Think about it. The average lesson time is 30 minutes per week, which means that you have 167 and a half hours until you see your teacher again. A good student knows that what they do with that time can make a tremendous difference to their progress as a player.

A teacher might have a good reason for not showing you a technique in beginner lessons; usually because they’ve determined you just aren’t ready for it yet. They may be right, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try!

Here are seven guitar playing techniques they won’t teach you in beginner lessons.

1. Hammer-Ons

This is a technique where you either pick an open or fretted note, and quickly “hammer down” another finger to sound a higher note without picking a second time.

It isn’t necessarily an advanced technique, but it usually requires a little bit of finger strength and dexterity to pull it off, which is why you won’t usually find it in beginner lessons. Hammer-ons can be a lot of fun, because it’s relatively easy to make a series of hammer-ons sound fast, and most beginners like to get to the point where they can sound fast as soon as possible.

2. Pull-Offs

Pull-offs are more or less the opposite of hammer-ons, where you pick a fretted note, and quickly “pull off” to another fretted note or an open note without picking a second time.

Much like with hammer-ons, you’ll need to have developed some strength in your fingers in order to be able to perform a pull-off. What makes it a little tricky is that you can’t just remove your finger. You have to pull down (or up) and off without bending the string. It’s a great lead guitar technique, and combined with hammer-ons, it can sound pretty cool.

3. Trills

On a guitar, a trill is where you rapidly alternate between hammer-ons and pull-offs. This is trickier than both techniques combined, because you need to sustain the sound of the notes with the strength of your fingers alone. The idea is to pick once and then let your fretting hand do all the work.

Guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen both have wicked trills, so it’s worth watching their playing to figure out how to play an effective trill.

4. Tapping

In some circles, this technique goes by other names like “double fretting”, but the basic idea is similar to hammer-ons and pull-offs, except that, in addition to your fretting hand, you also use a finger (sometimes multiple fingers) from your picking hand.

There are a number of different ways of performing this technique, but typically, you would fret two different notes with your fretting hand. Then, you would hammer down and quickly pull off of a higher note with the index or middle finger of your picking hand, and as the lower note sounds, you would pull off to the other note you’re fretting, and then hammer-on the finger you just pulled off again. Repeat this sequence for best effect.

Tapping sounds very impressive, but it’s not that hard to do. What was once a “mind-boggling secret” is now a standard rock guitar technique.

5. Slides

Generally, a guitar instructor has no reason to show you what a slide is or how it works until you’re playing a riff or a solo that necessitates it.

A slide can take many different forms, but the essence of it is this. First, you would pick a fretted note. Then, you would move your finger either up or down the fretboard without releasing the tension on it. If you do it correctly, the string you originally picked should still be ringing out.

In combination with other techniques – including those already mentioned here – your lead guitar playing will begin to sound a lot fancier when you master the slide.

6. Harmonics

At various points (or frets) on your guitar, you can find what are called harmonics. Without getting into the exact specifics of how this works – because it is kind of technical – if you pick a note with a finger lightly touching (but not fretting) a string directly above a fret, you’ll hear a high, chime-like tone. This is a harmonic.

For beginners, the fifth fret, seventh fret, an 12th fret are the easiest positions to produce a harmonic. Again, you have to make sure your finger is lightly touching directly above the fret, and after you pick the note, try to move your fretting finger out of the way to let the note ring out.

If you’re wondering what a harmonic sounds like, listen to the guitar in the verse sections of Linkin Park’s “In The End”.

7. String Bending

This is pretty much exactly like it sounds. The idea is to pick a note and then bend up (or down) on the string, thereby raising the pitch of the note. This can be a little tough to do with any one finger. If you want to cheat a little, try supporting your ring finger with your index and middle fingers, using the combined strength of your fingers (without forgetting which note you’re bending; the one your ring finger is fretting).

Although some string bending does exist with rhythm guitar, most of the time it is used in combination with other lead guitar techniques. Guitarists like Jimmy Page and David Gilmour are famous for their big and tasteful bends, and are worth observing to see what good string bending looks (and sounds) like.

Final Thoughts

If you find yourself frustrated with any of these techniques; don’t worry. As mentioned, you won’t learn these in beginner guitar lessons.

You may need to spend a little more time building finger strength and practicing the basics before you can move on, but rest assured, if you keep practicing, you will eventually be able to perform all of these techniques fluidly. And from there, you’ll be able to move on to marketing your guitar playing and getting known.

A good guitar teacher probably won’t mind helping you out with new techniques if and when they see that you’ve been practicing on your own. A teacher loves it when they see that a student is taking a proactive approach to their practice routine.

If you’re a guitarist who’s part of a band or group, you can compose, record, mix, and master an entire album up to professional standards from the comfort of your very home! And you can do it on a pretty affordable budget as well.

You can make your own album covers with digital art, make music videos, and even manage a global record label right from your home office.

