Music is something that every person in the world connects to. It is a language that every person understands, which is why it is a great way to uplift your mood. As music is such a fundamental part of life, it is only natural that you want to make music of your own. A guitar is a very great instrument as it is fun to play and an inexpensive habit to have. There is nothing cooler than being a guitar player and strumming your favorite melodies with your friends. However, it isn’t as easy as it sounds, as learning a guitar can be a bit difficult. In this article, I am going to highlight seven essential things you must do to make sure that you don’t have much trouble when learning a guitar.
Practice All the Time
The very first thing that you have to do if you want to learn guitar as soon as possible to make sure that you practice it all the time. It doesn’t matter if it is a guitar or any other musical instrument; practice is fundamental if you want to get a strong grip on things. A very key thing that involves a guitar is finger memory. During the first few months, you are going to have to look at the guitar to make sure that your fingers are in the right place. However, over time when you keep practicing, your fingers are going to know what to do without your brain telling them what to do. And when you have finally developed that habit, you should practice some more.
Find a Way to Stay Motivated
When you are learning such a hard instrument, motivation is key to get you through hard times. Learning to play the guitar isn’t going to be easy. While you might be able to learn a few basic chords relatively quickly, if you want to get a full grip of the instrument, it is going to literally take blood as you strum your fingers on those strings. You might be feeling motivated enough to begin learning a guitar, but what is going to happen after a few months when you feel like you aren’t going anywhere? So, you have to make sure that you know where you want to go if you want to learn a guitar.
Learn the Basic Things First
A very amateur mistake that a lot of people make when learning how to play the guitar is to set the bar too high for themselves. They are so keen on learning their favorite songs that they completely skip the basics. If you want to become the best of the best, you have to give the guitar the time it needs. Make sure that you learn all the basic skills first and begin from there. You should only focus on two things at the start: the first are the notes and chords, and the other is how to use your fingers on the guitar strings. Once you have a strong grip on both these things, you can get to the complicated part, like playing whole songs.
Find a Good Mentor
When it comes to learning how to play an instrument, tips and tricks are only going to get you so far. If you want to make sure that you know everything, you have to learn from the best and find yourself a mentor. Getting a mentor doesn’t mean that you have to invite someone in your house every day and take lessons. With a lot, of course, being offered online, you can go for a good course like online guitar lessons and get online tutoring. A good mentor is going to make things a lot easier through his skills and experience and tell you how to overcome the basic hurdles every beginner has to face.
Watch a lot of YouTube Videos
On top of making sure that you have a good teacher, another thing that you can do is learn from YouTube. When it comes to guitar, not only do you have to learn how to play it, but you must also learn to listen. You should listen to other guitar players and see how they do things. It is going to help you improve your technique a lot by giving you the needed motivation to become the best. You should be able to recognize the intervals between chords, recognize how different chords sound, and feel the music so that you are able to play it.
Learn How to Read Music
While it might not be as important as the rest of the things, however, if you are enthusiastic about music, you should definitely learn how to read it. In my eyes, every person who calls himself a guitarist should at least be able to read a chord chart. A lot of guitarists hate to do it, but for the sake of learning and for the sake of music, it is always good to know how to read music. It is going to help you play riffs and melodies and understand music in a way that no one else is able to do. Moreover, knowing how to read music is also going to help you teach it in the future if you want to open those opportunities for yourself.
Make Things Interesting Through Variety
When you are done with the basics, and when you know how to play the guitar, things might start to seem a bit repetitive. When you feel that happening, you should start mixing it up a little through variety. While practice is going to help your finger memory, if you really want your mind in practice, you need to make things interesting. You can do that by playing guitar at parties or with your friends. Holding a small singing concert where you get the chance to show off your skills is going to uplift your mood and give you the motivation to keep going.