What one piece of advice...

[Crusoe]

Would you offer to someone starting to play guitar? Whilst I've had a guitar for about 20 years, I never got beyond strumming a few chords and playing very simple songs,jntil I got an electric guitar a year ago. I've struggled with fast position and chord changes until I remembered something from karate training. Relax. If you are tense you can't move quickly. If my arms and hands are tense I find it difficult to pick and change hand position. 

[Dad3353]

2 hours ago, Crusoe said:

Would you offer to someone starting to play guitar? Whilst I've had a guitar for about 20 years, I never got beyond strumming a few chords and playing very simple songs,jntil I got an electric guitar a year ago. I've struggled with fast position and chord changes until I remembered something from karate training. Relax. If you are tense you can't move quickly. If my arms and hands are tense I find it difficult to pick and change hand position. 

 

You mention 'fast position and chord changes'. My single piece of advice would be to solve this issue by doing things slowly. Slow is the new fast. Slow is the fastest way to do fast. Whatever it is you're wanting to do, do it slowly, preferably with a metronome, or whatever you use for tempo, but set it to slow. Do whatever it is you are wanting to do, slowly, for a while (two, three weeks..? Every day, for ten-fifteen minutes..? Slowly..!). Once it can be done, slowly, well, up the tempo a little. No, just a little (60 bpm becomes 65 bpm, for example...) do this, regularly, for another 'while', and once you've become proficient at it, up the tempo a tad more (65 becomes 70..?). Repeat; if, after a 'while' it's still not smooth, clean, easy, go back down a tad with the tempo and repeat. It is useful, and recommended, to start from the original 'slow' tempo now and again, for a day or so, working back up to one's current tempo, as a refresher. Always with the metronome, or whatever you use for tempo. This is the way to obtain whatever speed one wants, and is the guaranteed fastest way.
Is there a downside..? Yes, it requires a large bucketful of Patience. Those without this essential accessory will not achieve their goal, so be sure to have that bucket, and keep it well topped up. It is of no advantage to do this for hours on end, nor too many times a day, but if time permits, a couple or three sessions of 10-15 minutes (no more...) may be permitted. The key is in the regularity (every day...), in the keeping the tempo slow (hence the metronome or equivalent...) and the Patience.

It cannot, and never does, fail. 

 

Douglas

[Soledad]

100% agree with @Dad3353. Slow with metronome will show you almost immediately where smooth transitions on beat are falling over. It allows you to examine hand and finger movement and work on the harder transitions that are breaking the rhythmic flow.

Use the 'slow gets you fast' approach to look at economy of movement - how far you lift fingers, pivot fingers that stay on that string and act as the reference for the other fingers to find their way... etc. Same with picking hand - developing economy picking (least possible movement) or the same principle if finger picking.

Even if you aren't chasing blistering speed (I don't) the slow to fast approach is golden. Had it hammered into me many years ago studying flamenco. If you can't play it really well slow, you'll never ever play it well fast.

[randythoades]

Also agree totally with @Dad3353. I did get frustrated with my playing at the beginning and went to a tutor. We did everything really slowly and then gradually built up speed a couple of bpm at a time.

To repeat the other comments:

Do each exercise for 10 minutes and knock the bpm up about 5 times over that period. Next day drop the bpm back a couple (but about half way to where you had started yesterday). Suddenly feels easy at that tempo. Slow and regular wins the day.

[Crusoe]

Yeah, I do the slow start and build my speed up thing. I suppose I should clarify that what I meant was, even with parts that I can play, if I am too tense, I will have more trouble playing them. My playing won't be as fluid.

[Dad3353]

3 hours ago, Crusoe said:

Yeah, I do the slow start and build my speed up thing. I suppose I should clarify that what I meant was, even with parts that I can play, if I am too tense, I will have more trouble playing them. My playing won't be as fluid.

 

There is little in the guitar world for these issues; they are physiological and mental. There is help, however, in breathing exercises, for relaxation, yoga, for same, and wellness stuff such as thinking hard about coffee, smoking and/or alcohol consumption. Short sessions, with a complete break between (pop out for a stroll or a run between sessions..?), Use a warm-up routine, every time. Vary the exercises, so as not to concentrate on any one thing for too long. For longer pieces, break it down into shorter sections, and learn/practice them starting from the end. Once the end section is perfect (and not before...) learn/practice the preceding section, and continue through to the end, which is now familiar territory. Once these two sections are perfect (and not before...) work on the preceding section, play through to the end (already familiar...) etc. Every time, you're playing into sections that are already well rehearsed, and so relaxation, comfort and confidence are assured. The sections can be as short as you wish (Four bars..? A whole phrase..? Half a page, or a whole one..?); it depends on the piece, but small is OK.
Hope some of this helps. 

