Beginner Guitar Lessons – What Every New Player Should Know
If you’re just starting out on your guitar playing journey – these beginner guitar lessons will help you progress faster. In my 10 years of playing the guitar, I’ve learned quite a few things. It was not easy in the beginning, but it would have been easier if I had known the things that you’re about to learn.
Take Guitar Lessons from a Real Person First
Online lessons, books, and dvds are excellent resources. But, I believe, they just can’t take the place of a real live instructor – especially when you’re just getting started. An actual live person has the ability to reach out and demonstrate the proper way to hold your guitar, exactly how to position your fingertips, and the correct ways to strum. But, the most important thing that an actual person can do is correct your mistakes in real time. This just isn’t possible with online guitar lessons, books, and videos. This is essential when you’re just starting out. Go to your instructor for a few lessons, or a few weeks until you get a good foundation established. Then you’ll be better prepared to seek out other types of instruction.
Practice Every Day
If at all possible, fit daily practice into your routine. It’s not a good idea to skip more than a couple of days between practice sessions. It doesn’t take an hour a day to get good. You can make real progress putting in a solid 10 or 15 minutes a day. If you only practice once or twice a week, you won’t progress nearly as fast. Even if those sessions are hour long sessions. Muscle memory and guitar reflexes need consistent, regular reinforcement.
The First 2 Weeks are the Hardest
Everybody finds it tough in the beginning. Your fingertips will hurt; your hands and wrist will be sore; and your neck and back might be sore too. But if you push through the pain, you’ll be rewarded. Your fingertips will toughen up after the first week or two. You will begin to form calluses which will make playing a lot less painful. Your hands and wrist will begin to get stronger too after a couple of weeks of practice. You’re using muscles and joints that aren’t used to being stretched in the way that you’re stretching them. If your neck and/or back are hurting, then this means that your posture isn’t right. Tell your teacher about this and try to find out what you’re doing wrong. Many times, these problems result from: not sitting up straight; craning your neck to see what you’re playing; and being too stiff (not relaxing while you play).
Buy a Quality Guitar
In an effort to save money, many beginning guitar students start out with a low-cost, poor quality guitar. This is never a wise decision. You might be saving money, but these cheap guitars are difficult to play – even for an experienced guitarist. The string action is usually way too high (strings sit high off the neck) – which makes it difficult to press them down and form notes and chords. These guitars have a hard time staying in tune. They often go out of tune after a couple minutes of playing. It’s no fun having to stop and retune your guitar every few minutes. And fret buzz is usually an issue. Fret buzz will make your playing really suffer. Good quality beginner guitars don’t cost a lot of money. You can get a nice, playable guitar in the $180 – $200 range. If you can’t afford a new one, get a used one. Go to your local guitar shop and try out as many guitars as you can to get a feel for them. If you don’t have much knowledge, take a knowledgeable friend with you or ask a sales clerk to demonstrate them for you. I would advise getting a name brand guitar – because they are known to put out quality instruments. What are some good name brand guitars for beginners? Fender, Yamaha, Ibanez, and Epiphone are companies that can be counted on to produce quality instruments.
If you follow these beginner guitar lessons, you will be off to a solid start. It can be frustrating at times, but real progress happens when you push through the obstacles.
Learn more about beginner electric guitars and acoustics. Stop by Jeff Mackie’s site where you can find out all about electric guitar packages and other beginner instruments.
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