Learning Guitar – Lesson One – How to Hold a Pick
October 28, 2010 by Cyn
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Hopefully, you’ve found, bought or borrowed a guitar pick. If not, you’ll need to buy yourself some. Don’t be stingy, go and pick up at least 10 of them – guitar picks are easy to lose (they often don’t cost more than 30 or 40 cents each). You can experiment with different shapes and brands, but I highly recommend medium gauge picks to start; ones that aren’t too flimsy, or too hard.
The following documentation explains how to hold, and use a pick. When reading, keep in mind that your “picking hand” is the hand which is nearest to the bridge of the guitar, when sitting in the correct position.
Open your picking hand, and turn the palm to face you.Close your hand to make a very loose fist. Your thumb should remain beside your index finger.
Rotate your hand until you are looking at it’s profile, with your thumb’s knuckle facing you.With your other hand, slide your guitar pick between your thumb and index finger. The pick should be approximately located behind the knuckle of the thumb. Be sure the pointed end of the pick is pointing directly away from your fist, and is protruding by about a half an inch. Hold the pick firmly. Position your picking hand over the soundhole of your acoustic guitar, or over the body of your electric guitar. Your picking hand, with thumb knuckle still facing you, should hover over the strings. Do not rest your picking hand on the strings or body of the guitar.
Using your wrist for motion (rather than your entire arm), strike the sixth (lowest) string of your guitar in a downward motion. If the string rattles excessively, try striking the string a bit softer, or with less of the pick surface. Now, pick the sixth string in an upwards motion. Repeat the process several times. Try and minimize motion in your picking hand: one short picking stroke downwards, then one short picking stroke upwards. This process is referred to as “alternate picking”. Try the same exercise on the fifth, fourth, third, second, and first strings.
Tips: Holding the pick in this manner will invariably feel awkward at first. You will initially have to pay special attention to your picking hand whenever you play guitar. Try and create fluidity in your alternate picking. Your downstrokes should sound virtually identical to your upstrokes.
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Learning Guitar – Learning About the Parts of a Guitar
October 25, 2010 by Cyn
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At the point in which the headstock meets the neck of the guitar, you’ll find the “nut”. A nut is simply a small piece of material (plastic, bone, etc.), in which small grooves are carved out to guide the strings up to the tuners.
The neck of the guitar is the area of the instrument you’ll concentrate a great deal on: you’ll put your fingers on various places on the neck, in order to create different notes.
The neck of the guitar adjoins the “body” of the instrument. The body of the guitar will vary greatly from guitar to guitar. Most acoustic and classical guitars have a hollowed out body, and a “sound hole”, designed to project the sound of the guitar. Most electric guitars have a solid body, and thus will not have a sound hole. Electric guitars will instead have “pick-ups” where the soundhole is located. These “pick-ups” are essentially small microphones, which allow the capture the sound of the ringing strings, allowing them to be amplified.
The strings of the guitar run from the tuning pegs, over the nut, down the neck, over the body, over the sound hole (or pick-ups), and are anchored at a piece of hardware attached to the body of the guitar, called a “bridge”.
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Learn to Play the Guitar Right From Home
October 23, 2010 by Cyn
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You can learn to play guitar right from the comfort of your own home. Once you learn how to play the guitar, you will also understand the concept of playing other musical instruments as well.
It is not difficult to learn to play the guitar. Like any other type of lesson, you have to take it one step at a time. The first thing that at home lessons will teach you is to get familiar with the guitar, understand how to tune the guitar and then learn the basic chords. A guitar is one of the easiest instruments to play. You can pick up a used guitar and get started with your at home lessons. With an electric guitar, you are putting out more money and also need an amplifier, but with an acoustic, it’s just you and the guitar.
By learning at home, you can see if you have a knack for this instrument and then move up to other guitars. You will get to know the sounds of the guitar as you play along with CD’s and DVD lessons in an at home program.
The most important concept you have to understand when you want to learn to play guitar, or any other instrument for that matter, is that you have to practice. Good musicians are those who have a passion for music and want to learn to play. The more you practice playing the guitar, the better you will become at mastering this instrument. If you really want to learn how to play the guitar, you can do so by using a learn at home lesson package.
