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These tips are from of Reddit user “YourRealName” and were posted to the r/Guitar sub-forum, which we highly recommend for any forum-loving guitar players out there. There is also a r/Guitar music education fundraiser, to which we encourage you to donate!

I’ve been playing for 10 years, and am by no means a virtuoso, but I figured I’d share a couple tips that helped me along the way. I have never taken any formal lessons, everything I’ve learned is from online tutorials and a few people giving me tips here and there, so hopefully these will help people in similar situations.

1. It’s All About Patterns.

This is painfully obvious to anyone who has looked at a chord chart, but when someone said these three words to me, it finally clicked. I finally stopped thinking in terms of numbers and started thinking in terms of shapes and patterns. After I had this planted in my head, it led to…

2. Everything’s Relative.

Once I stopped thinking of progressions as G-D-C and started thinking of them as I-V-IV, it made it much easier to go on runs and throw in little fills, just knowing where the root note is. Also, seeing the fretboard as 11 notes surrounding the root note (wherever it may be) made it seem like less of a puzzle and more like a repeating pattern to me (which goes back to tip #1).

3. Aim For Accuracy, Not Speed.

Never go forth before attaining good playing precision at the given level. Speed is very alluring, and can be much more easily (and involuntarily) “faked” than precision. Also, speeding through improperly controlled parts does nothing but mask the mistakes. I, for one, have been through this. Speed will come naturally, and can be easily trained, once you muster accuracy.

Like I said, I am by no means a model for how to properly learn how to play, but I’m assuming there are a lot of people who are self-taught and are just looking to get over the hump. I know my playing has plateaued several times over the years, and since these two concepts got drilled into my head, I have been progressing pretty steadily ever since. I just wish I had discovered them earlier. These may seem totally obvious to many guitar players, but they weren’t to me! Hopefully this helps someone!

Share your priceless guitar tips in the comments!

These tips are from of Reddit user “YourRealName” and were posted to the r/Guitar sub-forum, which we highly recommend for any forum-loving guitar players out there. There is also a r/Guitar music education fundraiser, to which we encourage you to donate!