#1 Best Exercise to Improve Your Guitar Playing 🎸

[@sistership9482]

Totally agree spent two years learning all the major minor scales in my classical guitar class and I have no idea how to use them. Thanks for sharing your approach.

[@DoodleBugLisa]

You are so right! Thank God I found you in my fourth month, so that I haven’t wasted too much time!

[@hydroflores3015]

the best way is playing songs s the best method...thanks...

[@notebender]

The best advice I have ever heard for guitar!

[@suvadipbanerji8608]

Im a guitar teacher too n i totally agree to ur advise...

[@KennedyRetzko]

I’m 52 years old and have been playing the guitar most of my life… I just purchased your book and listen to your podcast religiously! You’re an insightful teacher!

[@desisernaguitar]

Thanks. If you haven't done so already, enroll in a free video course here: GuitarMusicTheory.com

[@mykimikimiky]

OK, thank you. I've found the real & important guitar teacher.

[@brucemorehouse873]

After all the courses and practice I've done this past few years. I finally came to the same conclusion of learning songs the best method. Glad you confirmed this for me. Desi, your great!!

[@garykruse1433]

Wow, what a perfect guitar resource. Not just a great player, but more importantly, a great teacher. PLUS the time spent in production is a welcome relief to all the videos with rambling speakers that waste my time. You are the perfect trifecta and I am heading to your website now!!

[@desisernaguitar]

Thanks, Gary!

[@scottstubbs9913]

I agree with your advice in this video.

[@haderhamdan3264]

YOU ABSOLUTELY RIGHT DESI,I WORK THIS WAY FOR YEARS NOW AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT OF II .CHEERS.

[@ralex3697]

Desi is a great teacher, really excellent

[@desisernaguitar]

Thanks a lot

[@LivingInTorontoONT]

Totally agree . 20000%

[@scottyates6679]

Best lesson I’ve ever seen, online our otherwise! Finally, someone has got me actually PLAYING the guitar! Thank you.

[@cletusamlung5122]

The Gravity song analysis was really well done...

[@oguzersoy]

youre best and my mentor, ı was hoping at the video like please dont suggest finger exercise and you didnt youre man

[@monday6524]

I have been going through your podcasts and videos and definitely get the message - play songs. I have started focusing my practice and am seeing a definite improvement. I feel more focused and am having more fun! Thanks!

[@desisernaguitar]

You are so welcome!

[@donparkison4617]

Excellent advice. The only thing I might add is that one exercise I have been trying is to play sections of a song in multiple fretboard locations and in alternate chord voicings. It opens up the fretboard a lot.

[@desisernaguitar]

That is an excellent exercise because it is song-based and trains you to play parts from real music. It’s a great way to get to know the fretboard as well.

[@marybethhempel9101]

I am going to start diligently playing the scale patterns now... I was playing scales but just got in a rut with them, so this should help and I will put some jam tracks on to give me a sense of Jamming.

[@desisernaguitar]

I would focus on pentatonic scale patterns first. Familiarize yourself with the patterns, then spend your time playing easy riffs and melodies that use the scale. Use the pentatonic playlist I have on my KZbin channel (you might need to follow this link on a desktop computer). kzbin.info/aero/PLFD1758248F2C7509

[@desisernaguitar]

Desi Serna Guitar • 1 week ago 🎸 What do you SPECIFICALLY need to do in order to play guitar better? Get FREE custom video instruction calibrated to your current level. 👉 www.guitarmusictheory.com/play-better-guitar/?

[@shadowjammer9981]

Great Vid !! - Learned some "Do's & Don'ts" right here that i feel is important and gonna help me much ~👍😎 THANKS !!

[@candaceweyant6574]

I agree

[@Rick562012]

I think this is very true!

[@paulvalencia6208]

You rock, man!

[@darrylbrooks3361]

Great advice! I spend a few minutes each day practicing a chord change or passage that I struggle with.

[@7775Kevin]

Excellent advice. Complex exercises are just designed to sell method books.

[@desisernaguitar]

You’re right to a large degree. I know an author who wrote a very successful book on guitar exercises and he doesn’t even do the exercises. But the publisher wanted something to sell. I also think a big contributor to this problem is the issue with copyrighted music. It’s difficult and expensive for publishers to sell learning materials that include copyrighted songs, so to be safe, they create learning materials that don’t involve songs at all, hence exercises.

[@johnnylockard8207]

I totally agree that's just the plain truth

[@ckfvideo]

I've been trying to learn guitar on and off for years. Play for two or three months, quit then try again a year later. I've purchased a few courses from Desi now and I feel that I am finally at a point where I can say that I am becoming a guitar player instead of a guy just trying to figure it out. I really do agree there is no substitute to just jumping in and playing songs, as basic as some of them may be. Being an adult beginner I used to be inclined to try and jump ahead , thinking "hey, I'm smart! I can bypass the easy stuff". Following Desi's method I see where I was wrong and am enjoying making consistent progress now.

