Guitar exercises for beginners – a short guide you need to know

Well, in the context of guitar playing, practicing is very important. Remember that there is a difference between playing the guitar and practicing it. If you want to play the guitar like a professional guitarist then you should regularly do beginner guitar exercises. Whether you have an acoustic or electric guitar, you can practice the same on both. So you don’t have to worry about what to practice on an acoustic guitar and what to practice on an electric guitar.

If you are wondering what to practice to achieve mastery, we are here to help you. To get closer to mastery in a short period of time, follow these tips. It will help if you don’t practice all the elements at once. Just as a person does not become an expert right away, the same is true with practice. Ideally, you should practice each of the following skills as part of your daily exercises. So let’s get down to specifics.

Learning to read guitar tablature

Every student should start at the beginning to become a master over time. You don’t have to go straight to the complicated stuff, skipping the simple ones. If you want to learn to play the guitar, start at the very beginning, which is reading guitar tablatures.

How to read tablature?

In a nutshell: we read them from left to right. The letters on the left stand for the strings (e-thinnest, E-thickest). The numbers on the dashes (i.e., the strings) are the thresholds at which you should press a particular string (at 0 you don’t press a string).

That is, we start playing the following song as follows: without pressing any threshold you play the G string, then holding your finger on the 2nd threshold twice you play the D string and so on… Do you already recognize this song? If yes write its title in the comments 🙂

Many people start learning by reading standard musical notation, which is not properly applicable at first. You will have plenty of time to learn it, but start with tablature first. Guitar tablatures are very easy to learn. Once you master this skill, you will learn all the other steps you will practice.

Try practicing easy melodies

It is helpful for any student to start with the essentials. As a guitar learner, try to find some well-known melodies and play them while reading guitar tablatures. By reviewing the notations of well-known melodies, you will also understand how guitar tablatures work. (On the intrenet, you can easily find your favorite melody spread out on a tablature.)

Such slow learning will also help you develop muscle memory. Over time, your experience will increase and your mind will understand how to play the guitar. You will master the guitar proficiently, and your fingers will start playing on their own.

Try to learn different chords

Chords are the most important part of guitar playing – without knowing them you can’t do anything. The two types of basic chords are minor and major. In major chords you will learn mainly D, C, A, G, E and in minor chords you will learn Am, Dm and Em. With the help of these few chords you can learn many songs.
In order to play the chords, you will need knowledge of chords (the pattern of placing several fingers simultaneously on different strings and frets).

There are many other types of chords needed when moving from a simple melody to a complex song. To be able to play them you need to learn, among other things, barre (barre) chords, which are used in learning popular songs. A considerable amount of pop and rock music is created using these chords.

Learn to change your grip without disrupting the flow of your game

Before you start learning a song, first take lessons on how to smoothly transition from one chord to another. First, master all major and minor chords, and then learn how to transition between them. This will be a little difficult at first, but you will become proficient with time.

Try to do it slowly at first. Repeat the pattern over and over again several times. When you develop muscle memory, just increase the speed. Along with more repetitions, you will become proficient at changing grips.

Learn to play and hit (dice and beat) with the right hand

Train your right hand in picking and strumming chords. Try to learn the technique of alternate dicing (jerking the string up and down interchangeably) on each string, thus building muscle memory. Also learn how to strum a whole chord by choosing one of the chords listed above.

Once you’ve chosen a chord, start practicing by beating it up and down, using different patterns. Practice it several times don’t change chords unless you can play it gradually and on time. Practicing the same chord will not interfere with your concentration, and all your attention will be focused on one goal. Remember that when strumming, the pick should smoothly jump from string to string, so that all the notes of the chord sound evenly.

From a simple melody to a song

By reading guitar tablatures and building muscle memory, you will learn to play simple melodies on the guitar. Once you learn to play and move from one chord to another, it will be easier to get to the specifics. It’s time to take our guitar exercises for beginners to the next level.

Learning an entire song is not difficult at all. Once you’ve mastered the previously mentioned skills, it’s time to combine these simple melodies into a whole song and start playing.

Learn other techniques

If you want to become a professional guitarist, you need to learn many things. From simple to complex, you need to practice each of these steps solidly. After all, practice makes perfect 😉 In professional guitar playing you may find it useful to know phrasing, bending, hammering and pull-of, slide or vibrato, among other things. All of these movements are applied to the same note to produce different sounds. It seems a bit difficult, but in reality it is not. You will learn all these movements through constant practice and by focusing on learning them.

Practice slowly

If you want to play the guitar with more clarity and precision – especially at faster tempos, practice slowly. Make sure you play everything with 100 percent accuracy before you start playing at the target tempo.
This is where a metronome can be essential, it will help you learn to play at an even tempo on your instrument.

Conclusion

Well, that’s probably all on the topic of “what to practice on the guitar”. If you put into practice each of the tips mentioned above and practice them regularly. You will easily jump to the level of an intermediate guitarist. Over time, you will be able to add other elements to each of these methods, which will allow you to achieve even better musical results. Good luck and keep playing!