How To Change Bad Habits In Playing The Guitar

In the course of learning to play the guitar, many people develop bad habits which are disturbing and inappropriate to people. These bad habits are easy to overcome once the person realizes that he has them and becomes familiar with the proper way to play the guitar. Here are some easy steps to follow that will help overcome those bad habits.

1. The person must realize his weak points. This will help him easily identify the habits that are causing him difficulties when learning to play the guitar.

2. It is suggested that the person stop playing the songs or music where his bad practices usually show up. One suggestion is to go back to the basics of playing the guitar. It may take months to remove the bad habits but by practicing the correct way, the person will be able to overcome them.

3. Once realizing the bad habits that were developed, the next step is to analyze how he got to that point. It will help him analyze what he was doing improperly that led to acquisition of the bad habits.

5. The person should take a step to reverse the bad habits and one way to do this is to analyze the reason he developed the habits in the first place. Once he becomes aware of the bad habits, he can perform alternative behavior to replace the bad habits and go back to the basic enjoyment of playing the guitar.

6. The person needs to make sure that he performs the alternative behavior whenever he plays the guitar. It is important that the behavior is effective so that he will not be tempted to go back to the bad habits.

The person should be consistent in doing these steps to overcome the habits and before he knows it, he has rid himself of those habits. He can then go back to the usual music he used to play and he will see that all the bad habits are gone.

Changing bad habits into good ones is not as hard as it may seem. It does require patience and perseverance to be able to get rid of them and learn the proper way to play the guitar. Guitar players should learn to play with the correct techniques and strategies so that they will not develop these bad habits.

4 Easy Ways to Learn Guitar

With the increasing popularity of rock music during the last few decades, playing the guitar has become very appealing for many people. While there are many teenagers out there who dream of becoming rock superstars, there are also many people that want to learn how to play the guitar just for the sake of it. However, many of them don't find the best way to learn guitar and after a few unsuccessful attempts, they finally give up.

Different people have different learning needs. In addition, we also have different resources, different jobs, different errands to run and different schedules. If you're not at the level you want, maybe it's because you haven't found the best way to learn guitar yet. There are several ways to learn how to play the guitar. Listed below are only a few of them.

Theory Books

There are thousands of theory books on the market that teach you how to play the guitar. Some of them are even very good and can provide you with all the information you need. Books are an inexpensive and comfortable strategy to learn how to play the guitar. Unfortunately, experience shows that for many of us they just don't work. However, if you are a very patient person, a theory book might be the best way to learn guitar.

Video Lessons

Video Guitar Lessons are available on DVDs and video tapes in almost any music store, as well as on virtual shops. In addition, there are also some video lessons available online. Some of them are even free. Video lessons are more dynamic and have a better chance of keeping you focused. They have the advantage of allowing you to practice at home whenever you find the time to do it. However, the inconvenience is that you can't benefit from the personalized attention and useful feedback a teacher could provide.

Private Lessons

If you are willing to dedicate a lot of time as well as some money to this, private lessons are definitely the best way to learn guitar. A good teacher can design a customized teaching program to suit your learning style and provide you with individualized attention and positive feedback to get you motivated. In addition, he/she can also spot and correct your mistakes very fast.

Learning by Ear

Learning the guitar by ear can be very fun, especially if you have some sort of musical bone in your body, and that bone is humming with lots of vibration, you might find that this is the best way to learn guitar for you. With the modern slowing down technology, it is much easier now than it used to be for our parents' generation.

You should always keep in mind that playing the guitar should be fun. If you find it difficult or stressing, your learning strategy might have a lot to do with it. Sometimes you need to try several learning methods before finding the one that works best for you. However, if you really want to play the guitar like a pro and have enough time and money, taking up private lessons is probably the best way to go

Chord Progressions

Chord progressions are the basis of playing guitar. They set a basic foundation of rhythm. The first thing you must do is find a key which you would like to work in. Let's take the key of C for example. The notes in the C Major Scale are C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Now take the degrees of these notes and write them out.

I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII
C	D	E	F	G	A	B

Important: Certain Degrees are minor and certain degrees are major.

