Scared? Well you should be! You've got volumes of dense indecipherable stuff you have to learn. No actually its really not as hard as it looks in a lot of the books you get. Partly because books typically try and cover everything and every eventuality anyone would ever what to know. But actually as a guitarist, even as an improvising guitarist, you don't need to know all that. What you need is a very specific set of information - learn that well and you've go the tools you need for pretty much any situation. The rest... all those volumes of dense stuff... you can put on a shelf and read on a rainy day... if you want.

Modes Would you like to understand modes; what they are, how they work, and how to use them? Modes Part One Modes Part Two

Playing over chord changes Understanding how it works and what you need to learn and practice. Part One Part Two

Using the Melodic Minor Scale How do you use this scale? Why should you use it? How do you learn it?

Also known as technique. I don't really like to call it that because it implies yet another scary sounding mountain for the guitarist to climb. In reality, there are many different ways of playing the guitar some of which require very different ways of using your hands and other sundry items to produce sound from strings. But there are things that most styles have in common, and there are ways anyone can optimise how well they get about on the instrument.

Alternate picking The "Inside Outside" story of alternate picking.		Finger Control Mark looks at finger independence exercises.		Vibrato Or - "The Battle Against the Ping"
Max Technique How to improve your technique and maximize your practice time.		Legato Playing Legato technique, and how to improve yours.

Playing what you hear in your head is the holy grail for most improvising guitarists. Actually its not that mysterious, like many things to do with playing an instrument well, its just a matter of knowing what to work on and sticking with it. What's with the mind bit? Being aware of and controlling your state of mind can be helpful with many aspects of playing and practice.

Ear - the secret to everything Mark looks at ways of connecting ear to fingers.

Getting an original style Or - "Ten People On Ten Islands"