As long as you develop the right habits at the beginning and practice consistently, it won't be a problem no matter what style or piece you want to play. On the contrary, you will soon find that you are standing still and it is difficult to improve. So you have to learn good habits and efficient practice methods. You need to know how to play comfortably, master basic skills while doing some interesting exercises, develop exquisite playing techniques, and make practicing guitar a daily habit.
Method 1: Learn a comfortable way to play
1. Find a comfortable chair that allows you to operate the guitar well. As long as it allows you to sit up straight, a footstool, a stool, or a chair with a hard back will work. It’s easy to find special guitar footrests in music stores, so you can buy them if you’re interested. But ordinary kitchen chairs are completely sufficient.
• Do not use chairs with armrests. Because it has less space, it will prevent you from holding the guitar, which can lead to bad habits. Don’t choose sofas, bean bags or other things that will sink. After all, correct posture is the first step to laying a good foundation.
2Hold the guitar correctly. If you are right-handed, when holding the guitar, your right hand should be placed between the sound hole of the guitar case and the bridge, and your left hand should hold the neck.
• Press the guitar against your abdomen and chest, and place it on your leg in the same direction as your plucking hand. At this time, the thin strings are at the bottom and the thicker strings are at the top. The headstock is pointed upward at an angle of about 45 degrees.
• Hold the neck of the instrument with the thumb of your left hand at the back and the other four fingers in front. Use your thigh and right elbow to secure the guitar so that your left hand can move freely around the neck. If you have to use your left hand to hold the guitar, your posture is wrong.
3. Tune your guitar. Tune before every practice session. Practicing with an out-of-tune guitar is not only annoying but also defeats the purpose of practicing. So tuning as quickly as possible is one of the must-have lessons for your guitar learning. It makes guitar practice smoother and more fun.
• Tune with a tuner. If it's an acoustic guitar, place the tuner directly close to the sound hole. If it's an electric guitar, connect it to the tuner with a cable. The tuner will tell you whether the note of each string is too high or too low, and you only need to adjust it through the corresponding tuning pin. When the display on many electronic tuners turns green, it means the tune is in tune.
• Tuning strings using the principle of resonance. Press and hold the fifth fret of the low E string (sixth from the bottom). It is the A note at this time, and it should be the same as the open string of the fifth string (A string). The closer the pitches of the two strings are, the more violently the other will vibrate when one string is plucked. Tune the A string by listening and watching. Likewise, the fifth fret of the A string is the same as the open D string (fourth). The only exception is the G string (the third). You have to hold down the fourth fret to adjust the pitch of the B string (the second string). Due to the deviation of the E string, this method cannot give you absolute intonation, but it can be used for practice. Because the relative pitch of the strings is accurate.
• Tune with the online tuner. You can find the correct pitch for each string online and just listen and adjust it.
4Pinch the pick correctly. The pick is also called a pick, which is a difficult point for novices. To master the correct and comfortable playing technique, you must first pinch the pick well.
• Use your dominant hand, your writing hand, to hold the pick with your thumb on top, index finger on bottom, and the other fingers bent naturally. Hold your palms parallel to your belly, with the tip of the pick pointing toward you.
• The pick should extend no more than two centimeters beyond your fingertips. If you pinch it too far, it will fall off easily, and it is also easy to develop bad habits. To learn to strum well, make sure not to expose too much of the pick.
Method 2 basic exercises
1. Practice playing chords. Practice the correct posture of pressing the strings, the sound you produce should be clear, and avoid picking the wrong strings. Practice again and again until the chords sound evenly and no individual notes are too loud or too soft. Then practice changing the chords. The transitions should be natural and smooth.
• Start with chords in first position. These chords are located on the first to third frets and usually contain a lot of open string tones. You can play most pop, country, and rock music with a few basic first position chords.
• Common first position chords for beginners to learn are G, D, Am, C, E, A and F.
2. Practice horizontal chords. A barre chord is a chord where you hold down many strings with one finger at the same time. You can press the G chord in the first position, or you can press your index finger across the third fret. Barre chords can be a hurdle for beginners because it's not easy to hit so many strings, but they are used extensively in rock and punk music.
3. When practicing, follow the beat. Grasping the beat is often one of the most overlooked points among guitar dreamers. It's great that you can play "Black Dog" at the speed of your fingers, but can you slow down and finish the song with emotion? To follow the beat you have to play every note one by one, not just the notes you know how to play. So if you train your sense of rhythm well, you can play the guitar better.
4. Practice playing scales. If you take guitar lessons outside, your teacher should give you scale practice notes. But if you are self-taught from books, you have to find these scales to practice by yourself. You can choose from books and other resources from Maybelle Music Publishing, which have helped many guitar learners over the years. You can also find sheet music and exercises online.
• Try practicing various pentatonic scales. The pentatonic scale has only five tones and is a common rock mode suitable for guitarists to learn. Also known as the blues scale, it is the basis of many types of music.
