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Playing Your Guitar
© 2009 All Rights Reserved
Contents
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Guitar Tuning
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Discipline in Practicing
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Seven Steps for Positive Work Habits for Practice
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Warming Your Hands Up Before Practice
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Alternate Picking for Guitar
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Getting Rhythm in Your PlayingGuitar Tuning
Learning how to tune your guitar is an important skill to learn if you want to become aguitar player. Having a guitar that is in tune will make a massive difference to how goodyour 
 
 playing sounds. There are quite a few methods for tuning your guitar, some thatyou will use more than others. Still, it is good to know how to use all the methods
 
that
 
are available.
The most common way of tuning a guitar, is to itself. To do this you tune all your strings from the bottom (thickest) string up to the top string (thinnest). To do this you press down on the fifth fret andtry and tune the A string (second thickest) so that is sound perfectly in tune with the bottom string withthe fifth fret pushed down.
 
Repeat this process to all the strings except for the B string (second thinnest) which you press down on the forth fret on the G string (third thinnest) to tune.The electronic tuner is probably the easiest and most effective way of tuning your guitar to correct pitch. With an electronic tuner you can get a very accurate tuning because itactually measures the sound wave frequency of your strings. Take your tuner and pluck each string individually until each string is perfectly in tune. Remember a guitar is tunedfrom top to bottom eBGDAE.
You can try tuning your guitar to another guitar. For this method take the guitar that is in tune and tryand tune each string on you guitar so that you can hear that each string vibrates in tune with the other.Regardless of whether you set out to learn a few simple chords, or if you just want to be the next biggest thing to grace the music world. When you pick up an instrument you are going to have to
 
 practice if you are to have any hope of getting better.Try all these methods to tune your guitar to see which one works best for you.
Tuning a 12 String
 Even though it may look like a big challenge, ‘standard’ tuning a 12-string guitar isactually quite easy. For the bottom four strings (four thickest) you will tune each pair of strings to the same note but the thinner one will be tuned an octave higher. An octave istwo notes that are the same but at a different pitch. The top two strings (two thinnest)have both strings tuned to the same not at the same pitch so they sound exactly the same.
Sounds simple? In theory it is, however when strings are tuned in octaves it is easy to hear slightmistunings. For this reason it is important to tune your strings perfectly when you are tuning a 12-string. Also sometimes you may have a problem keeping some of the strings in tune as the some of thesmaller strings are tuned quite tightly. For this reason I think it can be a good idea to get the best qualitystrings you can when stringing up a 12-string. Ask your local dealer about strings, hopefully they canhelp you out.
Discipline in Practicing
Discipline when you are practicing the guitar is very important. Learning to play theguitar is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life but it was also oneof the hardest. The reason that I became proficient with my instrument is simple. I practiced, and I practiced a lot; every day in my bedroom from the age of 16 (I’m 25now). I spent most of my time practicing the fundamentals: running up and down scales,changing chords and trying to improve my repertoire of songs.
Sometimes it was easy to make time to practice because I was in a good mood and I really wanted to play. At those times I could spend hours just listening to how cool it sounded when I changed from thechord D to the chord G. But on other days it was my discipline and desire to play and improve thatmade me practice and develop as a player.There are two main factors when it comes to discipline in practice: practicing regularly and practicingwell. Both of these are important to address.Practicing regularly is the most obvious and easy to do. Basically you should play the guitar every day.These don’t need to be mammoth, three hour long sessions. 30 minutes will generally be fine if you arefocused during that time. Doing regular, small amounts of practice is far better than going all out for hours once a week. I know that in a busy life it can be hard to make the time to practice but honestly 30minutes a day is achievable for anyone. There is no set time that is best to practice but I prefer to do itin the evening simply because I find playing the guitar is a relaxing way to wind down after a stressfulday.Practicing badly is a more common and difficult to address problem. This is something that affectseven the most experienced player. This problem has several causes and solutions.
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Playing the same thing over and over every time you play. I am a firm believer that you should play something perfectly before you move on. BUT, once you know how to play something you
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