Keep volume in mind. I have played with guitarists who thought they should be louder than the rest of the band combined as well as guitarists who were inaudible from the audience because their amp's volume was so low. Balance is key.

If you don't have a tuner handy (and you don't have perfect pitch), you can pick up a telephone to get a pitch from a dial tone. In the USA, the dial tone consists of two pitches, which are roughly an F and an A (440Hz) a third above. Tune to the A, or sing a half step below the F to get your E.

If you have a cheap acoustic guitar, a reputable shop may be able to replace its plastic saddle with one made of bone for a relatively low price. This will noticably improve tone quality.

There are many commercial products designed to strengthen your fingernails if yours are getting beat up when playing. Just be sure to follow the directions carefully as some products can do damage over time if used improperly.

Love the guitar? Great. Who do you listen to? Probably those that play songs that you like. It's a good idea to listen to guitarists who play other kinds of music, even if you don't care for it, in order to learn other techniques by listening. Try some Flamingo guitar, Classical, Mariachi, Funk, Rockabilly, Eastern European. You'll likely find yourself using a new skill here or there.

If you can find an old piano that is to be destroyed, you can take any remaining ivory from the keys (assuming it is old enough to have ivory on it) and use them to make a nice saddle for your guitar. You will likely have to glue multiple pieces together for thickness.

Try out the sound of a guitar with a "multi-scale" fretboard. It takes a cue from the piano and has strings of varying length. You may find that you like the way it plays better than a traditional guitar where all the strings are of the same length.

New to fingerpicking? It's a great technique, much different than using a pick to strum or play individual notes with. To listen to a master, listen to Spanish classical guitarist Andrés Segovia - likely the most famous classical guitarist of all time.

Now that you know the traditional fingerings for the basic chords, learn "bar chords". Learning to bar the chords you already know will make it easier to move from some chords to others and will also give you a different inversion or voicing of the chords you already know that will be more appropriate in certain musical situations.

When buying your first electric guitar, think about the style of music you expect to be playing in. Will you concentrate on classic rock, funk, alternative, jazz, punk, blues, or what? Or, do you want the guitar to be versatile enough to play in many different genres? Knowing your thoughts on this will make it easier for your local music store salesperson to help you find the perfect match.

Explore different types of pickups on you electric guitar. There are single coil and double coil or "humbucker" pickups. Many modern electric guitars have both and give you the ability to switch between them while playing.

The amplifier you use is as important as your guitar as far as the tone quality of your sound. Make sure you put thought into your amp. It doesn't have to be expensive, it just has to suit your playing situation. B.B. King, the most famous blued guitarist of all time, is known for having used only a few cheap amplifiers over his playing career, but they gave him the exact sound he wanted.

Notice some very thin vertical lines on the surface of the body of your guitar? No need to worry. It's referred to as "silking". They are simply natural lines in the wood.

Try enhancing your sound by experimenting with adding "delay" to your playing. It is an electronic effect that is much shorter in duration and stronger in volume than reverb.

There is a classical and modern way to hold a guitar. The classical method points the fretboard higher in the air.

Regardless of how you hold the guitar while sitting, try to get one leg off of the ground by crossing your legs or putting a foot up on a box. This makes playing more comfortable and less fatiguing.

Different strings, alternate tunings, age, temperature and humidity, and other things can alter a guitar's pitch and tuning. One way to mitigate this is to have your guitar's saddle compensated by a good repair person.

You may hear of different fret sizes, such as "jumbo" and "medium-jumbo". These descriptions are not standard among the industry, so one manufacturer's "Vintage Jumbo" may differ from another's. Make sure you play it to see how the difference feels.

Try to clean and lubricate your fretboard with some quality products every time you change strings to avoid buildup.

Avoid traditional wood cleaners when cleaning the body of your guitar.

There are many types of pickups to explore if you want to have a built-in way to get the sound of your acoustic guitar to an amplifier and thus avoid having to stand at a traditional microphone on a stand. These include contact, magnetic, piezo, and built-in microphone pickups.

Did you know that only the top two pairs of strings on a 12-string guitar are tuned in unison (tuned to the same note)? The bottom 4 pairs are in octaves.

Guitarists are well-known gear heads, constantly trading up, trading down, selling and buying. While it will definitely improve your skill to be able to play multiple guitars in multiple configurations, there is a point of diminishing returns. Also, consider Hendrix, B.B. King, and the Beatles, all who stuck with one or two guitars throughout their playing career. Most great classical musicians will also find a particular instrument they love and stick with it.

Left-handed? Wondering which way to hold your guitar? As left-hand guitars are available, start by picking up a guitar and see what feels more natural to you.

If you're having trouble switching chords quickly enough, implement a simple practice plan. Use a metronome to keep time if you have one available. If not, there is plenty of free metronome software for your computer available online. Start out playing through the chords at a slow, steady tempo. When you can do it well at the slow speed, go a little bit faster until you can do it right at the increased speed, and so on.

Tune, tune, tune. No matter whether you play jazz, classical, ska, or punk. Tune before a gig. Tune before you practice. Tune when you wake up in the morning. Tune when you sneeze. Just kidding, but you get the point. If you can keep in tune, you rise above at least 50% of all guitarists. The next step is to get the rest of the band to tune.

Every now and then, take your guitar into a shop to have the intonation checked, or do it yourself. Just because your strings are in tune doesn't mean that a note you play high up on the fretboard is in tune. This is a result of your guitar's neck bending slightly over time in response to the pull of the strings.

Learn to use accents in your playing to add interest, especially when strumming. This means striking some beats harder than others.

Many great guitarists look absolutely boring when they play, or even look bored themselves. This detracts from the hard work you've put into your craft. Watch other exciting guitarists who play in your genre. Then, video yourself and see how you can do better. It may seem awkward at first, but it will become second nature over time to do a bit of moving around.

Some guitarists put soap or a lubricant in the nut slots at the top of their fretboard to help the guitar stay in tune.

From time to time, you will need to get your guitar's frets "dressed", especially on an electric guitar. A repairman will file them down and reshape them. Over time, frets get a dent where you press the strings to them.

After you play, wipe down your fingerboard and strings.

If you need to practice a bit more quietly on an acoustic guitar, but you want to be able to play in a somewhat normal manner, try a "soundhole cover".

To see whether a guitar is solid wood or if it is laminated, look inside the sound hole. Then, look at the same spot on the back of the guitar. If the grain matches, it is solid.

It's always a good idea to keep a spare set of new strings in your case. It's also a good idea to keep an old, used set of strings as a 2nd backup!

"Revoicing" a guitar means making permanent adjustments to the instrument in an effort to improve the sound. One example would be a guitar repairman or craftsman hollowing out extra parts of the inside of an existing guitar.

You'll find some tabs for songs online that suggest lowering the tuning of your guitar by a quarter step to a full step. While this can be legitimate in rare cases, it is usually the result of the recording technique altering the pitch that was played.

Getting ready to record your guitar at home? Wondering about latency? For best results, it should be 10 milliseconds or less. However, if you are recording live to a single track with no overdubs, latency won't be an issue. Just turn off any monitor.

Fingers hurt after playing? Try one of two thing - 1) soak them in a bowl of icewater or run them under a cold faucet, just not to the point of pain. And only do this when you won't be playing for a while. Or, 2) use aloe on your fingertips. Either of these will prevent blisters.

A "cutaway" model of acoustic guitar is particularly good for reaching the higher frets. Drawbacks include the higher price and possibly a sound that isn't quite as good as a regular acoustic.