Learning To Play Guitar – Some Tips For Success

The guitar is the chosen instrument of many great musicians, from easy guitar songs to rock gods like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton to classical greats like Andres Segovia. If you love music, but never learned how to play, it is never to late to start. Use the following advice to start mastering the guitar.

When learning to play the guitar, try to find ways to stay motivated. Your skills won’t improve when you get bored doing it. Try setting short-term goals that you can attain at your skill level. When you reach your goals, you should reward yourself. Another way to stay motivated is by practicing with a friend.

Figure out the simple stuff first. You must walk before running. You may want to learn your favorite song right out of the gate, but it is crucial to build your foundations first. Get comfortable with finger positioning. Practice scales and chords regularly. Learn them before you try the advanced concepts.

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.

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.

Keep in mind that practicing the guitar should be fun. This is something you desire to do, not something you need to do. It should not be a source of stress or anxiety. This attitude may cause you to be bored, hate the guitar and completely stop practicing. You should play and practice on pieces you wish to play.

Calluses on your fingers are actually a good thing when it comes to playing the guitar. Calluses can help prevent the pain that is often associated with regular practice. While it does take time to build those callouses, practicing often will help you develop them. You can also look into a variety of products that will do the job for you.

If you wish to learn to play guitar, start out by purchasing an affordable, or even used, guitar. Don’t jump right in and spend a bundle on an expensive instrument before you know if you will like playing it, or have the ability to learn how. If you find you want to continue learning, you can always upgrade to a better guitar later.

A metronome is something you should make use of. Keeping time is very difficult for new guitar players. A metronome will keep you on beat. In no time at all you will be holding the beat all by yourself.

As you begin to learn how to play your guitar, it is also a good idea to learn how to change your own strings, and to tune your truss rod yourself. It can be costly to have someone do these things for you, and if you know how, you can do it yourself as the need arises. Strings break, and go out of tune at a moment’s notice, so knowing how means you will be back to playing as soon as possible.

Learn how to strum. Once you know your chords, it’s time to move on to strumming. The transition can be difficult, but it’s an important one to make. Don’t be afraid to take things slowly. There’s no single, foolproof way to learn how to strum, so find a method that works for you.

Start off with an affordable guitar. There is no sense in investing in a very expensive guitar, only to find that it doesn’t feel right in your hands. An inexpensive guitar is best for learning on and it can bear the brunt of any mistakes you make in caring for it without a great loss. Once you are used to the feel of a guitar, then you can move to a more expensive model that suits you.

When you learn your first chords, the fingering will feel awkward to you. You will develop callous on your fingers that may not feel comfortable during the first days. However, do not be discouraged. Your fingers will toughen and get used to pressing down on the strings, and your playing will become easier over time.

Many great musical pieces have been written for the guitar in many different musical genres. You may not be the next Jimi Hendrix, but you can still enjoy playing the guitar. The sooner you get started, the sooner you will be able to have fun playing your favorite songs on the guitar.