Similar to other skills, prowess in playing guitar is not achieved instantaneously. Becoming a pro guitarist is a gradual process that requires one to improve continually towards gaining mastery. It is a dream of every beginner to become a professional guitarist. For most beginners, they aspire to get their bread and butter through playing the guitar. However, the music industry is not hospitable to anyone who thinks that getting to the top will be a walk in the park. To survive the music business, one must strive to distinguish themselves from thousands of instrumentalists readily available to grab any chance. For that to happen, a beginner has to consider the following essential things in their quest to master the guitar.

Be Familiar with Guitar Anatomy

It is unexpected for one to become a guitarist if they do not know the anatomy of a guitar. Remarkably, one should have the details of a guitar on their fingertips. It would be best for one to familiarize themselves with the different parts of the guitar. You should know all the parts from the bridge to the headstock. That may take some time but becoming proficient at it would imply that one is gaining mastery. Whether you are playing an acoustic or electric guitar, understand everything about the guitar. Moreover, master how to hold your guitar in the right position. This helps in enhancing and making guitar training easy and enjoyable.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

This may seem repetitive. Nevertheless, practicing remains the most essential way for anyone to improve his or her guitar-playing knack. Beginners need to practice as many times as possible. Additionally, they need to make ample time for their practicing sessions. To be effective and productive, one needs to set up a practice schedule that will translate into a disciplined habit of practicing. Learning guitar is a commitment that beginners need to take seriously to make it to a professional level.

Add Variety in a Practicing Routine

Another crucial principle for beginners is adding a variety to a practicing routine. Having the same few drills in every session is focal towards gaining skills and reinforcing chord retention. However, it is not good to foster learning experience for beginners. That implies that new techniques are important in enhancing the mastery of guitar skills. Besides, it will make a practicing routine more fun and eliminate the boredom that could make you lose interest in practicing. To slot in a variety of rhythms, chords, and strums, try playing songs from different genres. Alternatively, one can practice different styles of playing the guitar.

Participate in Live Performances 

After a measurable time of practicing and learning the art of playing the guitar, find a gig. Start small with small audiences to help in learning to play in front of live audience gallantry. That will cultivate live performance skill that is essential in making one a pro. Ideally, one is able to learn mistakes and improve their performing skills. Most guitarists recommend this as the best way to become a better musician. If you do not find any other musicians to play with, play solo. Gaining performance experience is the best teacher.

Constantly Evaluate Your Progress

There is no learning experience without evaluation. Before a practicing session, write down your expected outcomes. Indicate the songs, scales, chords, and riffs you are working on. During the session, identify your flaws and struggles and the best way to solve the issues. Ask people around you for their honest opinion concerning your ability to play guitar. Take corrections and criticism positively and make necessary improvements.

 

In many cases, people give contradicting perceptions about learning guitar. Some say that it is difficult and mind cracking while others appreciate it as an easy thing. It is easy especially when you have interest and the ability to easily grasp new concepts. With the hacks listed below, be sure that you can become a perfect guitarist.

Plan to practice consistently

The ability to play the guitar faster and better does not come automatically. An effective plan must be in place to ensure consistent practice. Frequent practice is vital to improving guitar skills. It goes a long way to enabling one to become a faster and better player. The most ideal thing is practising the skills you learn in lessons as many times as possible. Eventually, you will gain speed and become a perfect player. Nevertheless, be keen to avoid burnout. A good practice is scheduling an hour three or four times a week in addition to guitar lessons.

Formulate goals for swift learning

Be realistic and appreciate that you cannot play like Jimi Hendrix in one day. You also should not expect that to happen within the first few months of learning. In fact, you will have trouble attempting to play complex tunes in the beginning. Therefore, keep it simple and create personal goals for swift learning. For instance, start with learning the guitar, its parts, care, and maintenance. Go to learning how to properly hold the guitar when playing standing or seated. Learn guitar chords, scales, and harmonics before learning how to read music. Such goals are valuable to help you in becoming a faster and better guitarist.    

Practice along Recorded Versions

Most guitar experts suggest that playing along to a recorded version of a song while learning will improve speed. A recorded version enables you to naturally pick up the perfect and edited rhythms. Playing to such rhythms will make you better within a short period. Melodies of a recorded song are essential in understanding how to learn guitar. This is because it can reveal play patters. If you have a difficulty, set a portion or the whole song on repeat mode and play along with it several times.

