Become Awesome at Guitar
Do you play guitar?
If you've been playing for years but still don't have the talent to do what you want to do with your musical life like make a band, play for money, etc.
This step by step show you how to become awesome at guitar.
Steps
- First if you don't already have one, get a guitar. Try to find one with a good sound. An equipped guitarist would have a supply of picks, an amp, cables, extra strings, and if you want to make cool sounds and effects, some effects pedals like Distortion or Wah. Or you can get a guitar pack that comes with all the essentials.
- Practice. Practice. Practice. Do you think Jimi Hendrix woke up an amazing guitarist? NO! he practiced, and practiced, and practiced.HE probably practiced hours and hours every day. You practice at least half an hour a day and if you REALLY want to be really good, even more.
- Know music. Be able to read the staff, guitar tab, and chord markers well. Though, many great artists out there never did learn how to read music correctly...take Billie Joe from Green Day for an example.
- If you don't know how to practice, get some good guitar books. Look on the internet for some tips, if you don't already, Try to get an advanced guitar player teacher to help you with your playing and practice.
- Improve your finger strength and speed. By practicing a lot, your ability to move your fingers and hit the strings will increase. Your fingers will become stronger. You can also practice finger speed with guitar scales.
- Becoming a good guitarist takes years, you're not gonna wake up one day and be able to play an amazing riff.
- When you're practicing, don't just play chords of songs you know. This could help with your chord knowledge (still do it) but you want to do some exercises. Try learning the different scales and just playing through them.
- Try new things. Experiment with your Amp and your pedals. See what sounds you can make. Try to get a unique sound, "your" sound. Use your whammy bar(if you have one) and use different forms of strumming and playing the notes.
- You can also play guitar and sing at the same time,like Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, or James Hetfield, but most of the best guitarists these days don't really sing much.
- If you feel that you are confident in your playing, play for family and friends. Do they think your good? Before you start looking for some sort of job as a guitarist, make sure you know and other people know that you can play REALLY well.
Tips
- If you are just starting, you may notice that your finger tips are deteriorating. Don't worry, its just from pressing the frets. It may hurt a little but this will stop once you develop calluses on your fingertips, which will probably take a couple of weeks depending on how much you play.
- Motivate yourself to practice and play good. Dedicate a lot of your time to practice.
- Practicing may seem like a lot, but you can practice any time. If the amp is off, it makes almost no sound. Do it late at night in your room, during the day when your free, whenever, just practice if you want to become good.
- Remember when you start playing you won't instantly be able to play heavy metal rock guitar riffs, but if you keep playing and practising you soon will able to though.
Warnings
- If you've been playing for a long time, do not give up. If you just start out and decide its not your thing, fine, but you don't give up after all the hard work you've done.
Things You'll Need
- Guitar
- Teacher (optional)
- Guitar instruction books
- A good amplifier—an Orange Thunderverb is nice and cheap
