How To Get Back Into Playing The Guitar

There are so many reasons why you might have given up playing the guitar, and to be honest, I don’t blame you! Life and work get in the way for most of us, even the gigging pros. Maybe you got bogged down in the technique or theory rather than playing the songs you like and want to make. It might be a practical reason, like living somewhere that doesn’t accommodate a large or loud guitar amp. Not to mention the expense of all the guitar gear we’re so obsessed with collecting. The list of reasons to stop goes on.

However, there are so many more reasons why you should pick up your guitar once again. The most salient point being that it’s simply great fun and really satisfying to play the guitar, even if it doesn’t lead to stardom. Playing any kind of instrument is a great stress reliever and provides some much needed escapism. It’s also valuable life skill and a confidence booster, improving coordination, memory, hand dexterity and your musical ear. It offers you a way to do what all of us here love, which is to make music.

Feel fresh – set up your guitar

A fresh set of guitar strings and a deep clean is a great way to kickstart your playing. There’s nothing worse than stiff, dirty old strings and grubby bits of dirt seated in the hardware. It looks unappealing and it makes the guitar downright difficult to handle. If you’ve left your guitar to collect dust for a long time, then a more comprehensive setup could be in order to readjust the action and intonation. You’ll feel way more pride in your playing if your guitar feels fast, comfortable and sounds on point.

So, get these guitar accessories and have them at the ready when you play: a tuner, picks, cleaning products, a strap, and a backup set of strings. Stock up on extras and you’ll never be frustrated that you don’t have everything you need.

Guitar accessories

Buy a new affordable guitar

Don’t panic if you got rid of your old guitar: now is a better time than ever to buy an entry level or affordable intermediate level guitar. There’s loads of variety to pick out something that inspires you, and you’re also getting way more bang for you buck on features and build quality nowadays. The likes of Eastcoast, Epiphone, Ibanez and Squier all make well-priced electrics and acoustics for rock and pop, funk, jazz, metal and any other musical genre you’d like to dip into.

And if you need to brush up on what specifications you should look look for in a guitar, have a read of our guide to guitar basics before you dive straight into the buying process.

Get great tones from a new practice amp

Countless guitarists have lost interest in the instrument when they’ve faced the tough decision to move on from their guitar amp, be it for space or volume reasons. Back in the day the options for silent playing were few and far between if you valued sound and tonal quality but practice amps and have come a long way. Headphone amps are on the rise too, with the likes of the Fender Mustang Micro, NUX MP-2, Boss Katana GO and BlackStar Beam Solo. They are super easy, inexpensive options purely for personal use that don’t feel intimidating to commit to while you brush up on your skills. You’ll only need your guitar and headphones with any of these.

If you’d like the ability to play louder once in a while and think you’d benefit from experimenting with a myriad of guitar tones to explore your preferences, then the Boss Katana, Positive Grid Spark, and Yamaha THR all make for excellent choices.

Plug-ins are another way to go, which are essentially software guitar amps that you load up on your PC, often within a digital audio workstation (DAW). They give you loads of tonal control and offer a hassle-free way to record.

Personal practice amps

Schedule your practice time

Sometimes you’ve got to push yourself to do something before it becomes a natural part of your routine. Slot in 20 or 30 minutes to practice on a regular basis, making sure your playing consists of a warm-up, possibly a few exercises covering techniques or theory – whatever you’d like to prioritise – and then get to writing music, riffs, solos, or learning and playing along to songs.

Experiment with guitar pedals

A stompbox is not an absolute playing necessity, but a new effects pedal will expand on your current tried and tested tones, inspire you to do something different with the guitar and get you to engage with the sounds you make.

Guitar pedals don’t have to cost loads either, with the likes of Behringer, Tone City, TC Electronic and Boss and making an amazingly diverse range of effects for under £100 and even less than £50.

Affordable guitar pedals

Make the most of practice resources

A great way to stick to playing the guitar this time round is to make the most of guides and videos, especially the massive amounts of free resources available across the Andertons blog and YouTube channels. We cover all the new guitar releases, interview amazing musicians and industry pros, recreate famous guitar tones, explore different playing styles and get up to all sorts of mischief.

Set yourself a goal

Having something to aim for is the key to continual improvement. Write down short, mid and long-term targets to achieve something after each time you play. It could be to learn a riff or lick, learn a scale or mode, or master that song you’ve always wanted to nail.

The Cap Lee Anderton made a fantastic YouTube series with guitar teacher JustinGuitar, filling in all the gaps in his guitar knowledge that you naturally miss over years of playing. Give it a watch, even play along and we guarantee you’ll pick up on these ideas and improve. If Lee can do it, you can too!

Stay in the loop for year-round guitar and music releases

Being a guitarist means being part of a group of like-minded people, and there’s no better place to be than in the Andertons community! There’s always something new to discover, whether it be a new guitar or an album from a band you’ve just discovered.

Andertons keep you up to date with the latest news on guitar gear and music. Follow us on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, or sign up to our mailing list to join in. Or if you just like stunning pictures of guitars, we’re good for that too. When you’re in the loop, you’re less likely to leave it.

Check out our Learn articles for more tips and tricks!

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