Quick Tips to Improve Your Guitar Playing

Once you've set your goals, you need some quick ways to improve.

1. Use a Metronome or Drum Machine. You can either purchase a metronome or drum machine, or you can find a metronome online for free. If you do buy one, make sure it's loud enough to be heard over your playing. Some of the compact, electronic ones are not very loud, however they do have an earphone. A drum machine does the same thing, but it's a little more fun to practice with. Start out slow and gradually increase the speed. The problem with doing that without a timekeeping device is that we have to play noticeably faster to tell a difference. With a metronome or drum machine you can increase the tempo a tiny bit.

2. Find a Way to Slow Down a Song. There are several programs available that will enable you to slow a song down without changing the pitch. At our Guitar Studio we use The Amazing Slow Downer which is a very easy to use program. You can slow songs down, change the pitch, and set up a loop to work on a specific section of the song.

3. Set Aside a Specific Time to Practice.  Having a designated time to practice each day will help you make steady progress. Decide ahead of time what you want to accomplish and don't watch the clock! It's much better to focus on trouble spots than to stop in the middle of what you're doing because the time you've allotted is up.

4. Record Yourself. If you have Garage Band, another recording program or just a simple recorder you'll do yourself a great favor by using it to hear what you sound like. A passage that sounds good live may not be as good as you think when you play it back. Another advantage is that you can hear your progress. I'll have students ask me if they're getting any better and then when I tell them yes they're still skeptical. That's when I recommend recording and then listening to what they played a couple weeks down the road. Since you hear yourself play every day a lot of times it can seem like you're not making any headway.