8 Essential Guitar Tips for Older Beginners
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- Опубликовано: 7 июн 2024
- #guitarlessons #guitartips #beginnerguitarlessons #bestguitartips
If you want be a better guitar player, then do yourself a favor and watch this video. I've been teaching guitar for 25 years and I know the keys to success and the mistakes that almost every player makes that holds them back. Here are 8 simple but highly effective tips that will help you avoid wasting your time, make your practice more enjoyable, and ultimately, make you the best guitar player you can be. If you spend any amount of time playing guitar each week then why not give me 5 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME?
Whether you just started playing guitar, you're thinking of playing guitar, or you've been playing the same 8 songs for the past 35 years and you're not getting any better, this video is for you. If your time is as valuable (and limited) as mine is, why do you continue to waste it endlessly noodling or spending hours looking at gear?
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I'm going to do the video watch contest again. Leave a fresh comment and respond to a comment by another viewer and you get an entry. Max is 20 entries. Please watch the entire video. I can see watch times and watching 30 seconds and moving on not only crushes the channel but it's a crappy thing to do. If you don't like the content there are plenty of other channels to choose from. :). I'm hoping that you'll find something in an older video that you enjoy or learn something from or both.
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Развлечения
Mark, Thank you I needed the reminder "there is no substitute for practice". If I only have say 10 or 15 minutes I will pick up the 12 or 6 string and slowly and methodically go thru the open chords and just listen to make sure each string is being played properly with no muted or buzzing. My playing tends to get a bit sloppy if I am not careful. I try to articulate each note.
Hey Dennis. That sounds like EXCELLENT practice to me. If anything is a marathon and not a sprint, it's becoming proficient at an instrument. :)
That is my biggest problem is finding the time to practice which has held be back all these years.
You’ve struck me deep on the guitar collection.
Nothing wrong with having a lot of guitars. As long as each inspires you to play.
I definitely need this. My on and off again practice routine due to life circumstances has me pigeon holed in a permanent beginner status.
I get caught in this too
One thing I recommend is ALWAYS do a good warm up exercise. That way if you get interrupted you still got something out of the practice.
@@8MinuteAxe Good idea !
these tips apply to EVERYBODY. Well thought out and well delivered!
Thanks Clem. I appreciate the support.
right? nowi just need to do it!
Some great guidelines Mark. I have fallen into some of those ruts myself!
Me too Charles. Before I started the channel: 5 guitars. 3.5 years later: 33 guitars.
As a classically trained flautist & jazz tenor sax player I can read music but for guitar & bass never had a lesson, but I agree whole heartily that playing entire songs is the key & nothing is more sublime than a jam. Playing with others will always stretch yourself musically & regardless of instrument you never stop learning.
Excellent Tips, Mark. We can all learn something from this video!
One of the guy that checked out the video recommends a couple of hours of practice a day and was very vocal about practicing 10-20 minutes being foolish. I'm interested in his methods...
I agree with the time cap to start. I always got frustrated a little at first but I always came back to it better the next day, and only started practicing multiple hours after some months.
Hey Justin. You must be a jazz player, right? If you practice multiple hours a day, I'm sure you're in an entirely different league than I am. Pat Metheny's legendary 3 hour warm ups are mind numbing. I play 5 or 6 hours on most days but on my best days I practice an hour in the morning and an hour late in the day. That's why I decided to become a fingerstyle player rather than a jazz guitarist. I've been trying to get Tommy E's version of Borsalino to performance level. After 60 minutes I'm so wiped out. I'll do three octave arps to a click through all 12 keys for my warm ups and I usually get exhausted by mM7 and that's only 8 to 12 minutes. Usually I do: M7, m7, D7, 1/2dim, dim7, and then mM7. The idea of spending hours running through every possible leading tone sequence in something like Rhythm Changes blows my mind. I know it's a just a higher level of dedication. Thanks so much for weighing in. I appreciate your time and comment. Take care and enjoy the rest of your week. Mark
I've been a part time pro (weekend gigs) for 40 years and I think I've done maybe 5 "multiple hour" practices in my life. What does your practice regimen look like? If you're a classical or jazz musician and you're in school then that explains it. Otherwise I'd be interested in seeing your routine.
