6 Of The Guitar’s Biggest Problems Today

Warning: The title of this post about being a `genius` is meant with a touch of sarcasm aimed at all those who want to become overnight guitar superstars. You can be good in 6 months and if you follow these tips you can be an impressive player, but guitar playing is tough and takes time to master. Don`t wimp out. It gets more fun.

1) First, get one lesson off 5 DIFFERENT guitar teachers. Have one 30 minute lesson per week (or 1 hour if you can afford it) for 6 months with the best one. At least one will be awesome. Find the awesome one. Stick with them. They`ll save you hours/days/weeks/months of frustration.

2) Announce on social media that you are learning guitar. Your guitar playing Facebook friends will love this and will encourage you. Go and jam with them. Just make sure they are better than you. You will pick up tonnes of little nuggets of information that would have otherwise have taken you weeks to get on your own.

3) Buy your guitar second hand. This doesn`t mean eBay. Screw eBay. Go to a shop in your town. Support your local music business. Try LOTS of guitars out. Find one that is comfortable to play, particularly the neck. Find one that is a freackin` awesome to listen to and find one that sounds good in the hands of the guitar shop guy if you can` tplay much yet.

4) Sit with the guitar like a classical guitarist or stand with a strap. Don`t sit back looking like some lounge cool player with your wrist contorted. Sit up or stand up, and if you stand up keep the strap high. You`re not James Hetfield. It looks slightly dorkier, but makes learning a trillion times easier.

5) Don`t pay any attention to brands. Most of that shit you read on the internet are just bullshit reviews or biased reviews. You don’t need it. Use YOUR ears and get your guitar teacher`s opinion when spending money on gear.

6) Get your clothes from a thrift store and get the look. Every guitar genius does this. It`s in the bible of guitar geniouses. Make sure you look cool. Grow a beard if you`re a guy. Dye your hair if you`re a girl. You are going on stage in 6 months (READ #28)

7) Allow yourself at least 1 month to suck. Everyone sucks for at least 1 month so instead of beating yourself up for it make sure you practice a lot, relax and tell yourself its ok to suck. DON`T give up and don`t tell yourself you`ll start again in the future. That`s procrastination. When I started out, if there was a gold medal for procrastination, I would have won, not this year, but next year. Don`t be that person. Today is the day.

8) If you must buy a book, buy just ONE real Book with the chords/tablature for all the songs you love. . Buy no more and don`t waste $500 on an online guitar course. Save that money for lessons. And save your money to..

9) Buy a variety of picks. Make sure they are Nylon. Buy at least 6 different gauges ranging from 0.4 to 1.0. Experiment with all of them. Buy loads of your favourite thickness.

10) Buy a capo. Get the best you can afford. Capo`s are awesome and will make your playing sound better and much more varied. You can fake it till you make it with a capo.

11) Get a cheap as shit clip-on tuner. Don’t bother with tuner apps; you want something you can leave on your guitar all the time. You could tape your phone to your guitar headstock, but that`s just dumb.

12) Learn ONLY 5 chords. No more until you master them. Those chord books are full of shit. Learn to play the chords of G, C, D, Em, Am PEFRECTLY. You can play millions of songs with just those 5 chords.

13) Buy a bongo. Seriously. Play it loads. Play along with your favourite songs. Master the beats. This will improve your rhythm dramatically and will help you to…

14) Learn to strum properly. Find a strum pattern book or course and learn at . Great rhythm combined with a few simple chords will  make you sound like a `genius`.

15) Toughen up and stop being a delicate little flower. It will hurt to play guitar. Your fingers will be sore. Practice your rock star pout in the mirror as a distraction for the pain.