How to Play Guitar
The guitar is an extremely popular instrument. Variety of sound along with ease of basic play make it an accessible instrument for many people hoping to express themselves through music. Guitars, and like instruments, have existed for literally thousands of years, with the first image of a guitar-like instrument dating for 3,300 years ago. The instrument in this picture was not a true guitar in the sense that we know the instrument, but a hittite board. The basic concept of a stringed wooden instrument, however, was the same. If you want to learn how to play guitar the most important thing you must know is that practice, in all its forms, will be the most essential thing to your success. Playing guitar is not something that is likely to just happen the moment you pick up an instrument. You will need some understanding of the methods behind playing guitar, as well as time invested in teaching your fingers to perform these methods, before you will be able to truly play the guitar. Fortunately, there are many ways that you can put in this practice that will allow you to learn and create as you go without having to concentrate only on structured guitar lessons. Whether you want to learn on the classic acoustic guitar or would rather try your hand at the amplified sounds of an elecctric guitar, these practice tools can be implemented whenever possible to move you toward successful, and personally satisyfing, music.
Guitar Lessons
Of course the most obvious way to learn how to play guitar is to take formal lessons. These may be in a guitar shop, a school, or through a personal instructor. They are also widely available online. Taking lessons should be customized to your particular learning style so that you can more readily absorb the information and interpret it into playing. This may mean having direct, one-on-one lessons with an instructor who will show you exactly how to play your instrument, or may be reading through theory and method instructions from an online database. You can also take lessons from video sharing sites that show a person walking through playing the guitar. Whatever way you choose, lessons are a natural way to get started learning how to play.
Play Around
Structure isn’t the only way that you can learn to play. Often just experimenting with your guitar is an effective way to learn notes and see how they link together to create chords and, eventually, songs. You can play in such a way just by yourself, or with a group of people. If you are with a group you can play off of the sounds that they make with their own instruments which can help you to understand how various instruments and notes work together. An effective way of practicing in this way is to keep your guitar with you at all times and play whenever you hear music. This can mean playing along with television commercials, or while you are waiting for a bus, or even during breaks at work. Whenever you hear something, truly music or not, attempt to accompany it with your guitar. Make music out of the sound of footsteps on the sidewalk or birds singing, or make yourself the newest part of your favorite band and play along with the radio. However you do it, play everyday and let yourself learn organically.
Learn Your Scales
It is not the most exciting form of practicing, but guitar scales are an effective way of learning the notes and how to move your fingers. As you learn these scales, which are essentially just notes played in succession so that your fingers can learn to play them and your ears can learn to recognize them, is the foundation on which you can build more personalized playing. As you perfect the simplest scales you can move on to more complicated versions. Like any other exercise, the more your practice the easier the movements will become. Your fingers will become accostomed to the movements and you will be able to move through the scales more comfortably and quickly.
Mimick the Masters
They say that emulation is the most sincere form of flattery, but it is also one of the fastest ways to learning to play guitar. There are some solos and riffs that are iconic in guitar music. By memorizing these and learning to play them accurately you not only are learning notes and chords, but are seeing how they can be manipulated to create songs. Playing these pieces exactly will also help you to see how you can adject them to your own tastes so that you can begin to develop your own style. Playing iconic songs can help you to learn others by using them as reference points. It is easier to know that you are playing something that sounds like a piece you already know than it is to learn something completely “blind”.
Learning to play the guitar is a process that can take a long time. Using different methods, however, will make learning a much more interesting and exciting adventure than just learning through dry lessons. By experimenting, and learning by playing, you can develop your own style and feel as though you are truly creating music rather than just reverberating sound.
