13 Important Abilities That A Guitarist Should Possess！

What abilities does a guitarist need to have? I believe that every guitarist hopes that he can practice to be all-round, but in fact it is "unlikely", because a person's day is 24 hours, coupled with various talent differences, and entangled with trivial matters... An "all-round" musician is almost does not exist. Therefore, how to choose skill focus and practice focus is a very important issue for learners.

With a simple dichotomy, skills can be divided into external skills (external skills) and internal musicality (inner skills). "External skills are skills that can be seen as "powerful" at a glance, such as playing fast and performing well; internal skills are like understanding music theory and being good at writing songs, etc.

"Music is a language." The process of learning an instrument is very similar to learning a language. In terms of language, there are nothing more than four key points: listening. explain. read. Write. Based on my personal piano learning experience, I would classify guitar skills as follows:

Listening: 1. Technical music listening, 2. Music appreciation ability

Say: 3. Playing skills, 4. Stage performance ability, 5. Improvisation ability

Reading: 6. Sight reading, 7. Musical comprehension reading ability

Writing: 8. Creation, 9. Arranging

There are also some auxiliary items that I think are important. They do not belong to the category of "listening, listening, reading and writing". They seem to be separate from music, but they are actually very important, that is:

10. Recording and production capabilities

11. Hardware capabilities

12. Historical ability

13. Physical fitness

1. Technical music listening

Listening to music is one of the skills that is often overlooked, because many people think that "listening to music" is a natural thing and does not require special learning. However, there is still a big difference between listening and listening.

I divide listening to music into the rational and objective "technical" aspect, and the perceptual and subjective "appreciative aspect". The most important technical aspect is "discrimination ability", such as identifying various musical instruments, judging pitch, time, chords, harmony composition, etc. Many teachers say that "catching songs" is the best learning lesson. This task relies heavily on the skill of "listening", and its development is as time-consuming and labor-intensive as playing skills, requiring a lot of time accumulation. Practice also requires rich knowledge of music theory.

2. Music appreciation ability

Music itself has many beautiful feelings that cannot be quantified "rationally". Many advanced people (especially obsessive rational analysts) often over-analyze music, which makes listening to music too "professional", as if they are doing Mathematics problems, this is not completely undesirable, but focusing on it for a long time will ignore the emotional resonance in the heart. For example, weight, lines, graininess, snapping, rhythm, emotion, expression... These things are more about "feeling" from the heart and the most direct "feeling" of the body.

3. Playing skills

Beginners spend the most time refining their playing skills because they want to "play the piano well". This can be said to be the "end" of all skills, because the practice of all other skills can basically be interpreted as "preparation for playing the piano well." For example, the purpose of honing your listening skills is to find a good tone. Finding a good tone also requires the training and purchase of hardware. What is ultimately presented to the audience is "good guitar playing."

It can also be interpreted as the "core" of all skills, because the life journey of most guitarists, no matter what job you end up doing: starting a band, making music, opening a music store, or being a teacher, the starting point is because you want to "play well" "Qin", I was moved by that sound and decided to embark on the guitar journey.

4. Stage performance ability

Music is not only an auditory art, but also an "integrated stage" that shows the charm of performers. Since the blues rock era, people such as Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley have already integrated performance with the guitar.

Audiences who buy tickets to attend concerts are no longer simply satisfied with "listening to music", but want to see more "performances". Therefore, musicians must not only practice their instruments well, but also incorporate body language and use their bodies to express rhythm, which is one of the most important skills.

5. Improvisation ability

The musician's improvisational ability is like hip-hop's freestyle. No words or rehearsals are needed. Just pick it up and write it into a poem immediately. It can be said that it is one of the most direct dialogues and the quickest ability for masters to express their character.

Improvisation ability is absolutely related to creative ability. If you want to write a good song and play a wonderful solo, it all depends on the quality of improvisation ability. Strictly speaking, improvisational ability is the result of comprehensive ability. I put it in the "external skill" because its performance is also one of the skills that can be judged at a glance.

6. Sight reading

Music scores are like words. Many musicians must rely on music scores for communication, communication, and learning. Especially if you want to work as a professional musician, the importance of sight music will be greatly increased, whether it is complex arrangement or music collection. , or doing a performance, you need to be very skilled in the accuracy and speed of reading music.