The guitar is probably one of the most popular musical instruments we have seen for centuries - from rock bands to solo artists, Beatles, Aerosmith, Sheryl Crow, Jason Mraz...and the American Idols strumming their guitar all the way to stardom. They seem to be so cool playing the guitar.If there is one musical instrument that most people would want to learn, it would probably be the guitar. Indeed, we have seen famous celebrities strumming those notes easily. Oh, how we wanted to play that instrument and sing our favorite acoustic songs.
If you are one of those who are learning how to play the guitar, here are some things you need to have and do to make your dream come true.
* Know the instrument.
Learn what frets are for, what represents the strings. When you get to learn higher techniques of guitar playing like plucking, you will be reading tablatures and knowing the basics will help you to master it easily.
* Know how to hold the instrument properly.
Some beginners tend to hold the guitar slightly face up because they want to see what their fingers are pressing. Although you can do it in the first few practice, but make sure you don't get used to it.
* Know the chords and the hand positions.
You will be doing a lot of this thing throughout your guitar practice session. It is important that you have a guide in mastering the hand positions and the chords. A friend can guide you through this but of course, he cannot be with you the whole time you are learning how to play the guitar. There are books that provide good illustrations on the different hand positions and the chords, so you can actually get one of those and self-study.
* Mastering the chords.
You might have wondered how these guitar masters switch their hands so easily on the frets without even looking. Memorize the chords, then practice shifting from chord to chord without looking. One way to master the hand position is to learn one chord, for instance, learning the C chord then try to shift to C minor, or C7 chord. You will find it easy, as it will only need you to take out a finger on one string or press an additional string. Learning the flats and sharps could also be mastered easily as it is just moving one fret forward or backwards from its original position.
* Practice and more practice.
Shifting your fingers in the frets could be a very awkward thing at first. You may find some chords that are quite difficult to reach and difficult to produce a good sound, but nobody learned the guitar at an instant. Constant practice is the key to your goal to be a rocker. At some point you may find it painful to press those strings over and over, but when your fingers eventually develop calluses, it will slowly disappear. If you are really interested in learning how to play the guitar, you will need to commit a time daily to practice.
* Play a song.
If you have mastered the chords and hand positions, you can pick a song that is quite slow so you can practice the shifting of your fingers from chord to chord. When you get to master the slow ones, you can move on to faster songs.
In learning how to play the guitar, it is normal to feel frustration at some point, but when you can eventually play an entire song, you will love to learn more advance techniques in playing the guitar.
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