There are elements of this that apply equally to learning any new thing. Great tips
For sure Scott. Thanks so much for taking the time to watch and comment. Have a great week. Mark
Excellent tips Mark..
Thanks Tom. Talk soon.
Hi Mark heres some tips for online lessons. Watch the lesson at least three times. Once to understand what the lesson is about. Twice to take notes about the lesson. Third actualy play the lesson you don't have to get it down cold but you'll have a good understanding of the lesson. Yes as you can tell i learned this method in the military and it works.
Wonderful tips!! Very inspirational.
I am the Billy Graham of guitar teachers...
I started playing at 48. I got ridiculously drunk and woke up to find out I had bought a guitar on Amazon, in my drunken stupor. I checked some reviews and quickly cancelled my order, but made another one immediately. I didn't get anywhere until I started lessons, and the thought of stopping now, has never crossed my mind, a year and half later.
Hey Tijuana. LOL. I did the same thing one night about 20 years ago. I bought a Peterson Strobe Tuner for $350 on Musician's Friend. I had buyer's remorse for years. Now I can't say enough good things about Peterson tuners. Great story. Thanks so much for checking out the video and for sharing. I sincerely appreciate it. Have a great week and take care. Mark
@@8MinuteAxe *takes a shot and googles strobe tuners*
I love this story!
Now that is a Great story !
I'm an old beginner. I appreciate your teaching method so much. I grew up with music from the 60's and 70's. So glad to find someone who appreciates the older stuff. I'm using inexpensive gear, but they've come a long way. i still have my first guitar, a Harmony folk guitar. Still sounds really good. 50 years on.
Great advice, Mark. I for one am guilty of a lot of the bad habits you mentioned. Now, although I love the guitar, I hardly practice at all. Part of that is making myself too busy with other things, but I know I could schedule time for practice if I wanted to. Thanks for another great video!
Hey James. Get a few really good warm up exercises together and start with it each time you pick up the guitar. Anything that moves the needle forward is a good thing. :). Take care. Mark
Me to James; I'm to easily side tracked by things I want to accomplish before my 77th birthday next year.
@@8MinuteAxe Thanks, Mark. I do have tons of videos and written stuff for guitar, which if I got back into it, would work (along with your great videos). Right now I'm working on getting a business online, and that takes 110% of my time. But hoping that will be somewhat less time consuming in the next month or two. But the time I spend NOT playing makes me go backward in ability, especially since I'm a geezer! lol
@@JohnR242 I get that, John. I just turned 71 and have way too much other stuff taking up my time. Good luck on your geetar playing!
You are so right on. 10 minutrs can always be found.
Great tips Mark. I get hung up on a couple things you discuss and this video is great reinforcement of how not to get stuck.
But now I have to buy a pre-war Martin 😂
Loved the statement about equal and important part of the music.
Hey Rick. For sure. I was originally going to call the video "what NOT to do" but these videos typically bomb anyway so I figured I'd keep it positive.
@@8MinuteAxe Keeping it positive is always good. I tend to skip “What not to do” videos cuz I already have a long list of those things 😂
This is great info Mark. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your wisdom with us.
Hey Stan. I don't know about wisdom, but I do the best I can.
Thanks for this reminder of great basics to productive practicing. Always enjoy your videos, Mark. Cheers
Hey james thank you for taking the time to watch and comment. I sincerely appreciate it. Have a great weekend and take care. Mark
I agree !
Good video, Mark. After more than 50 years of playing at different degrees of seriousness, all of these tips apply. One thing remained constant...I really enjoy playing music. The most fun has been sharing the joy with others. Thanks for sharing with us!
Hey Michael. I originally intended to do a video more along the lines of "if you love music as much as I do, why aren't you playing!" but a lot of people have resigned themselves to never even trying. Sadly.
