A Guitarist's Guide to Better Practicing

Having a regular and effective practice routine is a necessary part of making good progress on any musical instrument. Some people think you have to play for hours a day, but as little as 30 minutes a day of well thought out practice is enough to make satisfying progress in the first few years of playing. Most of us have jobs, families, and other commitments, so playing for hours at a time is not usually possible. That's okay because the quality of the practice is more important than the quantity. Let's look at some basic strategies to get the most out of a practice session.

Set aside a designated amount of time for each practice session, and stick to it for that amount of time. This can be half an hour, twenty minutes, an hour, or whatever you have time for. Figure out a block of time and then practice for that amount. Don't give in to distractions like getting up check email, snacking, or calling a friend. Make the most of your given time.

Establish some short, medium, and long-term goals. This can help you decide what to work on for each practice session. For example, say you want to learn to play House of the Rising Sun. You can't switch between all the chords smoothly, and you haven't even attempted to tackle the barred F chord. Plus the thought of even trying play this song for others makes you a nervous wreck. Learning the entire song and playing it for others could be a long-term goal. Working on the barred F chord and barre chords in general could be a medium term goal, as they can take a while to become second nature. And smoothing out the chord transitions can be a short-term goal. Dedicate part or all of a practice session to identifying chord changes that give you problems, and work through them slowly till the kinks are ironed out.

Make sure your practice space is comfortable, has everything you need, and is out of the way of other people. If permitted, tell friends and family you are practicing and not to be disturbed. If you play sitting down, get a chair that is comfortable for holding a guitar. Are picks, capos, strings, slides, tuners, metronomes, and whatever else you may need in easy reach? If you are reading music off paper, it's worth it to invest in a music stand. It will result in much better playing posture than putting the sheet music flat down on a table or on the floor.

Make sure your guitar is in tune before starting, and take note of when you might have to change your strings next. Being in tune and producing a good tone are both important components of a successful practice session. If you play regularly normal guitar strings should be changed every two to three months, or even more often if you are stickler for ideal tone quality. Coated guitar strings can last even longer.

It's also a good idea to decide how you are going to divide your practice time. You might want to spend a few minutes on rhythm, a few on scales, and a few learning songs. Don't let any one part of your playing get neglected for too long. Each aspect of musical development needs to be practiced regularly. If, for example, you practice fingerstyle most of the time, you might lose your ability to use a pick. So if you want both skills in the long run, give them both some attention each time you play.

Finally, make sure you are in a good state of mind. If you are just going through the motions and not pushing yourself or listening carefully, you won't progress very quickly. It's very important to focus and find areas that are just out of your reach to repeat and drill. That is when learning is the most fun and satisfying. If it's too hard or too easy, it won't engage your mind.

Efficient and productive use of practice time is one of the keys to making regular and steady progress on any musical instrument. Evaluate where you are, where you want to be, and put together a practice routine to get you there. Then, make sure you stick with it for best success.

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Jennifer Martin is CEO of http://www.RhythmStrummer.com. Her site offers easy guitar lessons for adult learners in a fun atmosphere with NO advertising.
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How Much Theory Should a Guitar Player Know?

I personally believe that one should know the rules before they break them. Obviously it is not good to be overly analytical but it wouldn't be an entirely bad thing to look at music from an analytical perspective. In order to look at things from an analytical perspective, you need information to analyze. That's where music theory comes into play. So what I am about to present is not only a case for learning music theory but also what basic components of music theory you should, at a minimum, possess knowledge of.

It is important when you are playing along with a band that you have some idea as to what key you are playing in; especially if you are working on original material. You may be able to learn cover material from listening to a CD but it is also easier to pick up any song whether cover or original if you know music theory. Even more so if you know your way around the different keys.

There really isn't much of an excuse for not taking the time to obtain some knowledge in music theory. There are free sources of information all over the Internet. Probably the most basic, yet essential, information would be knowledge of the keys, chords and scales.

You should be familiar with the 12 major keys and their relative minors. Having an adequate understanding of the different keys will allow you to be able to transpose a song from one key into another. There are a number of times where I've transposed a song from one key to another simply because it was a better key for me to sing in. You may find that to be the case with a number of singers.

