Articles

What not to do when learning to play guitar

Often times we want to do something so bad that we'll try to find the shortest possible way to achieving what it is that we want to do.

Most guitarists hear their favorite guitar players and have this idea that by teaching themselves or going to the nearest guitar teacher will get them playing like their hero's. Some guitarists use the internet, full of free guitar lessons from thousands of people all over the world.

Truth is, most guitarists who try to teach themselves, who take lessons from ineffective and inexperienced guitar teachers or who use the internet end up making little or no progress. They are left stuck, frustrated and discouraged about their guitar playing.

All three of the above mentioned routes are ineffective ways to learning to play guitar.

1. Teaching yourself.
This is probably the slowest way to learn to play guitar. I know, I spent many years trying to teach myself and like the many guitarists who choose this route, ended up getting nowhere. Teaching yourself to play guitar is an impossible task even if you have all the right books and DVD's, and even if you're completely disciplined and motivated, they simply don't work.

2. Using the internet or using inexperienced guitar teachers.
The same applies to these two approaches, they both will teach you a thing or two about playing guitar and will certainly supply you with a lot of information. The problem is that in using these methods, you could and most probably will end up frustrated due to not being taught and guided through the step by step processes
that are needed to achieve your goals as a guitar player.

"Wayde tutors both my teenage son and I and I must say, it's really been fun learning to play guitar with Wayde. We were both absolute beginners to start off with, but through Wayde's patient and versatile teaching style, what I thought was a daunting task, has now become an achievable goal. Wayde applies a teaching style that suits the individual requirements of his students and adapts the pace according to the rate of progress made by his students. I can now recognize and play most of the basic chords, a few songs and riffs, and, in addition, Wayde has also ensured that I have a basic understanding of the theory of how music scales work and how chords are made up from different music notes. Wayde also encourages the necessary self effort between lessons and provides practice notes and literature where appropriate.I would certainly recommend Wayde as a guitar tutor to anyone wishing to learn to play guitar - he's an excellent tutor (....and plays a mean guitar himself....) so give him a call now and you'll never look back.

Cheers
Malcolm Maxwell

Getting The Most Out Of Your Practise

Like everything in life, practise is needed to become an able guitar player. One of the most important factors of learning to play guitar that many, if not most guitarists neglect, is to practise to a set of goals. What’s more, some guitarists do have their goals in place but still make no progress. Why is this? Well, the answer is simple. It is because the goals they have set for themselves are unrealistic and are therefore impossible to reach.

As a guitarist, you need to carefully lay down realistic and attainable goals for yourself, you then need to have a practice strategy for you to use everyday in order to reach these goals.

Here are a few tips on how to practise playing guitar.

1.       Stretching and Warming Up Exercises

You need to make sure your body is completely relaxed when practicing playing guitar.

Any tension in your body will cause you to make slower progress. Take a few minutes to stretch your back, arms and neck before you sit down to practice playing your guitar. Now don’t over do it, you don’t want to hurt yourself. Then do a few warm up exercises to loosen up your fingers, you’re now ready to start playing. While you are practicing, try to be conscious of any tension in your body and work on relaxing it.

Go to my downloads page and download the "Warm up exercises 1" file. This is a Guitar Pro file so please ensure you have Guitar Pro installed on your computer.

2.       Time Division

If you had only one hour a day to practice, it would be a good idea to divide that hour into smaller sections and to use these smaller sections to practice one thing at a time.

Here is an example of how a lead guitarist might use his hour.

·         10 minutes - Stretching and warming up.

·         15 minutes - Scales (picking) and arpeggio’s

·         5 minutes - Rest. It is a good idea to rest your fingers often during practice and general playing as to avoid muscle fatigue or injury.

·         15 minutes - Scales (Legato) and tapping phrases.

·         15 minutes – Application. Putting what has been practiced into play over backing tracks.

3.       Metronome

Practicing to a metronome is of utmost importance and will ensure that you play in perfect time and that what you play makes sense, musically.

All of the examples I mentioned above are practiced with a metronome. Start off on a slow click and gradually increase the speed.

How do you know when to increase the speed? Make sure that what you are playing/practicing can be done effortlessly at the current speed or click of the metronome. Once you are happy, increase the metronome speed by 10 – 15 bpm (beats per minute)and work on playing/practicing at your new speed until you can do it without effort.

4.       Discipline

The most important factor in becoming a great guitar player is to be disciplined. Take your time and practice slowly, one thing at a time. Practice everyday and follow your goals until you have reached them and then, and only then, move forward.

This is what your guitar hero’s have done and it has paid off.

"Playing the guitar was something that I have been wanting to do for many, many years. I decided in mid 2009 (aged 31!!) to stop procrastinating and Just Do It. I count myself incredibly lucky that the first person I contacted was Wayde as I couldn’t wish for a more talented, patient and understanding teacher. The lessons progress at a pace that suits me - I work fulltime and have a very demanding job and Wayde is completely flexible and understanding of this. My weekly guitar lesson has quickly become a favourite part of my week, especially because Wayde quickly grasped the chords, sounds and songs that I love and has incorporated these into my lessons. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Wayde to anyone wanting to learn the guitar. "

Jo Mitchell

To be able to play the guitar well is one thing, but to be able to use your newfound skill and knowledge in a song writing and/or band context is quite another. I have had the honour and pleasure of working with Wayde as a session musician and band member for the past 7 months. Not only can he play virtually any style of music well, but is an exceptionally creative musician and writes very creative rhythm and lead guitar parts, blending the two into one seamless whole. His rhythm work is truly outstanding – from hard riffing to sensitive classical finger picked pieces to strummed harmonies; switching to jaw dropping shred and/or melodic lead guitar playing without missing a beat. All done with incredible feel and taste. His patience, dedication, attention to detail, discipline, exceptional work ethic and his outstanding character and humility make him a pleasure to work with. I cannot recommend him highly enough for session work or to help young and established bands; be they a classic rock, hard rock, metal, nu-metal, blues, folk, etc. outfit hone their song writing and guitar playing skills.

Gerhard Deetlefs