[@desisernaguitar]

Glad things are finally working out for you. As you now know, guitar playing involves progressively developing your skills. You can’t jump ahead. You have to condition your hands every step of the way from the very beginning all the way through each stage.

[@marybethhempel9101]

I started your song courses and I am finally memorizing songs!! Thank you Thank you! I am feeling much better now that I have something to show for all my time spent on learning guitar and practicing. :)

[@desisernaguitar]

Awesome. Good job. 👏

[@marybethhempel9101]

@@desisernaguitar Thank you! :)

[@jimmysegovia2688]

wow, that is really awesome man!!!! thank you for sharing! you are 110% correct I have been practicing playing different songs and have a lot better at guitar.

[@desisernaguitar]

😉

[@Rocker9362]

Simply said “The Master”

[@MrThresher7]

Very insightful Desi. Thank you kindly 🌹 You are the Best Teacher 💎 👍 ✨ 😇 💫 🌟

[@russmacdonald6022]

Thanks, Desi! More great advice from my favorite teacher.

[@johnpollock9964]

excellent teaching direction.

[@dongawley7407]

Great advice.

[@wolverine3344]

Desi, I found you on your podcast, particularly the David Gilmour "Comfortably Numb" analysis episode and play it while I sleep and swear I woke up with some of what you said as known knowledge. I whole-heartedly agree that playing songs and making exercises from song fragments is far more economical usage of my time with the instrument. Sub +1 (interpreted, you'll be seeing me again, guaranteed).

[@joemizz11]

LOL. This is so True !! Thx Desi

[@tomsmith8515]

learning bits of songs, thats great, here a measure their a measure. and if you can of course hear a measure. Not sure I can hear the diferance between 3/4 and4/4 or have not trained my self to do so, have tried learn measure at a time with 'softly and tenderly'' including making a chart of the song. example (not acurate); G open apears 30 times F 1st string 3rd fret appears 10 and so on. that way I could know all the notes that appear. or chords if one was to play chords

[@shadowjammer9981]

This vid really hit the nail on the head for me !! 👍😉- (GOOD STUFF)😎🤘 Subscribed - THANKS !! 😃👌

[@kenmosholder1935]

Great advice Desi! Thank You!

[@R.and.R.]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@GuyNarnarian]

I've pretty much learned just from playing songs and would consider myself an intermediate to advanced player. However, the only downside to this is that I find that I sound more like the players I am studying than myself. Because all I do is learn their songs! For instance, I went through a Grateful Dead period in high school where all I did was basically learn Dead songs. That helped me in a lot of ways because their music is pretty diverse, but also made my soloing and improv sound very Mixolydian-ish most of the time. I definitely agree that those "spider" techniques, etc. are pretty useless. I also think the picking hand is very much ignored at the beginning stages of learning and its very important.

[@desisernaguitar]

Nothing wrong with sounding like the players you learn from. That's true for everyone. It sounds like you might be a good candidate for my guitar theory instruction. Check out the website if you haven't already done so. GuitarMusicTheory.com

[@GuyNarnarian]

@@desisernaguitar Will do, and thanks for the lessons, glad I found your page.

[@michaelmckinney7240]

If I were forced to climb the Matterhorn I would feel a lot better if Desi Serna was with me. Calm, even, one step at a time, moving forward only when prepared and ready, his delivery is clear and deliberate without pushing or any haste. This approach invites slow, steady progress. There are similarities between mountain climbing and achieving guitar proficiency.

[@desisernaguitar]

Thanks, Michael! Except I couldn't climb a mountain to save my life. Haha.

[@vw9659]

Glad to hear a teacher finally challenging the questionable assumption that weird fingering exercises produce fingering improvements that carry over to normal playing. It would be nice if there was some solid neuromuscular physiology research to answer this question definitively. It is a question of hand muscle-tendon anatomical independence, neural control, and motor learning. Until there is some research on this as it applies to guitar fingering exercises (possibly never), it does not make sense to assume that any improvements from weird fingerings do carry over. And if they do not, then they waste valuable practice time. As it stands, it makes most sense to practice using only normal fingering techniques.

[@jimcarstens6135]

Speaking of the picking hand, how about some suggestions in improving one"s picking. Thanks

[@desisernaguitar]

Same as the above. Play songs. Also, see the part of the video where I talk about practicing scale patterns and melodic patterns. When you're well beyond the beginning stages of playing, you can take my course, Guitar Picking Mechanics. www.guitarmusictheory.com/pick/

[@bobdeluxeandtheideals1356]

🔥🔥🔥

[@sergiojaenlara2091]

Someone have to say this

[@GUIDESPERSPECTIVE]

Sadly those drills are not musical, but they are great for strength, dexterity, independence and so may things that will help you play better. Athletes go to the gym to build strength even though the weight lifting or workout has nothing to do with playing the sport they are training for. It's fitness and endurance along with strength building. SO I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH YOU. They definetly are beneficial for all players. When Daniel Larusso wanted to learn Karate, Mr Miagi made Danial Wax the cars, Sand the floor, Paint the house etc.

[@desisernaguitar]

I'm going to the gym now to lift weights. 💪🏼