Over the years, the musical instrument that has ruled over the masses is the guitar. From swinging and swaying along a soft rhythm, to the fast paced swag, it has caught many of us spell-bounded. We try to follow in the footsteps of our heroes like Jimi Hendrix, Tommy Emmanuel, Bonnie Raitt or Prince, dedicating hours of practice and hundreds of dollars to learn the art of playing guitar, but more often than not we fail miserably.
It is true that there is no alternative to hard work, but one should also follow a fixed plan to make it work, so that the hard work we put in does not get wasted. Some will want to know where all the notes are on their fingerboard and will subscribe to sites such as Guitar Notes Master to achieve that.
The most important thing is to get started and improve on it. These five basic tips should prove fruitful to you if you put your heart and soul in playing Guitar.
1. All that glitters is not gold holds true for most of the guitars you lay your hands on. A costly guitar doesn’t mean that it will have the most melodious of tune and best of the parts. While buying a guitar always select something with good built material, else you sound could die down or become shaky. Also check for the string stoutness and if you instrument gets out of tune too often you should look for an alternative.
2. The next important thing is that you should learn the basics well, either from a guide book or a teacher. You must know the different chords and your finger position. Practice the basics with proper finger position till it becomes just a muscle memory. You should also learn to pick up speed while you play and execute them without any gap between each note.
3. One great technique to improve your speed as well as you rhythm is by playing along with drums or some accompanying instruments. It will help you to check your tempo, rhythm and give you confidence to strum along in actual or live events. Always start from beginning of the tune if you make a mistake so that you can maintain the continuity. Try never to skip beats as it may result in incomplete or abrupt end to your music piece by catching your partner unaware.
4. The more you learn, the more you would try to innovate. Getting a guide book or a tutorial at this stage would be very helpful as it will help you to cross check what you learnt and what more is left. It is a great way to go back to the roots and reinvent what you missed out at the first go. Some players find sites like “Guitar Express” really helpful.
5. Always check for music DVDs and YouTube videos to learn the tricks and style of various musicians. You can learn different techniques and find the actual reason that makes some better than the others.
Though it takes years of perseverance to reach the height of musical excellence you can start any time you want. Just make sure you put in the hard work and master the basics, and there would be no reason why you can’t reach the top.