Couldnt agree more
practice, practice, practice
Do you know the famous story (that is mostly likely urban legend) about Picasso and the drawing on the napkin. But it only took you 2 minutes to draw that. No, my friend, it took 50 years.
Picking up my guitar after a long lay off because I was stagnant, great tips thanks
Congrats !
Can’t wait to get started to get better
I think I'll write these down and leave them with my guitars as a ready reminder. Thanks, Mark!
Good idea !
Once I learn a song pretty well, I will move on to others. When I come back to the first song after a time away, I may need to refresh my memory a bit, but I soon find I understand and play it better than the first time around.
Letting a piece percolate for awhile in the subconscious can be quite helpful.
As well, when practicing to learn a difficult part I find tthat there is a point where I just need to stop trying. The next practice, with a fresh and alert mind. I will quickly master the part I could not the last time, when I was tired.
You are living in my head! Wow. Tough to hear but 100% true. Especially learning whole songs. Again wow and thanks
Thanks for the Tips !
Great advice Mark!
Great video! Thank you!
Good advice, Mark! Thanks!
Another great video Mark. Very sound advise.
Rok-Lok behind that SG?
Does a bear s--t in the woods?
Tip tips...thanku1👍
Fantastic video! I say that because I really needed to hear it from a professional guitarist and teacher. I'm 56 and haven't picked up a guitar in over 30 years. I've been a 6 string player but just last year bought a used 12 string guitar that is in its case. I need to take the first step and get it tuned. With your awesome channel I will learn how to play the 12 string guitar. Thanks for the big kick in my ass and a great video. 👍
Hey Darrin. It's always great to hear from peers. It seems like 90% of my viewers are either 20 years younger or older than me. Lol. A couple of tips if you're trying to motivate to get back into it. Find a couple of really good warm up exercises and always start with one as soon as you pick up the guitar. That way if life interrupts you five minutes later you still moved the needle. Another tip that worked well to get my brother back into it (he's 56 as well) is to try to learn a new riff each day. Doesn't matter if it's simple. Just one each day (or each day you pick up the guitar). Thanks so much for the kind words about the channel. I sincerely appreciate the support. Take care and be well. Mark
All great tips, Mark! I've been guilty of all of these at some point or another. Thanks for the great content!
Hey Christopher. I really appreciate that. I'm glad you got something out of the video. I'm really proud of this one. Take care. Mark
Well done, Mark; good, basic advice. Thank you. I played (very badly) 40 years ago; hoping you can vastly improve my current abilities, so I can play with other guitar players in the family.
Older!!
Actually, originally is was Ol
Priceless advice there, Mark! Your realistic understanding of common practicing woes, the practicality of the solutions you advise, are so on-point and amazing. Thank you.🙏🏼
Great video, Mark! Gotta get signed up for some lessons now. Here's a question, though. I've learned songs using songbooks or tabs or chord guides, but except for a very few exceptions, no matter how many times I come back to them, they're never something I can play solely from memory. Any tips for helping commit songs to memory, or is that even important?
great advise !!! also for everybody something I was told a few years ago !!! KEEP A GUITAR OUT ALL THE TIME !!! if you keep it in the closet or the other room out of sight out of mind !!!! I got a little carried away, my wife and I have all 28 guitars we have in the living room 14 hanging on the walls and the rest are on stands !!!!the hardest choice is what one to grab first !!!!!
Bet that is one Cool Living Room !
Great video Mark. Gotta continually remind myself to practice more and drool over gear less. I think it is just easier to dream about new gear than become competent enough to effectively use new gear. In my head, I am a shredder, but in reality a random noodler.
I am one of the truly great noodlers Dennis! :)
I am right there with you !
Cancel last comment found what I was looking for..love your lessons..
Hi Mark i've recently seen your very awesome Review of the Harley Benton dc custom 612 Double neck (damn thats one hell of a Name aint it?!)
Anyway, as a consequence i bought it a week ago and it's arriving tomorrow yaay.
So my question to you:
When you first plugged the Guitar in your amp what were your first Impressions and was it surprising considering the Price of the Axe?
