What is most important as you try to learn to play guitar? Technical guitar exercises or playing music? What areas should you focus on as you try to use your practicing time as effective as possible?

Could it be that both these areas are important and should go hand in hand?

You could practice in various ways and you could practice many various things as you try to learn playing guitar. You are probably already identifying yourself in a niche of guitar players. Even if you are not you will experience sooner or later that different approaches will lead you in different directions.

For example, if you only learn small parts (the coolest parts) of famous songs you will end up with knowing small parts of songs. Obvious, but that is very common among beginning guitar players. If you only practice this way you will of course miss the long term development as a guitarist.

You wanted to become one type of guitarist but ended up becoming another type of guitarist. Why does things like that happen?

Probably because we know that what we saw we will reap but do not realize that this applies to guitarists as well!

If you never practice skill exercises in your guitar playing you will not develop you skill very much. If you don’t want to become a proficient guitar player but only want to sing songs you can relax and develop your time to learning songs.

If you really know what you want it is much easier to determine what exercises you will need.

If you have a somewhat vague idea about what type of guitarist you want to become I would suggest that you balance you guitar practice by choosing both melodies and other musical exercises and also skill building guitar exercises.

If you only practice speed by learning scales, arpeggios, licks and other technique building exercises it is an imminent risk that you will sooner or later get fed up with practicing because of the lack of stimulating musical content.

It can actually be a great investment in your musical development to take some time off every now and then by going to a concert or listening to other music that will inspire you.

Yes, you are right, you will not practice your fingers, but music and playing guitar has to be a joyful experience for you if you are to inspire and lift others when you perform. You will gain so much by filling yourself with inspiring music that it will compensate for missed skill building exercises.

Music is the key in this discussion. It has to be the basis for all other guitar playing activities. Otherwise you will as before mentioned lose interest in the activity.

Sometimes I remember my first steps learning to play guitar and I remember that I did not think in terms of becoming a better guitarist than my friends or being the fastest guitarist in the world or a lot of other disturbing unmusical considerations. I was just enjoying the music I created.

I guess that keeping this feeling of why I wanted to learn to play guitar in the first place in vivid memory will help me not to be too carried away with only technical exercises.

Okay, what then is more important as you try to learn to play guitar? Technical guitar exercises or playing music?

As in so many other aspects of life balance is probably the key to reap optimal benefits from your guitar playing.
About the Author: Peter Edvinsson invites you to download your free guitar sheet music and read his guitar music blog at http://www.capotastomusic.com
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Music is the rhythm of life, for each of us. Anybody can make and play some sort of music but the real music only comes from a real perfectionist, a musician. It may be any kind of instrument, a drum, a synthesizer or a guitar, a musician knows how to stir the rhythm in the mind and soul of the listener. A perfect musician possesses many more qualities, not only regarding music but also regarding his instrument. Talking about a guitar, it is often said that as the wine gets fine with the age, the acoustic guitar gets better with the age. Therefore, its all depends on a perfect guitar care.

Besides the above mentioned point, one more fact should That should be pointed out here is that good guitar care not only increases the durability but also adds to the playability and longevity of the instrument. This holds true for all kinds of guitars, be it acoustic, electric or classical. Therefore, a good guitarist should have a clear knowledge about the maintenance and care of his instrument.

The story of guitar care starts with the storage. The musician can be a frequent player, or a performer, a teacher, or can be a rare user. But in every case, the common necessity is the good storage system of the instrument, which will protect the guitar from any kind of physical damage. For this the guitar needs a well fitted guitar case. Keeping it in a case will prevent it from various kinds of damages like scratching, mistreatment, accidental hitting, stepping etc. Other than this, a case will be a good safeguard while traveling with the guitar as it will prevent the instrument from heat and direct sunlight, which basically makes the wood dry, cracked and brittle.

Next with it comes the storing of the guitar. The perfect or the suitable temperature to keep the instrument is the room temperature (i.e. between 55-65 degrees Fahrenheit). This will save it from the effects of the climatic changes. Even using a humidifying system helps keeping the instrument safe.