How we get the chords for a certain key:

• Take the major scale of a certain key (example: C major scale for the key of C -- shown above)
• Look at the Chords for the I degree, Now form those chords from the I note, which is C
• You get C Major and C Major 7 notice that the notes of these chords are in the C major scale
• You can use other chords but the ones I will show are the basic ones. I did this to simplify things
• Now notice that the II degree uses Minor and Minor 7 chords. But this time, instead of using C we use D to start the chord because it is the II degree of the major scale. So we can use D Minor, and D Minor 7 with the key of C. (Remember to go to the D Major Scale to find the D Minor and D Minor 7 chords).
• You can continue down the chart to find all of the chords.
• You might want to write them down too.

I	Major	Ionian (Major Scale)	Major, Major 7
II	Minor	Dorian	Minor, Minor 7
III	Minor	Phrygian	Minor, Minor 7
IV	Major	Lydian	Major, Major 7
V	Major	Mixolydian	Major, Dominant 7, Dominant 9
VI	Minor	Aeolian (Natural Minor Scale)	Minor, Minor 7
VII	Minor	Locrian	Diminished, Minor 7b5

Using these Chords:
There are some standard Chord Progressions. Such as a Blues Progression --> I - IV - V
Try playing C major, F major, then G major chord together.
Now try playing a I - III - IV - V progression using C major, E minor, Fmajor, G major.
Notice that the III was an E minor chord because the III degree is minor.
Try making up your own progressions. Have fun with it. but
Remember: I, IV, V are Major and II, III, VI, VII are Minor

These all sound good because they're in the same key. They're in the same key (C) because all of the chords that you went down the list with earlier use the same 7 notes which are the notes of the C major scale.

Here is a chart that shows the chords that can be used to represent each degree and still use only scale tones.

	I	II	III	IV	V	VI	VII
Regular	Major	Minor	Minor	Major	Major	Minor	Diminished
Sixth	Major 6	Minor 6		Major 6	Major 6
Seventh	Major 7	Minor 7	Minor 7	Major 7	Dominant 7	Minor 7	Minor 7 b5
Ninth	Major 9	Minor 9		Major 9	Dominant 9	Minor 9
Eleventh		Minor 11	Minor 11	Major 7 #11	Dominant 11	Minor 11	Minor 11 b5
Thirteenth		Minor 13			Dominant 13

Guitar Capo

A guitar capo is a clamp that you stick on different frets of the guitar to change the pitch or key of the open strings. Each fret on the guitar is a half step, therefore, if you put a capo on the 1st fret, all of the open strings will sound a half step higher than normal. This makes changing the key of a song very easy. Have you ever seen a song which had really weird chords that you didn't want to really mess with? With a capo, you can change the key or pitch of your guitar and make those tough chords easier to play.

For example, if you have a song in the key of G (usually, the first chord of a song gives away the key of the song) with the chords G, C, and D, you could change the song into the key of A. You would just put a capo on the 2nd fret, and play the chord shapes G, C, and D. These chord shapes will now sound a whole step higher. They will sound like the chords A, D and E.

When learning more about using a capo, there are 2 basic ideas to understand. Chord shape, and chord sound.

No matter what fret you have the capo on, when you play a G chord shape, in your mind you will always think of it as a G chord. This is a G chord shape. If you were to capo the guitar at the 2nd fret and play a G chord shape, then the chord sound would be that of an A chord.

This is the main idea of using a capo. You are using familiar, maybe even easier chord shapes to get the chord sound of less familiar, more difficult chords. If you have a Bb chord in a song, you could put the capo at the 1st fret, and play an A chord shape. But you will get a Bb chord sound.

The Great Guitar Playing Secret by: Peter Jones

So, you want to be a guitar player huh? You want to strut like Chuck Berry, be as cool as Keith Richards, rock like Jimi Hendrix and astound like Steve Vai. You want to wake up in the morning a beginner and go to bed at night an expert. You want to be hero-worshipped and have people chant your name. Idolised, admired, remembered and revered. You want your money for nothing and your chicks for free. You want all that and more!

