Looking at all of the instruments today, not many are as popular as the guitar is. In fact, a huge portion of absolute beginners goes with the guitar. Be it electric or acoustic, the instrument is accessible, engaging, and very expressive. Besides, guitar players are automatically more awesome than anyone else. And today’s topic is – how to play guitar fast!
So, it’s really never that simple. Sure, the guitar might be attractive, but beginners usually have a hard time figuring it out. Even with lessons and daily practice sessions, it takes a lot of time to cover some of the basics. For instance, an instrument like the piano is “laid out” and kind of like an open book. But when a beginner sees the fretboard, they usually have a hard time wrapping their mind around it.
Nonetheless, this still doesn’t affect the instrument’s popularity. But to make things easier for you, we’ve come up with a brief guide with simple steps that will help you speed up the process of learning how to play the guitar. These are all pretty easy steps, but they can help you a lot if you’re patient and take your time to do them.
YouTube Is Your Biggest Ally
At this point, we all know how much useful stuff we can learn through YouTube. No matter the topic, you’ll find all that you need there. This also goes for pretty much any musical instrument, especially the guitar. In fact, there are countless education guitar-playing channels out there, mostly led by individual content creators.
Of course, there’s a lot of stuff to filter. But luckily, the algorithm mostly shows some pretty great and already established YouTube guitar teachers. Whenever there’s a thing that you don’t get or that you’re stuck with, there’s a high chance you’ll find someone on YouTube detailing it.
Don’t Be Afraid to Explore the Entire Fretboard
As mentioned, one of the most confusing things about the guitar is the fretboard. In fact, some may get scared of the instrument, thinking that they won’t ever figure it out. After all, you need to press the strings with one hand and then pluck them with another. Difficult, right?
Well, kind of, but it’s far from an impossible task to learn how to do it. With that said, you should start learning about the fretboard and the distribution of notes as soon as possible. Additionally, in your spare time, feel free to play in all areas of the fretboard and try to randomly guess notes. Through this playful and casual approach, you’ll start learning more about the instrument.
Learning Apps
These days, nothing can replace a great learning app, no matter what you’re trying to learn. The abundance of guitar-oriented apps these days is astounding. There’s even some useful educational stuff that can help you learn basic techniques, music theory, and entire songs.
Of course, none of these apps will be able to replace conventional one-on-one lessons with an experienced teacher. However, they are a fun, engaging, and efficient way for you to learn some of the basics with ease. Whether we’re talking about tablatures and chord diagrams or a collection of focused lessons, you’ll be able to find stuff that will help you on becoming a great guitar player.
Tablatures and Chord Charts
While we’re at it, we live in a time where tablatures for almost any song ever are available on vast online databases. Back in the old days, there were only two ways for you to learn new songs. You could either try and learn them by ear, which can be extremely difficult, or you could find someone who already did that. Additionally, a lot of the tablature and chord books had a lot of wrong info.
These days, you have countless online users submitting and correcting tablatures and chord charts. As a result, a beginner gets a chance to quickly boost their skills and broaden up their repertoire. “Fast forwarding” your way into the world of the guitar can be extremely gratifying. By learning to play the songs that you love in the matter days, you’ll only be motivated to learn and practice more.
Want to Learn How to Play Fast? Take It Slow!
Almost all young and enthusiastic guitar players want to learn how to play fast. While that’s definitely one of the most attractive things about playing the guitar, bear in mind that it takes years to do it properly. There’s no way to “hack” your progress other than to practice a lot.
But here’s a little paradox. In order to become a fast-playing shred master, you’ll need to take it slow. Firstly, anything that you’re trying to learn how to play has to be slow and it has to sound clean. Take your time, play everything properly, and you’ll actually see more progress compared to pushing the speed.
Metronome, Metronome, Metronome
With that said, metronome should be your most trusted ally in this endeavor. Sure, it’s probably the most boring thing imaginable to you at this point. But the sooner you get used to practicing with a metronome, the sooner you’ll become a great guitar player.
As mentioned, there are no shortcuts to becoming a skilled guitarist. However, by using a metronome, you’ll not only progress much faster, but you’ll also be getting a hold of timing and groove.
Additionally, try to keep the tempo at lower levels first. It may feel discouraging and just outright boring. But as time goes by, you’ll notice some real progress. With enough practice, you’ll be able to play things at the desired tempo and without hitting any wrong notes.
Be Consistent and Practice Every Day
No matter what you do, one of the most important keys to success is consistency. Practice and play daily, even if it’s just a shorter session. Set your goals and work on them every day. Slow and steady progress is much better than practicing a lot for several days, only to get sick of the instrument and take a long break from it. We hope this article was helpful on the subject of how to play guitar fast. If you want to learn more, check out the Rock Out Loud guitar lessons here.
