Playing The Guitar For A Lifetime
Picking up and playing the guitar for a lifetime is usually a dream of more people of any age than most would care to admit. It’s a fact that just about every teenager (boys, though, for the most part) has had an occasional daydream of superstardom gained by playing in the greatest rock band around. And even though most never graduate past the garage, practicing until the fingers bleed sometimes becomes the norm.
The first thing to understand about playing guitar is that if you go with cheap equipment you’re going to find yourself frustrated and not even willing to learn the harder techniques of playing. That’s why it’s always better to find a quality guitar in all circumstances. And if playing an electric version, think about something like an Epiphone electric guitar. It’s not cheap and it’s quality made.
And that’s an important thing to keep in mind; a little bit of quality — and the extra cash needed to get it — will pay off huge dividends when one begins to graduate past learning how to make a folk guitar ‘G’ chord, for example. When it’s time to start pounding out those fifths and minor sevenths and the like, having an instrument that doesn’t torture the fingers to make a chord is the best.
This also applies, most especially, to the left-handers out there, who tend to look at guitars — most of which are made for righthanders — as being too difficult to learn to play. It’s a fact, though, that many manufacturers are making guitars for southpaws (including left handed acoustic electric guitar models) all of whom probably hope to be the next Jimi Hendrix, who was also a southpaw.
Keep in mind, also, that learning to play the guitar will probably be a slightly painful experience at first, at least until the calluses on the fingertips of one hand or the other are sufficiently present. Also, building up the muscles of the hand that is going to be forming notes and chords on the neck of the guitar will also take some time.
If done correctly, one will soon be able to pick up something like an Ibanez acoustic electric guitar (they make a number of fine models, it must be said) and become the next great rock and roller or electric folk rock guitar player on the scene. All it takes is some effort and a willingness to ‘suffer’ for one’s craft.
Becoming a guitar player for life requires all of the above and also something very special; a love of music and a desire to do what it takes to be able to play it. There are three key words when it comes to playing a guitar, too: Practice, practice practice. If you can put those three elements together — along with a bit of love for the instrument — you may be, indeed, the next Jimi Hendrix.