5 Tips to Become a Better Guitarist

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5 Tips to Become a Better Guitarist

1) Take it slow

Take things slowly and play it again. Learn that riff or chord change as slowly and accurate as possible the golden rule here is accuracy before speed. Let your fingers learn where they are going by repetition. Muscle memory decreases the need for attention and will create maximum efficiency. If you feel any pain in your hand or wrist stop and take a break tendentious is not what you want as a guitar player.

“Learning to play the guitar is a combination of mental and motor skill acquisition.  And to develop motor skill, repetition is essential… Whenever musicians have trouble executing a passage, they generally tend to blame themselves for not having enough talent.  Actually, all that’s wrong is they don’t know where their fingers are supposed to go…you should learn the piece in your head before you play it. And when you do play it, play it so slow that there’s no possibility of making a mistake.”

~ Howard Roberts

2) Invest time

Do not talk about playing guitar invest time into actually playing, the longer you spend playing guitar the better you will become at it. You will have already invested money into buying a guitar and possibly an amp a lead and plectrums now invest time.

Money will not buy any ability to play guitar only time and effort will. Turn off the mobile phone find somewhere in your house you will not be distracted and put some time in, try to make this your time 20 min’s a day out of a 24 hour day is very little time, but will be worth more than any money you wish to throw at becoming a better player.

“I came from the last couple of years in a generation where we didn’t have a computer around so we didn’t waste as much time on the internet as we do now so I had large chuncks of time which to devote to doing something.”

~ John Mayer

3) Relax

The best thing to help rhythm and timing is to relax the more tense you are the less fluid and flowing your playing will be. Do not be frightened of making a mistake this only causes the hands to be even tenser, which will always work against you. If you make a mistake the world will not end remember this should be fun and is music.

“My best songs come from making a lot of mistakes and playing a lot of garbage.”

~ Eric Johnson

4) Take some lessons

A good guitar Tutor can save you many years of frustration when it comes to mastering new techniques. Sometimes it can just be a simple thing like turning the pick slightly or repositioning your guitar that can save you hours. They should have the know how to structure guitar lessons so that it will make life easier and improve your playing and techniques gradually, as well as helping with other issues such as guitar maintenance and for more advanced students audition processes and live performance.

“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.”

~ B.B. King

5) The last tip

Enjoy playing and see it as a challenge. When things are getting a little more challenging ,always remember your initial thoughts about wanting to play guitar.  I have always told myself “The Guitar is a piece of wood with strings on and it will not beat me”. We have had a few battles over the years though. Now stop reading, pick up your Guitar and play.

“If you play music for no other reason than actually just because you love it, the skills just kinda creep up on you.”

~ Nuno Bettencourt