6 Beginner Tips and Tricks for Playing the Guitar

The guitar is one of the most expressive instruments on the planet. This allows musicians to truly communicate their personality through music, but can also be challenging to learn because of all the variables associated with playing the instrument. The beginning stages of learning are arguably the most difficult to overcome, but if you can persevere it will be well worth your while.

Here are some tips and tricks to help you learn guitar as quickly and easily as possible. This is not a “guitar lesson”, as you will find an abundance of those online. Instead I would like to cover some principles that you should apply to your learning process.

1. Find a good teacher – The reality of a good teacher is they are able to see things you can’t, and can give you exercises tailored to your current abilities as well as teach you things that you’re actually interested in learning. My recommendation is to go with a teacher who is an excellent guitar player themselves and who doesn’t necessarily follow an academic approach to teaching.
2. Associate with people who are better – One of the best and quickest ways to learn how to do play your instrument is to associate and jam with players who are better than you. Guitar exercises are only one piece of the puzzle. Don’t exclude the ability to play and communicate with other musicians, dialing in your guitar tone as well as many other small details that are often overlooked by beginner guitarists. Seeing something in real life is a lot more valuable than watching an instructional video on YouTube.
3. Your gear can help your playing – Although I don’t recommend beginner guitarists go out and buy an expensive guitar, the truth is that higher quality instruments are easier to play. Will you notice the difference as a beginner guitarist? Probably not. You also don’t want to disregard amplification, as this can be a big source of musical inspiration. You may have heard about the hype around tube amps. In essence they do make you sound better.
4. Learn to listen – Unless you plan on being a solo artist, the reality of playing guitar is that it usually involves playing with other instruments (a band). This even applies to jamming along to your favorite tracks at home. Instead of just focusing on what you’re playing, try and listen to the other instruments as well. Are you locking in with the drum track? Are you getting in the way of the vocalist? These are probably not things you will be focusing on as a beginner, however you should keep them in mind for later on down line.
5. Keep working at it – Sometimes learning to play can be overwhelming. It may feel like you’re never going to nail the part you’re working on. In reality, learning to play takes a bit of time. The exercises you do to today may only start to feel fluent after letting them “settle” for a while. I always find the next day I can play the parts a lot easier than when I sat down and practiced them for an hour. With that in mind, the guitar is an instrument that you never stop learning. If you’re going to take up playing guitar, it should be a lifetime commitment.
6. Stay inspired – If you don’t have any inspirations or “musical heroes”, you’re going to have a very difficult time motivating yourself to practice. Your inspirations essentially function as the core for what you’re doing. This means you should learn as much as possible from players that inspire you. Don’t practice stuff for hours on end that is not in line with your musical passions. All the greatest players will tell you that they “stole” their ideas from their inspirations.