Archive for February, 2010

If you are quite the enthusiast when it comes to musical instruments and you have your heart set on that beautiful guitar you saw last week, better start brushing on those fingers. There are some ways you can learn on how to become an excellent guitarist. But first, the basics.

First and foremost, you must have your own guitar. How can you learn to play without the proper instrument at hand? You have to determine first what type of guitar to play. Borrowing a guitar would be okay, but what if you can’t borrow it on a regular basis? Your training and practice will be hampered.

Then choose a particular song that you like, something that always sets you in the mood for a good vibe. Better yet, something inspiring. Inspiring enough to encourage you to try and play the chords over and over again.

Once you have decided on which particular song gets you going and yet you don’t have any idea on how to put on a tune, ask someone who has the knowledge in playing a guitar work it out for you. Let him read the tabs. If you don’t know how, let someone interpret it for you. Here, teamwork is essential. The same person may also be able to help you in determining which finger goes where to achieve the right sound.

A very good advice on learning is listening by heart. It doesn’t depend on the chords themselves but the musician. He creates a melody just by listening to every strum of his guitar.

Statistics show that almost 90% of those who plays the guitar admit they learned it the hard way. In fact, playing the guitar is quite harder than it looks like. It is by far easier to hear than to comprehend. Learning without some background or even a slight help from someone is difficult for a newbie.

If you can’t afford a personal instructor, might as well buy a book about the do’s and don’ts of learning a guitar. Aside from that, it would also be challenging on your part to guess where to put the most important finger on the most important string. Buy a step by step guide on acquiring the basic and most vital chords that usually appears on almost every song and melody.

Then you ask, do you still need a guide. It is necessary though. You need someone to listen to you. He or she must determine if your fingers are positioned in their proper places. A reference material or an online tutorial will surely be of big help but it won’t be able to hear if you’re out of tune or if you’re really playing on the right track. Call out for help and monitoring.

First, focus yourself on the basic chords and not the hard ones. Chords like A, A minor, E, E minor, D, G are easier to work on. There are varieties of songs which contain only these chords. Mastering your fingers to change strings every change of tempo enables a beginner to develop a faster pace.

Take your time. A lot of great guitarists acquired the skill only after a long period of time. Apply no pressure on yourself. Be patient when you’re not getting it right. The trick in learning is to create a positive attitude.

Sutikno Slamet

Acoustic guitars have found their popularity being challenged by their more modern cousins, the electric guitars. For beginners, this presents a challenge that\’s much more attractive to tackle. How does a newbie to guitars go about learning to play the ax?

Get the Right Instruments

First things first: you\’ll have to get yourself a proper guitar. No, not a physical electric guitar for beginners; there\’s no such thing as an electric guitar with specs just for beginners. Before you get all excited over the prospect of an electric guitar, you have to start where everyone else does – with an acoustic guitar.

How come? Electric guitars are a little more advanced, in that you\’d probably hurt yourself if you start playing them without a grasp of the basics. Besides, playing on the nylon strings of an acoustic is much easier on the fingers than going straight to the steel strings of an electric. But whether you go the acoustic route or straight to electric is entirely your choice.

The Basics

Every guitar player from Sting to Santana started out the same – with the scales. This is where a book or a tutor will come in handy, because you\’ve got to have these memorized before you can go and play the advanced stuff. As soon as you\’ve learned how to pluck and strum, the scales will be your very first lesson.

As you might have noticed, playing the electric guitar – for beginners, that is – can get pretty boring. It\’s all just a matter of time, though. You don\’t even need to do any actual memorization, especially if you practice on the guitar a lot. You\’ll eventually get the scales down and then work your way through to the more basic songs.

Don\’t get impatient if you think that your first practice songs are too inundated for something as cool as an electric guitar. For beginners, the first few songs usually help you get a feel for timing and rhythm, as well as playing along to that rhythm on the instrument. This is why you\’ll get a lot of slow tempos and nursery rhymes as your first practice songs on the electric guitar.

The electric guitar is an instrument that needs practice, especially when you\’re just starting out with it. Learning to play the guitar can be slow at first, but you really have to learn how to crawl before you learn how to run. With enough practice and dedication, though, you should be playing the guitar like a pro in no time.

N Baulch

I REALLY wanna play guitar. But I heard its hard to learn.
How do u learn play guitar? How much:P ? Any starting tips?
Can i teach myself?
All ur answers would be greatly appriciated. Thanks!

If u wanna Learn How To Play Guitar, u must have a strong will and persistance first!
Second, it’s much better for u to have a teacher guiding u. Of course, it consumes
money and time. But u can get an ebook with video lessons. Among those tutorials,
jamorama course has a serial lessons ranging from beginner, mid-level, high-level,
rock, blue etc. It will show u how to play guitar by pictures and videos. If u keep
learning from jamorama, playing guitar will not be ur dream any more:)

If you’ve been playing the guitar for awhile and can’t seem to get anymore speed on your licks, don’t worry because this happens to almost every guitarist. Some guitarists just have more time than others to hash out these skills while you’re left there wishing you could play faster.

As much as it might seem very difficult playing fast guitar, you can do it too by practicing hard and smart. Here are some very important tips to get your fingers moving faster the next time you’re scaling the guitar neck.

1. Strengthen your forearms. A lot of the muscles that power your guitar-playing comes from your fingers, but the rest comes from your forearms. Do a few exercises or start lifting to really get those muscles shaped for faster riffs.

2. Do other finger-intensive exercises. Playing fast guitar might be in your mind when the instrument is in your hand, but there are plenty of other things that can improve your finger movement throughout the day. Take up some other skills that involve intensive finger movement like typing or playing the piano in order to keep your fingers working hard.