Love your Channel Man, finally i discovered someone who's also crazy about those 12 Strings🤘
Greetings from The Rheinland in Germany
Lass es dir gut gehen Mark🍺
5 songs for 35 years? Mark, I've got around 200 songs that I can pull out at a seconds notice, accumulated over 40 years or so, and this is STILL good advice for me. I'm still learning new ones, perhaps writing a couple every so often, and most of these 8 points are things I have to remind myself about from time to time.
Hey Dave. Sounds like you're a pretty serious player. There are tons of players like my brother. Late 50s, been playing on and off for 30 years. Never took lessons, studied formally, or played in a band. He probably knows about 50 riffs and 10 to 12 complete songs. He noodles a bit in pentatonic. Almost all of my students have been playing at some level for at least 20 years but none have really strung together a meaningful curriculum for any length of time. The truly impressive thing is that you can even think of 200 songs at a moment's notice. I can play a few thousand songs but right now I can't think of more than 5 that I know. LOL. Actually, you caught me at a good time. My band did a very successful reunion show last summer so we are doing it again. I'm truly embarrassed to say that the week before our gig Bill Frisell played the same venue. We sold almost 4 times as many tickets as he did. I assure you I'm not bragging. There's just something wrong with that. Bill farts better than I play. For us, the 14 year hiatus greatly helped the ticket sales. LMAO. What was my point? Oh, I remember. Right now I know about 60 songs because of the upcoming show. I had to relearn 20 songs that I wrote. I'm still not sure of some of the parts. I appreciate your time and wisdom. Mark
@@8MinuteAxe LOL - I'm a folkie, when somebody in the music circle down the pub starts one, you've got about 4 bars to recognise it, work out what key they are playing it in and capo to a place where you can handle the shapes :)
I only know the actual number because for the last several years I've been stresming weekly sets to a few virtual venues and I've tried to follow a rule of never repesting more than three songs from my previous appearance at that venue, never playing any song three sets in a row and to always have at least one or two songs I havent performed there in over a year in each set list.
I ended up writing a couple of programs to help me create set lists that followed these rules and avoided scheduling a setlist where almost everything was in G or D, so I had to go back and list "all the songs I've performed at least a few times in the past few years and could do again with one rehearsal"
Trying to find your lesson on thumb pick blues rhythm...part 1 2 etc..
“Learn songs not just riffs”. Guilty guilty guilty as charged.
I think at age 20, after 7 years of playing, the only songs I could play all the way through were the ones I wrote. LOL
I know a lot of guy`s that just know riffs but can not play anything.
This is great advice… Luckily, I picked up the guitar almost 60 years ago, so that I could sing the top 40 songs I heard on AM radio. So, I learned to play complete songs, start to finish, to match my vocals. I am still a better singer than guitarist, but am good enough player to have been on stage countless times.
Hey Jed. It's funny, about 12 years ago I was recording in Nashville and I lost my voice. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that I was a singer who played guitar. In 2017 when I quit my day job for the third time in my life to give music full time attention again, I really focused on becoming the best guitar player I could be. I flew up to CT to do a reunion show with my old band and lo snd behold, I'm a singer who plays guitar again. Lol. Thanks so much for checking out the video and sharing your story with me. These are the kind of comments that make this all worthwhile. I'm glad I didn't miss this one. RUclips doesn't give notifications for comments that are part of a thread. I just happened to be scrolling through. Take care. Mark
@@8MinuteAxe Glad you got your voice back! I very recently bought a resonator. I tune it in open D and G, and am learning slide. This is the first time I have practiced learning “licks” and not songs. But, the goal is still to put together complete songs. So far, I have done one each of Elmore James, Son House and Robert Johnson’s songs on open mic stages, with appreciated results,(haven’t had the courage to put one into a gig set, but maybe in the future?). Keep the great videos coming!
Btw, is that a new guitar?
Yes, I had it ready to go for our lesson on Friday but then switched to the acoustic.
