How To Choose The Right Guitar Instructor For You
You may be thinking about taking up the guitar and wondering just how to go about choosing the right guitar instructor. Even if you are unfamiliar with playing the guitar and have never had any prior lessons, there are ways to tell which person is the best teacher for you.
First and foremost is there are a particular style that you wish to learn? How about your preference for male or female? Is age a concern? Do you want someone who plays professionally or just does teaching in their spare time? Other considerations of course are price and how far away the instructor is from where you live.
When you take everything into consideration the best piece of advice on how to choose an instructor is to sit down with the person to see how well you get along. Guitar instructors have different teaching methods, and what works for one person might not work for you. You may have to go through a few different instructors before finally settling on someone you feel comfortable with.
Another way to choose a guitar instructor is to go online and go through some video lessons. You might even prefer this method of instruction over actually sitting down with a teacher in person. But mainly you should watch different videos online of guitar instruction to see what kind of teaching style suits you best. Then you can apply that to actual classroom teaching to get the most out of your lessons.
You should let the guitar instructor do their job and be open and willing to their ideas. Of course you have certain preferences, but the teacher has experience and should try to guide you along in a way that makes you comfortable. Nothing should ever feel forced because that will only lead to bad instruction and a waste of time.
It is important that you learn proper guitar playing techniques which also include the right way to hold the instrument. Injuries can occur if you don't know how to properly hold the guitar, so let your teacher show you its done. Follow his or her lead and use their experience with the instrument to your advantage so you can learn the right way from the start.
Choosing an instructor to teach you how to play guitar is the first step in the learning process, and once you feel comfortable you can always change things up. With good advice and helpful tips, selecting a guitar instructor is a simple process.
Tips On How To Combat Sore Fingers When Practicing On Your Guitar
If you have spent any amount of time learning, playing or practicing the guitar, then you will know that sore fingers happen all of the time. However, despite this, learning to play the guitar is truly one of the best decisions that you'll ever make and is an extremely rewarding skill. Even though learning to actually play the guitar and reading music is difficult on its own, you also have to contend with the pain from sore fingers. So, in this article we will be looking at a few ways that you can combat this so that you can practice relatively pain free.
The first tip is that if you have a brand new guitar, then the chances of getting sore fingers are much higher. This is because the strings on your guitar may be placed higher than they need to be, which places more stress on your fingers, in order to press them down. The space between the fretboard and the strings is referred to as the "action" and it is best to have a low action where the strings are closer to the fretboard. You can get the action of your guitar adjusted at most music/instrument stores, so be sure to check one nearest to you.
Another tip to reduce soreness is to make sure that you have the right type of strings on your guitar. There are many different strings that come in a variety of guages. Light gauge strings are much better to play with to avoid soreness since they are light and easy to press and strum.
Next, you should pay close attention to your own technique when pressing down the strings. Most beginners end up pressing down the strings too hard on the fretboard, which causes soreness. So, you need to relax your fingers when playing and only apply the right amount of pressure so that the chords are played clearly, but light enough so that it does not cause your fingers to get damaged.
Lastly, if you keep on playing and practicing, you will eventually develop and build calluses on your fingertips. When you develop these calluses, you will no longer feel or experience any soreness and you will be able to play and practice the guitar for as long as you wish.
In closing, we have just looked at some of the best tips to help you combat sore fingers when you are learning to play the guitar. Remember, pain is temporary and once you apply the tips above, sore fingers will soon be a distant memory.
