10 Most Important Things When You Learn Guitar
- Get a good guitar that will not impede your learning ability. Make sure the action (distance of the string to the neck) of the guitar is good and that it is correctly intonated (the bridge adjusted so the strings are the correct length) or you will have tuning and playing problems. Also learning on light gauge strings is advised to stop finger strain. It is worth paying a few extra dollars to have the guitar ‘set up’ before your start to play. Here is a more comprehensive guide to selecting a good acoustic guitar.
- Get a good teacher or a good Guitar Lesson DVD or software or a great Learn Guitar Online Course that explains the methods of learning in a simple and easy manner and will ensure you are playing songs or at least riffs within the first couple lessons. Avoid learning boring scales and exercises that will just de-motivate you! You will have to learn these too, but it can be done later.
- Practice every day for at least 15 minutes, and always practice what you cannot play yet rather than playing what you already know or you will not progress. Try to learn simple versions of songs you know so you can sing along even if it’s just in your mind with the song.
- Learn a mixture of chords, single notes, scales and riffs even at the first stages of learning. This is important to develop your technique and strength in the finger and wrist.
- Have the guitar, if possible, in a place where it is easily accessible, so you will want to pick it up often. If it’s in a case in your closet you will forget about it.
- Know how to tune your guitar. Always have a tuner to ensure you are in tune otherwise you will sound horrible. If you don’t have a tuner you can use our free online tuner.
- Use a metronome (click to download free metronome software!) so you can stay in time and develop a sense of rhythm. This is one of the most neglected areas of learning and often the biggest cause of bad habits later on in a student’s progress.
- Try to learn to play songs you enjoy and play a style you like. Don’t play Bob Dylan if you like AC/DC. However its not a bad idea to learn new styles but stick to what you know and like at least when you are still Learn To Play Guitar Fast.
- Take a recording device (your MP-3 player e.g.), record yourself and listen back to it. No matter how awful it may sound it will improve both your desire to learn guitar, and your ability to play better. Also if you want to play lead guitar, play over a recorded rhythm part so you have a musical backing to play to. This will improve your solo ability dramatically.
- Set a stopwatch or timer for 3 minutes and continue to play without stopping. Sounds too easy? Try it! It is a lot more difficult than you think. Most students play on average for about 30 seconds before stopping and starting again!
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Learn Guitar Glossary
- Action
- The height of the strings above the fret board.
- A style of playing where the right hand alternates between two or more strings.
- A chord played one note at a time.
- A sub division of time in music.
- A vertical line which shows the end of a bar of music.
- A right hand technique which involves picking a bass note then strumming the rest of the chord.
- A horizontal line which shows two eighth or sixteenth notes belonging to the beat shown on the bottom of the time signature.
- A sub division of time usually felt as the pulse within a piece of music.
- The main part of a guitar (not the neck).
- A group of three or more notes played simultaneously.
- A diagram which shows a chord progression.
- A sequence of chords played one after another.
- A count at the start of a piece of music to show when to start and how fast to play (usually the top number on the time signature).
- Two vertical lines which show the end of a section or piece of music.
- Right hand movement from top to bottom.
- Electronic foot pedals for altering the sound of an electric guitar.
- A beat half as long in time as a quarter beat.
- A guitar which can be electrically amplified (usually with a solid body).
- A right hand technique which involves using some or all your right hand fingers.
- Lower in pitch.
- A time signature of four quarter beats in one bar of music.
- The front side of a guitar neck which contains the frets.
- The vertical metal bars on a guitar fret board.
- Placing a finger next to a fret.
- A system of reading and writing guitar music (abbreviated to TAB).
- A beat twice as long as a quarter beat.
- To bring two or notes together in harmony.
- Two or more notes sounding simultaneously.
- The part of a guitar situated on the end of the neck which houses the machine heads.
- Used for tuning up each string and housed on the headstock (sometimes referred to as tuning heads or tuning keys).
- A succession of musical notes played one after another (usually the most recognizable tune of a song).
- The part of a guitar which houses the fret board.
- An acoustic guitar which has three nylon strings.
- A string played with no left hand fingers fretting any note.
- A chord which contains open strings.
- An electromagnet housed underneath the strings on an electric guitar which produces a signal to be amplified by a guitar amplifier.
- A small triangular shaped piece of plastic used for striking the guitar strings with the right hand.
- A sub division of time in music twice as long as an eighth beat.
- Two dots placed before a double line indicating the repeat of a section of music.
- A sequence of events played with the right hand on a guitar which gives a piece of music a distinct beat.