Good for you! You have ambition; fire in your belly and a lion in your heart. It takes a lot of gusto to want to be a great guitarist. I wish you well and hope you achieve your dreams many times over.

Now that we’ve established that you want to be a great guitar picker, how would you feel if I said I know the secret of being a great guitar picker? Furthermore, how would you feel if I told you I was going to share that secret with you right now, free of charge? I suppose you would think there’s a catch and that really I just want to sell you something. Well, it’s true that I do have an on-line store that sells great guitar tutorials. It’s also true that I would love you to visit and buy everything in the shop. However, that’s not why I’m going to share this secret with you. No way, I have another reason for giving you this information.

When I was starting out playing the guitar, I always wished that I could have known somebody who could already play and could teach me a few things. Unfortunately, in those early days I didn’t know anybody that played. I had to struggle along trying to learn chords, scales and arpeggios from the printed page. I used to worry about whether I was holding the guitar correctly, or if I was putting my fingers on the correct fret or string. A lot of it was pretty much hit and miss. More often than not…..it was miss!!

For that reason, I would like to offer some advice to guitar players that are just starting out. If you promise to listen and take notice of my advice, I promise I will share with you the secret of becoming a great guitar player. Deal? Ok, settle down with a cold can of fizzy pop, and read on……

I’m going to list these pieces of advice one by one in a bulleted list. Remember, the deal is you read and digest the information and then I will tell you the great guitar playing secret. Press your focus and concentration buttons………Now!!

1. Buy a guitar tuner and tune up! If you don’t know anybody who can tune the guitar for you, and you can’t yet tune it yourself, then you need to invest in a tuner. Do this today! Don’t struggle along on a guitar that sounds like elastic bands on a shoebox. You will not get any enjoyment whatsoever from an out of tune guitar. So, piece of advice number 1 - Tune it and keep it tuned!!

2. Consider lessons! When beginning anything in life, it is good to get off on the right foot. A teacher, a mentor, an advisor, call it what you will. To teach is one of the most fantastic things we can do. Find a teacher that takes great pride in what he does. Usually the best ones are found by word of mouth. Ask people, make enquiries, e-mail, telephone, write a letter, anything it takes to find the right person. Remember, no matter how good you get there is always somebody who can teach you something new. Hiring a teacher is not just for when you are starting out, it is something you should consider throughout your guitar playing life. A good teacher will advise you on technique, theory, performance, attitude and practicing. He or she will set you goals and reward you when you accomplish them. He or she will also explain the small things such as the importance of using a metronome in your studies, keeping your instrument clean and changing strings. Advice number 2 – Find a mentor!

3. Practice, practice, practice…….but not too much!! What does that mean “Practice, but not too much?” Well, if we want to get good at anything then obviously we do need to practice. With regards to learning the guitar, we need to get our hands to play the right notes in the right way. Although great technique takes a lot of time, effort, commitment and PRACTICE, we need to be aware of when to draw the line. Sometimes we can get that wrapped up in something that we are interested in; we can forget that there are other things in life. Our family, our friends, sports, the theatre, cinema, books, etc… Advice number 3 – Practice to get good, but chill out and relax to get even better!

4. Know what you have to learn and its importance to you now!! There are so many things to learn on the guitar that it is inevitable that you will get distracted. Chords, scales, arpeggios, licks, tunes, exercises etc… They all have to be learnt as they are all important. If you realise the importance of learning these things before you start to practice them, you will stand a better chance of keeping your focus and completing your studies. If you are learning a new chord for example, think about why it is important that you learn the chord. How will it benefit you? How will it help you to advance? How will it help you to evolve into a better musician? Everything you learn is important, understand its importance. Advice number 4 – Make sure you know the relevance of everything you need to learn.

5. Listen, listen, listen!! Ok, this piece of advice has two parts. The first part means listen to a lot of music. Try and have many influences. Remember, there is no bad music, only bad musicians. Be open to jazz, blues, rock, funk, pop, country, classical, anything! We can learn such a lot by listening. It plays a major part in our musical development. The second part of this piece of advice involves you training your ears. Try to learn to recognise chords just by the sound they make. Be aware of the subtle differences between a 7th chord and a 9th chord. It takes a long time to be able to do this properly. Stick with it and don’t worry when you get them wrong. Each time you try, you improve a little bit more. Advice number 5 – Use those ears!!