Learn at home lesson packages cost a fraction of what you would expect to pay for guitar lessons at a local music shop. Instead of having to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars with private lessons, you can have your own private lessons, right in the comfort of your own home, and get expert training. You only need to purchase a guitar and an at -home guitar package to learn to play guitar and you will be on your way to being a guitarist. Whether or not you are a good guitarist is up to you and the time you invest in lessons, practice and learning to master the instrument.
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Acoustic or Electric?
October 13, 2010 by Cyn
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Probably the most important consideration, when choosing what type of guitar to learn on, is what type of music will be played on the instrument. If you’re a fan of rock music, and want to learn to play rock guitar, starting on electric guitar is a logical choice. If, however, you’re a fan of acoustic music, and want to learn to strum your favorite songs, an acoustic guitar is probably best for you. The importance of the above philosophy can’t be stressed enough. If you get stuck with the wrong type of guitar, you’re going to have much less motivation to pick it up and play it regularly.
Note to parents: this same principle applies when picking out a guitar for your child. Try to realistically assess what they’dlike best, as opposed to what you’dlike them to play. Their progress will be noticably better when playing a guitar they like.
Ease of Learning
Depending on your personality type, this might either play a major factor in deciding which guitar to start on, or might be irrelevant. Some people find if they don’t see results quickly, they get discouraged, and lose interest in playing guitar altogether. If you think you (or the person you’re buying for) are one of those people, an electric guitar is probably the instrument to start on. Electric guitars have smaller bodies, smaller necks, and it’s much easier to press down the strings. Essentially, you can start playing the *basics* of guitar much more quickly and easily on an electric guitar, than you can on an acoustic. Having said that, there are a few knobs and buttons on an electric guitar that can complicate using it somewhat.
Budget Considerations
Understandably, paying a whole lot for a first guitar isn’t very desirable, especially if you’re not even sure if playing guitar is something you (or whomever you’re buying for) will stick with. For this reason, acoustic guitars are more often the choice for a first instrument, since they tend to be slightly less expensive. Electric guitars require the purchase of an amplifier, and a guitar cable, so they can end up costing a little more. If you want to learn on an electric guitar, but budget is a serious issue, many guitar stores offer starter electric guitar/amp packages at very reasonable prices.
Making the Decision
Now I’ve given you some things to consider, it’s time for you to decide which type of guitar is best suited for you, or for whomever you’re buying for. Let’s summarize – if the person in question frustrates easily, or listens to and wants to play “hard rock” music, definitely think electric guitar. If, however, the person in question wants to learn songs to sing along to, and can handle a slightly steeper learning curve, then an acoustic guitar might be in order.
Once you’ve made a decision, take a look at the following page for a few recommendations on specific guitars to buy.
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What You Need To Know To Learn How To Learn And Master The Guitar
October 3, 2010 by Cyn
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Guitar Basics
Knowing most of the basics about a guitar will make learning how to play the guitar easier; the basic parts are the headstock, the nut, the neck, the body, the sound hole, the bridge, the strings and the keys. Most of these parts are pretty self explanatory; the strings run from the bridge over the sound hole, up the neck, are secured by the nut, and attached to the tuning keys to achieve the desired sounds.
The next difference is between the types of guitar, there are several, however most novice guitar players would only be concerned with the two very basic types, the acoustic and electric. Which someone would decide to learn guitar songs on, would depend on which type of music that person wanted to play; if the kind of music a person likes is played with mainly an electric guitar, the logical choice would be an electric guitar, or the same would be true with an acoustic.
Learning Guitar Songs: Pieces of a Song
Just like the guitars themselves, learning guitar songs, requires one to learn at least the very basic parts of a song; there are two ways to read music from a song, in the form of sheet music and in the form of tablature. Something a beginning guitar player can expect to learn is the three chords G, C, and D first. These are some of the most frequently used chords in learning guitar songs; and in formal lessons these are usually the first chords taught.
Trying Out a Few Songs
When someone is first learning chords and their way around a guitar, learning guitar songs can seem impossible; but once a player has mastered the three basic chords mentioned above there are actually several songs that exclusively use these chords, especially from the 1960′s or 1970′s. Trying to play songs can keep a new player interested in the instrument, although beginners likely won’t be able to change chords fast enough to make it sound quite right, just being able to get down the general idea can instill confidence in a student.
