Visit The Guitar Classroom to learn the guitar
Learning to play guitar is a joy but it can also be a difficult journey. Once you get past the easy part of learning to play basic chords and basic songs, you progress into more challenging areas, such as playing barre chords, finger picking and lead licks, figuring out tablature (tabs), playing by ear, and other key components of being proficient on the guitar. Instead of giving up when things get hard, consider the following pieces of advice gleaned from experts in the field.
1.) Practice effectively.
Many people who are learning to play guitar waste a good amount of their practice time fooling around playing tidbits of songs they already know over and over. It’s even worse when you’ve got a friend or family member around to impress. However, if you want to get any better, you need to practice the more difficult guitar techniques that you haven’t already mastered. If barre chords are the area in which you really struggle, devote at least half of your practice time to barre chord exercises. If you’ve got trouble with timing, do exercises with a metronome, and practice songs with fast, medium and slow paces.
2.) Strengthen Your Left Hand.
When learning guitar, it is important to press down on the strings much harder than you initially think is necessary. It’s good to get in the habit of this early on so you can avoid the buzzing, flat sound produced by most beginners. Also be sure to warm up your left hand before you begin practice by stretching your hand and fingers, as well as running through a series of guitar scales.
3.) Focus on your guitar, not fancy equipment.
It’s easy to get sucked in to the allure of amps and effects pedals, but before you really begin exploring what this equipment can do for your sound quality, make sure you have the fundamentals down. The best equipment in the world can do nothing to improve poor guitar skills.
4.) Work smarter, not harder.
It’s important to use efficient fingering when you’re learning to play more complicated songs on the guitar. It’s a lot easier to slide a barre chord with the same finger positioning up and down the neck of the guitar than to move from barre chords to open position chords. If you can play a chord using two strings rather than three strings, do it. When you find easier ways to play chords you’ve known for a long time, pick up those easier ways; do not hold on to habits that are holding you back from playing well and in time.
5.) Practice lead AND rhythm.
Most beginner guitarists tend to lean to one over the other. Timid learners often fall back on rhythm while those who want to be the next Jimmy Hendrix like to play lead. Running through both every other time you practice will help you become well-rounded.
6.) Jam with people who play better than you.
Many beginner guitarists hesitate when it comes to playing with people who excel on the guitar because they don’t want to display their skills until they can play just as well. However, just like a competitive runner runs his best and fastest when he runs with the best runners, a guitarist improves by playing with other skilled guitarists. Learn everything you can from the experienced guitarists you know and ask them for tips and pointers at the end of the jam session.
If you want to learn to play guitar, the best way to do so is to visit The Guitar Classroom and get yourself some online guitar lessons.
This guest post is contributed by Olivia Coleman, who writes on the topics of online colleges and universities.
She welcomes your comments at her email Id:
olivia.coleman33 @gmail.com.