How to Play Guitar: Simple Tips to Better Guitar Playing For Beginners
What makes a sound guitarist good and a bad guitarist bad? Being told you’re ‘bad’ at something can have two results. First, it can motivate you to improve, do better, and get ‘good.’ Second, it can demotivate you to the point where you get up and quit.
This can be especially true for people learning to play the guitar, as hearing ax-wielding experts and peers tell you that you suck can be awful. But then, what makes a good guitarist suitable? For more information, try Trusty Guitar to learn how to play guitar.
Communicate
Just because you can play a song well doesn’t mean you’re communicating that song to your audience or connecting with them on any level. You need to appeal to the listener’s emotions or make them feel the song you’re performing. For example, if you’re playing a piece of music fast to show off how fast you can play it, what’s the listener getting out of that? The guitar isn’t good unless someone is listening.
Visualize
Even if you don’t have your guitar with you, you can still practice. If you’re headed to a class, or work, or waiting in line somewhere, take a few seconds to visualize yourself playing something you’ve been working on and executing it flawlessly. You’ll find that eventually, the visualization transfers into your playing.
Learn, and learn some more
Getting better at playing the guitar involves continuous, focused learning. Discipline yourself to learn something new every single day and play it.
Many people believe that understanding guitar modes is complex and useless; however, it isn’t as complicated as many think. Knowing the major-minor system will help you improve your guitar playing skills and virtuosity.
Whether big or small, easy or hard, getting into the habit of learning constantly will keep you developing your skills across every aspect of your playing and advance your muscle memory.
Pick up the right guitar
One of the critical elements of learning the guitar is picking up the right guitar for you. There are a lot of different guitar brands and models out there, so choosing one can be challenging. One of the best beginner guitars I’ve ever seen is the Yamaha CG102. You can read a Yamaha CG102 review here.
Find some buddies
Jam sessions are vital to developing yourself as a guitarist, especially if you’re planning to be in a band or perform with other people. Jamming teaches you to riff off other people, work together, and give you access to their skills and knowledge. You can also use computer programs if you don’t have a band or jam buddies. There are even phone apps that can act as accompaniments if needed. If you get stuck, try playing along with your favorite songs – anything you can use to accompany you.
Listen
No one likes to record themselves speaking, or playing, or singing, but it’s essential if you want to be a good guitarist. Record yourself playing and listen back to it. Look for not only mistakes but anything particularly significant. Listen to the rhythm, melody, and composition of the songs you’re playing.
These will help you learn to compose your complete songs. One more thing that will help you stay motivated is discovering other genres or musicians. There are a lot of artists on MusicCritic that you can read about. Find a guitarist with a style that you like and try to emulate them.
How to Play Guitar: Take lessons
Again, it seems obvious, but even if you’re already playing to a good standard, taking guitar lessons can be a valuable way to get an objective take on where you’re at and where you need to go from there.
There are tons of sites and apps out there now that will ‘teach’ you, but there’s nothing like the fresh ears of a guitar teacher. Of course, none of these is any good unless you’re practicing. Make sure to set aside focused time for practice whenever you can, and you’ll be halfway to Hendrix before you know it. Good luck!
