Learn The Guitar Fast – Tips

One of the main keys to learning the guitar fast is to have fun in the process. Become clear on a number of basic concepts.

1.  Check Action
Make certain your guitar's action is set up properly for you, a good guitar shop can do this for you, but you have to ask them to set the action for you, it is very rare that a guitar is in top playable condition when you purchase the instrument.

The 'action' is the distance between the underside of the guitar string the guitar fingerboard. If the action is too high it will make playing difficult, resulting in sore fingers, and excessive tension in the player's hands.

2.  Developing Talent v Investing in Equipment – No amount of equipment can ever replace lack of developed talent.

3.  The most important skill to develop is to develop your rhythm. People respond to music in this order 1.rhythm, 2.melody, 3. harmony. Notice rhythm is the first aspect of music that people respond to.

Traditionally, guitar method books concentrate on learning chords, very little is done to develop the player's rhythmic ability. This is one of the major reasons people do not learn the guitar fast, their focus is on learning more chords without improving their rhythm.

4.  Chord shapes must be easy to play. This is very important, if the chord shapes are too difficult for the new guitarist they will not be able to develop their rhythm because they will usually stop tapping their foot while they put all their energy into forming the difficult chord shape. Chord shapes should consist of one or two fingers for the beginner.

5.  Avoid fancy strumming patterns, concentrate on strumming once on the first beat of the bar and focus on tapping your foot. By strumming the chord only once the guitarist will quickly develop a clear memory of the sound of the chord, this is essential for playing songs by ear.

6.  Learn simple two chord songs first. If you want to know how to learn the guitar fast start with two chord songs and then as your ear develops progress to three chord songs. Study the chord progressions of each song you play and notice the similarities in the chord progressions, many songs use the same chord progressions, this will help you develop a high speed memorization system for learning songs fast.

Conclusion:
Don't get hung up on all the different difficult generic chord shapes and complex music theory.