Have you ever thought about how to become a professional guitarist? And have you ever desired to become one? Well I can show you how to get on that path.
There’s some things you’re going to need to do BEFORE you become a professional guitarist. Let’s get into it!
Have A Guitar Around
One of the things you’re going to need to do to become a pro guitarist is you must have a guitar. Because if you don’t, you won’t have anything to tempt you to play.
You see, if you have a guitar hanging around in your house it will cause you to want to pick it up every once in a while or ALL of the time, when you become obsessed with it.
This is what happened to Jake Kiszka from Greta Van Fleet. And he was only 3 years old…. Did you just say, 3 years old?…. Yes!….. It’s true, when he was a little boy his dad used to leave a guitar on the floor of their living room and Jake used to crawl around and play it. He was real fascinated by it. It was mysterious to him and it caused him to learn it.
And also, as Jake recalls, his grandma also had a guitar sitting down in her basement and he’d go down in play it.
But what I’m trying to say is, if he didn’t have a guitar around, who knows if Jake Kiszka from Greta Van Fleet would have ever played guitar. Him and his brothers would go on to playing hundreds of hours of music in their parents basement, which was also surrounded by instruments, which they were tempted to play because the instruments were there.
And now they are set to take on the world, as the next guitar hero’s, as the next big rock and roll band, but that’s another story…. But having a guitar around will tempt you to play. And in turn, will cause you to become better at it, if you keep it up, and keep practicing it.
By the way, if you need a guitar, check out these ones on Amazon. Or by clicking on my article here, that has guitars.
That was Step 1: Have a guitar hanging around in your house.
Get Very Good With Chords
If you’re ever going to be a pro, you’re going to have to learn chords. If you are a intermediate player or a advanced player or semi pro player or even a pro guitar player, you already know this.
But if you’re a beginner or never played guitar before, you may not know this. I’m still shocked when I tell people who want to learn the guitar, that they need to learn chords and they always say, what’s that? And I always get a good chuckle out of that.
You’re gonna have to bounce around with them, (play them) the chords, till you get very coordinated with them. Chords are just like playing sports. You have to get coordinated with them. And make your transitioning of them very fluid and seamless, with no hesitation. If you’re ever going to be a pro, you must do this.
The thing with chords is that a whole bunch of things can be done with them, such as playing them lighter or heavier sounding, which is accomplished by HOW you play it. Play it lighter, by strumming it real gentle or play it heavier, by strumming it rougher. (harder) But not to hard or you’ll break your strings.
Also with the chords, like the same way you sing, if you make your singing sound country, it will come out sounding country. If you make your singing sound like pop music, it will come out sounding like pop music. If you make it sound like rock music, your singing will come out sounding like rock music.
This is why some people can sound country one minute and then the next minute they sound like rock because they are making themselves sound different like that, by how they choose to sing…… the same way can be done on the guitar. You can make it sound like rock or country or pop or anything you choose for it to sound like, by HOW you play your chords.
So get to the point where you can make your guitar sound like anything you want, by strumming your chords the way you want them to sound.
Trust me, you’ll know how to do this once you get good at chords. It’s hard to explain it, but you’ll figure it out. If you’re ever going to be a pro I would think that you need to be able to do this, be able to make your chords sound like different music types.
That was Step 2: Get very good with chords.
Hang Around Pro Musicians
If you’re going to ever be a professional guitarist, then you’re going to have to hang around someone or people who are already professional at the guitar.
And if you can’t find a professional to hang around with, then do the next best thing… hang around them on YouTube, so to speak. Meaning, watch professionals on YouTube and you will become great like them, if you take their advice and do what they say and practice what they are telling you, until you get it.
Make sure they are PROFESSIONAL guitar players. You can tell who’s professional or not on YouTube because of how good they are playing, when they are teaching you on YouTube.
What you will find, if you hang around pros, is that it will rub off on you, if you take the initiative to learn what they are doing. If you can’t figure out what they are doing, then ask them and they will more than likely tell you.
Because people love to teach others the cool licks and guitar tricks they know if you ask them right, and kindly.
And if they don’t tell you what they are doing, then you can still figure out what they are doing by just watching what they are doing, and then imitate what they are doing.
You may have to keep looking at them a couple of times before you get what they are doing, but you’ll get it.
Many people have become professionals by hanging around professionals. This is what happens in basketball. In the streets of Harlem where basketball players practicing playing in the courts there.
There are basketball players there, that are professional basketball players, who are not even in the NBA Pro Basketball leagues but they play in the streets and anyone that plays with them enough, often they become professionals too. Because you become who you hang around with.
This happens in golf also as well as in swimming, biking, fishing, baseball, football, all kinds of sports you can become a professional in, if you hang around those who are pros.
This is what happened to Jon Jones of the UFC. He was already a pro at fighting in the UFC. But when he got into a fight outside the ring with his own UFC trainer Rashad Evans, they decided to fight each other in the UFC ring.
Jon Jones at the time found him another UFC trainer that was better than his former trainer Rashad Evans and ultimately beat his own former trainer Rashad Evans.
He beat him because he was hanging around a professional trainer who taught him better ways of fighting and techniques and it made him very good.
