Don’ts When You Learn To Master The Guitar

You are having a midnight beach party. You have the spirits flowing, the barbecue steaming and the moonlight for company. What more could you ask for? An acoustic guitar, maybe. There is something about the acoustic guitar that makes it the most popular musical instrument in the world. If you have ever seen a great guitarist, then you must surely have wondered at least once what it takes to play like that. The question is ‘Why can’t you play like that?’

What does it take to easy learn the guitar? Does it require extremely fast fingers? Or maybe a musical ear is what you need? Is your friend gifted with some special powers that the ‘guitar genie’ from the lamp bestowed upon him? Not really. The fact is that just about anyone including you can learn guitar easy provided you are willing to put in the time and the effort. However, the reason most people are unable to easy learn guitar is because they unknowingly pick one of the ‘five golden don’ts’ of guitar learning. These are mistakes that almost every one of us can make and yet, they can very well end your aspirations to be a good guitarist.

Number 1: Trying to self learn guitar without a well structured guitar learning program: Are you bitten by the do it yourself bug? I love the do-it-yourself bit too. But there are certain things that require the special and skilled hands of a teacher or a disciplined training, and the guitar is one of those things. There have been and will be self learners. For the rest, there is the safer and saner option to learn the guitar. All the free guitar lessons floating around the internet cannot replace a well structured guitar course it you want to learn guitar easy. So, if you have been dabbling with the thought of self learning with free online lessons, then drop it and find an effective guitar learn program.

Number 2: Trying to learn guitar too fast: I must have heard this a million times. ‘I want to learn guitar easy and fast.’ If you feel that the guitar doesn’t deserve too much of your time, or regular guitar practice is unimportant to you, then you shouldn’t learn guitar in the first place. And thanks to the demand for ‘fast learning’ courses, there are hundreds and thousands of websites and books that are dedicated to such learning techniques. ‘Learn to play the guitar in 7 days’, ‘Learn to play basic guitar tabs in 3 days’. Why I have even seen the extreme in which you can learn to play the guitar in two hours! Absurd is the word to best describe such courses and websites. Be realistic! Do yourself a favor, stay away from these scams. Get a solid guitar learning program, go slowly and steadily through the lessons, and it will be easy for you to learn the guitar.

Number 3: Lack of Practice: The guitar is an instrument that requires immense patience and resilience in order to master. If you learn a new guitar lesson, then you must practice it ‘at least’ once every day until you can play it blindfolded. This is the technique that I successfully used. I have seen people practicing the guitar once a week. Believe me, you are going to find it very difficult to learn guitar if you practice it once in a millennium. Another common problem is that people only practice what they are good at, learning only the easy parts and avoiding the rest. The reason is very simple. If you are good at something, then it obviously sounds good when you practice. But you are limiting your progress by avoiding the difficult parts. So start practicing the worst part before anything else. Slowly, you will learn to play it with equal ease.

Number 4: Jumping to chords: Another trait that is commonly seen in the ‘fast learners’. Chords are the mainstay of guitar music. Yes, they certainly are very alluring. But most people want to jump to chords and start playing songs as soon as they start to learn the guitar. This is extremely difficult, almost impossible. You have to master playing the scales first. Not only will the scales help you to build a musical ear, but it will also help you to spread out your fingers. Finger exercises are an extremely important part of building a strong foundation. And yeah, don’t forget to use that lil pinky.

Number 5: Give up too soon: You are going to be miserable at it for the first 5 to 6 months. Admit this fact and get along with it. It is human to produce those dead sounds at first while learning to play guitar. But do not give up. You have to stick to it. Most people quit when they are nearly there. It’s up to you whether you want to make it or quit midway. Its different strokes for different blokes. Do not be flabbergasted if your friend is learning faster than you are. Work hard, keep practicing and you will definitely be a good guitarist one day.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_787621_48.html Author: sanjaynair http://www.sanjaynair.com, Occupation: Freelance Content Writer and Blogger

Sanjay is a freelance content writer and blogger with over 3 years of experience. He loves to twiddle with words and blogs about freelance writing, copywriting and blogging. His articles are informative and make a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.