When you start playing the guitar, it will take some time until you master all the techniques. However, like with everything else, some tricks will get you where you wanted faster, especially if you’re a novice. 

Here, we’ll mention a few simple and easy hacks to speed up your progress and make you more confident while playing your new guitar.

Get the Right Guitar for Your Skillset

The first step towards learning to play the guitar is to get a new one. Of course, you can borrow one from your friends or someone you know, but in the end, the only instrument that will allow you to relax while playing is the one that’s yours.

Since your first instrument can greatly impact your technique, make sure you find something that’s beginner-friendly. It might be a good idea to consider getting an electric guitar as its wires are easier to play with.

When you get to the store, most salesmen will recommend an acoustic guitar as you can play them everywhere, and they’re quite affordable. Their prices range from $150 to $2000, but it is more than enough to invest up to $700 in your first instrument.

Set Up a Playing Routine

With a lot of free information out there, it became easier than ever to get lost and slow down your progress. Yes, you can easily hop on Vimeo and find many chords or videos showing specific playing techniques. However, when you’re a novice, you need a playing routine and someone to guide you through the process. If you really want to learn and master guitar, it’s best to start a course and get a lot of useful advice on how to work on your playing technique. Plus, you’ll need to learn some of the basics of music theory, learn to read notes and differentiate different tunes. That’s why videos that teach you how to play a cover are good as additional material for practice. 

But they can’t provide musical knowledge, and they’ll slow down your progress. With structured lessons, your progress will be slow and stable. After a while, you’ll be mastering various techniques quite fast.

Start with the Basics

Most people want to play the guitar like Jimmy Hendricks in a month. But once they realize how much practice it requires, they realize there’s a long way ahead.

In the first weeks of your course, it’s pivotal to learn the basic chords. Whenever you have to play two or more notes simultaneously, you’ll need chords to figure out how to do it. Learning chords is relatively easy since some of them you’ll use more often than others. When you master four to eight basics chords and a few strumming patterns, you’ll ready to do a simple cover.

Do Finger Drills as Often as Possible

When you take a new instrument in your hands, your brain must create new synapses for you to use it. Also, it will use your muscle memory to learn how to hold the instrument and know how much pressure you need to use to create a certain sound. Most people don’t think about it too much and believe that playing guitar comes down to mastering chord patterns.

If you want to improve your playing technique, finger drills are the best everyday activity for new players. Whenever you force your fingers to practice common patterns, your mind starts creating new memories and learns how to use the instrument. Within a few weeks, the time it will take you to learn new patterns will decrease.

Play with Your Brain

Whenever you learn a new set of notes, practice your skills by playing them backward. It sounds a bit strange, but it works. Playing the notes backward activates new parts of the brain and puts the focus on your technique since you have to move your fingers in new ways.

Another great exercise is to practice certain patterns that make your fingers move in the strangest ways. It will sound a bit odd, but it will break the habits you’ve learned and create new ones.

Practice, Practice, Practice

When you take up a guitar course online, you have to brace yourself for a bumpy ride. Yes, there will be times when you’ll wonder why you do it in the first place, but we guarantee that you’ll feel thrilled every time you play something new.

Now that you’re familiar with some of the best tricks of the trade get yourself a guitar and enjoy the ride.