Here are some tips to play the guitar better. Because being a competent guitarist does not have to be difficult if you are consistent, it is also not difficult to be a bad guitarist if you take the guitar once a year on Christmas day so that your cousin touches and then you try. The most important thing: that you enjoy during the process, as this way you will learn more effectively and faster. Let’s see now what 10 things you can do.
1- Be constant
Practice the guitar every day if possible, even if it is only a few minutes a day. The more times you repeat an activity the more you achieve the desired objectives. Muhammad Ali did not like to train but he knew that in order to be the best he had to do it. I do not tell you that you pretend to be the best because the guitar is a hobby. But any sport, artistic or any other activity requires sacrifice and dedication.
2- Recompense
Have you played an hour on guitar, 30 minutes, 15, and 10? Make a gift to yourself, be it a chocolate bar, half an hour of television, an ice cream, something that you really like, and if you do not fulfill your goals there is no gift. I’m not saying that everyone works but keeps that in mind.
3- Do not be impatient
Do not get obsessed with wanting to learn to play the guitar fast or dedicate yourself to thinking about how long it takes to be a good guitarist. This is a process and it requires your time. Enjoy the trip; what you are doing has to be fun, not an obligation.
4- Divide
If you eat whole cakes you may end up with indigestion, but if you eat a piece or two nothing will happen to you. With what you learn you have to do it yourself to improve your skills in the long run. Divide a score / tablature into small parts and learn what you have to learn but fine. When you have achieved it, save a piece for the next day.
5- Touch very slowly
When we learn something quickly and repeatedly and obsessively we get stuck and internalize and process errors, when what we should do is to touch the right thing without getting stuck. Therefore, slow down and play slowly, sometimes it is more boring, but it is much more effective. You will learn many more songs in less time and the technique will purify it.
6- Sign up for guitar lessons
There are students to whom it is better to have a more personalized attention because otherwise, they feel that they do not progress. He is like someone who does gymnastics at home and after two days he gets tired, but he goes to the gym and goes every week religiously because he is paying. You know yourself better than anyone, if you see that distance classes are not your thing or that being self-taught you will not learn; look for private classes with a teacher in your city.
7- Touch with other people
When you play with other people as well as when you play with a teacher who guides you, there is a good chance that you will make a lot of progress. This is also better if the musicians with whom you surround yourself know more than you do. Since you can correct mistakes and from the first day you will realize that playing alone is not the same as playing with more people because you learn to coordinate, to better transmit your musical ideas and to keep the rhythm . For that reason, access to some page of announcements and look for someone with who to touch and that is of your level. You will notice better results.
8- Learn songs
Learning songs has many advantages. I often receive messages from people who are just starting to play the guitar or who have not been around for a long time and they tell me that they do not want to play anyone’s songs, that they want to be original. They ask me for scales to compose songs and for progressions of chords, techniques … And what I usually answer is that in order to compose your songs you need to have played songs by other artists.
And himself Keith Richards in the documentary Under the Influence I said while sitting at the piano: When he learned to play songs from their favorite artists at the piano he used to go wrong, but according to him, and I reaffirm his words, every mistake is a door opens up to an idea for some new song. Another good advantage is the satisfaction it gives you when you already know how to play it.
9- Take advantage of technology
Search videos on YouTube, search for free material, and find courses that teach what you want to learn, record yourself on video and observe your mistakes, there are many tools at your fingertips. Make the most of them.
10- Listen to all kinds of music
Do not be prejudiced with the music you listen to, all the songs have something to contribute, even a commercial song that does not stop playing on the radio. For example, it helps me to understand the world that surrounds me, for example why the song of Dancing by Enrique Iglesias marked a trend with its progression of chords during these last.
You can listen to music in different ways: to enjoy the music that you like the most; to learn when you hear a line or a guitar solo that you like the way it sounds and you want to have it on your fingers; or to criticize, as in the case above, and know what you do not like.
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