How To Play Electric Guitar - 3 Common Mistakes
How To Play Electric Guitar - 3 Common Mistakes
Ever since the 1950's the electric guitar has been an iconic instrument that many people want to learn. I'm sure we all know someone who has started to learn but soon gives up. Why is this so common? Here are 3 common mistakes people make.
They start learning on a terrible instrument; Your chances of progressing will not be helped if you buy a bad instrument that's difficult to play.. While no one should spend a fortune on their first guitar, it is important to get one that is actually playable. The guitar is quite a physical instrument and one that is of poor quality can also be very difficult to play, even for an experienced guitarist. It might be difficult to tune, it might not stay in tune, or the action (the height of the strings above the fret board) might be so high that you'd need to have the strength of Superman to hold down a chord.
Solution; There are plenty of perfectly good instruments available for relatively little money and you could even buy a decent used guitar. If you are a complete novice then the best piece of advice I can give you is to take someone along who can at least play a little, and can warn you off any bad instruments. If you really don't know anyone then maybe you could find a local guitar teacher who can help you with this.
At this point I should say that even if playing the electric guitar is your goal, you really don't need to start out on an electric guitar. If you're a complete beginner then you are probably better off starting on an acoustic guitar. You won't have to bother pluggin in amps or cables and your poor neighbours are less likely to complain.. There's a lot to be said for having something that just sits there and is ready to be played wherever you are.
They expect miracles; Like most skills, you're not going to become really good at it overnight.. You can get up and running very quickly but don't expect to be soloing like Hendrix within weeks. It's all about managing your expectation and is a bit like learning another language. At first you pick up a few words and then you seem to stay at the same level for what seems like forever, waiting to become fluent.
Solution; Just take things one step at a time. Try not to get frustrated, and before long you will notice that you've improved. Those chord shapes that seemed impossible at first will gradually become easier. It's almost as if your fingers remember the shapes, even if your brain can't. Different people learn how to play electric guitar at different rates and in totally different ways. There's a lot to learn and it's easy to become overwhelmed. You could start out learning just chord shapes, or you could begin with basic music theory. There is no right or wrong way, so just see what works for you.
They become one trick ponies; Learning a few chords and playing them over and over again is fine to begin with, but won't get you very far in the long run. You'll get bored eventually and give up. Learning how to play the electric guitar is really a never ending project. Most seasoned pros would say that they are still striving to improve.
Solution; Try to keep some kind of balance between learning techniques, chords, theory and developing your repertoire of songs. After all the whole point of learning an instrument is to eventually be able to play either for or with other people. One of the best ways to do this is to play along to the kind of music you enjoy. A great way to really improve your playing is to play along to your favourite songs and the more you do this, the easier it becomes to learn new songs as you'll find that your ear also develops and you can pick out the parts other people are playing.. The main thing is to keep going and don't give up! However you learn, it takes practice and commitment to become really good. The rewards could be fame and fortune or maybe just years of enjoyment, satisfaction and fun. Either way, it's a very worthwhile journey.
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