Visualize Your Success

Do you recall the Law of Attraction? We attract into our lives whatever we are focusing on and what we visualize to possess. Whatever your musical goals are, it is motivating to visualize achieving them. This is what makes most people succeed in whatever they do. It may sound melodramatic but the results are immeasurable. Visualizing your success in becoming a faster and better guitarist compels you to want to achieve it. Visualize an audience and play like your life depends on it. Perfection will rapidly start growing.

Becoming a faster and better guitar player takes time. However, it may prove a difficult endeavour without paying attention to the above hacks. Get in touch with us for more tips that will surely make you great and perhaps a renowned guitarist. Run after your musical dreams!

If you are playing, you should know the hacks. Yes, it is true that nothing will replace hard work, but it’s always good to keep some tricks in hand to avoid any non-productive guitar play, to get away with usual guitar tech issues and skip some boring sessions. Most of us start to learn the guitar for fun, but where do you start? Here are some tips which you can refer if you are on the verge of beginning your guitar lessons.

Don’t spend too much:

Yes, don’t think of spending a fortune on your first guitar. Get a cheap one to start with. For your sessions try to get it borrowed from a friend or family member. If not try to get beginners acoustic guitar under $250. Start learning chords, play some songs and I would say “ Earn an expensive one!”

Pinkie turns your secret weapon in learning guitar

Yes, it is the lightest portion of your hand, but if you aim it good and start bonding with enough care it will be your best ally. You can turn this under-developed finger to a strong pinkie, which in turn help you with some top shredding skills.

Extend the life of your strings

Keep your strings neat and wipe it down always after a long session. Residues, piled up on your strings might negatively affect the quality as well as the life of your guitar’s strings.

Play along with recorded versions

Yes, this a great hack which always helps. Let it be singing or playing the guitar, listening to the recorded versions and playing along with it, always help as studio edited tracks carry perfect tones.

Out of tune? DIY!

Yes, you don’t want to run down to your neighborhood music store every time your guitar goes out of tune to learn to tune it accurately and quickly. If possible, invest in a good guitar tuner and make it a worthwhile investment. There are some cheap ways to tune it using Android or iOS apps. Once you become a pro you won’t need any of these tuners but in your beginning sessions, it’s always good to carry one.

Master the skill of holding your Pick!

Want to learn guitar, be comfortable with holding your pick first. You might think why a pick when I have my thumb. It might be easier at the start, but using a thumb is a terrible habit. If you want to be a guitarist learn to play it with a pick and your fingers. (Not the thumbs).

Practice smarter!

Yes, while learning to play the guitar, practice in a smart way. It is always tempting to practice in your comfort zone, but if you learn to practice in most stressful conditions, you can easily play anywhere. Try practicing in different moods and States of mind. If you are a pro, you never know what conditions you will have to play under. Try playing when you are least motivated, angry or tired. This is a good way of mastering the skill.

Learn the theory!

This is a big mistake most beginners make. Always learn to read music. This helps in many ways, allowing you to keep playing if you slip out of your memory, especially when you are on stage. It also gives you room for improvising!

Don’t strum too hard.

Some other big mistake beginners make is to keep strumming too hard on your instrument. Yes, there’s nothing wrong in strumming too hard for the right song, but don’t hit it hard when you need softer too.

Tip: relax your arms and keep strumming to a cheesy song. I bet you will get in the mood of relaxed and chill strumming!

Final and the most important Hack!

Never give up! It will certainly make a difference. It’s normal to start at an incredibly slow pace but don’t give up as most people do in this phase. For every instrument there is a definite learning curve and so is the same with learning guitar as well.

 As my most favorite guitarist quoted,

“ If you want music to be your livelihood, then play, play, play and play! And eventually, you will get to where you want to be.” – Eddie Van Halen.

 

Most guitar learners are always willing to go the extra mile to make their playing skills perfect. Nonetheless, a few things frustrate them and slow down their learning progress. Likewise, some things are personally making you feel frustrated, and you are almost quitting. Do not give up! The fact is that you should comprehend the most common drawbacks that may be pulling you behind and figure out ideal solutions. Understanding the following factors that affect guitar playing efficiency is essential in helping you become a better guitarist. They are some of the things that hurt your progress.

Your sitting Posture

The sitting posture that you take while playing your guitar is very vital in ensuring you feel comfortable and can play for a long time. If your sitting posture is not right, you will get uncomfortable and tired even before you hit an hour of practice. How you are currently sitting and reading this article is ideally more or less the perfect posture you should have when playing your guitar. Nevertheless, some of us have a terrible posture while sitting down, and this further deteriorates when we are playing the guitar.

