5 Things I Wish I Knew As A Beginner Guitarist

There are a lot of people picking up guitar for the first time right now, and it reminded me of what it was like to be a beginner guitar player when I first started out. These are 5 different things I wish I knew when I was a beginner guitarist.

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[RhettShull]

My first video course, The Tone Course, is available now! Check it out here.

[lilacollette]

A year later, and the intro still makes sense...

[estherrascon]

Ad: are you trying to learn guitar? Wait dont touch that skip button
Me: skips anyway

[humptydumpty]

Beginners don't forget to practice the usual exercises like playing all the frets with alternate picking(forgot what it was called), spiderwalk exercise and the scales play f, g, a, b, c major scales, do all of these exercise before starting to play. Makes a lot of difference

[benduross]

My grandfathers been a guitar player for 65ish years now, he’s 77 and plays every day. I visited with my grandparents and my grandfather offered to give me lessons weekly. I was never interested too much growing up in learning but I’ve always loved music. Within the past year I moved closer to them and could commit to weekly lessons with him. I’m gonna take the opportunity and I’m super excited to see where this journey goes. I’m 25, I’ve been practicing all week after work. Been becoming quickly addicted lol hoping I can make him proud

[mitchelljones]

*Me watching this 7 years into playing guitar

[ziweiwang]

"This intro seems weird and out of place to you."

Me in November: Not at all.

[buttonsangel]

Yes, proper finger placement is the way to go, and will help notes ring-out - But, until those finger tips really start to harden, soft finger tips are simply going to require more pressure than hardened/callused tips. Like trying to fret with a cotton ball versus a pencil eraser.

[MusicalErika]

As a music teacher, I'm high fiving all of you awesome YouTube guitarists who talk up music theory!! It's so so so useful and important. Rock on, my friend!

[HarryPotter-hizy]

To all beginners out there, I wish you the best, and never give up, I promise, the pain and effort will be worth it ❤️

[markrup]

The other thing I would add, Rhett, is learn full songs. Early on I was guilty of this. I could play the intro riff to about 1000 songs and impress my friends -- but I never really learned a whole song. That really impedes your options when playing with others. So I'd say find a song you like, and learn it. Learn the WHOLE thing -- intro, verse, chorus. bridge, solo, outro -- and learn it well until you can play it mistake free all the way through. Then learn another song. And another. And another. That itself will improve your playing and rhythm more than just about anything.

[jeromeleoterry]

I’ve been playing guitar just under 3 years, and one of the things I started about 3 months in is recording progress videos. It’a rewarding to look back and see how far you’ve come.

[wserafin]

I’ve been playing guitar for over 60 years and finally learned that I should’ve taken up harmonica!

[rochellemariewatkins]

1. dont grip the fretboard too hard
2. dont use the capo as a crutch
3. learn basic theory
4. play with other people
...4. find a teacher
5. learn about your gear
:) <3 thank you for your great video!

[LoveBandit]

I was a longtime mediocre guitar player. One day I was jamming with a friend who is a lot better than me and he said this:

"John, you don't really know how to practice. Practice is not messing around with things you already can do and having fun, practice is taking on new things that you have trouble with and mastering them..."

Best piece of advice anyone ever gave me about guitar...

[toothpick]

One year in learning guitar, I agree with everything on the list, just one more tip that really helped me is practice with a metronome it seriously helps.

[onemorerep]

Make a plan when you practice, don’t just muck a bout for an hour. Have a plan, practice chord changes, triads, barre chords. It really does help in the long run when you want to write your own songs

[yobentley]

"if you are the smartest person in the room...you are in the wrong room..." same goes for playing music...

[davidchang]

watching this as a beginner, having already made all the mistakes hehehe

[marcusfife]

In addition to learning the major scale, ear training and SINGING the “solfege” syllables (do re mi etc...) listening to the melody of a song and singing their corresponding solfege syllables helped me internalize the scales and reproduce them on the guitar. This also eventually translated into being able to hear chords and reproduce those as well. I can now listen to most pop songs and play the melody on the guitar and play the chords and chart them out very quickly. All because of that ear training from college.