• Learning different scales and modes is a great way to improve your playing and allow your fingers to move freely around the guitar. But it's not the most fun exercise. You can choose a scale and try to make a solo. Once you've got the basics down, feel free to play these scales at different tempos to get the music in your hands rocking.
5. Learn some songs to supplement your practice. You can choose some songs you like from sheet music or songs you hear to learn, and divide each song into different parts. Try to learn every part as much as possible, don't just learn one section or chord transition. Then connect each section you divided from beginning to end. This can exercise your patience in playing the piano and also allow you to learn some knowledge of composition.
• Folk and country music are easiest for beginners to learn. Try playing Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" with chords, it's fun and easy. Songs that are easy to pick up include "Tom Dooley", "Long Black Veil" or "Mary Had a Little Lamb". You can also choose some children's songs to learn, usually no more than the three chords of G, C, and D.
• Intermediate level students can choose songs with unusual chords or rhythms to challenge different genres. To start your musical exploration, learn a style you haven't tried before. If you like classical music, try "Lithium" by Nirvana. The chord usage and melody structure of this song are extremely complex. Rock guitarists can choose Beethoven's "Fur Elise" to experience a new style. But no matter what style you play, you should learn the song "Stairway to Heaven". Only in this way can you truly become a guitarist.
• Advanced guitarists should choose complex arrangements from favorite musical genres to force themselves to learn some new playing techniques. People who play metal rock should master the complex harmonies in Opeth's work. Those who love country music should learn the Travis pick method, named after Merle Travis. Rock guitarists may spend a lifetime studying Jerry Garcia's contribution to the exploration of psychedelic rock.
6 Make basic exercises fun. Make a rule for yourself: learn a new song or melody after every new scale or lesson. Tell your teacher the song you want to learn. Lest she ask you to practice Nirvana songs all day long, but you have no interest at all. Most guitar teachers are happy to teach their students what they really want to learn.
7. Learn to use your ears and eyes. Many guitar masters learn new songs by listening to them over and over again. Their ears are listening and their brains are slowly dividing the song into different parts. Learning songs by listening is an important way to learn guitar, and it is as rewarding as learning the guitar itself. Listen to your favorite music over and over again until you can easily judge the player's approach and technique.
Method 3: Make a practice plan
1. You should practice for about 30 minutes every day to exercise your patience in playing the piano and maintain your muscle memory.
• When you have calluses on your hands, it doesn't hurt so much when you play the guitar, and your technique becomes more proficient, you can try to extend the practice time. But don’t push it too hard at first, 30 minutes is enough. Practicing for too long will make you physically and mentally exhausted.
2Practice at least 5 times a week. Allowing your hands to grow calluses and achieve a certain degree of flexibility is an important part of guitar learning. Several times a week, consistent practice is important. Otherwise you would have to learn it all over again every time you touch your guitar.
• Develop a routine of practicing guitar at a fixed time every day. This can be after get off work or school, or right after dinner. Limit your daily practice time to about 30 to 40 minutes.
• If you rarely touch the guitar, your fingers will feel sore every time you practice. But if you practice more, playing guitar will become much easier. Because your fingers no longer hurt, you are much more proficient at playing the piano and reading music.
3. Every time you play the guitar, sit on the practice stool, hold the guitar correctly, pinch the pick, and then perform warm-up exercises for 3 to 5 minutes. Playing from the first fret of the high E string to the first fret of the low E string is a very common warm-up exercise.
• Warm-up exercises usually span a lot of time, and you need to switch between high and low positions. These sounds may not be as pleasant to the ear, but they can open up your hands nicely. Of course, you can create your own warm-up style, or you can ask your favorite teacher.
• Any repetitive music can be used as a warm-up. You can practice your newly learned scales in every guitar position, or play your favorite Clapton excerpts. No matter what you play, move your hands as much as possible. Do not begin your exercise until your hands feel fully open.
4. Study in a balanced way between work and rest. In each exercise, there should be an equal amount of weight between what you want to do and what you have to do. Do you want to practice your solo on "Smells Like Teen Spirit"? Yes, but you have to go through the scale first. Save the most fun exercises for last to give yourself something to look forward to.
5. Never stop and challenge yourself. Your guitar playing may reach a point where it becomes difficult to improve. In fact, it is precisely because of these bottleneck periods that the playing level of many guitarists in five years is not much higher than that of five months of beginners. In order to practice more effectively and avoid the bottleneck period, you should take the challenge of learning new songs, mastering new genres or doing more complex exercises using the techniques you have already mastered. [2]
• Have you fully mastered Zeppelin's "Black Dog"? Then try using mixed Lydian mode, or play it backwards, or remove all the root notes in the song. Dare to improvise and make progress only when there are challenges.
6. Practice with other guitarists and learn from them. It's very difficult to learn an instrument entirely on your own. But learning guitar doesn’t necessarily mean paying a teacher to give you individual lessons. You can also ask for tips from guitarists who are more experienced than you.
• Find an open-air concert in your area. This will give you a place to hang out and learn from guitarists who are more experienced than you. Maybe you formed a band because of it.
