Have you ever found yourself staring at your guitar, feeling a pang of guilt for neglecting it, despite even sometimes years of playing?

As a guitarist who has experienced the ups and downs of the musical journey, I understand the frustration of losing focus and struggling with limited time for practice.

The excitement that once fueled your progress may have dimmed, and the routines of life may have taken over, leaving you longing to rekindle that spark and advance once again.

1. Acknowledge Your Struggles:

Let’s start by acknowledging that every guitarist experiences moments of stagnation. It’s crucial to recognize that this is a normal part of the learning process. By accepting this reality, you can relieve the pressure and anxiety you may feel when facing a plateau in your progress.

2. Reflect on Your Journey:

Take a moment to reflect on your journey as a guitarist. Remember the excitement and joy you felt when you first picked up the instrument. Recall the milestones you achieved and the songs you mastered. This reflection will help you reconnect with your initial passion and serve as a reminder that you’re capable of overcoming any challenges that come your way.

3. Set Realistic Goals:

When time is limited, it’s important to set realistic goals for your guitar practice. Break down your aspirations into smaller, achievable objectives. For example, instead of aiming to learn an entire song in one practice session, focus on mastering a specific section or technique. This approach will make your goals more attainable and prevent overwhelming feelings of frustration.

4. Create a Consistent Practice Routine:

Consistency is key when it comes to progress on the guitar. Establish a regular practice routine that fits your schedule, even if it’s just 10–15 minutes a day. Consistency builds momentum and helps you stay motivated. Set aside a specific time each day dedicated solely to your guitar practice, treating it as a non-negotiable appointment with yourself. You may have already tried this in the past or even think this is obvious. But you need to force yourself to do this. It really helps to have a plan and stay accountable.

5. Embrace Variety in Practice:

Spice up your practice routine by incorporating variety. Instead of repeating the same exercises or songs every day, explore new genres, techniques, or styles. Experiment with different chord progressions, scales, or rhythmic patterns to keep your practice sessions fresh and engaging. Variety stimulates creativity and prevents monotony.

6. Seek Inspiration:

Seeking inspiration is crucial for overcoming a rut. Listen to a diverse range of guitarists and explore different musical genres. Attend live performances or watch inspiring guitar videos online. Engage with the guitar community by joining forums or social media groups, where you can exchange ideas, seek advice, and celebrate achievements. Surrounding yourself with like-minded individuals will reignite your enthusiasm for the instrument.

7. Break It Down and Focus:

When time is limited, break down complex tasks into smaller, manageable parts. Instead of trying to tackle an entire song, focus on learning a single riff or chord progression. By breaking it down, you can make progress even with a busy schedule. Celebrate each small victory along the way to maintain motivation.

8. Experiment with Technology:

Embrace technology to enhance your practice routine. Utilize guitar apps or software that offer interactive lessons, chord libraries, and backing tracks. These tools can make practicing more enjoyable and provide additional guidance when you’re short on time. Embracing technology also helps you explore new avenues of learning, such as online tutorials and virtual lessons.

9. Be Kind to Yourself:

Remember to be kind to yourself throughout your guitar journey. Avoid self-judgment and comparison to others. Progress on the guitar is unique to each individual, and everyone learns at their own pace. Celebrate your achievements, no matter how small, and acknowledge the effort you put into your practice.

10. Find a Guitar Partner for Accountability and Musical Growth

This is the real game changer. Playing guitar doesn’t have to be a solitary endeavour. One effective way to reignite your passion and maintain consistency is by finding a guitar partner to play with and keeping each other accountable. Collaborating with someone who shares your musical interests can be both inspiring and motivating. This doesn’t mean just turning up to jam and having a few beers. You should focus on learning new techniques and songs together along with figuring out musical theory concepts and why a song is composed in a certain way.

Conclusion:

Rekindling your passion for the guitar and breaking through procrastination is possible, even with limited time and years of experience. By acknowledging your struggles, setting realistic goals, establishing a consistent routine, seeking inspiration, and embracing variety in practice, you can reignite the fire within you. Remember, every small step counts, and the journey itself is as valuable as the destination.

So pick up your guitar, embrace the challenge, and let the music guide you to new heights of creativity and fulfillment.

Dan

Fret Success — Founder

www.fretsuccess.com

Yup! The Fret Success Blog has been listed on Feedspot in the top 100 guitar blogs.