 

Douglas

[LionAquaLooper]

Exactly right.  It's not just isolated to karate or any martial arts.  Any kind of sport/activity that requires dexterity and speed, the more tense your muscles are, the less effective you'll be.  I play golf and in the beginning I thought to hit the ball far, I have to "grip it and rip it".  I was shocked to my core when my teacher told me to relax and swing easy.  More consistent, and I hit it as far or even further.  With guitar playing, the only tense part of my fretting hand are the fingers (when I'm barring chords).  But forearm and wrist are loose.  It's why I have the guitar up higher than some.  Having the guitar too low when I'm standing up just tenses up my whole left arm from the elbow down.  

[ReneAsologuitar]

On 05/03/2023 at 16:27, Crusoe said:

Would you offer to someone starting to play guitar? Whilst I've had a guitar for about 20 years, I never got beyond strumming a few chords and playing very simple songs,jntil I got an electric guitar a year ago. I've struggled with fast position and chord changes until I remembered something from karate training. Relax. If you are tense you can't move quickly. If my arms and hands are tense I find it difficult to pick and change hand position. 

You are absolutely correct, relax!

Sing, while you are playing.

Get your chords to ring out ok, then have a simple chord progression going, slow at first, then up the speed of the chord changes little by little.

Have fun.  Sing while you play!!!

 

[knirirr]

On 07/03/2023 at 16:07, LionAquaLooper said:

Exactly right.  It's not just isolated to karate or any martial arts.  Any kind of sport/activity that requires dexterity and speed, the more tense your muscles are, the less effective you'll be. 

Indeed! My fencing students groan at hearing the phrase “slow is smooth and smooth is fast” over and over again, but tense muscles and rushing will never give them good point control and quick ripostes. 
 

At the moment I’m at the stage of trying to (re-) learn how to change chord shapes, and the method mentioned above (slow, frequent practice, with a metronome) is necessary. 

Edited May 19, 2023 by knirirr

[gle]

My number one piece of advice would be to keep on practicing daily, e.g. do at least a little on technical exercises as a warm up and then something you enjoy.  Also the progress may sometimes feel slow, but will come eventually, it is just practice and repetition.  

[Kiwi]

Control is more important than speed. Slow at first is always best, only play as fast as your ability to maintain control.  Goes pretty much for any instrument really, not just guitar.  Also, don't push yourself to complete two hours worth of learning in two hours.  Six sessions of twenty minutes over a longer period of time is likely to be far more productive because it allows you time to absorb the learning to a much greater depth and that means you'll be less likely to forget it.

[gle]

For speed imo it is a mixture of breaking things into smaller chunks to play fast and challenge coordination at speed, taking breaks each time, but also playing slow again and again to get the lick into muscle memory without the left hand getting tired.

[icarusi]

I wanted to play bass, but couldn't get my folks to buy me one, so while I was saving up to get a bass, I used my sister's acoustic guitar to work out bass lines. As a side line, I worked out some chord shapes by ear, the major, minor and dom7 on the top 4 strings. Eventually I bought a chord book, so I could extend what I was already using to full barre versions. I didn't use much of the 1st position 'campfire chords' because I was learning tunes from the record, and barre chords were easier to use for that. It was all early Stones, and similar bands, 12 bars Cuck Berry style. It wasn't until the Yardbirds, with Clapton & Beck, that I wanted to play solos etc. The there was the problem of getting the Clapton/Beck sounds with no info on how. ATT I was playing bass, acoustic guitar & blues harp, but manged to buy solid guitar and got the sound by using the banjo 1st trick, and plugging into the mic socket of a valve tape recorder.

 

From my experience I'd tend to recommend trying a short scale (30") bass first (if you can find one!). I think guitars are relatively hard to start with. With bass you only need to finger one note at a time, the lines can be be simpler but stiff effective and you can probably join a band quicker than getting proficient on guitar. Obviously if you're looking for singing accompaniment, or solo line guitar then bass is less useful, but I think it's a good option, especially if you don't progress well on guitar.

[EdwardMarlowe]

I can think of a few. 

1] If you're left-handed, buy a left handed guitar. DON'T listen to that (inevitably right handed) guy who gives you a load of guff about "the guitar isn't handed" or who tells you "you'll be better off with your dominant hand on the fretboard (id that were true, *he'd* - and it's ALWAYS a 'he' - be playing with his right hand on the fretboard).

2] Learn full songs. Even if it's only basic open chords. It's far more fun to play full songs with other people than it is to show off dozens of intros to famous songs and bits of solos you've learned. 

3] Get lessons (I never have, and I regret that - plan to do something about it in the next year.) While it's cute to be able to say you're "entirely self-taught!", the vast majority of us will progress faster with some good guidance as well as the practice. 

