| By :
Joe Maldonado
Copyright (c) 2011 Joe Maldonado Are you ready to learn how to play a guitar? That's great! All it takes is a decent guitar and some real dedication. There are some people who think you have to be very young to learn how to play the guitar, but this is nonsense. You can learn and effectively absorb guitar lessons at any age, as long as you have the genuine drive to do it. Just remember to be patient with yourself, as no one can become an expert overnight. It will be necessary at some point that you can figure out how to sing. Being tone deaf is a problem, as you will need the ability to recognize certain tones and sounds on your guitar. You can't effectively learn how to play a guitar unless you can get it in tune and keep it there, so it is necessary to be able to recognize the notes. Try to train your ears a bit to really hone in on the sounds of your guitar. If you can practice singing and the rhythm involved, you will also get better at plucking and strumming your guitar. Try to practice singing a little bit every day until you are able to at least stay in tune. It isn't necessary to sing like a bird, you just have to be able to get your voice in tune. Of course you need to know how to read the guitar chords, but the next natural step is going to be getting the hang of strumming. Pay particular attention to the up and down strokes that you make, as they are a big part of the sound. It could be a little while before you are actually able to perfect strumming, but don't get frustrated as it's all part of learning how to play a guitar. Make sure that you have a pick for strumming, and keep your fingernails trimmed. You especially need to cut down your fingernails on the hand you use for the fret board. You will find that if you use a pick you will have more powerful strumming than you would if you used just your fingers. Don't try to sing along when you are first getting the hang of strumming, just focus on the music itself. Listen for what strokes are going upward and which ones are going downward in a particular song and try to emulate it. It won't be long before you can get the strumming to sound like the original song. It helps a lot if you can observe other people playing live. You can go watch shows at bars or any place where people will be playing guitar. Watch how the other people hold their guitar and how they strum it. Watch how they progress from one chord to another, and you may be able to catch on to some chords that you would like to use. Once you have dedicated sufficient time to practicing, you will start to notice your own progression and this will be quite satisfying. Learning how to play a guitar is something that you can be proud of, and it's also a lot of fun!
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