Ok this page will be updated as I add more things or find things are not as important, but basically I have just started to learn the guitar and these are tips that I’ve picked up from different places or things I’ve had to learn myself which I think may be helpful to others:
1. Don’t be afraid of the strings, give them some stick and press them down hard or you’ll get a buzzing sound.
2. If your fingers hurt from practising but you want to continue then try splitting your practise up so maybe you do it straight after dinner, and then later in the evening too, or on weekends you can do some in the morning and some in the afternoon. Not only do you give you fingers a rest but it means you have two sessions where you are fresh, alert and motivated.
3. Do some stretching exercises, not just the ones using the guitar, but ones away from the guitar like you would after going for a jog (but for your hands) I am struggling to find any at the moment, there is one on my DVD and I know a few more, but I did find one here which tells you to put bottle caps between your fingers – I’m going to give that a try!
4. Don’t give up, I know that is basic advice, but when you first start off it is not going to be glamorous, you need to do the exercises to learn the basics so you can become better and then get to the cool stuff, be patient, if you want the results then be prepared to put in the work.
5. When learning chords I like to pluck each string first to make sure my fingers are not touching two strings etc before I play the chord, this helps me get my position correct before I play it, and at the moment I struggle to hear if one of the strings is a bit off so this method catches it so I don’t learn bad habits.
6. Don’t worry that you can’t stretch your hand out to do the exercises yet and that the tips of your fingers hurt, I can’t and my do. Everyone says that will improve as you continue so have faith, practice and soon you’ll wonder what the big problem was as your hands get used to it.
7. Consider getting your guitar professionally setup for you, this helps make sure it is good for someone just starting out. Mine is rated as agreat beginner guitar so I’m not going to have that done for me as surely it wouldn’t be rated highly if you then had to go and have it setup (I’m not sure but I’m assuming) but I have heard it is a lot harder to learn to play with a guitar which is unforgiving, or one with really strong strings on, so consider getting some professional advice as it is hard enough to learn without having your guitar setup actually making it harder!
8. Consider doing some exercises to help you become more dextrous with your weakest hand (mine is the left) as you need good dexterity with both hands in order to play well and using your weakest hand on the fretboard is tough at first. I am writing out the alphabet with my left-hand a few times a day and trying t juggle with my left-hand. I have no idea if it will help, nobody has said it will, but if it doesn’t help then I’ll remove it from this list (I think it will help).
That’s it, just 7 beginner guitar tips for now but I’ll add more as I go, now get practising!
Steve
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