Terri Ramsey Beavers According to one study, 72% of people said that they picked up a guitar to try and better themselves or to learn a new life skill.
However, there are many more benefits to playing the guitar! If you’re looking for a new instrument or hobby to learn, learning the guitar is definitely one of them.
But what are the benefits of playing the guitar? Keep reading to find out!
1. Exercise Your Brain
First, it’s a great way to exercise your brain. When you play the guitar, you have to focus and remember where your hands are supposed to go and what notes you’re supposed to play.
When you first pick up a guitar, you might notice that you have a steep learning curve, but once you get into it and start practicing, your brain will be better at memorizing and remember what you need to play.
You’ll also have to remember scale shapes, music theory concepts, songs, and the shapes of chords. At first, you’ll learn the basic chords, but once you learn those, you can move on to even more complicated stuff.
Even though you’re playing guitar, you’ll realize that you’ll be able to focus on other things in your life as well. There have been some studies that show that playing musical instruments helps people with ADHD learn how to focus better, control their impulses, and remember things more easily.
2. Improves Eye and Hand Coordination
When you first start out, you’ll have to learn how to read music and understand what the patterns and chords mean. However, on top of that, you’ll have to move your hands to the right location and pluck the right strings.
This requires you to have a great eye and hand coordination because they’ll need to work together and at the same time. Learning this skill can also help you in real life and make you a better reader as well!
3. Therapy
There are many gifts for guitar players out there, but one of the best gifts for them is the therapeutic feeling of playing the guitar.
Music therapy has become something that has blown up around the world, and many people are turning to instruments to improve their memory, deal with their stress, and cope with life in general.
Focusing on just playing the guitar can help people to quiet their minds and just focus on one thing rather than all of the stressors of daily life.
4. Helps You Focus
If you find that you have trouble concentrating at work or school, you should learn how to play the guitar!
There are many studies that show that people who play the guitar can more easily recognize what mistakes they’ve made and how to correct them. Then they will practice the song over and over until they do get it right.
5. Strengthen Your Arms
If you don’t have particularly strong arms when you first pick up the guitar, don’t worry. They will get stronger.
Your fingers will start to get more flexible and move faster in order to play all of the chords that you need. If you use the right form, you’ll also strengthen your wrists and shoulder blades.
As you continue to play, you’re working out certain muscles in your arms, and as long as you keep practicing, your arms will get stronger!
6. Boost Creativity
If you need a creative outlet, playing the guitar can be useful! You can play songs from others or you can come up with your own music, but still putting in your own creative expression.
The guitar is the most versatile instrument for showing your creative side. If you have a big project outside of music that you’re stuck on, playing the guitar for an hour or two might help to unlock the creative side of your brain and let it all flow out.
Some artists call this “being in the zone.” When you’re in this zone, everything will flow easily, and you’ll get to enjoy just the pure bliss of doing something you love.
7. Make Connections With Others
Playing guitar can also help you make connections with other guitar players or people in the music industry!
As a guitar player, you can fit into almost any type of band or musical group, and then you’ll be able to socialize and make other creative decisions with people who are just as passionate as you are.
If you don’t want to join a musical group, it can also be a great way to bond with your family. You can pass on the guitar-playing skills to your children and watch them learn and grow in the same journey that you went through.
8. Be a Better Listener
In order to become a better guitar player, you have to learn how to listen really well. You’ll have to listen to all kinds of genres and chords and try and figure out what they are in order to replicate the song on your guitar.
You can also record your own songs and listen through them again to make sure that you’re hitting the right notes!
Discover More of the Benefits of Playing the Guitar
These are only a few of the benefits of playing the guitar, but there are many more of them!
We know that learning how to play any new instrument can be challenging and overwhelming, but we’re here to help you out!
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