Let us now talk about how to sit down in a good posture that does not hurt our backs. Ideally, the correct sitting posture is sitting with your chest slightly sticking outwards. You are likely to experience more discomforts when you overdo it. Pushing your chest outward too far may cause you to arch your lower back.

Finger Pain

The most regular kind of pain that often happens to guitarists, especially beginners, is finger pain. Fingertips will hurt because you are hitting and rubbing them against steel strings. The friction force that occurs from sliding around on the strings causes the skin on the fingertips to peel away. That results in severe soreness. That is a major hurdle and makes beginners want to quit. However, this is not an issue for beginners only. Even after playing guitar for months, your fingertips and finger joints may still hurt from applying too much pressure on the strings. It is imperative to check out your technique and know how to use the least amount of force.  You can get a nice and clear sound by striking the strings near the fret wire towards the sound hole. If possible, learn to place your fingers in the middle of the fret.

Stress and anxiety

In the present world, things get tough every day in all aspects of life. Consequently, we get stressed and anxious, trying to look for solutions. Leaning guitar when stressed or anxious will do you no good. Ultimately, you will feel like you wasted time because you will rarely get results. Playing guitar and learning how to play it are things that require a stable mind altogether.

Learning from Different Sources

Many beginners believe that they will gain progress faster if they learn from more sources. Currently, you can learn online from tutorial videos, an online and live class, among other sources. The truth is that accumulating guitar playing knowledge from many different sources will often cripple your efficiency. It is crucial to note that every learning strategy is customized into phases meant for every learning step. There is a flow from one stage to another that should be followed to the later for effective learning and playing. If you jump into every learning material you get, you may be in a different step altogether. That means you will be struggling to play, say for instance level 10 while you are actually at level 2. Get a guitar teacher who will understand the learning step you are currently in, and you will get a customized learning strategy.

Over the years, the music industry has witnessed tremendous changes. The industry is competitive and very hard to penetrate to the top for people with inferior and inadequate skills. Consequently, musicians are working hard every day to stand out among their colleagues. Likewise, guitar beginners who want to join the music industry should aim at becoming the best. One should have awesome skills and differentiating character traits. This article outlines some essential qualities of renowned guitarists that guitar students should emulate in their journey to greatness.

Be Passionate

It is without a doubt that famous musicians say that successful guitarists are slaves to their music. That implies they are willing to eat, breathe, and sleep with their guitar. As a guitar student, you have to truly love what you do since it is the only way to become successful. It is imperative to note that successful guitarists are not driven by money. The driving force is usually their passion for music. For instance, Joan Baez, a singer, songwriter and musician were solely driven by passion. Remarkably, she performed publicly for over 55 years in a successful music career driven by passion. Without passion, you will even curtail your learning.

Be Hardworking

The journey to stardom requires long hours of practice. It is not practical to become a pro guitarist in a fortnight. The celebrated guitarist took hours of effort to gain their envied status. That means that they worked very hard to acquire skills for different notches and chords. They had to practice for long hours, day, nights, weekends, and simply making sacrifices to make more time for their music. Johnny Cash, one of the most renowned guitarists in history is known for his hard work as far as guitar learning is concerned. Despite growing in hard times of extreme poverty, he started learning to play the guitar at 12. He used to practice for over 10 hours in a day to get all the fine touches on his guitar. As they say, hard work pays! In his 50-year career, he was able to release 96 albums.

Be Persistent

There is naturally nothing more important for beginners to be persistent in learning new concepts. In the path towards greatness, it is inevitable to experience failures, disappointments, and changes that will discourage you. Nonetheless, sometimes it is always prudent to keep your dreams alive. Elvis Presley is today one of the most famous musicians and guitarist in households around the globe. He was a truck driver before he started learning how to play the guitar. After a period of learning, he felt sufficient for public performance. Unfortunately, he was fired after his first performance and was told to return to truck driving. Nevertheless, he was persistent in his music dreams and soldiered on to become one of the best musicians the world has to date.

Be Jovial and Enjoy Everyday Practice

Every day present learners a new opportunity for learning. Practice will be more enjoyable when you put on a smile, even with prevailing challenges. Missing your practice is like embarking on a suicide mission. Do not that every time you miss practice draws you back a step behind. Even more, someone else (most likely your future competitor) is utilizing that time to become better. We cannot obviously talk about famous guitarists and fail to mention Jimmy Hendrix. He always smiled while playing his guitar. He enjoyed everyday training that made him what he became.