How to Get Better at Guitar

Years ago I watched a video where guitar teacher Justin Sandercoe explained a way to get better at guitar. It has changed my playing, and it might change yours, too.

This isn’t my idea; it’s Justin’s. You should watch his video and visit his website. Why am I writing about it, then? Because I think it’s an invaluable idea, and I want to extend its reach and offer my testimony.

Note: This post is part of April Cools, where writers publish something sincere but different from their usual work. I hope you find it interesting.

The Way I Learned Then: Tabs

I grew up with a bunch of kids who played music— guitar, drums, and bass. We were nerds in garages, making noise.

This was the 90’s, when magazines like Guitar World were in their heyday. These magazines contained pages of tablature, or tabs, of the latest songs, and we couldn’t wait to get the newest publications. This was pre-widespread internet, so these tabs were hard to find.

And yet, once I’d purchased the magazine, did I learn “Eruption”? No, I didn’t. It didn’t translate to mastery.

The Way I Learn Now: Listening & Transcribing

When we think about the guitar greats, we might ask, how did they get great? And we know the answer. They didn’t read tabs. They listened to music and imitated what they heard.

That’s what you need to do. If you want to learn a song and get better, here’s the plan.

Pick an easy song— not “Eruption”. Songs like these:

• Metal: “Breaking the Law”, Judas Priest
• Pop: “The Distance”, Cake
• Rock: “The Ghost of Tom Joad”, Rage Against the Machine

These songs have some things in common: simple riffs, mostly using one note at a time, mostly in one part of the guitar neck.

Next, get a piece of tab paper. When I started learning this technique, I printed off a couple dozen pages of blank tabs.

Hit “play” on the song with your guitar in your hand, tab paper on the table, and a pencil. When you hear the first guitar note, stop the song, find the note on the guitar, and write it down.¹

Hit “play” again, and when you get to the second note, stop, find it, and write it down.

Keep doing this until you finish the song. It’s going to feel impossible at first, and pointless. You’re going to want to quit. Keep going.

Checking Your Work

Once you’ve finished transcribing, what’s next? Next, we check our work.

Find some tabs online and compare it to what you’ve written. When I do this, often I realize I got something wrong, and erase my tabs and write them again. Other times, I disagree with the transcription I find.

You can also watch the players performing the songs on video. Sometimes the guitarist is doing something surprising you have to see! They might be using a capo, or they’re plucking the strings with an Allen wrench, or there’s a hidden guitarist offstage.

When you follow this process, an amazing thing happens: you learn the song. After transcribing, I can often play a song, near tempo, on the first try. I think it’s because I’ve already listened to the song a few dozen times and started to commit the movements to my muscle memory.

You also get better at hearing a sound and finding it on the neck. Remember that cool kid in high school who could copy any song on the radio? That’s you now!

Solidifying Learning With a Playlist

I take these songs and put them into a playlist. Then, whenever I want to play, I put on my playlist and go through a few of the songs that I’ve learned. This kind performance-practice is fun.

An important distinction here is that you’re now learning songs, not riffs. Riffs are fun, but professional guitarists play songs. They learn the catchy intro riff, as well as the chorus and bridge riffs. They learn to transition from one to another. It’s a different skill.

Once I get one part learned, I often learn the second guitar part, or the bass part, too. When a song starts, I sometimes pick on the fly which one I’m going to play. It keeps things interesting.

The first time I played “Venus” by Television all the way through, expressing the music rather than simply keeping up, I felt like something had changed.

A Sampling of My Playlist

Here’s a sampling of the songs that have made it into my playlist.

• “Someday”, The Strokes (chords or triads; take your pick)
• “Maps”, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (just one guitar, so you stay busy)
• “Just Like Heaven”, The Cure (iconic lead traversing the neck)
• “Killing in the Name”, Rage Against the Machine (fun drop D riffs)
• “1979”, Smashing Pumpkins (open notes + E-flat tuning)

You can learn solos, too, or not. There’s more to the songs than the solos. Learning the rhythm parts can often be just as challenging and fun as the lead.

Summary

Here’s the technique again.

1. Pick an easy song (to start).
2. Hit “play.”
3. Stop at the first note, find it, and write it down.
4. Hit “play” again.
5. Stop at the second note, find it, and write it down.
6. Continue to the end of the song.
7. Compare your tab with others and make adjustments.
8. 🎉 You just learned a song! And possibly some new techniques and styles. Keep working on it, and repeat.

Thanks to Justin, and everyone who taught me things on the guitar over the years. Happy April Cools! Keep rocking.