Guitar: Can You Learn To Play Guitar Without Goals?

By: Peter Edvinsson

In many articles on the net on learning to play guitar you will find many article authors stressing the importance of setting goals. Well, it would be interesting to find out if you can learn to play guitar without goals. Let us investigate the matter!

I have many memories of my first attemps to play the guitar. Like many boys I had many interests like reading, playing piano, singing, listening to music, athletics, chess, stamp collecting, painting and other things at different times. Playing guitar was just one of them.

I remember that I had my own way of practicing guitar playing. I always had my guitar on my bed waiting for me. I sat down on my bed many times everyday playing for a while and then starting to do other things.

Sometimes I felt inspired to play guitar for an hour or two and other times just for a minute. Did I have goals or not?

I know that I was developing as a guitarist quite fast and I think it must have been something in my way of playing and practicing guitar that was good.

I believe that some of the reasons for my progress during those early days of my learn to play guitar career were:

1. 
   I felt no pressure to become an accomplished guitarist. I just felt the joy of sitting down with my guitar trying to find out the treasuries in the land of music.
   
2. 
   My father was a guitar teacher giving me lessons at times and I always heard him play guitar in our home. Other guitarists visited our home many times and these visits inspired me a lot.
   
3. 
   I never felt a pressure to play fast and thereby building tensions by playing too fast. This is one of the big mistakes beginning guitarist and even accomplished guitarists sometimes make.
   
4. 
   As I mentioned previously I did a lot of other things besides playing guitar and I guess all these things I was involved in kept my mind quite healthy and helped me retain my joy when I learned to play guitar.
   

I guess in a sense I had goals that was not so apparent to me that directed me towards somewhere even if I was quite content being on the road of progress towards guitar land.

Can you learn something from my early guitar experiences? At least you can learn the following:

1. 
   When learning to play guitar always remember to enjoy the act of playing without thinking too much on what you can or cannot do as a guitarist.
   
2. 
   Try to associate with good musicians and guitarists that inspire you to play musically and that give you the motivation to learn to play new things on your guitar.
   
3. 
   Beware of playing too fast on your guitar. There is a risk of building up muscle tensions and thereby actually reducing your ability to play fast. A remedy for this and a way to tame yourself is to use a metronome at a low tempo to reduce your speed to a level where you can play your guitar in a relaxed manner.
   
4. 
   To become an interesting guitarist and musician you might benefit from being involved in other activities like listening to good music, having another hobby, reading good books, assiciate with other people and more.
   

Do you have to have goals to become a good guitarist? Well, even if you don't have learn to play guitar goals in the ordinary sense you can help yourself to play everyday by having easy access to your guitar.

I had my guitar on my bed. Maybe you want to have your guitar in your favorite armchair. I guess you understand the principle....


Author Resource:->  Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play guitar resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com/

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Learning the Guitar For Beginners - Some Tips To Learn The Guitar Fast

By: Carolyn Anderson

If you are just starting to learn the guitar, it is important to prepare yourself to commit a lot of patience and more time to focus on learning the instrument. Learning the guitar for beginners cannot be done in one day, although if you are well equipped with the determination to really learn, you will eventually learn it a lot quicker.

If you are interested to play like a rock star and have your hands swiftly running across the frets of the guitar, you have to start from the very basic - have your own guitar. Choosing the right guitar for you is important in speeding up your guitar lessons, thus you have to consider what type of music you really want to play with your guitar. If you want to learn to play rock with your guitar, you might want to start with the electric one.

However, you have to consider that although the strings in an electric guitar may be easier to press, the many buttons may make your learning complicated. When it comes to portability as well, electric guitars are not quite an appeal. If you want to learn to be more versatile of the types of music you want to play, you may want to start with an acoustic guitar. Learning with acoustic guitar can be a little difficult than an electric but starting with it makes you play better with the electric one.

• Learn the chords. It may be as easy as getting yourself a chord chart and following the finger placements of some basic chords. You may be overwhelmed with the many 'dots' in the chord chart but you can start with the simpler chords. The basic G-A-D-C-E are probably the simplest you can learn. You can also find songs that have these chords and practice shifting through them until you get to hear the melody. Also make sure to pick a song that you are familiar with.




• Learning how to strum. The next thing about learning the guitar for beginners is knowing how to strum the guitar. If you can master and memorize the chords and finger placements but you can't get the right timing and strumming, you may not be able to identify the song you are playing. Start by practicing some simple strumming patterns. You can also find some audio courses to guide you on the proper strumming so you will be guided as to how the strumming should sound.




• Learn how to read tabs. One of the best tips in learning the guitar fast and being able to play your favorite songs on the guitar is learning how to read tabs or tablatures. Although there are also flaws in this system, it is however one of the best ways to learn the guitar fast and share music with other guitarists. It may be too confusing to look at a guitar tab if it is your first time but once you get to understand its different notations, you will find out that it is easy to learn. Asking help with a friend who knows how to read tabs can be a great way to learn the tabs easily.




• Practice, practice and practice. The key to learning the guitar for beginners is building muscle memory that allows you to play a song even without looking down on your fingers. With lots of practice, you can learn to play your favorite songs in no time.

Author Resource:-> Carolyn Anderson is a freelance author who loves to play the acoustic guitar in her free time. For a fun and comprehensive guitar playing course, check out Jamorama. Also check out Riffmaster Pro, a software program to help you learn to play by ear.

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