Guitars are one of the most common instruments that music lovers choose to play.  You can recreate sounds from your childhood or from the past after learning a few simple cords to strum.  However, learning to play such an intricate instrument such as the guitar is the same with everything else; it takes a large amount of practice and determination.  You have to be willing to practice on a daily basis in order to excel with the instrument.  If you do not have the time to practice, then learning the basics of beginner guitar is probably not for you.  But, if you take the time to go forth with the instrument, you will be amazed at how well you can be playing in such a short amount of time.

Your first step is to decide how you are going to learn to play the guitar.  If you have had any previous musical experience, such as knowing how to read music, then the process with go much more smoothly.  You can teach yourself with a beginner’s guitar book; however, if you have a person to help you it will be much easier.  If you are not able to read music, many of the beginner books will show you how to do that as well.

While purchasing a guitar online might allow you to find a better deal, it is often a better choice to ask a local music store for suggestions, or your instructor.  The strings on some of the guitars are very hard to hold down for beginners, and you cannot learn to play on these types of strings until you have built up enough calluses on your fingers.

Many beginner guitars have strings that are slightly looser to help with the learning process.  It might not be a wise choice to purchase a very expensive guitar your first time around.  You need to make sure that the investment will be worth it, and you will not know this until you have mastered the art of the guitar.  However, keep in mind that extremely cheap guitars are harder to keep tuned and often harder to play.

One thing that can help you excel is to listen to guitar solos in songs.  Listening is usually the best type of learning.  Many instructors also recommend this and they will usually have you choose a song that you want to learn and request that you listen to it over and over again.  Choose wisely, because a very hard song is not always the best option.  You have to go slowly and learn the basics first.

“Wonderwall” by Oasis is a great song that is simple for all beginners to learn.  The song made the top 10 list in the U.S. and the hot top 100 in 1995 when it was first released.  You can search online for the guitar tabs to the song on search engines such as Google.  Neil Young’s song “Heart of Gold” is another easy song to learn.  It made the Rolling Stone top 500 list, and it has a deep meaning.  Overall, the song is easy and very popular for beginner guitarists.  There are many sites online that allow you to download these songs for free so that you can listen to them.

The desire to learn the guitar is often not enough in order to learn.  You also have to have determination and the ability to have patience when you are not able to get it right the first time.  Try not to get frustrated, and know that your fingers will eventually toughen up enough for you to be able to play on any guitar.  The first steps are the hardest, but after you learn, it is like riding a bicycle; you will never be able to forget.

Within the musical community, there is a debate about the value of music theory that will probably never end. Is it important to study music theory scales, or is it much better to just dive into the music and experience it viscerally. The proponents of learning the theory regarded it as an essential part of knowing how to play music. You can learn by trial and error, they say, but you would do much better to benefit from the knowledge of other people. Not learning music theory when you play music is like refusing to learn arithmetic when you are studying math.

The other side, however, has just a strong of an argument. They claim that music theory worksheets are stifling. The point of music, they argue, is creativity. You should dive into it and experience it viscerally. Learning the theory of music too early on can stifle the imagination. Although it is alright to learn music theory chords later on, it is much less important than having some experience actually playing music.

I used to be on the latter site, but I have recently switched opinions. You see, I learned music without music theory. I didn’t even know music colors theory, much less the more formal and rigorous stuff. To me, you see, playing music was almost a physical experience. I could feel the sounds and textures around me. I didn’t really need someone telling me what the structures meant. I could tell what they meant with my entire soul.

As I have matured as a musician, however, I have seen the use and the need  for music theory. I have even begun to use music theory worksheets, and I hope to understand it pretty thoroughly within the next couple years. You see, the most important thing about theory is that it gives you a good vocabulary to talk about music.

I believe that you can learn to play anything without music theory. What you can not do, however, is to talk to other people about it. If you don’t know the names of the chords, the different scales and progressions, and the rhythmic patterns that define various forms of music, how can you tell other musicians what you want? Learning about music is almost as important as learning language if you really want to collaborate with other people. Without it, it is very difficult to express yourself and ask people for what you want. Why make life difficult?

Practice makes perfect. These three words are heard every day and time after time these words are ignored. But why? Music is such a vast subject that for anyone, even the professionals, mastering it is near impossible. With years of work one can be very knowledgeable in specific areas of music but it would take more than a lifetime to fully understand every aspect of an instrument or music theory.

With that in mind hopefully people should start to understand that having a one hour lesson once a week is not even close to enough to gain substantial progress and development on a musical instrument.

This series of articles offer tips on practicing music which will hopefully demonstrate the benefits, enjoyment and fulfillment that can be gained through practicing music.

1. Goals are key. It is human nature to take pride in reaching a goal whether a promotion at work or winning a competition. If you have a set goal to reach you will be more willing to put in the work required to achieve it. Some examples of goals could be to learn the latest song you’ve fallen in love with, to be able to sight read in a certain key, to develop faster, more technical playing or to reach a certain exam grade before a certain period.

2. Little often is better than a lot occasionally. One key point to remember is that repetion is the quickest way to learn something due to your brain and muscles ability to develop and store a so called ‘muscle memory’. It will take a substantially longer time to learn and retain your new knowledge if you practice for a long period but only occasionally. See tip 3 on how to easily incorporate regular practice sessions into your daily routine.

Another benefit of practicing a little often is that your concentration levels are kept up throughout your practice session. Brass players will understand this the most – after playing a trumpet or any brass instrument for approximately an hour your lips start to feel numb which in turn begins to restrict your playing abilities. The knock on effect of this is that the longer you practice without a break, the more harm ultimately you will cause yourself – both mentally and physically – it will knock your spirit and could even do damage to your embouchure. Obviously this applies to all instrument groups; as is well documented repetitive strain injury is common among musicians. The primary cause of this is improper technique but as the name implies too much repetition through a movement can create serious effects. Therefore if you are practicing for longer periods be sure to take regular breaks – 5 to 10 minutes for every 50 minutes for adults and 10 to 15 minutes for every 25 minutes for children.

3. Routine. Imagine this – every morning you wake up, maybe make a cup of coffee or sort through the post and eventually at some point you will go to the sink and brush your teeth. Now most people do this without any thought – it is just something that gets done. This is the effect of getting into a routine. If you set aside a time each day to practice, away from distractions if possible, you will get into this routine making it much easier to practice, it becomes a part of your day to day life.

4. Practice with a partner. Most humans love competition – especially if you know you are the winner – and by tapping into this you’re making your practice session less of a chore and more of a game. Set challenges between you both and find some reward for the winner. The other benefits are that you gain an outsiders opinion and criticism on your playing, the opportunity to practice duets and you will have some company rather than being locked away in your bedroom.

This is just a glimpse at the different methods you can adopt to improve your practice and in the next article I will demonstrate some more music based tips to help you improve; using a metronome to develop your internal body clock, a fun method for scales and arpeggios and how and why you should be incorporating sight reading and music theory into your practice sessions.

For now just focus on your desires and on the reasons why you started music and give the tips above some thought.