It is often the case that individuals just learning to play the guitar want to sound like a professional when they really need to focus on guitar playing/practicing tips for newbies. Guitar playing/practicing tips for newbies may sound like fundamental information that is not fun, but that all depends on how serious you are about learning to play the guitar. The best advice for you at this stage of your learning is to take it slow and learn as much as you possibly can. This short tutorial, which features guitar playing/practicing tips for newbies will present you with the basics for honing your skills. By following the steps below you will be playing like a pro in no time at all.

Step 1: Warm Up Your Hands and Fingers

Your hands will get a good workout when you play and practice the guitar. Just as a typist whose hands perform repetitive motion for a significant number of hours can develop carpel tunnel syndrome, so can you too injure the delicate tendons in your hand. You can experience very painful cramps and in extreme cases could lead to loss of ability to play the guitar at all. You should spend at least 5 minutes warming up your fingers and hands before you perform either of these activities. One of the most important guitar playing/practicing tips for newbies is to take a break if you play or practice for longer than an hour. The following exercises are ideal for warming up your hands and fingers:

* Use each hand to gently massage the other one; concentrate on the base of the area located at the base of the thumb
* Place your hands against one another, pressing your fingertips together
* Stretch your fingers out as far as you can and then curl them inward; repeat twice

Step 2: Practice Chromatic Scale

While playing either major or minor chords is a traditional method that guitarists use when they start practicing, this feature of guitar playing/practicing tips for newbies would be remiss if it did not recommend that students of the guitar practice the chromatic as often as they can. The chromatic scale is among the guitar playing/practicing tips for newbies because you play all 12 notes on the guitar in half steps. This scale is contrary to a whole note scale, which consists of playing the notes in whole steps.

Step 3: Get Down to Playing

You have looked forward to another opportunity to play your guitar and here you are. If you haven't prepared for your practice session by choosing your lesson beforehand, the guitar playing/practicing tips for newbies for this step include suggestions for what you could practice/play during your session.

* Learn a new chord
* Choose to learn one section of a new song
* Practice picking, strumming, plucking, or all three

Step 4: Cooling Down

The cooling down phase is a time to bring your session to a close. Instead of abruptly stopping and putting your guitar away, this is the time to sort of reward yourself by leaving the session on a positive "note." Whether you are practicing or playing the guitar, you are probably challenging your skills. In the cool down you ease out of the challenging phase.

The following are the best guitar practicing/playing tips for newbies for cooling down:

* Play a short, familiar piece that is comfortable for you
* Don't focus on playing your finale piece with perfection; just play it
* Closing your eyes while you play the finale can help to calm you if the practice session was difficult or frustrating