Switching over to the next procedure of guitar care, it is the cleaning. Definitely it should be cleaned everyday and of course after every use. First of all, a soft cotton cloth should be used for cleaning as well polishing the guitar. Coming to the cleaning of the strings, it is a must to wipe them after each use as it will lengthen the tonal life of the strings.

In case of fingerprints, stains or any other kind of dirt on the body of the guitar, huff some breath on the surface and follow it with wipe. This will remove them. If more powerful cleaning is needed, the cloth can be moistened with little bit of water mixed with mild detergent. There are lots of guitar polishes and cleaners available in the market, which can be used for guitar care.

An old guitar needs much more care than the new one. To remove the stickiness, the solvent of mineral spirit or naphtha can be used with the help of a disposable cloth. To clean the fingerboard especially, lemon oil or any other oily cleaner can be used. But it should be kept in mind that too much of oiling and scrubbing may damage the instrument.

Adding to the guitar care process one of the important things is changing the guitar strings. When the strings start sounding dull, it is time to change. Of course it depends on how often the guitar is played. Generally the time to change the strings is after every 1-3 months.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, and synthesizers. You can find the best marketplace for guitars, drums, and synthesizers at these 3 sites: guitars, guitar cases, acoustic guitars, drums, drum sets, and synthesizers, keyboards.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

The history of guitars traces back to India and Central Asia. It is derived from the Sitara. The oldest known iconographic depiction of an instrument displaying all the required features of a guitar is a 3300 year old stone carving of a Hittite bard. Earlier a guitar was known to be an instrument with a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved sides. The modern guitar owes its origin from the Spanish guitarra derived from the Latin word cithara. Cithara comes from the Greek word kithara, perhaps derived from Persian sihtar, which in turn related to Indian Sitara.

Following the history of guitars the modern guitar comes from the Roman cithara brought by the Romans to Hispania around 40 AD. They further modified and developed it with the entrance of the four string oud, brought by the Moors. In other parts of Europe, the native six strings Scandinavian lut (lute) had gained in reputation in areas of Viking incursions across the continent.

The composers for the string instruments wrote mostly in tablature notation. During the 17th century, Italy was said to be the capital of the guitar world. In France, the guitar was considered to be the instrument of the nobility. The Spanish school of guitar creation flourished after the end of the eighteenth century. The works and composition of the composers traveled widely including the Italians composers who were involved in a number of substantial works.

One of the most vital factors in the history of guitars was the addition of the sixth string during the middle of the eighteenth century. The changes in social conditions and improvement in the mode of transportation during the 19th Century contributed to the growing understanding of the guitar and enabled performers to travel with their composition. Guitar music thrived Spain more than others in the 19th century.

The early 20th century saw the European emigrants coming to America brought a number of highly skilled instrument makers among them, including those who were expert in the manufacturing of steel stringed acoustic guitar. Two types of construction evolved, the flat top guitar and the arch top guitar. Martin and Gibson were two of the original and most significant of all American acoustic guitar makers.

A well recognized name in the history of guitars, Antonio Torres Jurado (1817 to1892), developed the modern feature of the guitar in Seville during the 1850s. George Beauchamp in 1936 patented the electric guitar, which used the horseshoe magnet pickup. However, Danelectro was the first to produce electric guitars for the wider public.

The requirement for something with an amplified sound became noticeable during the big band era of history of guitars. Amplified devices became necessary in order to fight with the loud volumes of the large brass sections common to jazz orchestras of the thirties and forties. To begin with the component of electric guitar, this consisted primarily of hollow archtop acoustic guitar bodies to which electromagnetic transducers had been fixed.

The original recognized use of the electric guitar in the history of guitars was during October 1932 in Wichita, Kansas by guitarist and bandleader Gage Brewer who acquired two instruments directly from George Beauchamp of Los Angeles, California. The first recording of an electric guitar was by jazz guitarist George Barnes. He recorded two songs in Chicago on March 1st, 1938. These were Sweetheart Land and It is a Low Down Dirty Shame.

About the Author: Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, and synthesizers. You can find the best marketplace for guitars, drums, and synthesizers at these 3 sites: guitars, traditional guitars, drums, drum sets, drum kits, and synthesizers, keyboards.
Source: http://www.articlesbase.com