3 Classic Rock Guitar Playing Myths That Are Killing Your Musical Progress

You become a great classic rock guitar player when you avoid the mistakes mediocre guitarists make. It's common for these mediocre players to believe in one or more myths about how you're "supposed" to play classic rock guitar.

Make faster progress in your guitar playing by avoiding the following guitar playing myths classic rock guitar players believe:

Myth #1: Learning Arpeggios Makes You Sound Like A Shred Or Metal Guitarist

You can play arpeggios without playing fast or without sounding like a metal guitarist. Arpeggios are used in every style of music, because they are just broken up chords. Learning arpeggios improves your fretboard visualization which helps to target chord tones while soloing. This gives you more creative options to choose from, plus it helps make your solos sound better and more expressive. Additionally, learning how to phrase arpeggios creatively helps you fit them into any musical style you want to fit them into.

Myth #2: Learning Music Theory Restricts You And Makes You Less Creative

A lot of classic rock guitar players falsely assume that music theory consists of a bunch of rules that restrict you to playing a certain way. They avoid learning more about music theory because they claim it keeps them from being creative.

Reality: Music theory is not a set of rules - it's a way to explain and predict what causes you to feel specific emotions when you hear music. This in no way takes away from your personal style or current ability to express yourself musically. In fact, it only adds more to your current skills set, giving you much greater potential to express your ideas clearly in music.

Understanding how music theory works helps you express yourself more creatively in music. For example, the more you know about how chords and scales work together, the better the choices you can make while soloing to express the exact emotions you want to express.

Myth #3: Classic Rock Is Drastically Different From Other Styles Of Guitar

You need the same skills to be a great classic rock guitarist as you do to play any other electric guitar style. For example: knowing which notes to choose when playing over certain chords, playing with excellent two hand synchronization, mastering vibrato and bending, etc. All guitar styles use these same skills. It's how the skills are applied and integrated together that determines what your playing sounds like.