Guitar Hacks For New Players

Like any beginning guitarist, you’re likely seeking help in getting starting. You’re hoping you will come across a magic guitar tip that will suddenly improve your playing. Unfortunately, no such guitar advice exists. The good news is, I’ve been there and done that. Here are some thoughts to keep in mind while starting your guitar career!

Nothing you do at first will feel right. You can spend an entire first week just trying to get a couple of chords to ring clearly. You might not get to them with any speed and even when you get them; they may muffle and sound bad. You may be convinced that your fingers must just be fat. There is, of course, nothing wrong with your fingers and eventually, you will get the hang of those chords. Any problem you have playing the guitar can be overcome with enough practice.

Learn it Right, Not Fast

Don’t allow yourself to take the easy way out. If you’re finding you’re having trouble with something but can do it improperly easily (using poor hand position, for example) keep working on the proper way. You’ll learn later that there was a reason the proper way was considered better and you’ll spend more time trying to undo your poor mechanics than it would have taken just to learn the right ones in the first place.

Make a Practice Schedule

I know this part isn’t fun, but do it. Set aside 15 minutes or 30 minutes or whatever you want to a dedicated practice time. Write out the things you plan on doing. For example: learning a chord, doing scales, using a metronome, etc. Follow through on this. These few minutes of dedicated, intense practice will give you tons of improvement.

Get Live Help

It is advisable to start already working on that. Good job. It can come in many forms. If you can, it is highly suggested getting a tutor of some kind. If you have any friends willing, definitely take them up on offer. Otherwise, spend the money on a trainer. It’s worth it to get instant feedback from somebody who can tell you, right away, if you’re doing something wrong and immediately correct it. It’s the best way to avoid learning bad habits. If anything, at least get a tutor for the first couple weeks to get a solid foundation going. And don’t be embarrassed, everybody sucks at first, trust me.

Get Help from Books or Online

You will find the best way to add even more skills is to pick up a book or two and use them. And when you say use them, it means USE THEM. Do everything in the book. Don’t skip parts because you aren’t interested or it’s too hard. They are in there for a reason, and you’ll thank yourself later if you follow through on them.

Practice Everything You Learn Slowly

Go at the slowest speed you need to make the notes and chords sound clean. You can gradually speed it up after you get comfortable playing at a slower speed. It goes for chords, notes, parts of songs, whole songs, etc. You will become a much smoother and better-sounding player following this method.

Your fingertips, hands, and wrists will be sore in the beginning – but you will get over the pain and soreness after the first few weeks. After that, you will have nice calluses formed on your fingertips, and your hands and wrists will become much stronger.