Guitar Tips For Beginners

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It can deliver a wide range of emotions through its peaceful or fast-paced melodies. Learning guitar isn’t that difficult as many people think.
All we need is a tremendous amount of dedication and there is no easy path to success when it comes to playing guitar. It’s all about practice, practice, and more practice.

When you are playing guitar or learning guitar for the first time, you might be watching some of the videos on youtube or reading books, installing apps or maybe learning guitar from any teacher for sure, which is a good thing. But, at some point, somewhere in your head, you’ll get several doubts like, whether I can do it or will it be possible for me? How long does it take for me to become a pro? Blah…blah…blah and what not.
At that time, our confidence becomes low, our minds got disturbed, and then we lose our attention, and then finally, we kept the instrument aside for some time.

All we need to understand is, learning to play guitar is not rocket science, it just requires a certain mindset. Just think about your favorite musicians and the skill they possess. Even they had to start somewhere, as they were a beginner just like you at one point. Trust me, practicing the guitar pays off, when you keep on learning every day.

So, here I will be sharing the tips which I had learned when I started to learn guitar in the beginning. Here they are:

1. Practice Well

If you want to progress, you will have to dedicate a certain amount of time to practice. I recommend that we practice at least for 30 mins daily.
If you have more time to spare, then it’s even better. I used to practice 30 mins daily or sometimes even more whenever I get free time.

Another way of practicing guitar is, take a short break and then get back and play. My easy advice is “ Warm your hands and stretch your fingers before you play”. So, over some time, your playing will become easier.

2. Don’t Get Demotivated

As I said earlier, when you are first learning the guitar or any other instrument, you may find yourself getting discouraged or perhaps saying to yourself “this is just too difficult”. I felt exactly the same. I was practicing the same song or chords over and over again, and never getting any better at it.

At that time, do not get discouraged by yourself, it isn’t that tough. Sometimes our brains just need a little rest or need to be occupied with something else. So, take a break and come back to your practice with a fresh mind.

3. Go Slow and Don’t Play Too Fast

Another point which I want to share is, Be Slow and Don’t Play Too Fast.
A lot of people try to play faster but that is not a good way to learn guitar. Even I also wanted to learn exactly in the same way. I used to listened to a song and then tried to practice that song faster on my guitar. But later I realized the importance. All you need is patience and persistence. You can slowly increase your speed as you improve.

4. Make Your Practicing Schedule

It doesn’t matter how long you practice daily. What you are practicing and how you are practicing are more important. That is why it’s always good to maintain your own schedule.

Here’s the simplest schedule that I had created for myself at the beginning to learn guitar at home in a disciplined way.

My Secret formula is: Choose a topic — Watch a video — Practice — Repeat

Monday — Understand guitar string names
Tuesday — Open strings and tuning and repeat Monday.
Wednesday — Basic Finger patterns
Thursday — Know about the fretboard and repeat Wednesday
Friday — Basic Chords and repeat Thursday
Saturday — Common strumming patterns and repeat Friday
Sunday — Rest

This is something you can schedule at your own choice.

5. Practice with a Metronome

Practicing with a metronome is very important. At first, I had no idea why and what it does. I found out about it after that.

Basically, it’s is an instrument mainly used to improve your guitar timings. However, start with a slow speed at the beginning to develop good playing habits and better control. We can purchase this device anywhere in the music shop or online.

6. Don’t Compare Yourself With Others

I remember that whenever I heard a good guitarist playing some music, I always enjoyed listening to that, but at the same time, somewhere I felt jealous because it seemed to me that I could not play so well. I constantly got the feeling that I have to run home and practice. Ego was getting in the way, especially when I played with others.

However, you should not compare yourself with others. Instead, compare yourself to yourself!. Listen to your recordings and play after a month.
Making recordings of yourself and playing it, is a great way to track your progress.

7. Don’t quit

Last but not least, never give up. Persistence is key when it comes to playing the guitar. If you feel like you are not progressing at all despite daily practice, the best thing to do is relax and play something fun you like. Play new things for a week, try to work something out on your own, then come back to the place you were before and give it another try.

So if you follow like this, one fine day your process will also improve.

Final Conclusion

Before working on all these tips, make sure you’re sitting in a right and comfortable playing posture to avoid painful aches in your shoulder, back, neck, etc.

So, I hope these guitar tips were helpful. Keep Learning …..Enjoy Playing!