Get 5 Guitar Playing Tips to Help You Play Better Guitar

By: Jake Hanson

In this helpful article, you will get guitar playing tips
designed to help you improve your playing skills. So let's get
started...

1) The first guitar playing tip is to use good posture while
playing the guitar

You should sit up straight in an armless chair. If the chair has
arms, you will not be able to hold the guitar properly for
playing. Sit up straight to protect your back.

If you get a backache after a bit of playing, you will realize
how having good posture while playing the guitar is so important.

2) The next guitar playing tip is to hold the pick firmly but
not too firmly.

If you do not grip the pick firmly enough, you may lose it
during a vigorous bout of strumming! But if you grip it too
tightly, you may find your whole arm getting tired. Middle of
the road is the best guitar playing tip I can give you where
pick grip is concerned.

3) Choosing the right pick is another guitar tip that is
important.

Picks come in finger and flat styles. Most guitarists use a flat
one. They also come in three different levels of flexibility.

Several professional guitarists have given me the advice of
getting the softest, flabbiest pick I can find for learning to
keep up with fast strumming. It's easier on the arm. Flabby
picks are harder to use, however, if you are trying to pick out
individual strings, as in adding a bass line, or flat-picking.

After some practice with a soft pick, you will probably want to
move on to a firmer one. A final guitar playing tip about picks
is that the firmest picks make the richest sounds.

4) Here is a guitar playing tip - learn to play arpeggios.

It's fun, great for old folk songs, and sounds beautiful! You
won't be able to use a pick, though. Finger the chord. Now, pick
the bass note of the chord with your thumb. You can use a thumb
pick for this, however, it works just fine to use your thumb.
You will grow a little callus there which will make it easier.

Now use your index finger to pluck the third string. Next, pluck
the second string with your middle finger. And then pluck the
top string with your ring finger. You've picked four notes.

If you repeat the sequence, giving each note the timing of an
eighth note, you will fill a measure of a song written in
four/four time. This guitar playing tip will make people sit up
and take notice, but it does require practice, and calluses, to
play this way. Try playing the strings in different order, and
alternate bass strings.

5) A final guitar playing tip involves the chord D.

While playing the D chord, try adding your pinkie finger to the
chord at the third fret. This new chord is often called
"D-suspended" or "D-sus." Then play D again. Now try lifting
your middle finger so that the top string of the chord is open.
And back to D again.

You can do the same thing with the A-chord, but have to do the
change on the second string. Up one fret to the third makes
A-sus, and you can also lift that finger to go down a step on
that second string. C-suspended requires you to go up a half
step on the fourth string. G-suspended requires you to do it on
the fifth string. Learning suspended chords is a guitar playing
tip you'll find yourself using when you play contemporary songs.

I hope you've found these guitar playing tips helpful. It's
important to remember that the best way to improve your guitar
playing skills is to practice, practice, practice. Good luck!



About the author:
Article by Jake Hanson. Please visit his guitar
lesson site to get an online free guitar lesson course that details how to play guitar with
amazing free chord and tab lessons.