What is the best style to learn on guitar?

What form of music is the best to learn on the guitar?

When you're first starting out it is hard not to get overwhelmed with the information over load and endless Google searches on what you should and shouldn't learn on the guitar. I'm going to save you some time here, you should be learning what you want. Pick songs you like and start making a play list. This how we learn the true way chords and scales work together. That is not the point of this article though. Read on to find out the benefits of exploring different forms of music.

What is the best form of music to learn, that is a loaded question. It depends entirely on the person posing the argument. When I first started out on my journey, all I wanted to learn was riffs from my favorite metal bands. Needless to say, I spent more time on research than actual playing. I was so one sided and focused so much on tips and tricks that I lost sight of what I needed to do, and that was to learn songs, more importantly songs from genres of music. With disappointment my journey was halted for a time primarily because I was a one trick pony. All I really could do was play fast and hard. Fast forward a few years, and I pick up a classical guitar to learn Flamenco. Although still a work in progress, it wasn't until later on, with a renewed interest that I realized what other forms of music have to offer.

Exploring other forms of music opens new doors to rhythm and timing, chord progressions, scale patterns and modes. Techniques vary from style to style, building on the technical foundation guitarists need to be well rounded and opens an arsenal of weapons used to attack the fret board.

Blues guitar has a lot of influence in modern rock, you can listen to tracks from Jimmy Hendrix, and Stevie Ray. If you go even further you will find BB King, and John Lee Hooker were influences to a lot of blues rock super stars. With simple pentatonic scales these fret board kings laid the music foundation that will continue to influence for generations.

Lets go back a little further to classical music. It may seem like a pretty dull form of music that belongs in an elevator some where. Without a classical, (I will also include flamenco), influence some of the best metal solos wouldn't be around. Randy Rhodes comes to mind, he was a master of modes and scales. A lot of his lead work can be traced back to a classical influence. We can't forget one of my favorites Kirk Hammet, his use of so called classical modes is mind blowing. Don't hesitate to learn from Bach or Mozart. Start with a simple melody, and speed it up a bit. You will find that exploring elevator music can open up a pandoras box of riffs and lead ins that can be built up to create a face melting solo.

Country music even though simple in nature, can be extremally complex. There are a lot of modal and key changes that often take place with in a song, that can build up a library of guitar riffs and lead licks. There are also subtle rhythmic changes that help with keeping time. Its also nice to have some songs in the play list that you can pull out around the camp fire.

Jazz, is very complex form to learn for guitar. It brings, chord variations an voicings that you won't find in a lot of pop music, modal and scale use is versatile and often times magical. Jazz is a great way to build up improvisation skills, and a chord progression library that may never have been thought of. You'll find that key changes are frequent and this keeps the imagination going if your building skills as a lead.

Hard Rock and Metal, believe it or not. Modern Hard Rock and Metal, can be a great way to learn how chords scales and timing all come together to form great music. The timing involved in some of the metal songs we hear today is so precise and the speed and accuracy at which these changes take place is amazing. Now play some of these songs unplugged for a change in atmosphere and you just spiced up the book club or coffee house. There is something about listening to Judas Priest on the acoustic that adds an element of class to any environment.

The list could go on forever, music is an ever evolving entertainment platform that utilizes 12 notes and endless rhythm patterns. As guitarists we have the fret board to arrange these 12 notes however we want. Influences and exploration help us get there, and make it sound good. Don't hesitate to learn different forms of music, this only helps us build a foundation to master the fret board. So what is the best style of music to learn? Well its the one that keeps you motivated to learn and keep playing. So up that guitar and get to work.