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6 Tips To Follow If You Want to Start Playing the Guitar

We all know the guitar can be a powerful instrument, but not everyone has the time or patience to learn how to play it. If you’re one of these people, then this article is for you! There are 6 easy steps that will teach you everything you need to know about playing the guitar. These are some simple tips that have helped many people improve their skills with an instrument they love so much. 

1) Learn The Scale

The most important thing you should do when learning how to play guitar is to learn the most common scales. You probably think it’s enough to learn chords, strumming, playing on time, and with proper technique, but the truth is, you also need to learn scales. There are a number of different scales you can learn, but it’s best, to begin with, the major scale. If you practice this scale on each string from both directions, your finger muscles will strengthen and build up muscle memory. As seen at AllStringed, practicing scales will also help you develop greater fluency in both single notes and full chords. When learning guitar scales, you’ll notice that the various scales are made up of notes. These are the same notes that make up each chord family’s chords. Chords can be produced from both the major and minor scales.

2) Memorize the Notes on the Scales

Another important thing you should do when learning how to play guitar is to memorize all of the notes on your favorite scales. This is something that most people don’t take into consideration, but it’s actually pretty simple if you do it right. By learning the notes of each scale, you’ll know exactly where to find all of its chords. For example, if you memorize the notes on your E minor pentatonic scale (which goes E G A B D), then you can play that entire scale across any type of chord. If you’re used to playing an F chord, for example, and you know that the first note of your scale is F, then you can play an E minor pentatonic chord on any fret.

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3) Practice, Practice, Practice

This is the best advice that anyone can give. Don’t just practice your scales and memorize chords, actively work on improving your own skills. Practice makes perfect, and with enough practice, you’ll be able to learn anything. If you’re not familiar with music theory, then it’s even more important that you take the time to study up on the basics. The sooner you understand music theory, the sooner you’ll be able to play with others. You can also try recording yourself when you practice. This will help you improve in a number of ways, from being able to hear your mistakes when they appear in a piece of music, to just helping you pinpoint what exactly needs the most work.

4) Be A Good Listener

Besides practicing your playing, you should also practice your listening skills. Another excellent suggestion is to begin by listening. Try to figure out how much of the music you can pick up by ear. Take a piece of paper and set the instrument down. Make a list of any chord progressions or melodic components you hear. After you’ve figured out what you can by ear, pick up the guitar again and experiment with finding the proper notes on your own. The more you study songs this way, the faster and more sophisticated you’ll become, and you’ll soon be able to play them without looking up the chords or tab!

5) Don’t Forget To Have Fun

When learning how to play the guitar, it’s easy to lose sight of the main goal. Don’t expect yourself to be a master at everything after only a few months’ practice. It takes time and you should never rush through those hours just for the sake of it. If you’re stressed, you’ll never learn anything correctly and quickly enough to have fun while playing your instrument! Treat learning the guitar as a game rather than homework or work, and have some fun while you do it.

6) Find Your Personal Style

All of these tips will help you improve your guitar skills immensely, but don’t forget the most important thing of all. If you want to learn how to play an instrument well, it’s not all about learning techniques for memorizing chord progressions. It comes down to having fun and finding your personal style! The more music you listen to, the better a guitarist you’ll become. Be sure that your style shows in your playing. The music you listen to is essentially the backbone of your own style. You can incorporate these riffs or melodies into your own personal playing, whether it be writing songs on the guitar or just using them as occasional improvisation tools.

As you can see, if you want to learn how to play the guitar successfully and be a great guitarist someday, there are many tips that will help.  If you follow the suggestions listed here, then you are well on your way to becoming a great guitar player.

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