You can check it out and more blogs here: https://blog.feedspot.com/guitar_blogs

Thanks to all for getting me there!

Dan

Guitar Lessons Calgary – Fret Success

Guitarists Holding Slugs

Ever wondered what guitarists holding slugs would look like?

This is a work of genius and very true! How awful some of these guitar solo faces are!
These images have replaced the guitar to show a more appropriate set of guitarists holding slugs.
The faces they pull are not only more appropriate now they all look like they have a slug’s face.

When a guitarist rips into a solo they always let there inhibitions go and dive straight in. But it appears that sometimes it looks like the roadie threw them a bit slimy slug.

These are definitely some of the more emotional players in the game. Personally, I think Slash and Santana look the most horrified by their slug/solo.

Are you a face puller. I must admit that I’ve never been a big face puller when it comes to solos. But I might just not be doing it right!?

Original images here: https://imgur.com/gallery/R9NCh
#guitar #johnmayer #guitarslugs #slug #sluglife #slugface

Join the Free Fret Success Academy for the lessons you need in your guitar life: Fret Success Academy – Home Page

The guitar string frequency, is the number of times a string displaces by its maximum amplitude (one full cycle) in one second, after being struck.

What each string frequency is, depends on what you tune them to.

If we’re talking standard tuning for open strings on a 6-string guitar, then they are the following:

Going from thickest to thinnest strings:

E: 82 Hz (E2 Musical Note)

A: 110 Hz (A2 Musical Note)

D: 147 Hz (D3 Musical Note)

G: 196 Hz (G3 Musical Note)

B: 247 Hz (B3 Musical Note)

E: 330 Hz (E4 Musical Note)

So, the lowest note on the frequency produced by a tuned guitar is 82 Hz from the open thick E string (E2).

Some guitars have extra strings in the lower region i.e. 7 and 8 string guitars.

7 string guitars add an extra B note (B1) under the E2 note of a standard 6 string guitar. The B1 note has a frequency of 62 Hz.

8 string guitars add a further string below the B1 note of a 7 string, which is normally tuned to F# (F#0). This note is a frequency of 23 Hz.

Are you stuck in your guitar practice? I’ve put together my best practice tips on a free email course on my best guitar practice strategies.

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Right, where were we?

This is a great thing to know when mixing music, as basically all frequencies in a guitar recording below 87 Hz are useless. They are likely to contain microphone rumble etc. rather than anything guitar related. Remove this can really clean up your mix and help your compressors out.

You just need to be careful of filter roll off (dB/octave) when applying any high pass EQ/filtering to a signal. As setting the cut-off frequency at 87 may lose you some audio information at this frequency and above it.

So, if you are going to cut, then keep this in mind and keep it a bit below 87 Hz.

It’s important to also note that the frequency content of a guitar string in motion is not just its fundamental tone.

A string vibrates with many harmonics that are numerically related to the fundamental frequency.

This combination of fundamental sound from the string resonance and the additional harmonics give the guitar its frequency content and sound.

What are the string frequencies dependent on?

The frequency of sound a guitar string produces is dependent on a few physical properties. Namely,

• string tension (how far you’ve wound the string);
• string mass (gauge of string); and
• string length (nut to bridge).

The higher the tension, the higher the pitch.

The higher the mass, the lower the pitch.

The longer the string length, the lower the pitch.

Here’s a link to an article with more information on this topic  – How do guitar strings produce their sound?.

What’s the lowest it will go?

The limit to how low you can take the guitar is dependent on the setup of your guitar including:

• string gauge;
• height of bridge; and
• guitar action (how high strings are above fret board).

Thicker strings can go lower in pitch, just think about the difference in thickness between a guitar and a bass guitar. The bass guitar strings are much lower in pitch.

Into Podcasts?

Check out my new podcast the “Fret Success Guitar Show”! Get some top tips, artist interviews, and good music. Click the link above or just search for the “Fret Success Guitar Show” on you favourite podcast app or site!

Drop C Tuning

Drop C Tuning is common place in heavier styles of music and most commonly the following notes (going from thick to thin):

C: 65 Hz (C2 Musical Note)

G: 98 Hz (G2 Musical Note)

C: 131 Hz (C3 Musical Note)

F: 175 Hz (F3 Musical Note)

A: 220 Hz (A3 Musical Note)

D: 294 Hz (D4 Musical Note)

People in the know among you will perhaps see this as simply being drop D tuning (DADGBE) but dropped down a full step.