- A system of reading and writing music which shows rhythm.
- The note by which a chord or scale is named (Usually the deepest note in the chord, and always the first note in a scale).
- Higher in pitch.
- A rhythm of which each main beat is divided into three smaller beats (prominent in blues music).
- The hole in the front of an acoustic guitar body from which the sound is projected.
- An acoustic guitar which has all steel strings (usually four wound and two plain ones).
- The vertical line in music or rhythm notation which appears above or below a note or rhythm.
- Used to hold the guitar while in standing position.
- A technique where the right hand plays the noted of a chord simultaneously either with down or up strokes.
- A rhythm in music in which the down beat is felt slightly longer than the up beat (sometimes called a shuffle).
- The speed of a piece of music.
- A time signature of three quarter beats in one bar of music.
- A beat which is one and a half times as long as a half beat.
- A curved line which shows two notes of the same pitch joined together and played as one with the time value of both.
- A sign at the beginning of a piece of music (looks like a fraction) which shows how many beats in each bar (top number) and how long each beat lasts (bottom number).
- A curved metal bar implanted into the neck of a guitar used to adjust the amount and direction of bend in the neck.
- A time signature of twelve eighth beats in one bar of music.
- Right hand movement from bottom to top.
- Part of the body of a guitar which is smallest in dimension from top to bottom.
- A beat in music which lasts for a whole bar in music with a time signature of four/four.
Beginner Guitar Lessons – Learn And Master Chords
Guitar chords are normally one of the first things you learn in beginner guitar lessons, and you will be amazed what you can play knowing only these three chords.
There are 7 main guitar chords you must learn and master in order to play the guitar. They are guitar chords A, B, C, D, E, F and G.
The most common problems for the beginner are firstly playing the chords cleanly and without fret buzz, and secondly changing between the chords. Learning and mastering these chords is crucial in learning to play the guitar as there are thousands of one, two and three chord songs. No additional knowledge is required to accompany singers, play in bands and jam.
Advanced guitarists use these chords by studying the pattern they form across the neck. It is a helpful tool to learn inversions, scales, arpeggios, and other musical devices.
Learn And Master The Guitar: How To Hold Your Guitar
The first thing when you learn to play guitar is how to hold the guitar properly. If you can hold it, you can play it!
It is very important that you are relaxed and comfortable. There are many factors to holding the guitar correctly, especially you body shape and the type of guitar you are playing. There is no ‘one size fits all’, it is a matter of experimenting with different positions until you feel comfortable.
Consider finding a couple different ways of holding the guitar. Try changing your body position as you are playing. Doing this will spread the load over your body and make it easier for you to play for extended periods of time without getting tired or suffering muscle fatigue.
As you sit with the guitar think of the different joints involved, your shoulder, wrist and elbow. If you find you have tension in any of these joints just relax, wriggle a bit and move on. As you get more advanced you will relax – it is just a matter of persisting through the initial hurdles.
With familiarity comes relaxation so don’t worry if things are not where you want them right now – it is a challenge for the beginner and comes with time and practice.
My JamPlay.com Review
Disclosure: The opinions offered here are my own based on my experience. All information is verified as accurate at the time of review. If you choose to visit one of the courses I reviewed on this website and make a purchase I may receive a commission, how ever I do not allow this to interfere with my rating and review process. I never accept paid reviews and each product is thoroughly tested by me. All opinions offered here are my own. I am open to reviewing any guitar-training course – please feel free to email me with your suggestions.
What you get with the JamPlay.com Guitar course
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How JamPlay.com works:The subscription is currently $19.95 per month and cheaper when you subscribe for longer. You will get about 300 hours of video lessons from over 20 different instructors. I found it very cool that there are lessons from so many different teachers as everybody has his or her own style, strength and knowledge. This means a huge variety and different ways of looking at things. You will never run out of guitar learning video lessons on JamPlay because new lessons are added all the time! However, it is also very easy to get distracted and socialize and chat more than you practice… Each lesson is filmed from multiple camera angles you can focus on the teacher’s picking and fretting hands – very helpful! Each of the lessons ranges from 15 minutes to an hour and comes complete with a downloadable lesson manual (sometimes you need to see it in writing). You have also access to content like tablature, chord charts, guitar learning exercises and much more.
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What I liked most
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What I didn’t find so great…I really liked being a member for a few months. Then I decided to cancel my membership because:
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Getting StartedI hope this review was helpful to you. Click here to try some free JamPlay sample lessons at JamPlay.com
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