This also can happen to you, if you hang around anyone long enough who is a professional and learn their ways of playing the guitar and their techniques, then you’ll become a pro.
This also can happen to you, if you hang around anyone long enough who is a professional and learn their ways of playing the guitar and their techniques, then you’ll become a pro.
That was Step 3: Hang around pro musicians.
Make Cheap Guitars Sound Good By Playing Great On Them
You know you’ve reached pro level when you can make a cheap low price guitar sound great on all the songs you play. And when you can play just about any song.
I got great story to tell you. One of my friends had just bought a real cheap, low price electric guitar that was like one of those kind you buy in those Walmart websites. He always thought the reason why he sucked at the guitar was because he had a sorry guitar.
ZZ Top is a famous rock band who had Top Ten hits back in the 80’s. Recently, this guy that used to practice with ZZ Top (didn’t play in the band with them but played with them off stage) was hanging around us, he picked up my friends cheap guitar without my friend knowing it because my friend was in the other room.
My friend comes running in from the other room into where the guy who used to play with ZZ Top was playing my friend’s guitar. And my friend says, “who’s playing that great sounding guitar?”
Not realizing that it was his guitar. (My friend’s.)
And my friend goes, MAN!….. That’s a great sounding guitar. And then my friend goes hey, WAIT!….THAT’S MY GUITAR!….
That pro guitar player who used to play with ZZ Top was making my friend’s guitar sound great!…
Because it doesn’t have anything to do with the instrument that makes you sound good, it has to do with how you play it and how good you are.
You see a pro musicians can make ANY guitar sound good. Whether the guitar is cheap or not.
You also must become great at making ANY guitar sound great by being confident that it’s all in your fingers and not in the guitar, that great sounds are made.
Just play the songs the right way, with the right chords, single notes and techniques. And believe you can make any guitar sound great and you’ll be on your way to sounding great and to being a pro.
This is accomplished by much practicing and learning of the guitar and being proficient at it. Just play the songs the right way, with the right chords, single notes and techniques. And believe you can make any guitar sound great and you’ll be on your way to sounding great and to being a pro.
You already know that Jimi Hendrix can make ANY guitar, cheap or not, sound great, and you can too.
That was Step 4: Make cheap guitars sound good.
If You Want To Be A Pro Practice Consistently Every Day
If you’re going to be a pro, you’re going to have to practice consistently every day, if you can. One way of keeping this is NOT by torture or yelling at ones self but by DESIRE!…. YES!.. I said DESIRE!……
Enjoy playing the guitar by playing songs YOU like and you won’t be tormented ever, when you play guitar because you will absolutely LOVE it! When you play guitar.
Exactly the way you love listening to songs in your mind, is the same way you’ll love PLAYING songs on the guitar. You’ll never get tired of it. And it will be hard to put down the guitar also with this good attitude.
Even if you suck at the guitar now and are playing real sorry sounding chords, keep practicing by having great sounding songs playing in your mind as you practice your chords.
Try to match the right chords with what songs are playing in your mind and you will find you will STILL enjoy playing the guitar.
And sooner or later you will match the right chords on your guitar to the songs that are playing in your mind.
I know it sounds crazy but it works at making you want to play the guitar. I know it works because that’s what I used to do when I used to suck at the guitar.
Also, you’ll enjoy the guitar tremendously, if you practice to songs on the radio and YouTube at the same time you are playing your guitar.
Sooner or later your chords will match the songs you are playing to, if you play enough, and do the things pro guitarists tell you.
Just make sure they are songs you like, and you’ll stay happy.
This was Step 5: Practice consistently every day on the guitar.
Learn The Basics To Become A Pro
This sounds almost stupid but it is not. But you must learn the basics of the guitar. If you where to do a Google search on learning the basics of guitar you would find hundreds of websites that will tell you how to learn the basics of guitar. And not only that but you would find thousands of pages of help on the basics of guitar.
And if that isn’t enough, thousands of hours of YouTube help on the basics of guitar playing, as well as guitar magazines. So you’ll have ABSOLUTELY no problem learning the basics of guitar. Find them all, what ever medium you want to use and learn the basics of the guitar.
And AFTER you learn the basics of the guitar, then you can put on TOP of the basics you learned and put your own spin on it, by improving what you already know from the basics and make your playing WAY better and then learning more complicated things on the guitar.
Mix your basics with other techniques of the guitar and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a PROFESSIONAL GUITARIST.
This was Step 6: Learn the basics.
Related Questions
How long does it take to become a professional guitarist? There is no set amount of time to become a professional guitarist. Depends on your playing habits. The amount you play the guitar or practice it. Do you learn it quick or do you learn it slow? These play a part of how long it will take.
How many hours should I practice guitar? You should practice 20 minutes a day on the guitar. More than that, if you can. It is not the quantity that matters but the quality of your practice on the guitar.
How much money does a professional guitarist make? If they play with top of the chart artists that are in the Top Ten Hits Charts or who have been in the Top Ten Hits Charts, it can be anywhere from 70,000 dollars or millions of dollars. There is no set amount of money they can make, it can vary.
