If you are a fan of Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, or Jimi Hendrix, you most likely have a special place in your hard for the rock guitar style of play. It’s no small wonder that many ‘rock hero’-type videogames are rapidly becoming the best-selling games of all time, due to the large amount of fans that adore the rock music genre. This natural has led to an increase in the popularity of learning how to play rock guitar, a particular style used by electric guitar players such as the artists mentioned earlier. It certainly can be glamorous to see how wild a rock guitarist’s lifestyle can get by watching them on television or in live concerts, but make no mistake that learning the rock guitar is a process filled with determination, dedication, and commitment.
Learning to play rock guitar first starts with learning the basic fundamentals of the guitar. Once you’ve mastered playing the chromatic scale, memorized rock (and other genre) chords and chord progressions, and have attained a significant amount of experience playing songs on the electric guitar, you’ll be ready to start a serious effort to learn to play rock guitar. It’s helpful to find a professional guitarist to help you train properly, but in the absence of that there are many online resources available dedicated to helping new rockers gain the skills required to play rock guitar (also called ‘lead guitar’).
A common method to train without having a traditional instructor is to use recordings and transcribed rock songs in order to practice the various rock guitar techniques that are used. The rock guitar student will be charged with becoming familiar with such techniques as the hammer on, the pull off, sliding, rhythm guitar play, and exploiting the trembolo/whammy bar for sustained notes. One of the most important talents of a rock guitarist is their ability to improvise solos, or play alone without accompaniment (save a rhythm section) or any sheet music. Indicative of the high challenge of learning to play rock guitar, solo improvisation and the advanced techniques used by rock guitarists generally take ages (we’re talking years here) to perfect and master, so don’t get discouraged if your first day of solo improvisation sounds more like open mic night at the YMCA and less like Hendrix in his prime.
Learning to play rock guitar is a challenging, yet rewarding hobby to pick up for any serious electric guitar player. If you have dreams of using your newly found rock guitar skills to become rich and famous, you should realize beforehand that many guitarists more talented than you have been seeking that very same dream for years without much success past the independent circuit. As such, it makes a lot more sense to learn rock guitar out of a genuine love for the music, instead of out of a drive to make a lot of money easily. As already mentioned, you’ll need years of dedication to really become worthwhile as a rock guitarist, so if it’s truly what you want to do definitely give it your all!
