Part 1 of 3: Learning the Basics
1 identify the parts of the guitar
Whether you're playing an electric or an acoustic guitar, the instrument is essentially wood and metal. Copper-wound strings vibrate to create sound. The wooden body resonates that soundto create the warm tones we associate with a guitar.
*.The strings run between theheadstockof the guitar, where they are affixed totuning pegsthat can be rotated to tighten and slacken them, and thebridge, where they're fixed to the guitar's body. On an acoustic guitar, the strings are fixed to the bridge withremovable pegs, and on an electric guitar the strings are generally strung through a eyelet.
*.Theneckof the guitar is the long wooden piece of wood, flat on oneside (this is called thefretboard) and curved on the other. The fretboard is inlaid with metalfretsthat demarcate the different notes.
*.An acoustic guitar will have asound holein the body where the sound will resonate, while an electric guitar will have as many as three magneticpickupswhich will channel the sound through an amplifier.
2 Hold the guitar correctly
Beforeyou start wailing like Hendrix, makesure you're holding your guitar right. If you're right handed, you'll play the guitar by strumming abouthalfway between the sound hole and the bridge with your right handand fretting the strings on the neckwith your left hand.
*.To play your guitar, sit up in a straight-backed chair or stool. When you orient the guitar to yourbody, the smallest string should be pointed toward the ground andthe thickest string should be pointed up at the ceiling. Hold theback of the guitar so it touches your stomach and chest and restson the leg of your strumming/picking hand.
*.The guitar should be held mostly with your leg and by cradling it in your body. Your left hand is used to stabilize the neck and fret the strings. Hold the neck in the V created by your thumb and forefinger. You should be able to smoothly move your left hand up and down the neck without havingto hold it up.
3 Tune the guitar
It's no fun to play a guitar that's not in tune and can lead to some bad habits when you're first starting out. Tuning regularly will also familiarize you with which string and fret combinations correspond with which notes.
*.First learn the name of each string. The strings are commonly notated, from the highest string, which should be closest to the ground, to the lowest, eBGDAE. A useful mnemonic to remember the string arrangement is EveryBody Gets Dinner At Eight.
*.Electric tuners are easy to use and very accurate. Hold it to the guitar and pluck the high E. The tuner will tell you if the guitar is"sharp" (too high) or "flat" (too low). Pick each note and tighten the string to make it go higher, or give it some slack to lower it. Make sure the room is quiet whenusing a tuner because the microphone on the tuner can pick up other sounds.
*.If you cannot afford a tuner, you can alsotune your guitar without oneby matching each note to the corresponding note on the piano.
4 Practice fretting the strings
Thefrets are the metal strips that run perpendicular to the strings that mark each note. To play a note, press your finger down between the metal strips, not on them. To say that you're playing the third fretmeans that you place your finger on the string in the gap between the second and third fret. Hold the
*.Every time you move from one fretto another, the resulting pitch will be half a step higher as you move toward the body and a half step lower as you move toward the headstock. Practice moving up and down the fretboard, pressing the frets and getting a feel for the pressure you need to use to play a note.
5 Hold the pick
A pick, or plectrum, is a small tear-shaped piece of plastic used for picking out individual notes and strummingthe guitar. They're cheap and available at any music retailer. While it's not essential to learn to play guitar with a pick, it's most generally the way to start.
*.Make a fist with your picking handand your thumb flat on top of yourcurled fingers. Hold the pick by grasping it perpendicular to to your fist between your thumb and index finger, with no more than a few centimeters of the smaller end sticking out of your hand.
Part 2 of 3: Playing Chords
Learn first position chords.A chord is a harmonic group of at least three notes. For beginning guitar, there are two basic chord types: first position chords, and barre chords. First position chords can be played with a combination of open strings and pressed strings in the first three frets of the
*.Commonly major chords areC Major,A Major,G Major,E Major,D Major.
*.When you've got the shapes down, practice switching betweenthem as quickly as you can. Write out more or less random arrangements of the chords you want to play and switch between them, strumming once.
*.Make sure you play the appropriate notes. In A Major, for example, the low E string is not strummed. They'll be marked on the tablature with an "X". Develop good habits now for success in the long run.