Practice
The old saying practice makes perfect holds true with any instrument; for the guitar, besides remembering the position of the chords, one must also practice strumming, rhythm, changing chords, and how to recognize the correct sounds the guitars are supposed to make. Achieving a strumming rhythm is just as important as learning the chords, when learning to play guitar songs.
Choosing a Method of Instruction
A person makes the best teacher, they would be experienced and able to give constructive criticism, and be an active participant in the guitar song learning process. A close second for learning guitar songs are DVD instructional programs, these allow the student to watch and listen as if there were an actual instructor present. Also the DVD systems, allow the person learn at their own pace.
The next best method of learning is through a CD system; these systems may not have video instruction, but will often have good illustrations that are simple to follow. The least constructive, yet still somewhat effective method of learning is over the internet; learning over the internet is virtually the same as CDs, with the exception of an online teacher may have a forum, and some music or video clips, as a point of reference. The major downfall to learning guitar songs over the internet is that one must practice in front of their computer.
We Play Guitar
September 21, 2010 by Cyn
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It is true that most people would like to learn to play guitar, but not everyone can do, because learning to play guitar is not easy. One must know that the foundations of learning is just the beginning, so if you want to be able play the guitar well and get some exciting skills that can help become a great guitarist, it is important to learn to read guitar sheet music. Once you start you can play is often progresses but may need to play up to six points. The next step is to improve the way you play two notes learn how to play or in this case, a simple octaves. If you cannot learn to read and play two different guitar tones than good in your way to significantly improve all guitar techniques.
If you intend to learn to read six notes at once, you must accept the fact that you can set up to fail. If you want to be able to succeed, you must take it easy and progress in learning to read one or two notes at once. The best way to learn to play two notes at once is to play octaves. You can take the exam in a few steps to have it read correctly with partitions guitar octave.
However, it is an important fact that many guitarists ever decide to learn to find the notes on the guitar. They only focus on the habit of listening, playing and where the calculation of the specific note can be played on guitar. If you can do it little by little, it's easy for you to read guitar sheet music. A desire and determination to really start learning the notes of the guitar is much better than using the method we have spoken to find the notes.
You must remember that you must start from where you are, if you want to progress and become a good sight reading guitar sheet music. Before you start playing, you watch over a song and find the same two notes that are stacked in the lymph nodes. Many wonder why it's so difficult to read guitar sheet music. If they give a little more attention, they can see that the answer is easy. They did nothing about it. No one thought to move. Could it be that easy to play guitar sheet music?
Sometimes we think that readers with visual impairment or not able to read guitar music at all and we believe this is part of our personality. But in reality, only the guitar is not. First, start by selecting the octaves in the partition of the guitar. Then you can place your fingers correctly on the first octave. Then you can play two octaves on the same fixed rope. The last step is to play two octaves simultaneously on different sets of strings. It takes time and practice, but it will help to develop a guitar sound.
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We Play Guitar
Grabbing the Essentials and Details of Playing Guitar
September 1, 2010 by Cyn
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Learning to play guitar is like someone going into the garden to plan a seed in the dry season. You have to nurture the seed and constantly water it for it survive and give you what you want. There is no short cut to learning how to play guitar and anybody that promises the guitarist newbies that they will start playing like rock stars instantly may be deceiving them. Apart from practicing with lots of interest, you have to be dedicated to be able to appropriately learn how to play guitar.
The first vital tip is that you have to learn the basic chords. Finding chords and fingering can easily be learnt from many sites on the internet. Even the most basics of open chords should be accompanied by many tunes. Many well known songs and tunes can be accompanied by easy chords such as A, D, G, E and C.
Good steady strumming patterns are usually as a result of putting easy chords together and accompanying it with a song. You don't need to be tensed up, just relax and try your hands on some rhythms. Keep practicing and it will all start falling into its places real soon. The fact that you are learning the basics of how to play guitar would set the foundation for your guitar playing success.
Make sure that you gradually lift you guitar plays and keep practicing. I have to warn you that there may be time you might consider to throw in the towel and quite all the learning processes. That will be the time you should rather determine not to give up and keep practicing, you will soon start enjoying it all the time. After some time, you have to try your hands on more bar chords such as F, B, and M e.t.c. Remember that where there is no pain, there wont be any gain, so never mind if your fingers get sore. It is all temporal and will give you joy in the immediate future. By the time you train or practice for sometime, you would discover that your hands will become stronger and the unusual hand positions would start becoming usual. That rock star you admire so much may have gone through the worst learning experience than whatever you think you are going through at the moment.
