So you want to learn to play guitar? Right on. Playing guitar is a lot of fun and a great way to connect with friends. Learning how to play guitar is a great way to enjoy life. Here are 5 tips for beginner guitar players to help you get started:

1) Find a great guitar teacher

With all the information that’s available on the Internet, learning to play guitar seems to be accessible to everyone. However, when you’re bouncing around watching free videos you’ll have to wait for ads and weed through a lot of content that isn’t helpful. A guitar teacher will have a master plan for helping you progress. Anyone can post a video, and some people posting videos are actually giving bad advice that could make learning to play guitar more difficult for you. Not everyone who can play guitar is also a good teacher.

Of course, not everyone has the financial resources to hire a personal guitar tutor. In some localities, there isn’t even a guitar teacher available. How can you learn to play guitar if there’s no one around to help? One really great option is eMedia Guitar Method. It’s a time-tested curriculum written by a professional guitar instructor that has helped over a million people get started, and because it’s interactive software it’s more fun than a book or video lesson. It’s also very reasonably priced.

Even if you do have the money to take lessons, you might still want to use a program like Guitar Method to get the basics under your belt on your own time before signing up with a teacher. The software is about the cost of one or two guitar lessons. You can spend a good while learning from it if you want to. If you really like the approach, go to the next level and get eMedia Intermediate Guitar Method. Or just get eMedia Guitar Method Deluxe, which contains both and save even more.

Ultimately, it’s best to get in front of a human teacher who can watch you, give you specific feedback on your playing, and give you tailored exercises to help you on your path. If you already have the basics down, a teacher will have an easier time guiding you on your way.

2) Respect those who came before

Music and all art forms are derivative in nature. While you may not appreciate their music now, those who came before you have paved the way in music. There’s a lot you can learn from studying the acknowledged masters. Don’t fight this. Remember that the music industry is a community. Older music may seem strange, and you may think that ignoring older songs will be a faster way to succeed, but what will probably happen is you’ll spend a lot more time trying to figure out what works than if you sought to learn from those who have already been successful. If you study what has worked before you’ll have a great platform for your musical innovation. Plus, good songs never go out of style. A new recording artist can even launch a career by recording a cover song of a popular tune.

3) Be gentle with yourself

We all want to be awesome, and most of us enjoy instant gratification. However, learning to play guitar doesn’t happen overnight. Some people promise extremely fast results, but this can lead to frustration. A good guitar teacher is patient, so be patient with yourself. Understand that as you’re learning to play an instrument, your body is learning to isolate and control small muscles. This may be uncomfortable and seem impossible at the beginning. It could be painful. With all guitars, but especially if you’re playing a steel-stringed acoustic guitar, you’ll need to build calluses on your fingertips before the strings stop hurting your fingers. You’ll need to take breaks often since playing guitar is sometimes painful. Be gentle with yourself. Remind yourself that it’s OK to be a beginner guitar player. Even the best guitar players started as beginners. Learning how to play guitar will take time and dedication.

4) Acknowledge your progress

As mentioned above, learning guitar is a process that takes time. Each step builds on the previous step. You’ll begin to build confidence easier if you take note of your progress as you make each small step. What did you learn this time? What have you learned so far? Acknowledging your progress will help you stay dedicated. Learning to play guitar is a life-long journey. Persistence will pay off in leaps and bounds, and no matter how good you get you will never stop learning.

5) Define your goals

There are many styles of guitar playing. Once you have the basics it will be good to begin to specialize. Do you want to be an expert jazz guitarist? How about hard rock? Metal? Do you want to focus on songwriting instead? If you know where you are going, it will be easier for you to focus your studies and use your time effectively. Don’t get too narrow too quickly though. Music evolves. Influences from outside a specific genre are often the keys to innovation. Get a good grasp of general guitar playing before you focus all your energy on one small niche. It’s always good to be able to relate to different players. You never know when you’ll be able to use something you learned from another genre of music.

 

Photo by Lacey Williams on Unsplash.