Cheers, fellow Steem users! Today I would like to briefly talk about 10 advices that I would give to people who'd like to pick up the guitar and learn how to play it. These advices stem from my personal experience of almost a half an year of playing this musical instrument continuously. Bearing in mind this thing, although 6 months might sound to some like a lot of time when referring to playing the guitar, to this date I would still define myself as a beginner (but a more intermediate beginner), regardless of how many popular classic rock songs I have been able to master and play in the meantime.
An acoustic six string guitar. Image source: Pixabay.com
A personal note to others who have previously played this instrument for a longer while: while you will be reading my post I'm absolutely certain that you can relate to my experience as a guitar learner and beginner since it might definitely remind you of our own early days. Without further ado though, here is my list of 10 advices:
- Learn standard notation and tablature. Learning how to play guitar doesn't necessarily have to limit itself to playing in an instinctive way. While you could be a great guitar player just relying on your instincts it is also important to know the theory behind this instrument. In others, I would highly advise anyone how intends to learn to play the guitar to also learn standard notation and tablature on the way.
- Practice and patience make things perfect. It is no secret that no one will turn into a brand new Jimi Hendrix or Eric Clapton over night so it is very important to practice a lot and be patient about your playing. Good things will come to you if you keep on practicing for at least, say, 10 minutes every day. If you keep on doing that for several months you'll clearly see some positive results so give it a try!
- Keep things simple for a start. You don't necessarily have to play in a particular style or to imitate a specific guitarist in the beginning of your musical journey with the guitar. If you do however want to play some classic rock songs, then make sure you pick the easiest ones (the one revolving around 2 or 3 chords). This way you will certainly improve both your lead and rhythm knowledge and playing.
- Research. Always research for new learning methods on guitar, be it online or offline. Be an active learner and a go-getter while learning this instrument.
- It's all about the fun. Yes, definitely, play for fun and enjoy each and every note of it.
- Try alternative approaches. You can try learning to play guitar by using an application that teaches its users to play this musical instrument (e.g. Yousician).
- Listen to more music. Just learning to play the guitar alone won't make you a great musician. Try listening to more music as you progress in order to gain more insight with respect to different techniques and, more importantly, analyse different influences that might appeal to you along the way.
- Play with other people. Just do that. Friends, colleagues, or schoolmates, family members, you name it. Have fun and teach others what you can do on this instrument. Also, keep an open mind for people who would like to teach you a couple of new tricks as well!
- The best competition is competing over yourself. If you're a competitive kind of person, then the best competition that I at least can identify when talking about playing this instrument is the competition over yourself. You cannot outmatch someone else in playing on an instrument (wholly and for real) since we all have different styles and we are all unique. Therefore try not to focus that much on what other people can do technically. Just try to be yourself and be better at it day by day. In the long run, that's the real competition anyway.
- Change your strings frequently and use a professional tuner. While equipment is concerned, totally irrespective of what guitar you have (either an electric or an acoustic), what I wholeheartedly recommend is to use a professional tuner (a physical device that is), as opposed to a tuner-based app, and, of course, to change your strings on a regular basis. This way you won't be surprised that your strings will break down all of a sudden when you're trying to strum a little bit more powerful than usual on them! :)
That was all from me today, folks! Hope you have enjoyed my article and that these advices will benefit you as much as they have benefited me so far. I would also like to hear your own impression on learning this instrument (if any) in the comments' section below. Cheers!
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