We older guitar players would like to hear some Gordon Lightfoot 12-string such as Sundown.
There Ya go !
#winaguitar
The tip I'd like to offer is join a choir. When I did this, my playing and interaction took off exponentially. Our choir director says anybody can sing. Sadly, most youtube players and guitar teachers never touch singing and this is a mistake. It is part and parcel of being a performing musician. Think Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Lucinda Williams or Chrissie Hynde have conventionally beautiful singing? They strive for and achieve the only true measure of success, authenticity.
Thanks for the tip. I used to sing in an acapella group. I'm primarily a singer. I do mostly solo acoustic gigs now (easier to load in and out and the pay is good) but I front an 80s cover band once a month and my old original band just did our second reunion show in CT (we sold the place out last year 225 old fans showed up. About half of that this year but still one of the musical highlights of the year). I sing on probably 200 covers and originals on the channel. I'll forward you links to some of my favorites if you're interested. I appreciate your time and comment and I hope you have a great Sunday. Take care and be well. Mark
I know, I know that I should "sing" along with my playing but can't. I let my "sweetheart" do all the "talkin'.
I don't doubt it. :)
@@8MinuteAxe tried but couldn't do it.
10-20 minutes 3-5x a week?! You can't even get good at Kazoo if you're that lazy. You will get NOWHERE like this. "Don't exceed your practice time because early overachievers always burn out?" That's absurd. If you are an overachiever in the sense that you think you're going to magically get good overnight, then yeah you may be disappointed when your two hours a day doesn't instantly turn you into Hendrix. But the lesson here is to keep you're expectations reasonable, NOT to not practice. The guy who practiced 2 hrs a day will likely be better after one year than someone who practices 10-20 min 3-5x a week will ever become in their entire lifetime.
Hey Fizzy P. First off, thanks for checking out the video. I appreciate your time and thoughts. How long have you been teaching guitar?? Do you regularly recommend that your students practice everyday for an hour or a couple of hours? What's your retention rate? Can you lay out one of your practice sessions for my subs? Also, how do you stay hyper focused for so long? I'm seriously curious about your methods. I've never heard of novice players being able to concentrate on an instrument for long durations but if you've put it to practice, I'm interested. Take care and have a great week. -Mark
you lucked out. any other youtuber would have either deleted you or told you to f off. Mark has 35,000 subs on youtube, a thriving teaching practice, a popular band, a ton of great originals, and he's a phenomenal player. what are your credentials? i'd bet money you've never made it anywhere.
Just STEP OVER THE TRASH Stan. It's not even worth stepping on...
How many adults are going to develop into master musicians? If a person already has children, a job, a house, etc., the odds of being the next Tuck Andress, Tommy Emmanuel, or whomever, are astronomical!
To learn guitar, the short practice times will suffice. If one's love for the instrument becomes all consuming, then practice times can be increased. Desire and talent are the factors that determine the optimal practice times.
Some members of my family were gifted with great musical talent. I missed my turn at the well. I could practice dawn to dusk daily, and never be a great musician.
Because I love the instrument, I am a competent player. I am over seventy. I will never be a great guitarist even though I do practice far more than twenty minutes/day. I play because I love doing it.
Everyone has their own motivation and tolerance. Everyone has a right to play as much, or as little as they want. And a steady diet of short, consistent practices will give an adult a pretty good idea of whether they wish to pursue further mastery.
@@stevenkarnisky411 I agree with literally everything you said. But the context of this video is people strumming cowboy chords, who've "played the same 8 songs for the last 35 years" who want to move beyond that. Everyone has the right to play as little or as much as they want, but if you want to rise above some casual strumming, 10-20 minutes every other day really isn't going to cut it. I don't want to be mean and I'm no elitist, quite the opposite. I know the vast majority of adults don't have an hour each day worth of time to put into an instrument. I get that and I'm not looking down on those people. They have other priorities. At the same time, I'm not going to sugar coat it. Those people are never going to get much further than strumming a handful of simple songs they like. Circling back to the beginning, that is the context of this video: rising above that.