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.

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!

Here are a few tips to getting a clean chords on your guitar, so your worship songs sound great

1. Trim your left-hand fingernails. If you have nails it’s impossible to hold the strings down cleanly.

2. Hold a string down with the tip, or pad, of your finger right behind the frets. If you hold a string down on top of a fret it can produce a muffled tone. If you hold down a string too far from the fret it can produce a buzzing sound. Stay on the tips of your fingers and hold each string firmly, as close to the frets as you can.

3. Only strum the strings that are actually part of the chords. For example, avoid strumming the 6th string when playing a D chord. The bass of a D chord is the 4th string. It sounds the cleanest to strum the top four strings for this chord. Strum just the strings in the chord and preferable with the bass string as the lowest. Here are a couple examples with number for the frets to hold down on each string:

D should not be strummed with 0 0 0 2 3 2, instead use x x 0 2 3 2
C should not be strummed with 0 3 2 0 1 0, instead use x 3 2 0 1 0

4. Keep your guitar in Tune. Invest in a good guitar tuner and use it every day. My favorite is the Headstock tuner since it tunes by the vibration of your instrument and not the audio sound. Hence, it doesn’t matter how noisy the environment is, it still works great.

These are a few simple tips that can improve the ‘sound’ of your playing.

(My Nephew took this picture in Africa. Beautiful!)

The exciting difference between just practicing the guitar and using it as a tool for worshipping an Awesome God is that our purpose and focus shifts.

It’s no longer just you learning to play the guitar. When you as God to help you, He can give you insights and help. You can use the guitar as a tool to worship Him. It helps to continue to ask Him for His help whenever you’re playing the instrument.

In my guitar studio there were countless times when a student was having difficulties and I just said, ‘"Help him Lord.’" They always immediately played better. Then I’d always say ‘"Thank you Lord."

The first step as a Christian musician is to pray. Try to use your practice as a time of worship. It’s a matter of where your heart is focused. It says in Scripture, if we seek Him with all of our hearts we will find Him. (For the rest of the article click the ‘More’ link below.).

Sit with Good Posture

Find a chair with no arms to sit in. You may want to cross a leg or use a little footstool to help elevate the guitar. Find a playing position that allows you to sit with good posture.

Warm up Your Fingers

Warm-up with either chord changes or some exercises like the C Scale – Guitar Scales. When you start playing a new song it’s good to break it up into easy steps.

First concentrate on the left-hand chord changes. When the changes are smooth, add the strumming or finger-picking patterns. If the right-hand patterns are new, you may want to practice them without chord changes.

Sing And Play The Song

Try the song with the chords and strumming or finger-picking patterns. It’s easier to start at a slower tempo. Try to keep an even tempo. Remember to relax your face and shoulders.

Isolate Problem Spots

If there is a particular chord change or area that is hard for you, stop and ask God to  help you. Try isolating that section and play it at least 20 times.

I had lessons with Pepe Romero and he suggested to make it a goal of playing a passage 50 times perfectly. This means if you’re at #49 and make a mistake, start at #1 again.

One way to practice a chord change is changing to just one or two fingers of the chord first. You can see this on Worship Guitar Class Volume One of my DVD series. For example, between D and G you can change to one finger of the G chord, then two fingers of a G Chord, then to all three fingers.

Play The Guitar For Others

As you get comfortable playing, don’t forget to also get comfortable playing for others. I heard a wonderful story about one of the little students using my videos. His mother shared with us that in the evenings her 11 year old son would often stay, "Daddy, let’s worship God together." Then he would play one of the songs he had learned.

He sent me a card telling me that his Pastor had invited him to join the Worship Team at church! His Pastor couldn’t believe that Andrew had learned with just the videos. His mom added a note in the card of what a joy it was for her to see how much he loved God and to see how well he was playing.

Hope this helps you…

God Bless,
Jean

Enjoy the video…