Today is, of course, Valentine’s Day.
Instead of sending you a bunch of roses, here are seven fun ways to get more love from the guitar.
1 – Treat it like you love it
A lot of people battle and fight their guitars. Instead, try to be gentle with it like you love it. This means using minimum pressure and not throttling it. You wouldn’t crush your loved one’s hand when walking down the street, so no crushing the neck of the guitar with your fretting hand!
2 – Play with passion
To me, this means doing everything you can to make the music you play shine. Of course, you need to get the fundamentals sorted, such as avoiding buzzing chords and dead notes, but you should try to play with as much passion as you can. A simple way to do this includes using dynamics. Where appropriate, take the music from a soulful whisper like you’re quietly telling your spouse you love them… all the way to the musical equivalent of your wedding day, which means playing with a big, passionate crescendo.
3 – Take it on a date
Date night is always a fun night. You can do the same sort of thing with the guitar. Instead of playing in the same place in your house, it can be a lot of fun playing guitar in another room, the garden, on a holiday, or dare I say it, at an open mic night. The last one might not be for everyone, but just like with date night, any change of scenery is often a good thing.
4 – Listen closely
They say the key to a good relationship is to listen. Well, it certainly is the same with the guitar. Listening is key. When you play guitar, try to close your eyes when you can, this will ensure you listen on a deeper level, and that will allow you to spot things that need fixing and really connect with the music.
5 – Work together
I’ve found my best relationships have been when me and the woman I was dating were in sync, on the same page, and heading in the same direction. The same with the guitar. The way to get working together with your guitar is simple, and it all starts with buying the guitar that suits you (you can’t buy love but you can buy the right guitar for you), and then posture. Sit in a position where the guitar is connected to you fully. I recommend the classical position for that.
6 – Be expressive
The use of slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and especially vibrato can be incredibly powerful in your music. Vibrato has the power to lift a “flat” sounding melody and make it shimmer and shine with elegant beauty. Although these techniques can be overused, I find they don’t really tend to get used quite enough.
7 – Play some fingerstyle
There’s nothing much more romantic or beautiful than playing fingerstyle. Whether it be playing “Romanza”, a fingerstyle arrangement of a beautiful tune, or simply by fingerpicking a pretty chord progression such as the G Em C D7 chord progression. You can’t beat fingerstyle for playing beautiful music.
Finally, here is a lovely quote I like to use often that sums it all up…
“Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart.” – Andrés Segovia
That’s a great quote.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed that slightly soppy email.
I’m probably not the one to teach romantic advice (I wouldn’t even try), but I do know a thing or two about playing and teaching guitar.
So, if you want more help from me, and more ways to get more love, joy, and happiness from playing the guitar, this is the place to go…
The Dan Thorpe Acoustic Academy
I hope you enjoyed that and Happy Valentine’s Day!
Dan Thorpe
Guitar Domination
P.S. This post was originally taken from Dan Thorpe’s private email list. To get blog posts like this sent to you which are full of great tips to make fingerpicking, strumming, and learning guitar more enjoyable (especially if you are over 40) join Dan’s list. It’s 100% free, HERE.
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