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A lot of beginning guitar players write to me and ask for advice how to play guitar ‘fast’. I inevitably write them back to ask whether they already play guitar, and just want to be faster on the fretboard, or whether they’re beginners who want a shortcut to basic proficiency.

This got me wondering whether there might be a connection between the two. It seemed far-fetched; but, the more I thought about it, the more parallels I saw between these two seemingly different levels of training.

So, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that:

1. You can learn guitar faster by studying the techniques involved making your overall playing ability ‘faster’, and..

2. You can become a ‘faster’ guitar player by re-focusing your practice sessions on the basic concepts and techniques taught to every beginner.

The reasons for this overlap and can be summed up in a handy acronym: M.O.S.T. — or, “Memorization, Observation and Strength Training.” Let’s cover each one to clarify the point.

Memorization

One of the things that slows down both beginning and intermediate guitar players, no matter how good of an ‘ear’ for music they have, is a failure to memorize:

1. All of the notes on the fretboard

2. Chords and scales for the Major and Minor Keys

It doesn’t matter whether you’re just starting out, or have a few year’s playing experience already. The fact is that ‘hunting and pecking’ for the right chord or note will slow you down.

You don’t have time in the middle of a song to stop so you can figure out if a Dbminor chord will work in the key of B, and then figure out where that chord is relative to your current position on the fretboard.

If you’re a beginner, then memorizing your fretboard is the place to start. This will make it easier for you to memorize chords and scale patterns, as well as understand the relationship between them in music theory.

If you’re already playing, then you should focus on strengthening your knowledge in both areas. You probably have a good part of your fretboard memorized already, but can you jump to any note or chord automatically?

Observation

Your senses of touch, sight and sound are all involved in playing guitar. As you play, you will no doubt feel the development of ‘muscle memory’ as your fingers play across familiar chords and scales. You will see patterns and relationships on the fretboard. You will hear what you’re playing and come to connect it with all of the above.

Memorization is the foundation for observation, and observation is the key to training your mind and hands to work in concert automatically.

If you want the ability to play anything you hear ‘in your head’ the moment your fingers reach the fretboard, then you must wed memorization with observation when you practice.

Strength Training

No, I’m not suggesting you lift weights at the gym! Strength training, which really includes ‘dexterity’ training, is part and parcel of everything we’ve covered so far.

Beginning guitarists often struggle to hold down chords, and to play scales with all four fingers. This is simply a matter of building strength, muscle memory and dexterity through consistent and correct practice.

Intermediate players who want to get faster on the fretboard must realize that the most likely culprit(s) behind issues with ’speed’ will be a deficiency in strength, dexterity, correct techqnie or all three.

Beginners should focus on strength building exercises and on performing those exercises perfectly. If you’re given an exercise that requires you to hit a note with your pinky, but you decide to ‘cheat’ by using your ring finger, know that your playing will hit a wall down the line.

Likewise, players who can’t seem to exceed their current speed on the guitar should examine their own technique. Have you stopped working on your strength training because the exercises are boring? Is your technique ’sloppy’?

There are some things you simply can not get away with at 160 beats per minute the way you can at 120 beats per minute.

In conclusion, the key to learning guitar faster – as well as playing it faster – rests in following the M.O.S.T. formula. It really is all about getting the basics right from the start!

If you want to play guitar for an audience it is vastly different from performing by yourself in your room. Once you are in a position where people are watching you play or sing, everything changes. You become aware of yourself in a totally different way and you can no longer play automatically the way you do when you are alone. So it’s a whole new journey together from being able to play alone to being able to play guitar for an audience.

Start with a plan for a basic set lasting about three hours. As a rough guide your songs are probably 3 to 4 minutes long, and you have a minute or two between songs. So you need to get yourself a list of say, forty songs. You will, of course, include your favorite songs, and you will also need to draw upon a list of popular songs. If you look on the internet you will find many people’s definitions of popular songs, just choose some songs from a list that more or less corresponds to your style. The truth is, it will take quite a long time for you to memorize so many songs, so get yourself a music stand and some sheets of paper with your lyrics written on them. These will be your cheat sheets until you have your repertoire memorized.