3. Practice online typing tests. Sure you can test your speed on the guitar with a metronome, but have you ever thought about taking it to the internet? Hype up your typing skills and start using typing tests to measure the speed of your fingers because god knows how often we’re all on the computer these days!

4. Try to keep from cracking your knuckles. Cracking your knuckles can lead to medical problems in your hands and wrists once you get into your twilight years. Try to stop it if you want your hands to stay flexible and healthy for optimum playing speed.

5. Practice electric parts on the acoustic guitar. Maybe you have a couple riffs that you’re playing somewhat fast on the guitar. Transfer them over to the acoustic and try your hand. Your muscles will learn to adapt to the harsher conditions of the acoustic while the speed of playing on the electric guitar will slowly begin to increase.

6. Set reasonable speed goals. You can’t expect to reach goals that sound absolutely crazy and that’s most of the reason guitarists give up on themselves. Set goals that are challenging, but possible to ensure you stay on track with your skills.

It’s a hard business to start playing faster guitar riffs, but it can be accomplished by dedicating yourself to every practice and being consistent with your strategies. Put these 6 tips to the test and see if you can start increasing your guitar speed.

Kyle Hoffman
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/playing-fast-guitar-learn-important-tips-to-amp-up-your-playing-speed-1239741.html

I’ve been playing guitar for about 1 and a half years now, i’m into shredding, and I want to mazimize my abilities on guitar. I do some quite fast shred but i’m not sure what the next steps are. any help?
I also play alot on tempo… as in, i dont make lots of mistakes i’m pretty fluid in my playing. anybody?

Shredding is fun and impresses people, but you should learn music theory, various scales & modes, and maybe explore some other musical styles like classical and jazz if you want to be well-rounded and versatile.

I’m learning how to play acoustic guitar on youtube now. But my mom said if I wanna Learn How To Play Guitar, I have to find some tutorial that teaches me step by step in series. What do u think? Where to find serial lessons?

There are lots of great websites and youtube videos for learning guitar. But u have to stay away from those videos, for they can not teach u from the beginning to the end. While some have value, a lot of those really don’t have much substance. If a guitar book with video lessons is supposed to be helpful for u, such as jamorama. It teachers learners according to their levels, offering pictures and videos and explaining very clearly. U can have a look at of it. Good luck!

hi all, as you would have guessed, im trying to learn the guitar by myself.
not exactly alone. i have several friends who are teaching me how to play certain notes.
so far, i have only achieved a pathetic: g, f, c, a, assus, d
i know that is little. but all my friends also learnt by themselves.
so i took their suggestions and want to learn a song to better master the guitar faster.
the first song that i am trying to learn now is jason miraz’s im yours.
i have got the chords from this site: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/j/jason_mraz/im_yours_crd.htm
so do you think it is possible for me to learn guitar by myself, with guidance from my classmates?

Yes, its certainly possible to learn the guitar by your lonesome. Your just going to have to be dedicated. Learn as many chords and scales as you possibly can.

I would recommend playing with your friends as often as possible to compare your progress and trade advice.

I’ve been playing Hard Rock/Metal and Blues guitar for about 4-5 years and I’ve been working with theory on and off for the past year. Could anyone share a couple tips that could help me improve my playing? Anything that could help me in the long run, something to practice, anything really. I just feel like I should try to take in everything musical that I can if I plan to make a career out of it. Thanks in advance.

One really good idea is to develop a 10 or 15 minute warm up routine.
This will not only warm you up every day, but can be 10 minutes where you run through major scales, minor scales, major arpeggios, minor arpeggios, diminished arpeggios, (do over one octave, two octaves and three octaves), the minor pentatonic in all 4 positions etc

It would take many hours to put this together.
But then every day, you’d be geting faster at these.
And once you’d master all these your playing would improve a lot

i want to play acoustic guitar. I have never played before. Im looking for a set of dvds that are really user friendly that can teach me how to play guitar..and help me know what i need to start out with.

guitarjamz.com. look marty schwartz up on youtube. he is the best guitar teacher for beginners that i have ever seen. look through his videos and u will b a guitar genius, even if u dont want to b a genius at guitar, you also get really skilled too, and he isnt boring like a lot of good teaching teachers. been a fan of him for a year now and iv been playing for a year too, and now, thanks to him, I can play Eruption by Eddie Van Halen. He is an awesome rocker. hes got 3 channels on youtube:martyfs and some numbers, guitarjamzdotcom, and youcanlearnguitar. youcanlearnguitar is his more teaching channel. guitarjamzdotcom is his song-teaching channel, and martyfs is his personal one.

If your looking for some gear, look up Garagebandandbeyond as his username, and he is also a great teacher, and a friend of martys.

Ive been playing guitar for years now and i now how to compose a song, how to listen and ciffra a song, but then i cant still know all the tabs that a guitar consist of. I want to learn the basics of leading and the so called improvisation. Would you recommend me a website that teaches how to do it in a step by step process? i want to know the techniques and finger positions that a player should have to learn many new sound from the position ill make. thank you.

Henry,

How to learn to play guitar solos? I can answer the question right here! Here’s the approach I recommend for starting out learning to play guitar solos:
Play along with backing tracks:

Playing along with backing tracks works like this:
- download a blues backing track in the key of a
- get a chart of the pentatonic scale (your root note will be at the 5th fret on the 6th string)
- play any note in the scale over the backing track
Its great fun being able to make up your own lead parts.

There’s a website that has much more detail about this and other ways to learn. I’ll include a link below so you can dig deeper.

Good luck,
John