Whats the most important thing about playing guitar

Playing guitar includes lots and lots of different skills and techniques.. It includes speed, maintaining the groove, playing in rhythm, maintain a good dynamics, understanding the musical theory and be a good composer and improviser. But what is the most important out of all? Well if you ask me I would say it is maintaining the groove/tempo and playing in rhythm. You can be the fastest guitar player or great improviser but if you can't maintain the groove it will never sound that pro and your audience will never be able to feel your music to the extent you want them to. So your first priority would be to get the groove going and this is something that you should practice from day one.

You should always practice with the metronome. Playing with metronome can be quite boring at times. You can try the drums presets. There are many computer software out there where you can choose the type of beat and control the tempo. You can also practice playing along with different songs.

One advice that I always give to my students is to learn maintaining the groove by tapping the foot while playing a certain tune. It can be a little tricky at first specially while playing some difficult tunes. But soon you will get used to it. And your playing will be a lot tighter than before. You can also try bobbing your head instead of tapping your foot or you can try them both together.

You need to work on all the other skills but this should get the highest priority. This one skill makes the biggest difference between an amateur guitar player and a professional one.