Every guitarist, young or old, is always looking for ways to improve their playing. I have myself been an avid guitarist for the past 20 years and am always striving to become a better player. Here are some things that I have learned along the way:
- Practice, practice, practice. Even if your work schedule only permits 30 minutes/daily, if you wish to improve your playing you should spend the 30 minutes that you have practicing. Take a couple of minutes to warm up and stretch then get to work with technique and method.
- Don’t get stuck in a rut. If you cannot master a technique right away, don’t give up. If it requires extra concentration or even watching somebody else perform the technique, take the time and master it. It took my nearly 4 years to master the sweep picking technique. I wound up buying an instructional dvd that assisted me.
- Schedule jam sessions with neighborhood musicians. There is no better way to perfect your timing and playing ability than to play with other musicians. (Recording and playing with yourself, no pun intended, does not qualify as a jam session.) Get to where you are comfortable playing with other people’s styles.
- Study scales and modes. Even if you can’t read music or guitar tab, learning to read guitar tab should be a piece of cake. The scales and modes will only enhance your playing skills.
- Keep good strings on your guitar. This is detrimental to tone, to the actual tuning (nothing worse than strings going flat on the octave notes), and believe it or not, to your playing skills.
- Jam along to your favorite tunes. This will pay off if you ever decide to play live somewhere, especially if you are in a cover band.
- Keep your guitar in good condition. Let’s face it, when you are playing the guitar should be like an extension of your own body. You wouldn’t bang yourself up (hopefully) therefore, take care of your guitar. Though my guitar has scars that it has received through the years, it is not in bad shape for a 12 year old guitar.
