How to Decide Between Guitar as a Hobby Vs. Guitar Graded Certified Course

Everyone has different ideas about the results or achievement they want from their instrument classes. Is it to challenge yourself in different period of times? or to learn it as a fun activity which will allow you to play at least the basics and play songs? Which is better? You can come to answer only when you know what you want to do with it. So, where do you see yourself with the instrument? Both have its advantages and disadvantages but it aims to make you better in your instrument.

Guitar as a Hobby

If you are looking for some fun time playing your instrument by yourself or with friends/family and want to reminisce and sing your favourite songs, this approach will help you get what you want. This approach emphasises on teaching you songs which you can play and sing along to. You won’t have to indulge in the musical theory that is been used in constructing these songs, although you will have the basic knowledge of what you are playing. In musical terms, you will be learning more about chords, strumming patterns and rhythm techniques. You don't have to worry about writing any music graded certification exam and focus your time solely on playing your favourite songs. If it is a hobby you want to cultivate or a hobby you want to get better at, you just have to play more songs and this approach will help you do that.

Guitar as a Certified Graded Course

Graded courses helps you in keeping track of your skill levels. The higher the grade you are in, the more skilled you likely are. Graded courses introduces musical theory and playing techniques in a progressive manner, getting tougher with each grade. This course really helps you if you really want to understand music as a whole which, will definitely shape you to become better and an informed musician. Graded course comes with a book from the board your music institution is affiliated with. These books will have musical pieces that comprise of hit tunes or pieces given exclusively by the particular board which you have to showcase in exams that they organise every year. You get certificates for passing each grade which basically certifies your skill in your instrument. There are 8 grades in total, so you really can have a goal of finishing that if you want to reach a professional level in your playing.

Summary

Overall, it really depends on what you wish to learn. If you wish to play songs, jam with your friends and have an amazing sing along sessions and be little more informed on theories and techniques, then the hobby approach is best for you. However, if you plan on becoming a professional and want be able to perform in gigs, the certification approach can help you better. Whichever you choose, once you are able to start playing your instrument and connect with it the way you want, it is going to be a lot of fun. So, pick up your instrument and get start rocking!

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.

4 Things to Consider when Learning Guitar

Guitar is one of the most popular instruments that people learn due to its versatility and portability. However, there are also many guitars that are collecting dust in a corner of someone's room while many of them banging their heads over the possibility of learning the instrument but do not know where to start. Let’s discuss some of the points you need to start learning guitar.

1. Availability of instruments

To learn guitar, you must have the instrument which applies for almost all the musical instruments. But for guitarist it is most vital to have a guitar at home as it requires lot of practice and time to get adjusted to the basics of playing the guitar especially when you are just starting out. Leaving it to learn only in your music classes will take you a lot of time and might make you disinterested after a while. So, get a guitar and keep strumming until you get the tone you want out of your guitar.

2. Purpose of Learning

What do you want out of the guitar classes? Is it something that you want to pursue for a long time and want to be very thorough with all the theoretical studies or is it just a pastime or hobby so that you can play songs in social gatherings where you can just strum and sing for yourself or your friends? If you know what you want out of it, your instructor will have a much clearer idea about how to proceed with the lessons. The right approach will benefit you the most and you will see results that you wish to see.

3. Time and Commitment

It goes without saying that you need to give time to practice and commit a few hours in a day to your instrument. It is only practice and repetitive exercises that makes you good in these instruments. So, you have to make sure that you find time in your everyday schedule and use that to practice the guitar. The more time you spend with your instrument, the quicker you will learn to play it. It's understandable that you might miss practice on some days but there should never be a huge gap between your practice (frequency is important).

4. Listening to Music

You can't create music if you don't enjoy listening to it. There is hardly anyone on this planet who dislikes music however they may not enjoy listening to all kinds of music. There are so many different genres, different styles of music and every one of them has something unique to offer. We recommend that you have a collection of your favorite music, listen to them often and try to understand how they are using the instrument. It is important that you refer to someone’s style and try replicate them which, will boost your ability to understanding music and its dynamics better.

We hope our points will get you thinking and consider how to use all these different areas to make yourself a better musician. While your instructor can teach you several techniques, concepts and application, you can only get better by putting in practice and listening to more music. So take the plunge, commit yourself and see the incredible transformation in yourself.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company that provides Music Education and  Recording Studio services. BlueTimbre also works with schools to provide end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. 

The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.

5 Reasons You Should Learn to Play the Guitar

Guitar is an instrument that can be carried around easily and give you the perfect accompaniment while you sing away your favourite songs at a campfire or on a stage! Guitar is a really responsive instrument that can assist you to deliver your emotions in various ways and finally, it looks cool on anybody! However, it also has other benefits that can really liven up your personality, here are some reasons we think you should learn to play the guitar:

1. Accompaniment

There is nothing better than guitar to company you, especially if you like singing and have to carry around an instrument to help showcase your talent. It is portable, lighter than most of the other instruments and the environment it can create compares to none. It can give you the sense of rhythm as well as assist you perfectly if you want to sing along the tune.

2. Building Personality

As you go further into learning the guitar and tackle each lessons, it makes you a better, smarter and a well-rounded human being. The techniques and the concepts you have to learn to be able to play the guitar to your favourite tunes requires you to improvise and enhances your concentration level, memory power, listening skills, analytical skills and your reactions. All of these nurtures your body language which helps you to feel more confident about yourself and build a personality that others and you yourself respect. Amazingly, it also teaches you to manage your time better and more effectively as you start balancing your busy schedule along with the time you want to give to yourself.

3. Incorporating Fun in your life

With the ever growing fast paced living culture of today’s world, we often forget to leave some time for ourselves, to lay back, relax and have fun. Playing the Guitar can be the perfect getaway from the busy schedules that constitutes our life. Find some time, say 15-20 minutes to practice your Guitar in the day’s schedule, and you will see a vast difference in your mood as well as progress in your playing. With the right instruction, you can be playing and singing your favourite songs in only a month or so.

4. Learning Life Enhancing Skills

It improves your coordination skills, cognitive abilities and also enhances the capability of your brain as you keep learning the guitar and move to advanced stages. It prepares you to be multitask which you can apply in your day-to-day life. You can test and shape your creativity as you start learning to improvise on guitar. It can completely change the way you think, process and analyse certain aspects in your life, allowing you to ‘think outside the box’ and producing more effective results from you.

5. Medium of Expression

Guitar is an instrument that can talk for you, or for your emotions. It gives you an outlet to express your feelings or a mood you are trying to convey to the audience. This is the part where all musicians strive to get to as they mould their music into self-expression which appeals to the audiences’ emotion and form a connection. All instruments has their own capacity to be able to express, however a Guitarist can somehow talk through those emotions in a subtle manner. If you are someone who has a lot to say but somehow can’t, Guitar is the instrument you are looking for which will express your thoughts.

All of these benefits come through stages in your experience in the instrument. If you are curious about the Guitar and feel the interests growing in you, you can easily learn with just a little commitment from you. Nothing is hard, it is only unknown and you just need to familiarise yourself with the unknown to get to know better with every meeting until you understand it completely. The instrument needs time from you but you can be guaranteed a really fun and quality self-developing time under the right instruction and the right learning.

BlueTimbre is a unique Music Company with Music Education spaces, Jam Room and Recording studio based out of Whitefield, Bangalore, India. 

BlueTimbre also provides complete end-to-end Music Education solutions for schools. The BlueTimbre team comes with decades of cumulative experience in running Structured Businesses, Music Curriculum Development, Music Education and Performance.