You should have an adequate chord vocabulary. There are also a few scales that every guitarist should be familiar with, like the major or diatonic scale as well as the harmonic minor scale and the pentatonic scale in both the major and minor modes.

If you don't want to spend the money on lessons or books, you should run an internet search for the information you want to obtain. I would first suggest you run a search for guitar chords listed by key. Check out a few sites to see which one offers the easiest approach for learning.

After you begin to learn the guitar chords by key, you should start learning scales. You should also run an internet search for guitar scales listed by key. You may be even more specific than that. For example: you can enter D harmonic minor and you will get a great number of results.

So, in conclusion, I hope that I have not only convinced you that learning music theory would be a valuable asset to your musicianship but that I have also set you off in the right direction towards doing so.

About the Author:
Bob Craypoe is a musician, writer, cartoonist, webmaster and entrepreneur who resides in Northern New Jersey. He is the creator of
Guitar4Blind.com (a site that teaches the visually impaired how to play guitar), as well as numerous other sites. You can hear his music at: http://www.craypoe.com/bob

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Exposing the Secrets of Guitar Playing!

An Overview On Why Guitar Experts Selfishly Hide The Truth
By Melvin Fang

* The million dollar question: Is guitar expertise an inborn ability or acquired skill?

Well the answer can be derived if I ask you another question. Is walking an inborn ability or acquired skill? How did you think you learnt to walk when you were young? Its clear cut: Anybody can play the guitar! Given this simple but startling revelation, we still find players who think they are not cut out to play the 6-stringed ax. It certainly doesn't help that many experienced guitar players desperately try to distort the truths by saying things like," It's in the fingers!" "I don't know why, but I just go by feeling" "Practice, practice, practice!" Do you think these statements help at all for the learning and aspiring guitar player? Not at all. They merely dampen the spirits and make the poor guitarist feel untalented and unmotivated. Uninspired. This practice indeed, is an unfortunate situation for the poor chap who deserve a much better chance to join the league of guitar heroes, if only he knows what's going on.

Read in between the line. The answer to guitar playing expertise lies in the crux of this existing problem. Many guitar players are merely "illusionists" conjuring an image of great talent, when the truth is they have fumbled, stumbled and sweated pails of blood before they come to the land of glory. If you truly aspire to master the guitar, then let me reveal the 3 simple secrets of guitar playing to you.

* The Right Mindset That Playing Guitar Is An Acquired Skill & Not In-born Talent.

Just like learning to drive, to read, to talk. If you start with the wrong mindset, you'd never master the guitar. Do not allow yourself to be influenced otherwise about this. Especially from the "selfish" experts who desperately hope that you will forever remain inferior.

* Finding Your Success Role Model(s) To Replicate

There are many styles of guitar playing. Rock, heavy metal, jazz, blues. Which do you feel more inspired to learn? From here, find your ideal role model to emulate and replicate. Say if you like rock-blues, you can learn by listening frequency to Gary Moore, or if you prefer abstract virtuoso rock, you can go for Steve Vai. You need to be motivated by your role model(s) in order to trigger a response to do something about your playing.

* Knowledge Sharing Is The "Leveraged" Way To Improve

Try carrying a boulder rock by yourself. You will collapsed in a heap. Now, try lifting this boulder with a crane and you control the crane. Instantly you lift the boulder effortlessly. This is leverage. The only way to improve is by sharing with a group of players who think like you. You will improve together at a much faster and accelerated pace than you trying alone.

With these 3 simple tips to guitar playing, you will find that playing the guitar is indeed not as intimidating as what the selfish "experts" made them up to be. In life, never allow yourself to be bullied or intimidated by others. Prove to them that they are nothing if you seriously want to master the guitar! The next time they tell you to "practice harder", think this statement in your head "Just wait and see!!"

Melvin Fang is a professional guitar player with 10 years of playing experience and a professional performer who plays for gigs and teaches guitar. He is a firm believer that anybody can play the guitar if they know exactly how to do it. He is also an author of guitar playing instruction and technique guides. Log on to http://www.guitartradesecrets.com to receive a free Audio CD on how to be a guitar guru and a free guitar chord chart.