You will then need to practice your microphone technique. Go to as many gigs as you can and check out what kind of setup solo players work with. For this aspect of performing there is only so much practice you can do at home. The rest is learning on the job.

You would think it would be unnecessary to say this, but you need to practice every day if you’re going to play guitar for an audience. Daily practice brings your guitar playing persona to the fore. So force yourself to practice for at least half an hour a day, more if you are learning a repertoire!

When people start to play guitar for an audience, making mistakes is natural. And quite often a guitar player will try to go back to a point where he can start again to play without the mistake. Don’t do this. You’d be surprised how little attention your audience is really paying, so they probably won’t notice the odd mistake. It’s sad to think that you’re not getting the full attention of your listeners, but that’s the way it is.

Likewise, your audience will not notice the odd guitar playing fumble. If you’re technique is a little rusty on the night, don’t worry too much about it, just slow down a little and leave out any of your usual attempts at virtuosity.

There are so many tools for learning how to play guitar that you can get on the internet, it makes you wonder whether how to play guitar books have a place in the world of technology. When you used to have to learn to play guitar from a teacher you always had to have a book that you learnt out of. It was a way of making sure you and your teacher understood where you were in your guitar playing. And if you did not have a teacher you possibly learnt to play guitar by copying what you heard on the radio or on records. Even then you probably had to go out and buy a guitar tutor or at least a chord book.

The advantage of books is that the printed page is a record of information that you might learn today but need to refresh your memory at some time in the future. Video guitar lessons are a fantastic way to learn to play the guitar but the written word has its own way of expressing thoughts or helping you with your approach to music, and you do not have to go through the laborious process of fast forwarding through countless videos to remind yourself of something the teacher said. Also a book can be read when the power is down and you have to practice on an acoustic guitar by candlelight!

So let us look at a few really excellent how to books for guitar. An example of concise, easy to understand, useful guitar info is “The Guitar Book” by Chris Lopez. This book not only contains all the solid information you need to begin your life as a guitar player, you will find it is an inspiration to share in the author’s obvious passion for the guitar. This book has everything for the beginner guitar player: basic chords, changing from major chords to minor, chord progressions, playing blues guitar through to slightly more advanced but extremely useful stuff like transposing a chord progression if the original key is not right for your voice. If you are sticking with playing chords to accompany your singing or if you want to get into solo guitar, this book should be by your bedside.

“The Everything Guitar Book” by Ernie Jackson promises to have you playing like a pro in no time. It certainly contains all the basic information like some history of the guitar and the names of all the parts of the instrument, and all the basic chords. This is the kind of stuff you would expect to find in a how to play guitar book. You also have a reference guide for the information you will need to keep in your head as you learn how to play guitar. The circle of fifths is covered,as are scales and arpeggios. You are introduced to playing songs by getting to know what you can play on the treble strings first, then you are introduced to bass patterns.

“The Everything Guitar Book” also introduces you to guitar players you should know about in whatever musical genre you are interested in whether it is classical, jazz, blues, flamenco or whatever is in between. The book then gives you an intro to playing electric guitar, buying an instrument and finding a teacher. Like any book that covers everything, there are some spots that you will need to explore elsewhere but this is a good first book for a beginner guitarist.

Frederick Noad is a classical guitar player and teacher who wrote a famous classical guitar tutor called “Solo Guitar Playing”. He also wrote a book aimed at the wider world of guitar players called “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing the Guitar”. This book carries a heavy classical guitar orientation but it also gives a good start for playing blues and flamenco. So it is a book for acoustic guitar players, but it is by a guy who know how to get the best from his instrument without causing severe injury to his hands and back and without using amplification. If you are a rock guitarist, do not skip past this book. There is a bunch of stuff in here that will help you become a great guitarist, and you probably will not find this kind of material anywhere else. Get it.

