Want to take your guitar-playing to the next level? Here are some simple tips for next level guitar playing:
Treat your hands and body with care — Don’t play until your fingers are raw and bleeding. Practice hard, but stop when you start to feel pain. Take care of your shoulders, back, and arms by doing regular exercise. Correct your posture so that you are comfortable when playing the guitar.
Be mindful in your practice — Don’t practice just to get the time “over with”, but practice to learn something new and make progress.
Break it down — Instead of trying to practice for hours on end, set aside smaller chunks of time throughout the day. Fill each of those sessions with “lessons”, things to learn and master quickly–a single scale, a strumming patter, a chord sequence, or a few bars of picking. Get in, practice hard with the time you have, and get out. This works to keep your attention focused on your music.
Challenge yourself — If you never push yourself, you’ll never make progress! To encourage yourself that you’re growing and improving as a guitarist, try something more difficult. For example, the beautifully simple piece “Study in E Minor” by Francisco Tarrega is a beginning Spanish guitar piece that will put your skills to the test, but will be fairly easy to learn.
Eliminate mistakes before moving on — If you don’t correct mistakes in your playing or technique, they will become a bad habit. Bad habits are much harder to correct weeks, months, or years down the line, so eliminate them now before they ruin your playing.
Warm up before practicing — Don’t get into the “heavy lifting” right away, but take a few minutes to warm up your fingers with some basic scales, chords, or songs. Start out slow to let your body get into the groove of your playing, and you’ll find your fingers are much more agile during practice.
Here´s a cool WARMING UP EXERCISE FOR GUITAR
Sit up — Your posture can make or break your playing! Crane your neck, hunch your shoulders, and twist your head, and you’ll end up slowing down due to pain. Sit straight, and your playing will be much better.
Don’t try to be the best — As a beginner, you’re nowhere near the level of the masters, so don’t try! Focus on playing beautiful music, mastering the skills, and learning guitar theory. You’ll be able to work toward speed and clever playing later on down the line.
I also want to recommend you a great guitar course in DVD:
