If you want to learn to play guitar, it makes no sense to spend a lot of time practicing if you're all over the place and playing routines that do not get you closer to your goals of becoming a better guitarist.
Firstly, before any practice session, warm up your fingers.
Before you ever pick up the guitar to play or practice, there are some great hand and finger stretches you should be doing to limber up your hands and get blood flowing to the finger tips.
Playing the guitar requires a lot of repetitive motions and injuries could happen if you don't take care of your hands.
Starting up at your shoulder, cross one arm over your chest, place the other hand on the outside of that shoulder and gently stretch the arm.
This should relieve tension in your back near your shoulder blade.
Repeat the same action for the opposite arm.
Next, bend one arm at the elbow and touch your back between the shoulder blades.
Your elbow should be pointing in the air and you can grab it with the opposite hand.
Gently pull the elbow toward your back which will allow you to reach further down your back.
Hold for a few seconds and release and then repeat with the other arm.
Moving onto the actual hands and fingers, reach your arm straight out in front of you with your fingers together and pointing straight up.
Grab the fingers with the opposite have and VERY gently pull them back.
This will stretch the muscles and small tendons in your forearm.
Now you are ready to start practicing.
Here are 6 methods to practice effectively and take your playing to a whole new level: 1) Always follow a plan.
You didn't go to school and just kind of "wing it".
The nice people that taught you how to read and write and do arithmetic had a plan or a curriculum for you.
To become an excellent guitarist you need to develop a plan to follow, master it and then modify it so it challenges you and keeps you moving forward.
2) Never put off practicing.
To learn to play the guitar you've got to practice and the more you practice, the better you'll get.
When you set up your plan, you most likely set specific times to practice.
Never assume you'll "get around to it" because most people will never come back to it and will have missed their session for the day.
Make it a habit to just get into your practice time when you're supposed to.
3) Don't limit yourself to one genre of music.
A rock guitarist can learn an awful lot by checking out what great players in other genres are doing.
Learning a few jazz or country licks will really spice up your playing.
4) Do have a great place to practice.
While it doesn't have to be anything fancy, it should be comfortable enough to allow you to practice in peace and quiet.
It also needs to have the proper tools like a music stand and light, a metronome, a stool or something to sit on and a TV and DVD player if you're learning from a DVD program.
Avoid the TV unless it is being used to learn from.
5) Change up your curriculum.
This is not boot camp and it needs to be fun.
Some people do not enjoy learning and memorizing scales and modes so it's nice to slip in some fun break time playing in between the more tedious tasks just make sure to get back on track after a short break.
6) Share your skills.
The best way to learn to play guitar is to teach someone what you know, as it tests what you know.
You can either hook up with another guitarist once in a while or you can even give lessons to someone else.
This will make it very clear what you do and do not know and you can adjust your learning from there.
So, if you want to learn how to play guitar effectively please refer back to the tips in this article.