How to Play a Guitar - Tip #3 - Practice on Acoustics

When I was first learning how to play a guitar, I noticed this right away. Whenever I picked up an electric guitar (I normally play acoustic) I would be amazed at how easy it was to play things. In fact, I pressed on the frets so hard that the guitar sounded out of tune! You have to be gentle with these things!

"'Whenever, I work on new lead riffs for songs we’ve written, I like to practice those riffs first on an acoustic guitar.  The reason is it’s much harder to play on an acoustic  so you build up hand strength and dexterity.  Once you can play the riff smoothly on an acoustic, move to an electric, and watch how easy it is to play.'

Following Eric’s advice, it’s really good if you have slightly heavier gauge strings on your acoustic.  For me, I play with '10’s' on my electric and '13’s' on my acoustic.  Plus the action on my acoustic is higher than on my electric.

Lately, I’ve been doing this in my practice time, and am impressed by how well it works." - Worship Guitar Guy*

Who would'a thunk it? Playing acoustic helps you play electric!

A good idea is to start with something like a blues scale or some arpeggios and feel how easy they are on the electric after you've mastered it on your acoustic.

What? You don't know any scales or arpeggios? You should check out Ben Edward's stuff. I used it to get started and it really helped fight the monotony of "normal" practice.

*Worship Guitar Guy