perpendicular to the frets and press the strings down as close to the frets as possible.

 

2-hand synchronization is about your picking hand and your fretting hand playing each note together (instead of separately). The better you are at doing this, the faster you’ll master this guitar practice circuit, get good at integrating guitar techniques and begin to play guitar like a pro.

Now that you know how to practice guitar technique integration…

… the next step is to master all other areas of your guitar playing and musical skills so you can become the guitar player you’ve always wanted to be.

I can help you with this inside my Breakthrough Guitar Lessons. When you are a guitar student of mine, I create guitar lessons specifically for you, your skill level, your strengths and weaknesses and your musical goals. Unlike some other guitar lessons, everything you get from me is customized to you. And if you do what I tell you for at least 20 minutes per day, I will help you transform your guitar playing, even if you are stuck right now. To begin, click the “start now” button on the banner below to learn more.