If playing guitar is your goal, just relax, practice and get it realized real soon. You also have to try reading some tablature or TAB in short form. This is a way of merely reading guitar music without putting any extra effort to learn how to read the actual music. Rather than reading a score of sheet music, it gives fret and finger positions on the 6 strings.
It is usually easier to learn how to play acoustic guitar more than electric guitar. This is because the acoustic guitar frets board if broader and helps one to be able to adopt faster by stretching the fingers more. There isn't any guitar playing tricks and tips you cant easily find on the internet today.
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Grabbing the Essentials and Details of Playing Guitar
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Guitar Heroes From The Pre-Digital Age
August 29, 2010 by Cyn
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One of the most popular video games of recent years, without a doubt, would have to be the Guitar Hero series. Considering the huge crossover potential between rock music and video games it is only a surprise that it has taken this long – with games in the series now devoted to bands such as Metallica, Van Halen and Aerosmith, and a very real likelihood that others will be immortalised in the same way very soon. However, it is important to remember that there were guitar heroes long before these bands, and this game, etched themselves on to our consciousness.
It is often said that the first real guitar hero was the troubled bluesman Robert Johnson. Legend has it that he sold his soul to the devil in order to be an accomplished guitarist. Although he played along with the story, it is believed that this was purely a joke on his part – in actual fact, he was a prodigiously gifted guitarist with a fine teacher. His influence is still felt today as it has been throughout the decades since his premature death in 1938. There are echoes of his playing in more recent guitar heroes such as Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and a great many others.
One of the most seismic changes in the history of popular music was the move from acoustic to electric guitars. Perhaps most famously encapsulated by Bob Dylan’s decision to “go electric”, this has radically changed the kind of sounds you can get from a guitar. There are many folk musicians who, to this day, feel that Dylan crossed an unacceptable line that day.
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Guitar Heroes From The Pre-Digital Age
Do You Want To Learn And Master Guitar?
August 27, 2010 by Cyn
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By: Elizabeth Davis
New to guitar? This article will help you to develop better guitar playing skills.
Obtain a Good Teacher! There is no replacement for a skilled guitar teacher. You can purchase all the books and videos you want, but to really be a skilled guitarist, it is crucial to study from a professional. A qualified guitar teacher has the experience and wisdom needed to teach you how to master the guitar. Books, videos, and the Internet, lack information and advice. A good teacher will correct your mistakes if you are doing something not right to free you from bad habits or techniques, and will furthermore encourage you when you are doing a fine job.
Do not be discouraged! The initial time playing any instrument can be overwhelming, and you could tell yourself that this is merely too hard to continue. We all have to study from step one, and everybody has been in the same boat! Everything takes practice, and it is a requirement to be uncomplaining with yourself. Give yourself a pep talk everyday, saying these words aloud “I can do this, and it will be simple for me.” The motivation, and words of encouragement to yourself will hurry up the process to make things alot easier for everything in life that you wish for, or try to accomplish.
Practice everyday! You will become more familiar with your instrument after you take the time to practice everyday. This will get so simple for you over time with your devotion to learn. Try to free up at least 20 minutes of time each day to practice your guitar. Find a time and place where you will not be interrupted. Disruption can prevent your concentration and snap a good rhythm. Warm hands, and stretch fingers before playing. Ask your teacher for the best practice exercises that are correct for your style of play. Create a calendar of helpful practice sessions.
The duration of your practice is not necessarily the most crucial. The quality of the practice is what really counts and matters the most! Make sure your teacher is giving a well rounded method, since this helps to obtain the most out of your practice sessions.
Slow Down! Many brand new guitarists rush through a song in the beginning, trying to play exactly like the radio.
Before touching anything accurately, you should learn to take things gradually, and be able to play well at a much slower rate. You can at that time increase the tempo as you progress.
Watch your posture! Playing the guitar must not be very agonizing and uncomfortable. If you notice yourself with various aches and pains in the shoulders, neck, back, etc, you probably are not in a helpful position to play. Ask your teacher to show the best ways, and next do your best to stick to it. Ask your teacher to correct you after the correct posture fails.
Get a metronome! A very valuable part of playing the guitar, is the skill to keep good timing. A tool that will help you to be better with this is called a metronome. You can buy this at any guitar shop. When working with a metronome, it is best to start at a slow tempo in the very beginning when you are initially learning how to play.
