4 Things To Do To Become A Better Player

Even the most experienced of musicians can still progress themselves. There is no ending point with musicianship. You can always get better in some way. In terms of guitar, you need to know that even the great Jimi Hendrix was not perfect in performing. Yes, he was a legend and an amazing guitar player, but he still had room for improvement.

1. Learn a Difficult Piece:
One way you can progress as a guitar player is to find a song that is difficult, and learn it. Make sure the song will be learnable for you, but still poses a challenge. Working on one hard piece of music helps you to gain technique from it.

Most classical musicians will do this, but guitarists often just learn many easy songs and can’t progress much from that. Learning one hard piece will raise your skill level and also raise your confidence as a player. You can learn a lot from just one piece of music, so make sure you find something challenging to add to your repertoire.

2. Take Lessons:
Taking lessons is another thing that guitarists tend to skip. Taking lessons, even if you can play at a high level, will undoubtedly help anyone. Whoever your mentor is, they will pass the great tips of your instrument on to you. There are many things you may not know about playing guitar as far as technique goes. With a private teacher, they will help unveil the secrets of guitar, and help you get to know your instrument better. They can be expensive, but are worth every penny. Not only do private teachers help you with playing, they also encourage you and can provide you with opportunities to play.

3. Listen to Yourself Play:
To really understand how you play, and what you need to get better at, you can record yourself. Listening to yourself will help you pinpoint places in your songs that need fine-tuning. You can also show others these recordings and ask for their feedback. That can be useful for people who are shy about playing in front of others. This brings me to my last point.

4. Play in Front of Others:
Getting out and playing will always help you progress. It can be scary at first, but as soon as you get over your stage fright, you will love the feeling of playing for others. Someday you may be sitting around a campfire, and everyone will want to listen to music. At that point, you can whip out your guitar and be the star of the party. If you can find time to play with others, that is also immensely beneficial.

Other guitarists, like teachers, will often times give you insight. If you’re above their level, you can help teach them, too. No matter what the circumstance is, playing in front of other people will be great for you as a musician.

You may think that you’re “too good” to keep practicing, but that is certainly not true. There are always ways to progress yourself as a musician. Besides these four tips, you could also learn a little music theory, you could practice more, or you could buy a lesson book to work from. No matter what you do, you will always get better if you practice. There is no end point, so keep practicing and you will keep progressing.