22 Mar Practicing the guitar, effectively
Beginner guitarists
As a beginner, an effective guitar practice in a shorter amount of time is better than a guitar practice session over a longer period of time.
Most beginner guitarists have a half hour guitar lesson every week. Fairly quickly, you’ll be able to practice for about 20 mins 3x a week.
From the very beginning, you should be given a mixture of chords and scales to build different types co-ordination and build finger dexterity / independence.
Practice the chords to a metronome. Get used to strumming on a beat at 40 bpm and change between the chords whilst getting used to manoeuvring from and to.
Practicing guitar efficiently
Depending on the type of students, practice routines will vary according to time availability.
When you’re an adult and you’ve decided to start or re start your guitar journey, when to practice the guitar can sometimes be a challenge.
Once you’re able to master the basic open chord shapes by strumming and transitioning in time and perform the 12 bar blues sequences without hesitations, it’s time to move on to a tune.
Intermediate guitar players are famous for knowing intros or parts of a song. It’s worth getting used to learning the entire track because similar guitar challenges will occur in other tunes.
The second half of any song is usually a similar structure to the first half too.
Chord charts & songs for beginners
When practicing the guitar think about which fingers need to move the quickest over the most distance first.
Luckily, you can purchase guitar chord charts here at MKGT which are clear and beginner friendly.
For example if you’re playing a riff that involves a chord transition from G Major to D Major, finger three doesn’t move, but fingers 1 & 2 have the furthest to manoeuvre on to guitar stings 3 & 1, fret 2.
It’s usually the changes or transitions within the riffs which catch beginners out.
Practicing chord changes & riff transitions
For example, you can play the riff which is based around the ‘A’ chord, but can you transition from the riff to other chord shapes smoothly?
Whether a chord transition or a transition from’ riff’ a to ‘riff b’We’ll need to slow down the tempo and practice the transitions from ‘Section A’, to ‘Section B’.
Start at 40bpm and work your way up to the tune’s speed or about 100bpm. Remember, 60 bpm (beats per minute) is 60 seconds in a minute.