But these luxuries are afforded to every upstart guitarist pursuing a career as a musician. There’s countless guitarists flaunting their shred skills all over the internet, so how do you compete with them? How can you attain a bit of internet fame, and attain a bit of the recognition your talent rightfully deserves?

Well first of all you need to be really good at playing guitar. If you need practice, maybe get guitar lessons before you start marketing your music.

Now if you’ve already taken guitar lessons and are a top player, read on for some marketing tips for guitarists!

1. Show Off Your Guitar Playing Skills On Youtube

Youtube is simply a monolith. Many musicians grew to fame and notoriety through the service. The much maligned Justin Beiber was discovered on Youtube. Love him or hate him, the dude is a millionaire, and he got his start right on Youtube. Crazy, right?

You can upload a video of an original composition, a video giving other guitarists insight and tech advice, or you could be showcasing a cover of a song. Much like this infamous cover of Canon Rock:

You can get good exposure on Youtube if you’re good enough. The best part is, if you manage to make a viral smash hit with original material, you can cash in on the Adsense.

Youtube moguls like PewDewPie make millions on their channels. Wouldn’t it be nice to get some internet cash flowing to fund the recording of you album? But for your Youtube video to be a success, you need to advertise on other platforms, get the buzz and hype building. This leads us to…

2. Use Facebook To Promote Your Songs

Yes, Facebook, the infamous social network that murdered Myspace. Love it or hate it, Facebook is quite a great means to promote your craft and network with like minded musicians and guitarists.

Artist pages can connect you directly with fans in a much more personal way, letting you interact with inquiries from all around the world in real-time. This sort of personality you attribute to your brand will make you far more endearing for potential listeners.

Unfortunately the Facebook algorithm changes quite often, and in recent years the promotional power of Facebook has been skewered, likely in hopes that more musicians, artists, and brands will pay Facebook for their posts to reach more people. I wouldn’t advise this, though.

3. Market Your Guitar instrumentals On Soundcloud

Soundcloud is an amazing, free platform available for guitarists and other musicians to share their music with the world! There are paid options if you wish to upload unlimited sounds, otherwise there are time constraints.

Soundcloud is essentially a social network to share your sounds and check out the songs from other producers from across the globe. Guitarists on Soundcloud can build a fan base on this platform and have hundreds of people listening to their music daily!

Soundcloud is simply one of the best places to post your music and market your music. Embedding the player into other social media networks like Facebook and Twitter is seamless and easy, and you can keep an eye on status, refine your marketing strategy, and learn what works and what doesn’t. I definitely advise you to at least check out a free account, it’s totally worth it.

4. You As A Guitarist Should Be On Bandcamp

Bandcamp puts all the power of album releases in the hands of the music makers. While there are many labels on Bandcamp, you’ll notice most artists like to release their albums through the platform independently.

Gone are the days of seeking out a record contract – you can now release your music digitally, share it with the world and even put a price on it. This could be your guitar instrumentals, or songs your band makes with your guitar playing in it.

With the right marketing techniques implemented, you can have your Soundcloud account link back to bandcamp with a buy link, and you can share your Bandcamp releases on all your social media networks with an embedded music player. I think it is very important for guitarists who are looking to promote their craft, to have original material to promote. Most guitarists can grab their axe and learn another bands songs, another musicians solos – it takes much more ingenuity and skill to compose songs from scratch, produce them yourself and release a audibly pleasing result of original compositions online.

Bandcamp, as far as I can tell, is the best option for guitarists weary of releasing their music on Itunes. I’d say bandcamp is even better than Itunes, with the option of naming your own price, allowing customers to pay more if they like, or even releasing the album for free. There are a lot of cool features with Bandcamp, and I highly recommend it for those looking for a great platform to release their albums and EP’s on.

5. Take Advantage Of Guitar Blogs / Music E-zines

At the end of the day, the best promotion for musicians is generally word-of-mouth. If you’re promoting yourself ceaselessly on your social media, it’s likely your friends, family, and fan base may get burnt out. Reaching out to blogs and online music publications is a great way to get some advertisement and marketing done for you by others. It’s mutually beneficial – music bloggers scour the internet for the next big thing to review on their websites. Cut out the work for them, and send them a link to your best material! Make up an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) and send it along. Offer them a free download to your album – they might just review it and send dozens of potential fans your way!

Bonus Guitar Marketing Tip

If you want to really make sure you get yourself out there, you need to learn more advanced guitar playing skills. The ones the don’t teach you in beginner guitar lessons.

This is because there are a lot of guitarists out there. So even if you get yourself in front of people, if you’re only making basic music and don’t stand out, they still won’t pay you any attention.

The marketing possibilities with just a computer and an internet connection are endless today. If you’re looking to make a name for yourself, follow some of these basic marketing tips for guitarists and see your popularity start to swell!