6. Play with other people!! Join a band or form a band as soon as you can. You will learn so much from playing with other people. Put an advertisement in a music shop advertising your services as a guitar player. Don’t worry if you don’t feel ready, do it anyway. The experience will be priceless! Everything improves when you play regularly with other musicians. Your time, your feel, your technique, your confidence, EVERYTHING! Make sure you do this at the earliest opportunity! Advice number 6 – Take the licks out of your room and into a band!!

7. Learn your theory!! Ok, your guitar teacher will probably stress the importance of this to you. The more theory you learn, the more your guitar playing will improve. Learn chord construction, diatonic harmony, learn about triads, intervals, major scales, relative minors, modes, etc… A lot of guitar players don’t like studying theory. Make sure you are not one of them. Advice number 7 – Read lots of music theory books!!

8. Visualise!! A lot of people do not realise how powerful a tool this is. There is nothing you can’t do in your mind! Visualisation will not improve your technique. The only way to improve technique is to sit down and play for long hours. Visualisation helps in other ways. It helps you commit things to your long term memory. Use it when learning chords, scales, arpeggios, songs, in fact, anything. There is however, a time and a place for visualisation. You can use it while travelling on a bus, waiting for your date to turn up, while falling asleep at night, sunbathing or relaxing. You must NOT use it while doing anything that requires your full attention. For example; driving, using tools, cooking and riding you bicycle. You get the idea, right? Also, do not ever think that visualisation is a substitute for hands on practice - it isn’t! You have to do that as well. Advice number 8 – Practice in your mind!!

9. Be inquisitive!! The more you play the more chance you have of meeting other guitar players. Never, ever be afraid to ask them questions even if they haven’t been playing as long as you have. We learn off everybody. Ask probing questions to see how they developed their technique. Check out the chord shapes they use. If you see one that you don’t recognise, ask them what it is. Remember your job is to improve your playing at every opportunity – do your job! Advice number 9 – Ask lots of questions and you’ll get lots of answers!!!

10. Smile!! Sometimes the stress of being a practicing guitar player can get us down. Maybe a lick you are working on just isn’t happening, or no matter how hard you try you just cannot execute a new scale properly. This is normal. Sometimes it’s better to put the instrument down and come back to it later on. Never, ever let it get you mad and never, ever get frustrated. Fight back at these challenging situations with a big smile. Try it now, right this minute. Think of something that is bothering you although deep down you know it isn’t important. Visualise it. Ok, hold it there and…….SMILE! Laugh even. Not just a chuckle but a big laugh right from your belly. Go on, feels good, doesn’t it? Treat your guitar playing challenges in exactly the same way. Deep down you know they aren’t really that important. Tomorrow is another day. I’m not saying don’t take your guitar playing seriously; just stop and smell the flowers now and again. Be optimistic, be bold, be the best you can be and……..smile!! Advice number 10 – Playing the guitar is fun – Enjoy it!!

There you go, that’s my advice to you. Good luck with your playing!

Right, all that’s left for me to do is tell you the great guitar playing secret. Are you ready? Well, don’t tell anybody but the secret of being a great guitar player is…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………….in everything you’ve just read!! Sorry guys, but there ain’t no shortcut to greatness. If you follow the 10 pieces of advice I’ve just given you then you won’t go far wrong. I still haven’t achieved it and I may never will. One thing is for sure, I’m gonna keep on plugging away, and, who knows, maybe one day I’ll get pretty close. The fun is in the trying. Work hard and feel yourself improve!

The Guitar: Its History and Construction by: Courtney Pancost

The guitar is one of the most familiar and common instruments the world over. It is descended from other stringed instruments that were common in Greece, in India, in Mexico and in Africa - in fact, throughout the known world. It's descended from such instruments as the sitar, said to be sacred to the Hindo goddess Saraswati, and the lute, which Greek mythology claims was invented by the god Apollo himself.