The key to learning to play guitar is having a great teacher. It’s a well known fact that you learn easier by watching. This fact is realized even more when you learn to play guitar. Learning to play guitar with the Jamorama system couldn’t be easier. It’s like having your very own seasoned guitar player right in your own home teaching you how to play guitar.

The complete package you receive with Jamorama is unbeatable. With over 148 step-by-step video lessons you will be learning to play guitar in no time at all. Ben Edwards, the creator of Jamorama, will take you by the hand and show you exactly how to play electric guitar and how to play acoustic guitar. He takes how to play guitar to a whole new level with lots of software bonuses that will make it easy to learn to play guitar. Click Here

This complete online system will have you playing guitar before you know it. Ben has a degree in education and a passion to teach others how to play guitar. He is a highly respected teacher and a member of the popular down-under band called “DegreesK”. He developed the Jamorama system to help you learn how to play guitar fast. It’s packed full of quality step-by-step lessons, sound files, games, and other resources that guarantee results fast!

Jamorama is a complete system that teaches you how to play guitar with fluency and will also teach you to use your ear to bring you to the point where you can play almost any song you hear. Ben has developed two software tools that will help you learn to play guitar quickly. You will never need another guitar guide once you use Jamorama. You get instant online access to the ultimate guitar learning kit.

You will learn Ben’s secrets of how to play guitar by ear, as well as read music tab’s and charts. You will be experiencing a new, more enriched, and passionate musical experience which will allow you to create music spontaneously and with confidence. You will master all aspects of how to play guitar with the Jamorama system.

To get more information about the Jamorama system please visit my website. Click Here

If you make the decision to learn to play guitar it means something has suddenly stirred you into action. The ambition of learning to play guitar is no longer a dream. It’s time to take action, today. If you just got given a guitar as a present, you usually don’t want to just allow your new instrument to gather dust in the corner. Now is the time to experience what you can do about learning guitar. Do you believe your local music teacher can show you what you need to know? Or do you think you can learn to play guitar for free on the internet? It would be very good to look into teaching yourself guitar. And not spending money to do it makes it even more enticing

When you embark on learning how to play the guitar you need to have some goals. If you want to learn to play some of Eddy Van Halen’s solos, that’s fine. If you want to fill a spot in a local covers band, that’s alright, too. Maybe you are a surf guitar buff and would like to spend hours in your garage recreating the **** Dale sound. These are all good goals. They give you a picture in your imagination of you setting your dream into practice

Let’s look at how you are going to learn to play guitar. A guitar teacher can put himself in your shoes and help you to find your way as a learner guitar player or as a potential professional musician. He has been a beginner, he has struggled to learn, and he has had ambitions of success, just like you. There are some great books and DVDs that can show you how to play the guitar, but they can’t stop you and show you if you are doing something wrong.

If you resolve to go ahead and learn guitar without a teacher, you will need a plan. Your plan will involve things like a timeframe to learn chords and tabs. You might set yourself a year to get a repertoire of your favorite songs. You also need a practice schedule

If you are determined to teach yourself to play the guitar, you need to resign yourself to paying for your new guitar skills with time and energy. A simple practice regime is a thirty minute practice session starting with five minutes warming up, practicing scales for five minutes, working on left hand techniques for ten minutes, and then working on a new song or instrumental piece for ten minutes. If you don’t understand what warming up or working on technique mean, you need to do some more research

It is not all that difficult to learn how to play the guitar, but it IS challenging. If you are already an adult with your school and college years behind you, taking on acquiring a new skill is going to be a big business. Making the decision to commence is going to be half the battle. When you start learning how to read music or guitar tablature you will find it’s not hard to do. Spending half an hour a day on guitar practice will be quite an enjoyable way to spend time after you come home from work. Maybe even better than drinking beer. Mmmm . . . guitar practice.

Reading through the practice routine and seeing how the time is allotted you will probably wonder why more time is not given to learning new material. The fact is, the whole process of learning to play the guitar is changing how your body, mind and feelings work. After a year or so playing the guitar you’re a different animal. So you might think the most important part is the song, but what’s important is the whole process and keeping it balanced. So learning to play the guitar is never really free.