It has a much deeper tone than standard tuning and is often found easier to sing to.

Bass Guitar

The lowest string of a 4-string bass guitar is one full octave below that of the standard 6 string guitar. The notes and frequencies of the 4-string bass guitar (going from thick to thin) are:

E: 41 Hz (E1 Musical Note)

A: 55 Hz (A1 Musical Note)

D: 73 Hz (D2 Musical Note)

G: 98 Hz (G2 Musical Note)

5 string bass guitars add an extra B note (B0) under the E1 note of a standard 4 string bass guitar. The B0 note has a frequency of 31 Hz.

6 string bass guitars add a further string above the G2 note of a 5 string, which is normally tuned to C (C3). This note is a frequency of 131 Hz.

How does the frequency range of a guitar compare against other instruments?

I’m going to stick to the fundamental frequencies of a standard 6 string guitar, when I compare it against other instruments.

In general, the guitar frequency range starts at the upper end of the low frequency range and typically goes as high at the thin E string on the 24^th fret, which is an E note (E7) with a frequency of 2637 Hz.

If we compare this range to other common instruments we can see the guitar has a good range and sits near the middle.

Check out the image below:

In the traditional instrument pool, the piano has the biggest frequency range; which is based on strings too!

Modern music and synthesizers go lower and higher than this but the issue then becomes having the audio system to adequately reproduce the sound.

I hope this article helped you to understand more about the elusive topic of the frequencies of guitar strings.

I could carry on further and, in more detail, but thought this was a good place to stop for now.

I also have lots of free guitar lesson guitar available when you subscribe to the free membership are called the Fret Success Academy.

Thanks,

Dan

(Founder)

www.fretsuccess.com

Is it normal for my hand to hurt while playing guitar?

First, a little about me!!

Feel free to scroll on, I won’t be offended; much!

I’ve played guitar for 20 years, been in all sorts of bands (professional and amateur), recorded songs, taught guitar (now have a website: https://www.fretsuccess.com), degree in acoustics, built a guitar etc. etc. So, I’ve been around a bit.

So, is it normal for my hand to hurt while playing guitar?

The short answer is, YES! It can be normal.

It can be normal in two ways:

One: we must work through a little bit of strain and muscle fatigue when building our strength, so it can be perfectly normal to feel some discomfort. But, if it lasts from session to session with no improvement or it gets worse, then there’s a more significant underlying issue with your body or technique; and

Two: it’s normal in the way that a lot of guitar players over do it and cause themselves harm. Let’s try a stop it from being a regular occurrence.

What are the different types of pain or uncomfortable feelings when playing guitar?

There are a few different types of pain that you experience when playing guitar.

But, most of them are related to overusing a muscle or just using it in a way you haven’t used before.

There’s a difference between pain and fatigue.

There’re a few conditions that can be developed if you’re not careful when playing guitar.

There is such a thing as too much practice.

Let’s investigate this in more detail.

I go into more practice tips on a free email course on my best guitar practice strategies.

You can click here to sign up to it!

The more people I get signed up will help me know that my content is helping. So, please sign up! It would be brilliant if you took the 30 seconds to enter your email in a box and click Go!

Right, where were we?

Where is the pain coming from?

In general, if you are experiencing pain during playing guitar it’s likely to be due to muscle weakness or disorders linked to over playing.

Pain is where your body is physically experiencing trauma and it is very uncomfortable to do anything with the pain. This is caused from putting too much pressure into your playing or putting your muscles and joints through a lot of repetitive motions.

You can develop pain through having your hand in the wrong position. I’ve seen this happen but it’s not as common as just over doing it.

I’ve been there.

Locking myself away for 6 hours playing Satriani licks or doing that 8-hour Jam session. Seems like you’re doing great things for your development, but you just need to remember to take it easy. Even the pros do that!

Cramp

That’s right, sometimes the pain is just cramp.

It comes from:

• playing to tight on the neck;
• not stretching before playing; and
• issues with salt content in the blood.

Cramp can be alleviated easily my taking it easy, stretching and drinking enough water. You may also find that you could need medication if you find cramp happens too regularly and after little exertion.

Repetitive Strain Injury

This bracket covers the general area of guitar related injuries.

Repetitive strain injury is quite simply a muscle strain from doing a task over and over and over and over and over…

The muscle/joint/tendon gets tired.