4] Play what you enjoy playing. Don't sit there feeling inferior to the guy doing all the shred workouts because you can't. Sure, you could learn, but do you want to? I'd love to have the level of skill Steve Vai does, for example, but it's not stuff I personally get any joy from listening to, and it would be a chore. (I'm thinking of years of taking piano lessons because middle class, at a time when I had zero interest in piano based music... I never put the work in and just didn't really get into it. Would have been better on guitar all that time.) If you like Link Wray or Johnny Ramone, learn to play in that vein and make it your own. It's not to say that I think there's nothing to learn from being open to something outside your normal parameters, just that, well.. music isn't a competition, and being able to play one genre isn't qualitatively better than another if that's what you enjoy. Johnny Ramone forged an entire career from the root 6th barre chord, and not many players (other than Daniel Rey, ha!) have excited me as much with their sound on a primal level. 

5] Listen to music, not instruments. I honestly think the people I've encountered who were the best guitarists were those who didn't limit themselves to only listening to guitar music. (This doesn't conflict with #4 , that's about being who you are, this is about appreciating who other musicians are. And finding inspiration in the oddest of places sometimes: that piano riff that makes Elvis Costello's Oliver's Army so melodically compelling was inspired directly by Dancing Queen by Abba - Lemmy's favourite band.). 

When it comes to equipment...

 

 1] Buy quality not brand. Don't assume that the bigger brands are always best, equally don't assume that they have to be overpriced. When I started out, I doubt I could have much told you the difference between a Squier and a US Fender, much less an Epiphone and a Gibson in a blind test (and those differences were a bit starker back then). In time, I could - and lusted after all the high end stuff. I've now reached the sweet spot where I can tell all the differences, and I'm a lot more confident about the point along the track of the law of diminishing returns at which I jump off the train. I no longer feel I *have* to spend as much as I possibly can, and I'm a lot more confident about assessing a guitar, knowing it's foibles and what the next price rung up will get me, and being happy about my own choice when I decide that I don't want / need / consider that "more" to be either worth the extra or necessary to me. A real Eureka moment for me was realising that I actually prefer the specs of Fender's Mexico lines (at least much below a level of cost in the US models that just isn't worth it to me as a hobby player - were I a pro, that might be different). I think this is something that just comes with experience (to judge an instrument on its own merits confidently, instead of the security of it being "reassuringly expensive", though I also believe that with the right mindset you can get there a lot faster. A psychological breakthrough with this came for me when I started to think of guitars in the same way as I would clothes, or a car... Sure a Rolls would be nice, but a Morris Minor is more me - and cheaper to buy, insure, feed, less likely to get keyed by some class warrior down the supermarket carpark.... and still does everything I need it to. I also no longer buy flagship mobile phones.... I think what I'm emphasising here is the importance of knowing your own needs as a player, and being realistic about what point at which those are met, and what's just spending more money... 

I should note, I'm' not against spending more money if you have it, aren't going into hock for it and want the pricier guitar - just buy it knowing it's a luxury, not a necessity. And yes, there is a value in buying a "dream guitar" if it really will make you want to play more and enjoy it more. 

2] Not judging a guitar by country of origin is another one - though I think that's also helped by the fact that I've never really felt a great need to buy a guitar "made here", and when you're not in the US, a US guitar is just another import the same as one made in China or Korea or Germany, all other things being equal. 

 

[Dad3353]

36 minutes ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

I can think of a few. 

1] If you're left-handed, buy a left handed guitar. ...

 

If I may, could I add a corollary, to at least try a 'righty' instrument first. I'm 'righty'; my first guitars were. When a younger brother (a full-fat 'lefty' ...) picked mine up, he became, very quickly, very much better than I with it. No preconceptions (we knew no better back then, early '60s...); he just made it his own way of playing. We are all different; there is no rule.
I'm a drummer, and started playing a 'righty' kit. After a coupe of years, I tried the experiment of turning it around to 'lefty' (hi-hat on my right etc...) and never looked back. All my kits are set up as 'lefty' since then; I made a career of playing that way round. There is no rule. I needn't go into notions of 'lefty' saxophones or pianos etc. Try it, try it all, and go with whatever fits you best, from all points of view.
Just my tuppence-worth. 

[EdwardMarlowe]

3 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

If I may, could I add a corollary, to at least try a 'righty' instrument first. I'm 'righty'; my first guitars were. When a younger brother (a full-fat 'lefty' ...) picked mine up, he became, very quickly, very much better than I with it. No preconceptions (we knew no better back then, early '60s...); he just made it his own way of playing. We are all different; there is no rule.
I'm a drummer, and started playing a 'righty' kit. After a coupe of years, I tried the experiment of turning it around to 'lefty' (hi-hat on my right etc...) and never looked back. All my kits are set up as 'lefty' since then; I made a career of playing that way round. There is no rule. I needn't go into notions of 'lefty' saxophones or pianos etc. Try it, try it all, and go with whatever fits you best, from all points of view.
Just my tuppence-worth. 

Yes, I think that's fair. Not all left handers are fully on the left end of the spectrum - there are those for whom it is natural to play a guitar right handed. I'm like that with scissors, oddly enough - but very definitely not guitar.