It's Great To Master A Whole Song, Even If You Are A Guitar Beginner!

When you're studying the guitar, it consists of a series of practice lessons, which are fine in isolation. You'll be learning guitar chords and playing parts of songs, but sometimes you may want to simply learn a complete song. This article looks at a method to follow when learning how to play a song from beginning to end - and to make it sound great, not just OK.

It's much easier to play a song that you already know, which also appeals to you. Therefore, listen to a recording of the song you want to play. You may have previously listened to this casually, as a fan. But now, try really listening to it - study it as a musician. Familiarise yourself deeply with the song, the type of chords changes it has, the tempo and rhythms. Really get to 'know' the song, from inside out, from start to finish.

Next, you'll need to identify the chords. You can purchase the sheet music from a music store, but if you want to save money, simply go online and search 'chords to....' with the name of your song added. Most popular tunes will be available. Looking at the music, decide if you will play the whole song, or an abridged version e.g. the full song may include a long intro or solo you want to leave out. Print out the music and note any changes you decide on.

Now it's time to start practicing the song. Take time to master the various chord progressions, breaking the song down, initially, to small, manageable portions, if necessary. Keep doing this until you are comfortable you can play the song from start to finish without errors.

If you are like me, you'll want to trying adding vocals too. It's quite easy to get sucked into learning guitar chords, succeeding with these, and then stopping. However, it's a good idea to master the melody of the song too, by singing it. In this way you are starting to learn how to put together a complete performance.

Remember, vocals and melody are usually the most memorable part of a song. The chords provide the background and foundation: - they will surely be noticed if they are not there. But the vocal is what most people will recognise the song from. Don't worry if you are not the greatest of vocalists. At home, it doesn't matter too much what you sound like. You may find you surprise yourself, certainly if you don't usually sing along.

As soon as possible, I recommend you make a recording of your efforts, if you have the technology available. When I began, I bought a cheap 4 track tape recorder (shows how long ago this was), and quickly got excited at the possibilities of producing multi-tracked pieces of music. I accompanied myself adding keyboard and drum machine parts (plus vocals of course) and found that by starting with just a basic home studio set up, I was learning both guitar and keyboards much more quickly, and producing recordings that I had previously only dreamed about.