Worship Guitar Class Blog

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Guitar Scales – 4 Tips To Mastering Guitar Scales

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Would you like to improve your guitar playing? Practicing with guitar scales is a fruitful and beneficial practice. Here are 4 tips that can help you play scales excellently.

  1. The first tip is practicing. You need to spent time with the instrument to improve your playing. Use scales to begin you time of practice. It helps you to focus on just the technique of playing.
  2. Speaking of focus. That’s the next tip. Sometimes people play the guitar, but just play things they already know. To get better, it takes concentration and focus. I know a concert guitar player who plays a difficult section of a piece 100 times perfectly. If he messes up on #89, he starts over again from #1. We aren’t all ‘concert guitar players’ but I think focusing will benefit all players.
  3. Start the scales by playing them slowly. Try moving both hands at exactly the same time. In other words, hold down the note and strike the string at the same time. This will help you play faster down the road.
  4. Using a metronome is an excellent practice. You can use it to gradually increase the speed and it will also help you achieve an more accurate sense of tempo.

For an easy scale to play, there is a video at the website of Guitar Scales.

7 Tips on Changing Guitar Chords Faster

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Change Chords FasterWhen you are first learning to play the guitar, it usually takes a while to change the chords. Here are some tips to help you change to new chords much faster. Mastering this skill will make it easier to play your worship songs.

1. Memorize the chord forms in the worship song you are trying to learn.

2. Practice changing the chords by themselves, without singing the song.

3. If the chord is difficult, break it down into smaller units. For example, change to just a portion of the new chord. If the chord requires four fingers, change to 2 fingers of the chord, then 3 fingers of the chord, then the entire chord.

4. When you are practicing the chord changes, watch where your fingers will be moving too, not on the current chord. This is especially important for chords that are in different positions on the fingerboard.

5. When you are playing your worship song, look at the next chords coming up in your peripheral vision.  You’ll change to the chords much faster if you are already thinking ahead before it’s time to play them.

6. Pick a strumming tempo that you can play and don’t slow it down for any chord change. Even if you aren’t quite on the new chord, this will train your hands to change faster.

7. How well you play is very connected to your mental attitude too. Be quick to ‘forgive’ yourself for any mistakes and decide that you can be a wonderful guitarist.

Of course, the very best way to start every practice session is with prayer. God can help us accomplish wonderful things to His Glory!

Guitar Care

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One of the Worship Guitar Class Family members, Pamela, asked about how to care for her guitar. I thought that you may be interested in tips for caring for your guitar too.

Here are some tips to keeping your guitar protected and cared for.

1. Get a guitar case and leave your guitar in the case. I used to suggest leaving your guitar on a guitar stand because it’s easier to remember to play it when it’s in view. Accidents, including earthquakes, can happen and your guitar is more protected in a guitar case.

2. Do not leave it in a hot car. Excess heat can warp and ruin the wood.

3. In dry climates, use a humidifier. You can purchase one specifically made for guitars or make one yourself. To make one, get a small plastic container that can fit inside your guitar case. A traveling container for a bar of soap is the perfect size. Place a wet sponge in the plastic container and make some small holes in the container.

4. Keep a cotton cloth in your case, like a baby’s diaper. This is good for wiping down the instrument. Some people wipe down the guitar strings after playing. This can help to make them last longer.

5. Speaking of strings, change them when they sound dead. Your guitar will sound better. Professional players may change them every few weeks, but you’ll probably want to change them at least every 6 months or so.

6. Wash your hands before you play your guitar. Dirt from your hands can on the strings.

7. Clean the fretboard with very fine steel wool. You can clean away any dirt or grime. When the strings are all off, clean each fret.

8. Periodically polish the wood with a good guitar polish. The guitar gets clean and a well taken care of guitar is less likely to have problems.

Enjoy playing your guitar!

New Guitar Course

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I’m working on a new guitar course that should start coming out, Lord willing, in February. Am currently working on Lesson 4 of a 17 week course. It will teach you how to read notes on the guitar, plus music theory. It’s going to be geared towards the worshipper who wants to understand music and learn how they can easily transpose songs to any key and how chords and scales are constructed.

It’s been a project I’ve been thinking about for years. Will keep you posted when it’s ready to start rolling out. You may want to get on the list of those interested in the course to find out all the details and be notified when it’s ready.