Whenever I talk to beginning guitar players, they generally fall into two categories. Category one is the players who enjoy playing and being able to make music on the guitar. They enjoy playing guitar even if they aren’t yet at an advanced level.
Category two is guitar players that don’t yet enjoy playing guitar. The main reason for this is because they get easily frustrated with their guitar playing . They don’t feel that they have “gotten it” yet and are starting to doubt their ability to become a great guitar player.
Hopefully you are in the first group of players. If you are in the second group, you should know that you can move into the first group of guitar players quite easily. You can become the guitar player that you want to be. You can start making music that you enjoy playing and hearing with your guitar.
Steady Progress Is The Key – The first thing you will need to realize is that this isn’t a race. Everyone learns at different speeds. As long as you are putting in the practice time and following your guitar teacher’s instruction, you will make progress. Be patient and stick with it. If you are struggling to understand what is being covered in your guitar lessons, make sure to let your teacher know how they can better help you.
Getting rid of negative self talk – This one is huge. There are so many students that beat themselves up because they aren’t exactly where they want to be in their guitar playing. One thing you should realize is that most guitar players (including the greats) aren’t where they want to be either. They, like you, want to be better and work on improving their craft all the time. Be honest with yourself but don’t beat yourself up. Resist saying things like “I’m too slow”, “I’ll never get this”, “I suck”. All those things do is slow you down even further and get in the way of making any progress. Whenever you make progress do not focus on negatives. Instead be proud of your accomplishment. Whenever you make an improvement in your playing, that is a good thing and something to be proud of.
Organized practice time
One way to guarantee that you will make a lot of progress in your guitar playing is to make sure that your practice time is organized. The more organized, the better off you will be. If you sit down to practice each day without knowing exactly what skills you are going to improve that day, you will default to playing whatever is easy. It is very hard to make any progress when you don’t put the time in to doing so.
Being creative with the guitar right away
Many guitar players think that they have to play for years before they get to the level of being able to be creative with the guitar. This is untrue. You can start being creative with the guitar after your very first guitar lesson (assuming that you are learning from a qualified guitar teacher). As you make progress, you get more tools that will allow you to be creative.
Finding other musicians to jam with
Many beginning guitar players are too self conscious to do this. Jamming with other musicians is a great way to improve your playing. Even if you are not very far along in your guitar playing there are plenty of things you can do to keep up when jamming with more experienced players. If you get the opportunity, take advantage of it.
If you are finding that you are getting frustrated with your guitar playing. Try some (or all) of the tips in this article. Watch how fast you transform from someone frustrated by their guitar playing to someone who loves playing guitar.
About the author: If you are looking for beginning guitar lessons in Manchester, New Hampshire, contact Manchester NH Guitar Lessons.
(585) 298-6511