==== ==== Tons of Free Videos on Playing Acoustic Guitar! Check it out Now! http://HowtoPlayAcousticGuitar.net ==== ====
This fits in with the kind of gigs you'll find as an acoustic guitarist: band member, selfaccompanying soloist and lead guitarist in a duo or combo. As a soloist, you'll find no shortage of coffee houses, cocktail parties, up-scale social events, weddings and restaurants where your presence (nicely dressed, of course) add a flair of elegance and sophistication to the event especially if you play a classical or big box jazz acoustic guitar, something piped in music is unable to do. All by myself... The key to being a good soloist (the self-accompanying kind), is to play music where you're playing a melody, a bass line and the backing chords all at the same time. While this is no small feat, learning how to fingerpick at the same time you're learning the basic guitar chords will help immensely, you'll have instilled finger coordination and independence in your style for the beginning. There's plenty of guitar TABs on the internet that can help you get started in building a solid song repertoire of finger-style songs. And, truthfully, even the simplest ones to play sound way more complex (and impressive!) than they really are. Group effort: Playing rhythm guitar in a band is fairly straight forward: you're part of the rhythm section along with the bass and drums. The main problem of being a rhythm guitarist is that the lead singers in most bands are already fairly competent rhythm guitarists themselves, and there is seldom a need for two rhythm players in one band. So, unless you're the lead singer yourself, after you learn to play acoustic guitar, you might do well to learn the art of vocal harmony or become a lead guitarist. And, yes, there is such a thing as an acoustic lead guitarist. Most acoustic duos have one or both of the guitarists taking over lead guitar chores during a show; in bluegrass bands the guitarist usually plays both rhythm and lead during a show, as you would in most every other combo that has only one guitarist. Taking the lead. There are many online guitar lessons that can guide you along the path of becoming a lead guitarist. It is much more common to find electric guitar soloing lessons that it is to find acoustic lead lessons, but much of what the electric lessons focus on (with some big exceptions, like radical string bending and whammy bar techniques) can be applied when you learn to play acoustic guitar.
The biggest hurdle in learning how to play acoustic guitar solos is making them sound melodic. The secret to making melodic solos is simple: play something you can sing, or sing something you can play. Meaning, when you rehearse, constructs a solo by singing what you want to play over the chord progression first. Then figure out how to play what you sang. Or if you're good enough, think of a melody and play it at the same time. Think of George Benson playing and singing the solo at the same time on his classic version of "Masquerade". You can even play the song's melody on the guitar as a way to get yourself started, and then work up your own variations of the melody as it moves along. Think of Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again" solo. More than... There's so much more to the acoustic guitar than the basic guitar chords that we all start out with when we're learning how to play acoustic guitar, with a little forethought you can be something more than "just another guitarist". You can become the most valuable player in the band.
About this Author Here's a great resource, acoustic guitar lessons, that can really jump start your playing. Now, go forth and make music! You can also find more details on how to play guitar chords
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==== ==== Tons of Free Videos on Playing Acoustic Guitar! Check it out Now! http://HowtoPlayAcousticGuitar.net ==== ====