How to stay Motivated while playing Guitar

What is Music?
The art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre.

Now, learning to play any musical instrument has its own pros and cons. You might think that it's going to be very rewarding, giving you extreme joy to know that you've picked up a new instrument and will learn it in no time. But lets be realistic, you should know that you will not be good at it, at first, and it may even frustrate you at times. So before you even make the decision that you want to buy a guitar; even though you have the money for it and the time to practice, you should know that playing a guitar or any instrument for that matter, is a big investment in context of time and money. If you think you can survive all the frustration and keep a positive attitude towards it, then you should get yourself a gift of music.

I believe this story is true for many aspiring musicians. A lot of my friends have got very excited about the idea of how rewarding it can be to do something like playing guitar and they just go and purchase their instrument, but when they find out that they aren't able to play it just the way their favorite musician play, instantly, they become very disappointed with themselves and get discouraged. You should avoid any kind of anticipation to be developed in the skill that you just started at and really look at it as an investment of time.

Over the years I've had many of my friends become very amused when they saw my ability to play guitar get better and better. Some of them were so excited that they decided to buy a guitar for themselves and learn to play it skillfully. But to there disappointment, a lot of them only played for about a month or so and got fed up of it and sooner rather than later they wanted quit. Most of them actually did! There were only few who had the patience and persevered to become real guitarists.

I can tell you this much, the better you want to play, the more you need to practice. That's about it! There's no other way to it! Though, motivation for music can come in any form and any time. But before that arrives, you will need to take out the time to practice and practice and practice! Once this a habit has become your mindset, it will turn into something you really strive for and you will notice that you're getting better at it day by day. Don't try to see yourself playing with the likes of Santana, but keep a track of your weekly progress and tell yourself "I remember I was so bad at this track even a week ago..." Having a positive outlook towards your smallest progress will keep you motivated to move forward and help you not give up!

Check your improvements first on a weekly basis and then month to month; you will notice that you have improved quite a lot from the time you had started. Of course the cherry on the cake would be if someone close to you compliments on your achievement and notices how much better you have become. Keep doing what you are doing and with the attitude of perseverance the rewards will keep coming your way. You'll feel that in no time you are able to play your first riff, then your first chord and then your first song and this is just the beginning of your success in playing. Also try to set realistic goals for yourself by assigning yourself with a task, for example, decide that you'll be able to play this chord/song in a particular amount of time! When you have completed this task and achieved what you had decided for, it should be motivation enough to keep you going. You'll find yourself getting addicted to it, just don't get too addicted and miss out on your day to day things!

Remember, the most difficult part of the game is the beginning. Once you catch speed there is no looking back. Time is an investment you have to put, to get yourself started. Never get discouraged and if at all you do then push through the frustration and in just a matter of some time you'll achieve your goal. Now pick up your guitar that has been dumped at the back of your room and start setting new goals for yourself.

I hope this comes to you as a little bit of motivation. Best of luck to all you aspiring musicians! Remember, it's a great reward to learn to play music because music is the language of love and humanity. You can express yourself with music in any way you want to. You just need the desire and motivation to do so.

All you need to know about Guitar Capo

_{The Guitar Capo- A Boon For The Guitarists}

A Capo is used to change (raise) the key of your open chords. A capo is most commonly used by guitar players that aren't good at ‘barre’ chords, or for guitar riffs that require open strings in a key other than where open strings are available.
(In a ‘barre’ chord you use your fore-finger as a capo).

A capo can be used on an electric guitar as well. Even though it's electric, it's still a guitar (so same rules apply). Most famous people you see performing with electric guitars know ‘barre’ chords and don't need a capo.
You clamp the capo on the guitar to make a chord an octave higher or make it easier to perform more complicated chords. If it’s in a ‘sone’ it usually stays on the guitar during the whole song but occasionally one performer will remove it in the middle of the song. Usually electric guitars don't use them, but they can, if needed.
Beginning guitarists use capos to change the key of a song so they don't have to learn it in a new key to sing it. Advanced guitarists use capos to extend the range and possibilities of the guitar without constant retuning and detuning. It is also easier to employ a capo, than to purchase a ‘Quinto’ (guitar tuned up a fifth) or ‘requinto’ (guitar tuned up a fourth) and the strings generally last longer.

Capos come in different brands but the common kinds are the elastic capos (the nylon capos and the steel string capos), which are the least expensive and commonly used by guitar players.

