Stronger Fingers for Guitar Playing

Guitar playing is one of the most popular ways to personally play and enjoy music.  The appeal of the guitar is mostly due to its presence in practically all popular and rock music recordings.  Furthermore, it is an instrument that is very portable and versatile enough for many kinds of songs and occasions, and is practical as an accompaniment to vocalists or other instruments.

Playing the guitar requires more than the requisite musical ability, dedication and practice.  A guitar player’s fingers must be dexterous and agile to allow quick single string or chord changes in rhythm or solo musical performances.  Those fingers also need to be tough and strong to be able to press the strings enough during quick changes to produce clean tones.
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Sheet Music or Tablature – Which is Best?

This is a question that is hotly contested among players of all levels. Some say that to play the guitar, you have to only read sheet music. Others say that to play the guitar, you can use only tablature. So which is best to learn and why? Let’s take a look at each one, and then you can decide for yourself.

Sheet music

Sheet music is the most comprehensive way to learn to play a SONG on the guitar or any instrument for that matter. This is because of the completeness of the piece of music. By that, I mean that all the features of the song are represented on the notation. Things like:

1. Note duration. Quarter (1 beat), half (2 beats) and whole notes (4 beats) are visually identifiable. The same with rests.

2. Key signature. Read the rest of this entry »

Getting to Know Guitar Tabs

In the simplest terms, a guitar tab is a word that is used to describe a musical notation, which may contain either numbers or letters and explains to the musician where to place his/her fingers on the instrument. Guitar tabs consist of multiple lines and is often called a ‘staff notation.’ These lines, which are present in guitar tabs, each represent one of the guitar strings.staff notation,

New musicians often find guitar tabs to be especially baffling in that the strings are written backwards. The highest string is found at the top of the guitar tabs, which is often difficult to learn since most people would expect that guitar tabs would be written from top to bottom instead of the other way around.

In actuality, guitar tabs are written from the highest to lowest and the numbers on each line represent the guitar fret. In order to understand guitar tabs, all new guitarists need to learn string placement and how to correctly read frets.

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Guitar Lessons And You

Guitar lessons are a great way to learn all of the techniques that you need to become an accomplished musician. Whether you like to perform for your friends, play for yourself, or aspire to be a well-known musician who travels the world to play in front of audiences, you can get the knowledge that you need from a good class.

Of course, the real challenge is in finding a class that will actually provide you with the information that you need for your skill level and musical interests. There is quality information out there, but you need to be really careful while trying to find it. Many programs mean well, but they can actually cause frustration and technical setbacks. Simply put, you need lessons that are high quality and from a respectable source. Read the rest of this entry »

Practical Guide to Practice Changing Chords

How quickly can your fretting hand switch from one chord to another?  The speed and confidence you have in making chord changes will be key to further mastering the guitar and successfully playing and creating music for the instrument.

The key to learning any instrument, like most intricate human activity, is to develop brain and muscle coordination, more commonly called, muscle memory needed to play the instrument.  If you picture a basketball player, for instance, the key to a good shooting performance is the proper hand-to-eye coordination in order to bring the ball up, prepare, aim, and throw it towards the hoop.  The different muscles of the arms, wrist and hands will learn the right movements and strength needed to score.  Constant practice will condition the brain, eyes, and entire body to know the routine of shooting the ball.

This is similar to guitar playing.  The muscles involved would be the arms, wrists and the fingers, with the eyes, ears and brain working in unison to relate the movements to the music being read and the notes produced by the guitar.  This is the mechanism that works when a guitar player starts to change chords.
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