It's no wonder that the guitar has a history of association with the divine. The range and styles of music that can be played on the classic stringed instrument is incredible.

From the intricate fire and beauty of classical Spanish and flamenco guitar to the down-home country sounds of good finger-pickin', the guitar is a versatile and beautiful instrument.

Modern-day guitars have a hollow or solid body, a neck with frets, and a tuning mechanism that is called the machine head. They may be acoustic, or electric, and are one of the most popular instruments in the world.

Guitar bodies for acoustic guitars are made of wood, often spruce, red cedar or maple. The face of the guitar, or top, is one of the most important factors in its sound quality.

It is carefully engineered to a precise thickness, and braced by a variety of materials.

The most important piece of the guitar is the face, or top.

Its composition, shape and engineering will determine the final sound of the guitar. The back and sides also make a difference, but not so much, and often, luthiers will choose the wood for the sides and back with an eye to appearance rather than sound quality.

Electric guitars are solid, though they are rarely made of a single solid piece of wood. Instead, most are created of many layers of different kinds of wood laminated together.

This gives the guitar both strength and sound quality that wouldn't be possible in a single piece of wood. Often, the electric guitar is made of a 'good sounding' wood like ash or poplar, with a laminated top of a more attractive wood for appearance.

It's hard to believe that the same instrument is capable of creating such wide and varied styles of music. It's even harder to believe that only a few hundred years ago, the guitar was considered the instrument of peasants, lesser than the noble violin and organ. It was considered so much lesser that across the United States, older generations boycotted Catholic churches that used guitars to celebrate faith in folk Masses.

Nowhere else will you find the variety of guitars that you find in a typical Mexican mariachi band. A typical mariachi band will include at least three kinds of guitar - a classical guitar, a vihuela and a guitarron, a large guitar that is nearly the size of a cello.

Mastering the guitar, however, takes years of practice. The difference between a three-chord strummed song and the intricate finger picking and speed of a flamenco guitarist is unmistakable.

From divine beginnings, though its history as the music of peasants to its elevation again as the king of instruments, the guitar has been a beloved instrument of people the world over. If you choose to learn only one instrument, the guitar is the perfect choice.

6 Simple Steps to Becoming A HOT Guitar Player! by : JB's Tip-Sheet

Learning how to play guitar well is not easy. There are so many methods and so many conflicting opinions, it makes it difficult to know what to do.

But the simple fact is, if you want to be the best you can, as soon as you can, then all you need to do is - copy what the pro's do...

Master the Basics!

Mastering the basics means being able to play in all keys. Being able to transpose any song to any other key - on the spot preferably.

Did you know that 95% of guitarists DON'T master the basics. Oh yes, they mean to get around to it, but they hardly ever do.

Why is that? Well, it's because they think it's boring, complicated and too much hard work. And most of all - no fun! And mostly they were right. Well, it needn't be that way. Mastering the basics can be a lot of fun if you go about it in a methodical set-by-step way.

What does mastering the basics entail?

There are 6 basic steps you need to follow:

1. Learn the names of all notes on all strings, one string at a time.

2. Learn how to construct a C Major scale.

Basic must-know guitar theory. Easy stuff.

3. Learn how the chords of the major scale are made and what they are... their names etc. C Dm Em F G Am Bdim.

Basic chord construction knowledge.

4. Learn the triad patterns for the C major scale all over the fret board.

Triads are simple 3-note chords. Easy and fun to learn and play.

5. Learn to play those triads with common chord progressions.

Learn to play and apply the triads to the most common chord progressions that fit thousands and thousands of songs.

6. Learn to do step 5 in all keys.

Once you can do steps one to five in the key of C, it's real easy to learn it for the other 11 major keys.

Hint: It's much easier than you think. All the patterns are exactly the same as what you learn for C major. You don't have to learn any new patterns. Cookie cutter stuff.

It really is not hard at all. All you need is a methodical step-by-step method that makes sense and is easy and fun to use.

About The Author:

John Bilderbeck is a professional guitar teacher and his step-by-step Master the Basics eBook course is free when you join his website. Claim your copy now - visit: http//www.free-guitar-chords.com