To use the capo, attach it in any of the frets. Also make sure the clamp can hold all the strings down. Inspect for any kind of pulling of the guitar strings because it may result in the guitar sounding out of tune.
A special kind of capo, the third hand capo, is a gadget that can surely and easily clamp all the strings of the guitar in place. Like the ordinary capos, it allows the guitar player to play tunes that may be difficult to get or to play using the ‘barre’ guitar strings.

The basic premise of the capo is that, it shortens the length of your guitar's strings. You can technically place a capo anywhere on a guitar's neck, but most players typically don't attach it much higher than the seventh fret. The fret on the neck where you attach the capo now becomes your guitar's nut. For example, if you capo your guitar on the second fret, you have raised your guitar's pitch two half-steps or one whole step. That means that a chord you now play on your guitar (keeping in mind that you need to play the chord in relation to the capo now and not your guitar's nut) will be one whole step higher than it was without the capo. If you finger a D chord, what you will hear will be an E chord. If you finger an A chord you will hear a B chord, and so on. The idea is that if you want to play a song in D sharp, but don't want to learn the complicated way to play a first position D sharp on your guitar, you can simply capo your guitar on the first fret (raising the guitar's pitch one half step) and play a D chord like you normally would. The result is a chord that looks and feels like a D to you, but sounds like a D sharp to everyone else.

The important things to remember while using a capo are:

1) Figure out how your capo attaches to your guitar neck. There are several types of capos on the market today. Some are spring-loaded, others use an elastic type of material, and others are manually clamped to the fret-board by the guitarist. Whichever type you prefer, take a second to understand how it is supposed to hold the strings down to the fret-board.

2) Always attach your capo as close possible to the fret that you want to capo. For example, if you want to capo your guitar at the second fret, don't put the capo right in the middle of the space between the first and second frets, but rather slide it down so it's as close to the second fret as it can be. Don't put it on top of the second fret, but put it as close as it can be without touching it. This helps make sure you stay in tune.

3) Speaking of tuning, always check your tuning when you apply a capo. Often a guitar will have intonation issues, this means that the guitar might be in tune at the first fret but will get further out of tune as you move up the neck. Try to correct any problems with intonation by checking your tuning every time you apply a capo.

What songs are good for Beginner Guitarists

Learning to play the guitar has been enticing people universally. However the biggest hurdle they face in the process; is to play the chords of a song successfully. Although there are many ways by which you can learn how to play the guitar, mastering your first song is very rewarding and fun. Despite the fact that there are numerous songs, for strumming the guitar, song selection can be a tricky proposition. So, here are a few basic but fantastic tracks to play along to.

Many of R.E.M. songs, such as

1) Losing My Religion

2) Driver Eight

3) Love Is All Around

4) Man On The Moon are great for learning about song structure - intro, verse, chorus. These songs by R.E.M. can easily be learned by beginners and turned into nice solo arrangements.

5) ‘Hey There Delilah’ is a great song to learn for improving partial chords, playing with finger-style or pick, and making interesting chord changes on the fly.

6)‘Man on the Moon’ is a beautiful song that beginners can play easily and at the same time adding some nice touches for a solo arrangement.

7) ‘Help!’ is a classic Beatles song which can be used to get started on barre chords and learn a cool little guitar riff.

8) ‘Brain Damage/Eclipse’ by Pink Floyd; this song is geared to the nearly absolute beginner. A very simple strumming/picking pattern can be added to the basic chords already learnt.

9) ‘As Tears Go By’ by The Rolling Stones is a classic, and once the basics are in place, you can make the rest of the arrangement as simple or as complicated as you like.

10) ‘Folsom Prison Blues’ by Johnny Cash and ’Your Cheating Heart’ by Hank Williams, are two great country classics. They can be used by beginners to work on chord changes and strumming.

11) ‘Friend Of The Devil’, a song originally by the Grateful Dead is a very good song for beginners, because technically, it only uses four chords: G, C, D and Am.

12) ‘Eleanor Rigby’ by The Beatles is a simple, two-chord song and focuses on changing chords and strumming. You’ll also get a practical introduction to slash chords and, if you still need more to learn, there are a couple of fun and easy riffs for you to add. To play ‘Eleanor Rigby’, you’ll need to know two chords, Em and C.

13) ‘Nowhere Man’ by The Beatles is in the key of E. And is one of the easiest songs for beginner guitarists.

14) ‘Hurt’ by Johnny Cash is a basic verse, chorus, verse, chorus song with a short extension of the chorus tacked on to the end. The verses consist of two measures, which are repeated almost like a loop.

When all of these tracks can be played with confidence, the beginner guitarist can look forward to taking on ever more complex and difficult songs. Every beginner guitarist experiences frustration and problems with their play, at some time or the other. The most important thing to remember is that practice makes perfect.