10 Tips To Improve your Guitar Playing

Everyone gets to a certain stage with guitar or any instrument where they just feel they are stuck and just not progressing anymore. Don’t panic you are not alone this happens everyone, here is a list of 10 tips to push you through that wall. Although this article is written with guitar in mind the majority of these tips will also work for other instruments.

1. Focus on the little things.

I say this to my students constantly. It is a combination of all the little things that ends up the difference of whether you end up an average guitar player or a great one. Are you playing the correct amount of strings when strumming a chord?. Are your chord changes 100 percent accurate?. Is every note you are playing coming out clear and precise every single time?. All these things add up make sure you focus on just one aspect at a time and do it slowly

2. Slow Down

Which brings me on to my second tip slow down. And i do not mean a little bit, slow it down by 100. Can you play the piece completely perfect every time at that tempo if you can then you can speed up a tiny bit. If you cannot play it perfect slowly then ask yourself how are you going to play it at the normal tempo. I actually find it is generally my most enthusiastic students who fall into this trap and i completely emphasize with them because i did the same thing myself when i began learning. You want to be able to get better so much that you naturally start rushing thinking you will get there faster, but unfortunately the opposite is true and you are actually hindering your progress.

It sounds like an oxymoron but in order to become a fast guitar player you need to practice slowly. Remember playing and learning guitar is a Marathon not a sprint slow down be patient and you will get where you want to be faster.

3. Work on your Weaknesses

Practice what you’re bad at not what you’re good at. This is another very easy trap to fall into and I see it all the time with my students. When you think about it its fairly obvious why people do this. If you are good at something you are far more likely to practice it. Your brain says look at me I am great and you get an instant gratification reward, but eventually that endorphin rush will grow smaller and smaller and you will find yourself reading an article that is titled 10 tips to improve your guitar playing.

It can be frustrating practicing something we are not great at and usually your brain will try to trick you into practicing the stuff that your good at. Try to resist it and even better compromise. Remember we learn an instrument for enjoyment so say to yourself I am going to practice this for 10 mins and then I can practice the stuff I am good at.

4. Develop Your Strengths

Find out what you are good at and get even better at it. This one only counts if you already have the basics down so its more for intermediate and advanced players. We all have different strengths in our playing, for example I found out I was a very fast player so I focused on that strength for a whole year. You may find you are good at soloing or picking whatever it is try to maximize that strength. It may sound like I am saying the opposite to my above tip but I am not, you should still spend time improving your weaknesses but also concentrate on utilizing your strengths.

5. Practice with other people

Play with other people. No matter what level someone is you can always learn something from them. Even if they are really terrible you can ask yourself what are they doing wrong and learn from that, even better you could teach them as it will increase your own knowledge of the instrument. Apart from improving your timing the benefits of playing with other people are endless as every person you play with is different.

6. Get a Good Teacher.

This is the most important of all the tips. First of all make sure its a good teacher not someone who just sees teaching as a job but someone who is passionate about teaching and music. A good teacher will be able accelerate your playing faster than anything else. This is what they spend their lives doing, they know all the pitfalls and tricks to master your instrument. I work in a music school with over 30 teachers and the majority of students are surprised to hear that the majority of us have teachers. This is because we know the huge benefits of having one.

I remember a few years ago I was teaching a group of young students when a girl asked me how long does it take to finish guitar. Which is actually a logically enough question when you think about it, you finish primary school, secondary school a degree etc. At first the class were disappointed when I said you will never finish guitar, but then I explained that this is the greatest thing about it, you can always get better. You may master one style for example blues guitar but what about funk, country, classical, Irish, reggae, jazz or bluegrass. Do not think of guitar it in terms of reaching a final destination but as a journey which gets better and better the longer you are on it. A good teacher will help you ten fold on that journey.

7. Record yourself Playing

Either through audio of even better through video. This goes for every single level of player. I still have a box of cassettes stored away from when I first started. Most people are very reluctant to do this one. Its like that uneasy feeling when you hear your voice on a recording for the first time, but trust me this is the number one do it yourself action you can do to improve your playing and it is so easy to do with a phone. Record yourself and ask what is good about what I am doing and what can I improve. When you are starting it requires a lot of concentration to play, recording yourself lets you analyze what you are doing in depth.

Really like that new strumming pattern you just came up with? or that improvising? Record it because you will more than likely forget it. Remember its only you who will be watching it.

I also highly recommend recording yourself before playing anything in front of a live audience. You will more than likely find you get a bit anxious while recording yourself this is the closest resemblance you will get to the real thing so is a great way to prepare. I will be writing a blog on tips to prepare for a live performance so make sure you subscribe below.

8. Learn your Scales.

When I started learning guitar I was convinced that someone had made up scales to take out all the joy of playing music. It was only years later that I realized how much time and effort I could have saved by learning my scales properly. When I say properly I mean learn how to actually use them not just how to play them up and down the fret-board. I have come across this problem a lot when students learn grades. I have had a couple of grade 8 Piano students learning guitar and they could play every scale inside out but when I asked them how to use the scale they were completely lost. Try to make the scales sound musical and experiment with them. For example if you have learnt your pentatonic scale try to make it sound interesting just on its own instead of just playing it in order. If you can get it sounding anyway decent think of how cool it will sound with the right chords behind it.

9. Learn Some Theory

Which brings me to my next tip learn some theory. This is a huge problem with guitarists mainly because you can learn it using chord sheets and tabulate, the consequence is that most guitarists fret board knowledge is extremely poor. I had one student who could play every note of sweet child of mine perfectly but when I asked him what key he was playing in or what notes he was playing he looked at me like I was speaking Latin. Do not get me wrong I do not mean you have to learn to sight read I mean think about what notes and chord progressions you are playing and try to start understanding the basics of what key you are playing in.

10. Learn a different style

When my students get to a certain level I like to teach them the basics of a couple of different styles such as blues, rock, Irish, flamenco reggae funk or classical. That way the student can take any techniques they like from each style and incorporate it into there preferred style which in turn lets them develop into a more accomplished player. Think of it like looking at a photo. If you are just playing one style of guitar you are looking at one photo but if you learn different styles you can look at that image from different perspectives given you an overall better picture of what is actually going on.

Do you agree or disagree with any of my tips let me know in the comments. To keep up to date with my new blogs you can join our mailing list below.