5 Guitar Tips To Make You A Better Player

Playing a guitar is not just a hobby, but a passion for a number of people all across the globe. It acts as a mode of relief for many, while others transform it into a profession of their own. Catering to a few essential tips can help you become a better guitar player through the passage of time. Enlisted below are five essential guitar tips that can help you become a better player and provide you with a solid foundation to become a distinguished player.

Appropriate visualization- Visualizing about yourself and the things that you do are essential when trying to develop your skills in a particular field. This has been proven in studies such as the well-known basketball experiment. In the experiment , players who visualized making free throws for 20 days, improved just as much as those who actually  went out & threw the ball in practice!

Michael Jordan free throw with eyes closed.

This tip is quite applicable in the case of playing a guitar as well. Don't have a trusty axe in your possession? Having a long wait at the doctors office? Try and visualize your own self executing or playing a particular tune with the correct technique & pitch.

Think about how the strings feel under your fingertips, how far the bend is to go, are you picking upwards or downwards? Really put in as much detail as you can in your visualization to the point where you can almost feel the guitar in front of you. This will help train your mind to execute exactly what you've been rehearsing in your head. In this case, daydreaming about shredding that perfect riff can definitely prove to be beneficial at times.

Try and record your own work – Self analysis is a great way to take a step forward towards improvement. In fact, this is one of the most beneficial guitar tips that every budding guitarist should keep in mind. With all the technology available these days, it's so easy to pull your phone out & do a quick video on the spot. There's no need for expensive software & time consuming editing, just get down to it.

Try recording your own licks and attempt to criticize your work with a bit of introspection. It might be a bit difficult at first, after all nobody really likes criticism & consciously hearing it from yourself might be something new to you. So go ahead & take a minute to analyze your playing. Pick out the flaws in your own work, whether it's a skip in a beat or perhaps a pitch is slightly off when you're doing a bend.

Capo phone hack

Once you got those flaws out, write them down or make a mental note. Those notes will essentially become your practice schedule, & now you know exactly what you need to work on to get you to the next level. With a bit of practice, this will help you to identify & rectify your mistake while improving your natural ability. Following through & seeing the progress build up will undoubtedly motivate you to a great extent, especially if you're serious about attaining a great level of skill.

Better yet, post up some videos on your Instagram to get some feedback from others in the community! We even do shoutouts from time to time, just tag us at #IronAgeGuitar

Take every day as a new lesson – The prime of all guitar tips is that you must try and learn something new every day as a musician as you would do with anything else worth doing. Lack of motivation and discipline can eat away at the skill-set you've worked so hard to build.

Weight lifting can be used as an example here. Nobody starts off lifting 300 pounds on their first day - it takes time, persistence, and daily work to get there. Not just in heavy lifting, but the supplementation that's required to get there such as rigorous diet & plenty of rest. It's only when you've stuck with it for an extended period of time, that you can look in the mirror & be proud of your accomplishment.

Same thing with guitar, you've got to start small, master the technique & progress slowly every single day. Supplementation in our case is to listen to music in a studious manner in order to train our ear. This means keeping up with your "Aural Training" such as pitch & rhythm recognition, or perhaps catching up on our music theory.

Mel Booker daily "Homework & Heroes"

Try and incorporate at least one new accomplishment in your guitar regime everyday to add on to the knowledge that you have. As you know the journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step & with small daily successes you'll surely get there.

Maintain the practice time – Playing on your strings for long hours isn't always the best way to become a better guitarist. That's taking a quantity vs quality approach. Not saying you can't or shouldn't do that, but sometimes a concentrated session is more efficient.

It's the focus & intensity that you put into it that acts as the prime factor. Focusing completely on the practice for a short burst can prove to be more sufficient for improvement. Much more so than say, doodling aimlessly for hours on end. Putting your heart and soul in the work that you do in that short time-span will definitely help you greatly towards improvement. 

Keep  track of your own progress – The last of these beneficial guitar tips, is to keeping track of the progress. Annotate all your wins, losses, & corrections you've made on your musical journey. After all, you won't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been. This way you can see all the small steps you've made towards your success. This will give you a great deal of self motivation & a sense of accomplishment whenever you need it most.

Try and maintain a record of the improvements & hold-backs that you witness within you for a certain time period. Just in case you're ever not satisfied with the improvement, you can always go back & reference all the ways you've tried to correct the technique that's holding you back. Now you can strategize for the long term instead of using tactics to patch the short term.

5 Guitar Tips That Will Make You a Better Player

This is for those serious about becoming proficient with your instrument. Check out these 5 guitar tips to ensure a path of self-discovery and get you closer to your playing goals.

1. Visualize - Got down time? Visualize your technique & you'll be more ready to perform it with a real guitar in front of you.
2. Record Your Performance - Analyze your performance & find things that can use some improvement.
3. Take A New Lesson Everyday - Practice discipline & practice every single day. Learn just 1 thing a day & you'll continually move forward towards your goal.
4. Dedicated Practice - Quantity vs quality. Practice in short but dedicated bursts instead of hours of noodling.
5. Track Your Progress - Note all your minor accomplishments to keep you motivated. Think long term success!

Got any other tips to add to the list?

comment below & help out a fellow musician!

Thanks for reading

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