2 Practice getting a clean sound
After you had placed all your fingers on the fretboard, play through each of the strings of the chords. Make sure that the strings that are supposed to ring are not muffled or muted.
*.If the notes are not ringing out properly, chances are that you arenot pressing hard enough or partsof your fingers are touching that string which prevents it from sounding out clearly. Are any unused fingers touching strings?[1]
*.Keep the fretting fingers curled at all times they're touching the strings, as if you had your fingers resting over an imaginary glass ball, or a marble in the knuckle of each finger.
3 Strum correctly.
Strumming consists of downstrokes and upstrokes in various combinations,striking all the notes of the chord evenly and rhythmically. Keep your elbow in tight to the guitar, and sweep the pick down all the stringsas you form a first position chord, like a G chord. Your elbow should not move as you strum mostly from the wrist.
4 Learn barre chords
Barre chords, or movable chords, are extremely useful for starting to playsongs. In a barre chord (sometimes shortened to "bar chord"), the index finger of your fretting hand "bars" all the notes at a single fret. To play an F, which is the barre chord in first position,
*.That same claw-like finger positioning on the second fret is aB chord. On the third fret, a G chord. It's a difficult and sometimes painful finger positioning, to learn, but you can start playing the chords to any punk song relatively quickly whenyou learn to strum and play barre chords. The Ramones used nothing but barre chords to great effect.
Part 3 of 3: Sticking With It
1 Manage thefinger pain
There'll be a point at which things will seem bleak: you can't quite get to each chord as fast as you want, your fingers are killing you, and it seems easier to put the thing back in its case. The reason most guitar players stop playing a few weeks inis that it hurts. After a couple of months and years of playing,
*.Ice your fingers after playing or soak them in some apple cider vinegar to alleviate some of the pain.
*.It's mostly mental. Try picturing your favorite guitar player encouraging you along like a weightlifting coach when your fingertips are sore. "One more! One more!
2 Learn to play some songs.
It's a whole lot more fun to play when you're playing a song that you can recognize and not just a set of chords or notes, and there has been a whole world of music written with the chords G, C, and D.Some old folk and country songs like "Tom Dooley" or "Folsom
*.Start off slow and speed up gradually, singing along (if you want to, and if it helps) and pay particular attention to the rhythm. It can be kind of frustrating how mechanical it will sound at first, but don't worry. The more comfortable you get switching between the chords, the closer you'll be to rocking out on stage.
*.As you master easier songs, move on to more complex pieces."Sweet Home Alabama" by LynyrdSkynyrd is basically a repetition ofD, C, and G in that order, but it sounds much more complex on the record, because of the cool-sounding lead guitar licks the guitar player throws in.
3 Learnhow to read guitar tabs
Guitarists have their own system of music notation called guitar tablature, or guitar tabs for short. The basic idea is to look at each line in the "staff" of the tab in the same way you look at your guitar; each line really corresponds to a string, and each number tells you
*.E|-------------------------------------------------||
*.B|-------3---------3----------3--------------------|*.G|---------2---------0--------0---------------2p0--||*.D|-0-0------------------------0--0----0h2p0--------||*.A|------------3-3-------------2---0p2-------0------||*.E|-----------------------3-3--3--------------------||*
.To play this tab-notated lick from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Sweet Home Alabama," you would play two notes on the open D string, the B string at the third fret, the G string at the second fret, etc.
*.Switching between lead-style licks and chords is exciting. You'll feel like you're really making music and not just "learning guitar." But don't rush it, make sure you've got your chord shapes down correctly and that you're not losing the rhythm entirely when you play a quick lick.
4 Learn from others
Guitar is bestlearned by watching, listening, and mimicking the techniques of others. You don't have to take formal lessons to learn guitar, but having friends to play with and share tricks and suggestions with can be a great resource.
*.YouTube tutorials can be extremely helpful for beginners and for advanced players alike. Being able to actually watch Stevie Ray Vaughn rip through one of those solos, or watch how Jack Johnson plays your favorite song up close can be a great learning experience.
*.If you'd like to play classical or jazz guitar eventually, or even if you'd like to learn to read sheet music, formal lessons would be a good idea. Teaching yourself is a great way of developing your own style, which can be very difficult to learn to break with somewhere down the road and replace with"correct" style.
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