Who hasn’t watched a great guitar player and dreamed of being them? Is there anyone who doesn’t want to learn guitar? If you are a beginner, or someone who just want to become a better player, then these tips are perfect for you. So keep reading and then hit a practice session soon.
Best Electric Guitar for Beginners
Be patient. You may not feel like you’re advancing at all with your guitar playing, but the truth is, you are starting out where everyone started out. If you stop being so hard on your playing, you’ll discover that you aren’t the only beginner you know. Take it easy and you’ll get better.
The best way to learn how to play the guitar is to practice often. Don’t practice once a week for three hours. You will build better finger memory by practicing every day. Try to practice at least a half an hour a day. If possible, push that time to a full hour every day.
Your fingertips will be sore after practice before you build calluses. Playing the guitar is notoriously hard on the fingers. You may experience cramping or blisters, particularly if you play for long periods of time in the beginning. While it may sound silly, it is important to “work out” your fingers to strengthen them. During this time, it may cause less pain to play an electric or nylon-string guitar. Acoustic guitars are harder to play for beginners. While soaking the tips of your fingers in alcohol can provide some relief, avoid harmful chemicals, such as turpentine. You will notice a world of difference!
Build up your finger strength. New guitarists may experience finger cramping when they start learning. This is because your fingers aren’t accustomed to the constant movement. Try doing simple guitar exercises before you play to build up their strength. A couple minutes doing an activity like the caterpillar exercise can help build up your finger muscles.
Play along with a CD, another guitarist or use a metronome. This will help you learn to play in time. When players first start learning to play the guitar, they often pause slightly to arrange their fingers properly. This will throw off your rhythm. You should practice playing slowly and quickly.
Best Acoustic Guitar for Beginners
Initially, stick with simple tunes. While is certainly tempting to try to jump in and play some of your favorite songs on the guitar, you should initially stick with simple tunes that can be mastered with just a little bit of practice. Doing this will help you continue building skills without causing frustration and disappointment along the way.
Surround yourself with other musicians when learning guitar. You can learn items like how to play and listen better from others. You should also try listening to and speaking with musicians that play other types of music. You can learn so much more from those that play styles that differ from your own.
Practice playing every day. If you can, try to practice your guitar playing about one hour each day. When you practice, you will get used to different finger positions, and you’ll be able to remember the chords much more easily. Giving yourself a chance to play every day will make you a better guitar player.
Don’t give up right away. There is not one person who sounded like a pro after one day with the guitar. If you find that it’s not working for you, think about trying harder in the next practice session. Stick with it, and eventually you will start to hear that your hard work is paying off.
As a beginning guitarist, it is important to learn the musical scales. These are the notes you will use to form melodies as you learn. Playing musical scales is good for exercising the fingers, and it will also prepare you to learn to play guitar solos later, something every guitarist longs to do!
Make a practice routine for yourself. Learning to play the guitar can take even longer if your practice sessions aren’t focused. Plan out your practice sessions ahead of time. Tailor them to your needs. Make sure they’re interesting but focus on your problem areas. Find a nice balance between repetition and learning new things.
You may have gotten interested in guitar so that you can play popular songs but most people cannot start off at that level. So familiarize yourself with some simple, basic songs and practice them to help you develop your fine motor skills and your fingering skills. Simple songs can help you learn how to manipulate your fingers so that when it comes to more complex songs, your fingers will already know how to move to accomplish them.
If you are learning on your own, start with the basic chords. Simple songs only use three to four chords. When you master those, you can get in the more complex chords. The important thing is to get a good foundation before progressing to the next step. That is the best way to improve.
Don’t make your practice sessions too long. It can be easy to get overeager, especially when you are first starting out. Pace yourself. Practicing is great, but don’t practice more than 30 or 45 minutes if it gets too boring. Burning yourself out on practicing can really kill your motivation.
Make use of video sharing instructional videos. There is plenty of free information out there that will help you learn to play the guitar, and many of those resources can be found on video sharing sites. Watching videos can be a great way for you to see fingering in action.
Go to the library and borrow some guitar music books. This is a good way to get different types of music to practice on without spending money. Music sheets can be expensive. Borrowing your music from the library is the perfect answer for the budget-minded. The money saved can be used on your guitar accessories.
As you know, learning to play guitar is such an enjoyable thing to do. There is so much to learn that you will never know everything that you need to know. But that is just fine, since learning new guitar skills is so enjoyable. So take what you have learned, share with a friend and get a jam session going today.
