As we head into the New Year, many of us will be making those familiar New Years resolutions. Why not make one about engaging a passion, like learning to play the guitar?
A while back I wrote an article suggesting that it’s never too late to embrace our passions. In it, I mentioned how when I used to teach guitar, some of the students’ parents would tell me how they had always wanted to play the guitar but felt they were too old to start now. Fortunately, some of them changed their minds and came to me for advice. Over the years, many of my friends have asked me for similar guidance.
So, if you have always wanted to play guitar, here are some tips to get you going in the right direction.
Please note that there are quite a few guitar players who read Life As A Human and some of them are teachers. If you have questions, please leave them in a comment and check back for answers. I am sure they will all be eager to provide answers.
Don’t Let Physical Attributes Stop You
Something I hear a lot is, “I have short stubby fingers”. Well, many great guitar players have short stubby fingers. Some are even missing one or two! This is not a barrier to playing. Sure, if you have short fingers, you may not be able to play chords that span four or five frets but there are tons of other chords you can play. On the other end of the spectrum, I once spoke to someone who had been told that her fingers were far too long and that she should play piano. She became a student and did very well.
So whether it’s your hand size or anything else, don’t let anyone (including yourself) tell you that its a barrier to entry.
Define Your Goals
What do you want? Do you want to play and sing folk songs? Classical? Jazz? Rock? All of the above? Pick the one that is most important to you and start there. This will also dictate if you require an acoustic or an electric guitar.
Find a Good Teacher
Find a good teacher that will teach you what YOU want to learn. Having taught guitar myself for a number of years, I have to say that I am not a fan of method books that usually come in the form of a series. In my opinion, many of these are designed to keep students coming back for more and more lessons. Find a teacher who will craft lessons for you and most importantly, empower you to teach yourself.
Buy a Good Instrument
You don’t need to break the bank to buy a good guitar. There are many excellent guitars on the market that will provide you with years of service. If you have a friend who plays the guitar, I suggest that you bring them with you when you go shopping. Their experience will be beneficial to you when selecting your guitar.
A poorly built guitar can make your learning process difficult and often, stop you altogether. Apart from the style and looks of the guitar, the most important things to look for are:
Tone – does it have the kind of sound you like? Does it have lots of sustain? Have the friend you brought along play it for you so you can hear for yourself.
Intonation – this has to do with how well the instrument is tuned in lower and upper registers.
Action – action meaning how much pressure is required to fret a note. A guitar with high action is harder to play and can be frustrating for beginners. My suggestion is a guitar with low or easy action and lighter gauge strings to start. As you become more proficient, you can always replace the strings with a heavier gauge and raise the action of the instrument to suit your needs.
Good Machine Heads – the machine heads are the tuning pegs that you use to tune your instrument. Good quality machine heads make tuning your instrument much easier and ensure that it stays in tune much longer.
A Case – protect your investment. Buy a good case. I prefer the hard shell variety though there are some very good bag style cases out there.
Service – you should ask the store you purchase your instrument from if they will provide you with a free setup of the instrument and if you can bring it back a month later for adjustment including truing the neck to get rid of any annoying buzzes that may have developed as the guitar breaks in.
Guitar Tuner
Buy yourself a digital guitar tuner. They are inexpensive and will ensure that you are hearing things in tune. That said, learn how to tune your instrument without the tuner. This will develop your ear. You can always check your tuning with the help of the digital guitar tuner after you have done it by ear.
Practice … Don’t Just Play!
Have you heard the expression, “practice makes perfect”? You are far better to think “perfect practice makes perfect”. How you practice is how you will perform. Focus on tone, meter and accuracy. Speed can come later. If you reverse this, you will develop habits that are very hard to break. Whenever you pickup your instrument, be sure it is well tuned then spend some time practicing whatever it is you are learning always looking to strengthen the weakest parts of your playing. After you have ‘practiced’, reward your self with as much ‘playing’ time as you like.
Listen
Learn how to listen. Begin to recognize chords and scales. Are they major, minor, pentatonic? Learn to recognize chord progressions as well. Doing these things will go a long way to developing your ear and you will get to a point where you listen to a song and say, “Hey, I know that progression!” Bingo, now you can play another song!
Stretch Out Your Ears
Start listening to new musicians and broaden your ear. If all you listen to is rock, your hearing will be limited to the tones and phrasings found in that genre. Listening to other forms of music will broaden your musical vocabulary and will also develop your ears to a greater extent.
With very few exceptions, anyone can learn to play the guitar at any age. Follow these tips and do some more research on your own. Practice consistently, have fun and you’ll be singing James Taylor songs sooner than you would have thought possible.
Good luck and good playing!
As I mentioned above, please feel free to ask questions by leaving a comment. If you are a guitar player and want to add to what I have offered, please, do so!
Photo Credits
All image from the Microsoft Clip Art Collection
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