7 Benefits of Playing Guitar

There’s something about listening or playing music that soothes the soul. By simply listening to songs, you already get tons of benefits. But are you aware that playing an instrument is even more beneficial?

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Playing a musical instrument lets you express yourself without restraint. However, it requires your utmost patience, constant practice, and dedication though sites are on-hand to help give you the headstart you may need with courses available at suit all levels, besides tips and tricks from the professionals.

When playing music, you need deep focus and concentration, as it’s hard to avoid making a mistake. You will need to focus on many things at once, and through regular practice, you eventually improve your concentration skills. Children who learn to play guitar or any instrument often find it easier to focus in school.

In this article, we’ll show you some of the main benefits of playing the guitar and why it’s more than just a pleasurable past-time.

Whether you want to be a talented musician or simply enjoy a hobby where you can release your pent up stress, the benefits gained from playing guitar scales or any other musical instruments can help you in many surprising ways.

Boost Confidence

When learning guitar, you’ll need hard work and perseverance, and as a result, you’re gradually improving your self-confidence. Why? As you continuously practice playing the guitar, you become more skilled that it becomes natural.

By learning a new skill, your confidence grows as you notice you become more adept at playing the guitar. Your success can make you feel confident, and this can penetrate through all aspects of your life. Knowing that hard work bears fruit, you have more confidence to apply it to whatever hurdles come to your life.

Sharpen Focus

Playing guitar can hone your concentration skills. In fact, based on the study from Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, playing music engages the parts of your brain which control attention span, the ability to make predictions, as well as memory retention.

Enhance Mental Health

Listening to music and playing one doesn’t only improve concentration but also reduce stress and anxiety. As you play the guitar day by day, you lower your blood pressure as well as heart rate. Guitar playing or music, in general, is highly therapeutic, that as soon as you start playing, you feel the benefits instantly.

If you just had a bad day, why don’t you try playing your favorite song on your guitar? You’ll witness how your mind will be completely transported away from negative thoughts.

Improve Time Management

Learning an instrument means you have to allocate extra time for practice. For instance, if you want to learn to play the guitar, you’ll need to manage your time to ensure you have a space for that in your schedule.

What if the exams are coming, do you still have time for practicing and playing guitar? Juggling your everyday activities, playing an instrument, and other aspects of your life is a challenge. But once you’re able to adjust well, your time management skills will start to improve.

Aid Literacy and Maths

Playing guitar isn’t just as simple as strumming the strings. It also requires you to use both your math and literacy skills, which is why it can really help with your academics, according to research published in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

The studies show that structured music lessons can significantly enhance kid’s cognitive abilities, including inhibition, language-based reasoning, short-term memory, and planning. But these many benefits aren’t just for children, adults can also improve their literacy and math skills too.

Get Insight of Other Cultures

As you play your guitar, you’ll likely want to learn different types of music. This will enable you to play not just classical music, but also others from other cultures.

Playing music from other cultures lets you discover more about the song’s origin. Through music, guitar players get to learn more about unfamiliar cultures and ways of living.

Vent One’s Feelings

Music is beneficial not just because you can learn a new skill. By learning music, you get to tap into the connection of every human being. Every lyrics and melody has meaning that playing a song through your instrument makes you feel that you’re expressing something important and personal about yourself.

This is maybe the reason why every guitar player has something unique about the way they play. They may be playing the same song, but the way they express it through their instrument is distinct and reflects how they feel.

Play for Passion and Health

Learning to play an instrument is quite a useful skill, as reflected by the seven benefits listed above. But more than that, it also makes you a more well-rounded individual. Even if you don’t end up performing in front of a large crowd or a famous guitarist, you can always continue playing purely for passion and for your mental health.

As Robert Schumann, a German composer and critic once said, “When you play, never mind who listens to you.” At first, you may start by playing by the rules, but eventually, you’ll forget the rules and play from the bottom of your heart.