Are you an aspiring guitar player? If you are a beginner guitar player, there is no reason for you to be worried. You can still become an amazing guitar player – all with a little bit of practice and perseverance.
Playing guitar is easy if you are willing to learn. And playing it well is even easier if you know the proper techniques. It all starts by learning how to hold your guitar correctly and knowing which finger to use for every chord you want to play.
Here are seven essential techniques that will take your guitar skills up a notch:
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1. Learn to Play in Time
If you are playing by yourself, it’s easy to let the song sound sloppy because there is no rhythm guitar player. But when you enter a live band setting or have to jam with other musicians, keeping in time with the rest of the group is essential.
Many new players tend to speed up their guitar playing, leading them into more trouble than one would expect! Have some patience and learn slowly how songs are supposed to be played. It will save your sanity later on!
2. Use Alternate Picking
Alternate picking is probably the essential technique to learn for any guitar player at pretty much any skill level, but especially for beginners. Alternate picking means that you pick every note with a downstroke followed by an upstroke instead of just using downstrokes or upstrokes exclusively.
For example, if you were to play the open low E string (the thickest one), it would be picked like this: DOWN-UP-DOWN-UP. Alternate picking is vital for beginners because it allows your playing to sound more fluid and less choppy.
When many beginners first pick up the guitar, they’re used to plucking each note individually in order from bottom string to top string. If you do this, it may sound fine when you play at very low speeds. But once your speed increases, each note begins to sound like its own single-note line instead of one continuous line.
3. String Bending
One of the most common techniques in modern music is string bending which allows you to play notes on a different fret from where they’re supposed to be.
To achieve this, take your index finger and place it on the string right behind where you want to bend (if you’re bending towards yourself, then the string should be behind the nut). Then while holding that note down with your index finger. Push the string forward with your ring or pinky finger so that it bends up a quarter step. This is called a half-step bend.
There’s no rule that says you have to straighten the neck after bending perfectly, so it can add some likable character if you push down on the whammy bar slightly.
If your guitar has a locking nut, you can use the whammy to create a tremolo effect by simply pushing and releasing the bar repeatedly. This is an easy method to create ripples that sound like water.
4. Try Different Types of Guitar
Play several guitar types with different body styles to determine what feels right to you. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go out and purchase various guitar models. Swap with a friend or play at your local music store and try out the guitars they have.
Moreover, knowing the different types of guitars can save you a lot of time experimenting. Here are the most common types of guitars:
Electric Guitar
Electric guitars are distinguished from other kinds of guitars in that they create sound by turning the vibration of the strings into electric impulses.
Unlike the different guitar varieties, you cannot just pick up an electric guitar and start playing it. To get a sound out of the electric guitar, connect it to an amplifier.
Acoustic Guitar
A stringed instrument that uses a hollow body to amplify the vibration of the strings. Acoustic guitars are either steel-stringed or nylon-stringed instruments.
Classical Guitar
A classical guitar is an acoustic guitar with nylon strings. It has a wider fretboard, narrower neck, and slimmer body to make it easy to play.
Bass Guitar
The bass guitar produces a considerably lower tone than the other guitars. Most contemporary bass guitars are electric and have four strings, but some have five or six strings.
Each type of guitar has its own unique sound and feel that you need to experiment with. Choose a guitar that fits your musical style.
5. Try Play New Songs
Don’t get hung up on the songs you are learning. Just focus on having fun and enjoying yourself! It can be easy to get frustrated but try not to let that take over your practice sessions.
The more fun you have while playing guitar, the easier it will be to learn new songs. If you struggle with a particular song, keep at it and stick with it, and eventually, you will learn and master that song.
You never know, that annoying song could become one of your favorite songs because it took so long for you to master it!
6. Take Your Time
When learning lead, always start simple and smooth and try not to ramp up too fast. You will get faster as you know licks and riffs, but if you want to master the guitar, take your time and make sure everything is clean, precise, and smooth before you move on.
7. Experiment With Effect Pedals
Chances are, if you play guitar, then there are specific effects that are integral to your sound, such as overdrive or delay, which are provided by pedals. It’s worth experimenting with using other effect pedals with these core sounds until you find something interesting.
Sometimes, it can be nice not having any preconceived ideas about what sounds you should use when creating music.
Below are the different types of guitar pedals you can use:
- Gain Effects
- Time Effects
- Pitch Effects
- Modulation Effects
- Filter Effects
- Volume Effects
To get out of the habit of guitarists often fall into, don’t worry about getting pedals to recreate any specific artist’s or band’s sound. Just experiment with a range of pedals and try to use them in an organic way that enhances your sound, rather than just using a pedal to create a specific sound.
6 Helpful Tips to Be Better In Playing the Guitar
Follow the definitive guide below for best results:
- Sit with your guitar and play a chord – any chord – while paying attention to how it feels. Do this for each of the chords in every key (major, minor, diminished, etc.).
- Do the same thing standing up or sitting somewhere different on your guitar’s body (the upper middle part of the guitar, just below where your neck meets the body). You can also try both at once, but as you have only had two hands, I suggest standing up and putting one foot on a chair to keep your guitar from falling backward.
- Once you’ve played the chord with your right hand and felt it in all of those various ways, move to play it with your left hand. Repeat for each of those chords in each key.
- Now that you’ve done that for all 12 keys, go back and do them again (it won’t take long, but it’s worth it).
- After you’ve completed all of the preceding steps, try playing the chords in sync with a song (or another instrument if one is available!) and notice what occurs when you change keys. This may take the longest since it requires altering your perspective of where the notes are coming from and preparing to play the chords. It is essential for this exercise that you do not ‘know’ what key you are in and allow each chord to come out wherever it wants (or the song tells you).
- Finally, test your knowledge of these chords by finding some songs that use them.
Some Final Words
Everything takes time to improve, so keep at it and don’t beat yourself up if something doesn’t sound right or feel smooth immediately. Practice hard, practice smart, and practice often. Have fun!