• Find learning resources on the Video Screen website. There are many videos of late masters like Mississippi John Hurt or Rev. Gary Davis. In the past, we could only learn by listening, but now we can watch them perform their works through close-ups, carefully observe their techniques, and learn their styles. Is there an easier way to learn guitar?
Method 4: Maintain good guitar playing condition
1. Overcome the pain in your fingers. When you press steel or nylon strings at first, your fingertips will hurt. Overcoming the pain and insisting on practicing is the most difficult level to overcome in guitar learning and practice. But after a period of running-in, calluses will grow on your fingertips, and it will be much more comfortable to press the strings.
• If your fingers are too painful, you can increase the number of exercises and reduce the time per exercise. If you can't hold on for 30 or 40 minutes, it's better to take a break, shake your hands, and move your wrists to speed up blood circulation. Wait until your finger feels better before continuing. [3]
2. Don’t press the strings too hard. To avoid unnecessary pain, you can look for the point where the guitar just makes noise to determine if you are pressing the strings too hard. Brush the strings as you normally would, and gradually reduce the strength of the strings each time you pluck the strings. Until the strings stop playing or make noise, it means that you are not pressing the strings hard enough. The best way to press the strings is just above the noise point, which not only ensures comfort but also eliminates noise.
3. Practice stretching your arms, back, and hands forward and backward. Although playing guitar is not considered exercise, moving your body before and after practice can make you feel better.
• To stretch your hands, first move your fingers to imitate the movement of water plants. You can also do hand push-ups. First, use your fingers to support the table, then relax and let your hand hang down naturally, and finally use your fingers to support the hand. Repeatedly.
• When stretching your arms and shoulders, wrap one hand around your chest and hold your elbow firmly with the other hand. Gently stretch your arms and shoulders to relax the muscles. Then hold for 15 seconds.
• Back stretches are simple. Extend your arms upward as far as possible and hold for 15 seconds. Then place your hands on the ground, in the same preparatory position as a push-up, straighten your body as much as possible, and hold for 15 seconds. Then you can start practicing guitar.
4. Adjust your breathing. It is human nature to unconsciously hold your breath when performing on stage or in front of a teacher and other audiences. Sometimes practice does that too. Holding your breath will cause tension in the upper chest, which can easily affect your playing and cause you to rush through your music. While practicing, hold your guitar as lightly as possible and breathe deeply and soothingly. The more you focus the more attention you have to pay attention to.
• Once you find yourself holding your breath, stop for a moment, adjust your posture, sit up straight, and take a few deep breaths before continuing. When you are not satisfied with practicing singing or practicing scales, you can also take a deep breath, and the result may be very different.
5. Slowly adapt to the new guitar and style. Whether you're trying jazz for the first time, switching from electric to classical guitar, or trying to improve your finger dexterity, start slow to make sure you learn the right stuff and give yourself some time to get used to your new way of playing.
• Because guitars have different sized necks, strings, and frets, you will need to make some small adjustments every time you practice on a new guitar. When playing certain songs or scales, you may not be as proficient as before. Don't worry, slowly adapt to the new guitar and let your fingers get familiar with the new playing method. If the difference in character isn't huge, you just need to keep your muscle memory going. [5]
6. Learn new exercises slowly first and then quickly. A pop guitarist once said, "People who can't play fast play fast, and people who can't play fast play loud." So don't get into the bad habit of rushing to play just to show off that you play fast. The best guitarists are not the ones who play the fastest, but the ones who play the most appropriately. So when you start practicing, you should follow the beat, and then speed up when you become proficient.
Tips
• Don’t be discouraged if you play the wrong instrument, everyone makes mistakes, even the top guitar masters make mistakes. You just have to get over it.
• If you want to play real songs on the guitar, search for tablature online. If you don't know how to read six-line notation, just look it up online.
• After you become proficient in using the guitar, you should learn tablature. Because most guitar sheet music collections are written with six lines, you can find most of the famous songs.
• Don't try to take shortcuts when playing songs. Try to play as you like. Look online for video tutorials and original music. You should at least know the name of the song you sing before you sing it.
• If necessary, you can buy a pedal, which costs about one or two hundred yuan. If you sit in a chair with your legs hanging in the air, it would be much more comfortable to have a footrest. But if you're particularly tall, you don't need a foot pedal lest it get in the way of your playing.
• Always practice the hard part first. There’s no point in playing what you already know. It may sound good but you won’t get much improvement. Those things that you find difficult or that you find difficult to play can often make you improve quickly.
• If you don’t want to spend money on pedals, you can use a small box or bench instead.
warn
• Pay attention to the volume when practicing to avoid hearing damage.
• Take breaks during practice to avoid strain on your arms, fingers, and eyes.
you need to prepare
• Guitar
• Pick
• Extra strings
• Chair (sturdy without arms)
• Scale diagram
• sheet music
• Computer with Internet connection (optional)
• Guitar tuner (optional)