The guitar is a great musical instrument. It is relatively inexpensive, fairly portable and it is easy enough for you to learn the basics. As a matter of fact, it is totally up to you to take your playing as far as you want. There are lots of people all over the world who learn to play the guitar every day, regardless of their age. Grandparents and kids alike are fascinated by this musical instrument and want to know how to play it. Luckily, learning guitar is not that difficult, as long as you understand the five basic and essential principles that govern it. What are these principles? Read on to find out:
1 – Practice
This seems rather obvious because we know that practice makes perfect. However, you will find that everyone continues to give you the same advice whenever you ask for tips. This is due to the fact that a big part of learning how to play the guitar revolves around your finger memory i.e. motor skills. Initially, your brain will tell your fingers what to do, but with practice, your fingers will know exactly what to do without your brain having to tell you. It is essential to practice on a daily basis and give anywhere between one to three hours if you truly want to master the instrument.
2 – Learn how to stay motivated
You need to bear in mind that learning guitar is no piece of cake. When you begin, you are going to sound terrible and you will feel completely uncoordinated. Your fingers are going to develop calluses and they are going to pain constantly. Even after hours of practice, you may feel as if you are going nowhere. This will discourage you so you need to keep yourself motivated. This can be done by setting short-term goals that will not take long to achieve. Reward yourself after a good practice or visualize yourself on stage when you play. This will help you go on.
3 – Master the basics correctly
A combination of basic skills are needed for learning guitar. You should take some time to learn these skills because they have to be learnt properly. Knowing the basics is of the utmost importance if you want to be any good at it. You can get a book for this purpose or hire an online teacher. Tutorials can also be found online that can teach you the chords and notes. You also need to be aware of rhythm and lead and master picking and strumming.
4 – Play gradually
When you start learning how to play guitar, you spend most of your time learning chords and putting them together. But, when you change chords, you sometimes pause without even realizing it and this breaks your rhythm. Sure, correct fingering is important, but this is something you learn over time. It is best to play regularly without breaking your rhythm. Play slow and play fast. This will actually help you in getting better.
5 – Train yourself to listen
Listening is a skill that’s often under-rated, but you should remember that it is this skill that will aid you in becoming a great guitar player, more than anything else. Listen to others when they play, both in albums and live. What kind of guitar are they playing? Are they playing single notes, plucking or strumming? What type of tone are they achieving and how are they doing it? Listen to yourself when you are practicing. Can you hear when you are doing something wrong? Are the notes clear? Do you play the chords correctly? Answers to these questions are going to help you in learning guitar quickly.