If you have a short-term repetitive strain injury, where it’s a new feeling, then just taking it easy and relaxing for a day or two should get you back on track.

But, it’s important to then figure out what was causing you to get this RSI?

Most likely it was just playing for too long and maybe going over a certain track or riff repeatedly. Your muscles, and joints are tired, and they don’t like just doing the same thing repeatedly.

It may be that you’re playing a new chord shape that it outside of your comfort zone. It’s OK for your hand to feel uncomfortable.

But, just remember to take regular breaks; especially if you’re doing unusually long stretches of repetitive drills.

If you carry on through the pain, you may develop some of the more lasting disorders like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or Tendinitis.

So just take regular breaks and work on drills to build more strength in your hands (tips at the end of the article to help) to minimize strain.

If you find yourself still being strained with relatively simple tasks, then it’s time to get a lesson with someone to get you playing in the right position.

The thing about lessons is, you don’t need to have a guitar tutor on a weekly basis, you can just book a “check up” lesson with someone to just put you in the right direction or sort any immediate issues out.

I’ve done this a few times over the years and it’s a great way to keep the cost down but still get structured guidance and ability to sort any potential issues out early on.

Having a couple of lessons at the start of your playing will really help you get off to the best start.

From then on you can probably just get away with correspondence based lessons.

Having a regular tutor isn’t cheap, it’s the best way, but not all can afford it!

So, if you carry on feeling pain and play through it then you’ll probably be able to expect some of the following, more serious issues.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is where you get a tingling sensation or numbing of the hands. It’s related to getting extra pressure on the wrists.

All you need to help with this is building up strength, which comes from doing specific exercises.

Tendinitis

This is a more serious result from overplaying.

It’s when your tendons become inflamed and they go tight and rigid.

This is normally caused by playing the guitar in the incorrect position and/or playing for a significant amount of time.

So, we know there’s a problem.

What can we do to reduce the effects of this? I’ve got a few suggestions to consider.

Tips for avoiding fatigue or pain when playing guitar

Here are some of my tips for reducing and hopefully avoiding pain/muscle fatigue when playing guitar:

• Take regular breaks and adjust the number of breaks in relation to how strenuous the thing is that your trying to play. This isn’t meaning technical difficult but more strenuous on your fingers, wrists and arms;
• Build up strength in your fingers and joints. There are plenty of tools out there to help but you just need to work on building up them muscles either using a Gripmaster style device or just something firm to squeeze, like a stress ball or tennis ball etc. You can do this whilst watching TV or doing other non-guitar related tasks;
• Avoid playing repetitive segments for a long period of time. If something is repetitive, then be aware of this and take breaks from it.
  That doesn’t mean you have to stop playing it just means opt for something to break up that repetitive motion.
  If you’re working on a solo, then opt to mix in some chord or theory practice to break it up;
• Warm up your hands. Do this by doing hand, wrist and arm stretches but also make sure your hands are physically warm.
  If they’re not warm just go wash your hands with hot water for a few minutes. Plus, your strings will last longer because your hands will be nice and clean before you start😉;

I find that if I haven’t played my acoustic guitar for a while, concentrating on electric too much, I get more fatigue. This is normal, but you need to just ease yourself back in to rather than assuming you have the same stamina as on electric.

• Electric guitars are generally much kinder on your joints and muscles for a few reasons:
  • Neck profile is smaller, so easier to get your hands around the neck;
  • Electric guitar strings are generally lower gauge, so easier to press down; and
  • The electric guitar is typically an easier shape to get around, acoustics can be large and cumbersome. Whereas electrics are generally more ergonomically shaped;
• Lower you string action. The height of the strings makes a big difference to play ability, especially if you’re just starting out;
• Switch to a lower guitar string gauge. Careful, this will increase the height of the strings from the fret board, so make sure you adjust your truss rod or get someone to set it up for you, you should do this anyway as it will make your guitar play at its best;
• You will typically get more strain on your joints when standing up, it’s a fact. So, try doing periods of standing up and sitting down; and
• Design your set lists for live performance so that you mix up the playing style, so mix between chord work and solos.

I hope this article has helped you understand more about the sources of pain when playing guitar and how to reduce/stop them.

Just take it easy and plan your rehearsal time accordingly.

I go into more practice tips on a free email course on my best guitar practice strategies.

You can click here to sign up to it!

Happy guitar playing.

Cheers,

Dan

(https://www.fretsuccess.com)