Looked at from a very broad perspective, one can learn to play the piano in two ways – by reading music or “playing by ear.” There are professional musicians who can do both, but most have a preference. Some can’t do one or the other at all. Playing by ear takes a talent that can be seemingly “born” into some great musicians. Mozart, for example, was able to not only play, but compose great musical compositions without ever looking at a sheet of music. Most with this talent have worked very hard at it after learning through reading music.

Although there are exceptions, every great musician needs to know how to read music. With this necessary skill, a good musician has access to all the great music ever composed. In addition, he’ll know how to compose and preserve his own musical works. Those who play piano by reading music have tremendous hand-eye coordination. They learn through doing and are soon able to know what a piece sounds like just by seeing the music before they ever hear it. This helps when they learn to play by ear, as their mind will turn the sounds into their musical notations.

People learn both ways, and you can find teachers who will teach either way. Most teachers of beginners, however, will insist on teaching by reading music first. This is generally considered a necessary basic. This gives you the basics of note sights and sounds, fingering, pitches, keys and more before beginning to learn to play by ear. There are hundreds of thousands of musical works adapted for the beginner to make this process fun and give them the ability to learn to play by ear as they progress.

When learning by reading music, a student will generally spend a lot of time with scales and positions. Students who tend to skip over these steps as boring are doing themselves a great disservice. Not only do they help form good fingering habits, but they are also training your ear. They are the building blocks of chords, strains and progressions, which are necessary to understand before you can play by ear. Most of us can’t hear them the way Mozart did without a lot of practice!

There will always come a time when a guitarist gets a little frustrated with their progress and can't seem to improve their skills. It's at this point you might begin looking for the real guitar playing secrets that can change the way you play forever.

Unfortunately, there really isn't an over night quick fix that can boost your skills substantially. However, try out these easy and fast tips on playing the guitar to see some real improvement.

1. Form a band. This might sound like a gargantuan suggestion to make, but if you pick musicians that are on the same skill level as you, it can go very well. You can all develop your skills on guitar playing and share your secrets that you might have.

2. Look for another guitar. Sometimes, it just might be the guitar that's slowing you down from improvement. Do some research on what the best instrument for your skill level and pick of genre is. Then, maybe you can get some real practice done on your more personalized instrument.

3. Practice with other people for a change. If you can't learn any new riffs and licks by yourself a good way to learn is with other guitarists. Make a schedule of guitar practices with a friend where you both play together and you maybe you'll discover the secret to a couple riffs that you couldn't play before.

4. Try to remake another artist's songs. A good indication that you're ready to move on with your skills is that the songs you play are becoming too easy. If that's the case, try to make them not so easy! Stick as much flare and flavor that characterizes you in those songs and impress a couple of your friends with your creation.