How many songs can you play all the way through?
Maybe you need to expand your chord vocabulary.
It seems so simple, right? Pick up a guitar, learn a few chords, learn a few songs, have a good time. Then, you find out that the three or four chords you learned, just aren't enough to play other songs. So, what do you do? You learn more chords. You learn more songs with more chords, and the cycle continues. Something begins to happen after a while. You realize that unless the chords are written out right in front of you, you struggle to remember all of their names and shapes. Major chords, minor chords, seventh chords, and weird chords with weird names. How are you supposed to remember all of them?
The first thing you've got to do is stay within reason.
Play what you can play, not what you can't play. If you can play a dozen songs with a dozen different chords, that's a really good start. Let's face it, some songs are harder to play for beginners, because there's much more going on in the song. Strange chords, too many chords - it can all be quite deterring.
Here's the thing. You can't just jump right into difficult songs and expect to be as good with them as you are with the easy songs you already know. You have to approach more difficult songs with a lot more practice and patience. This takes time - a lot of time. It also takes unconditional determination and commitment.
Okay, let's go back to your original group of easy songs. How long did it take you to learn the chords for each song? Did you learn one song at a time, all the way through before you started the next one? I certainly hope not. This is counter-productive practice.
I tell all of my beginner students to make a list of at least 100 easy songs. You can find such lists already compiled online. Just use keywords like "easy, beginner, guitar, acoustic, songs, top 100", etc. You will find dozens of websites with lists of songs that are easy for beginners to learn. Most of these lists are almost always the exact same songs, but in different order.
You might not know all of these songs on the list. In fact, you might not know any of them. That doesn't matter. The idea is to learn how to play them and learn new chords. Find ten or twenty songs on the list, then find the chord charts for these songs. One of the best websites to find songs for guitar isÂ
You can get most of the stuff for free, but you can also create an account for more stuff.
Next, you want to find the actual audio music to the songs. Use YouTube or Spotify, etc. Create a playlist. Keep some kind of order. If you have a notebook, keep it organized.
Try to play the chords you already know, in each of the songs. In other words, don't just learn one song at a time. Learn a dozen at a time. Why should you do this? First, it will make things much more interesting. Second, you need to learn how chord progressions are used in songs, and how similar chords will appear in many of these songs.
For example, one song might have the chord progression: G - C - Am - D7
The next song might be: C - G - Am - F
* Common chords, different progressions.
You gotta learn your keys.
Now, it goes without saying that you really do need to understand and know your keys in music. The more you know about which chords belong in which keys, the better you will be at learning how to play songs quicker. The more songs you learn and add to your repertoire, the more that you will begin to notice many of the same common progressions for hundreds of songs. How much do you think this will help you build your song list? A lot!
Learn songs, even if they are pieces of songs.
You can always come back later to learn the rest of the song. Keep adding songs to your list. Stay within your ability. Play what you can play. Slowly add more challenging songs with more challenging chords. Crawl before you walk before you run.
Finally - and this is important...
You must get into the habit of recording yourself when you practice your guitar. Grab your smartphone, find the "Voice Recorder" app. It is easy to use. Remember to tag every track you record or else it won't be saved. Play the tracks back and listen to where your strong and weak points are for every song. This is the only way that I know to hear your improvement.
You must be creative and resourceful as well. Be creative with the songs you play. Maybe do them as a set list, like if you were going to go out and play a coffee house gig. You want to have proof of your practice. You can't possibly remember how well or how badly you played a song last week without having tangible proof of it.
These smartphones are designed with plenty of memory room for you to keep an entire folder filled with hundreds of songs you’ve recorded. Guess what happens when you get to those kinds of numbers. Chances are, some of those songs are going to sound great!
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