Gary Moore via last.fm

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Hot fixes for your guitar playing

Simple guitar playing tips can be the difference between a guitarist who improves everyday due to efficient practicing or someone who rarely gets better because they practice the wrong things or the right things the wrong way. Learning to play guitar can be a mine field so I have compiled a list of simple tips to help you while learning to play guitar.

Guitar playing tip 1:

Decide what kinds of things you want to be able to play. Many people never give this a thought, and so they kind of bumble through and learn the odd song/lick here and there, and after a few years they can play some guitar but they aren’t exactly the musician they imagined they would be. You can prevent this disappointment by having a clear objective beforehand.

Guitar playing tip 2:

Develop a regular practice schedule-even it’s practicing changing from a D chord to a G chord for ten minutes each day while you watch the evening news. If you can maintain some form of practice at the same time everyday it will be much easier to keep to it, and you will improve much faster than if you just practice when you can fit it in.

Guitar Playing Tip 3:

Get a metronome. Just about everything you ever play on guitar will sound a lot better if you work it with a metronome whilst you learn it. A metronome not only helps you learn to keep time, but it will also highlight any irregularities in your playing. Notes that are too short or too long or chord changes that aren’t perfect will stand out very clearly.

Guitar Playing Tip 4:

Play with other musicians. This will make you improve perhaps more than anything else. Something about the adrenaline coupled with the fact that you have to seriously concentrate on what other people are playing makes you improve like you won’t believe until you try it. It doesn’t have to be a full on band either, it could be just a buddy with and acoustic or even a harmonica!

Guitar Playing Tip 5:

Get to know your guitar. Do you know exactly what your guitar will sound like if you hit the strings very softly using just the middle pickup with the guitar volume at about 2.7? Well you should. Knowing stuff like this is one of the keys to being an excellent all round guitar player. There are few things as cool as seeing a guitarist switching from sound to sound for different licks using only the guitar and no pedals/footswitch.

There are so many different sides of guitar playing that these guitar playing tips could have easily numbered in the thousands, but obviously there isn’t space for that here so hopefully these five will do for now!

Click HERE to learn the secrets of the professionals and become a great guitar player in record time, including lots of guitar playing tips!
Is your guitar playing reaching it's full potential? Click here to find out how you can unlock your inner guitar genius!!

Steve Laney is the webmaster at http://www.dailyguitarlessons.com

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Thanks Steve for the article

How much should you practice?

Do you remember when you bought or got your first guitar? I'm guessing it wasn't uncommon to find you somewhere practicing for all hours of the day and night, and yet, depending on how long you have been learning to play your six string there's a chance that your instrument may be lying somewhere gathering dust.

What happened?

I find many guitar players either do not have set practice times, or are unsure of when to practice their guitar.

When a consistent practice schedule is not maintained it's easy to procrastinate and forget to practice your guitar. Next thing you know, you've entirely lost your musical momentum and wake up one morning realizing that you have not even played for weeks on end.

When practicing your guitar; a great time to learn is when you are either the most alert or the most creative. Self analyze your personal body rhythms so that you can get the most out of your practice times.

Alert Practicing Times

If you find that you are the most alert in the morning then set aside your practice times based on a morning schedule. I.e. chances are that Saturday mornings will work great for you especially if you are working early mornings during the week.

If you find that you are most alert in the evening then set aside your practice times based on an evening schedule. Just be aware of the time you practice in the evening so that you do not end up realizing that it's 3 a.m. in the morning and you have to be up at work in 3 hours.

During your alert time you can really concentrate on the super technical aspects of the guitar like improving your scale and chord speed.

Creative Practicing Times

Begin to recognize your most creative times when playing the guitar. For me, it's generally around the 9pm to 11:00 pm time. Effectively utilize your creative practice time for learning new songs, improvisation, song writing, guitar riffs, alternate tunings, and the list goes on.

In time, by consistently making time to practice; you're creative and alert practice times will propel you into another level of learning your guitar in a snap.

Do you want to learn more about how to play the guitar? I have just completed my free brand new report entitled "The 10 Myths of Learning Guitar." Download it free here: http://guitarinasnap.com

Jeremiah La Follette has been helping beginner guitar players to learn how to play guitar in a snap for over 15 years. With a passion to teach guitar, Jeremiah has helped beginner guitar players unlock the secrets of the guitar.

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Thanks to Jeremiah for the use of his article

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