Change the strings! The type of guitar strings that you apply determines the sound quality that your guitar produces. How often do you replace the strings really depends on how often you play. Professional guitarists can change their strings previous to every gig. Others who do not play so often, can replace the strings every 2 months or so. Once again, it really depends on how often you play, and how well you care for your guitar. Do not wait until your strings break before you change them, and you must replace all channels all together.
Trying new things! If you are feeling uninspired in the way you are performing, why not try something recent and uncommon? If you have learned a specific song on the electric guitar, why not try the same song on an acoustic guitar? If you only play your guitar with a pick, exercise your fingers this next time. Maybe you solely enjoy playing blues guitar, so why not try a little jazz or classical?
I hope these guitar tips were helpful! Most importantly, never give up, and be proud of the accomplishments that you have acquired! Persistence is the key with and in everything! If you really maintain a sincere desire to learn and to keep on with your practices, you will be amazed at all the beautiful music that you have learned!
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Author Elizabeth Davis
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Do you want to learn Guitar?
August 25, 2010 by Cyn
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New to guitar? This article will help you to develop better guitar playing skills.
Obtain a Good Teacher! There is no replacement for a skilled guitar teacher. You can purchase all the books and videos you want, but to really be a skilled guitarist, it is crucial to study from a professional. A qualified guitar teacher has the experience and wisdom needed to teach you how to master the guitar. Books, videos, and the Internet, lack information and advice. A good teacher will correct your mistakes if you are doing something not right to free you from bad habits or techniques, and will furthermore encourage you when you are doing a fine job.
Do not be discouraged! The initial time playing any instrument can be overwhelming, and you could tell yourself that this is merely too hard to continue. We all have to study from step one, and everybody has been in the same boat! Everything takes practice, and it is a requirement to be uncomplaining with yourself. Give yourself a pep talk everyday, saying these words aloud “I can do this, and it will be simple for me.” The motivation, and words of encouragement to yourself will hurry up the process to make things alot easier for everything in life that you wish for, or try to accomplish.
Practice everyday! You will become more familiar with your instrument after you take the time to practice everyday. This will get so simple for you over time with your devotion to learn. Try to free up at least 20 minutes of time each day to practice your guitar. Find a time and place where you will not be interrupted. Disruption can prevent your concentration and snap a good rhythm. Warm hands, and stretch fingers before playing. Ask your teacher for the best practice exercises that are correct for your style of play. Create a calendar of helpful practice sessions.
The duration of your practice is not necessarily the most crucial. The quality of the practice is what really counts and matters the most! Make sure your teacher is giving a well rounded method, since this helps to obtain the most out of your practice sessions.
Slow Down! Many brand new guitarists rush through a song in the beginning, trying to play exactly like the radio.
Before touching anything accurately, you should learn to take things gradually, and be able to play well at a much slower rate. You can at that time increase the tempo as you progress.
Watch your posture! Playing the guitar must not be very agonizing and uncomfortable. If you notice yourself with various aches and pains in the shoulders, neck, back, etc, you probably are not in a helpful position to play. Ask your teacher to show the best ways, and next do your best to stick to it. Ask your teacher to correct you after the correct posture fails.
Get a metronome! A very valuable part of playing the guitar, is the skill to keep good timing. A tool that will help you to be better with this is called a metronome. You can buy this at any guitar shop. When working with a metronome, it is best to start at a slow tempo in the very beginning when you are initially learning how to play.
Change the strings! The type of guitar strings that you apply determines the sound quality that your guitar produces. How often do you replace the strings really depends on how often you play. Professional guitarists can change their strings previous to every gig. Others who do not play so often, can replace the strings every 2 months or so. Once again, it really depends on how often you play, and how well you care for your guitar. Do not wait until your strings break before you change them, and you must replace all channels all together.
Trying new things! If you are feeling uninspired in the way you are performing, why not try something recent and uncommon? If you have learned a specific song on the electric guitar, why not try the same song on an acoustic guitar? If you only play your guitar with a pick, exercise your fingers this next time. Maybe you solely enjoy playing blues guitar, so why not try a little jazz or classical?
I hope these guitar tips were helpful! Most importantly, never give up, and be proud of the accomplishments that you have acquired! Persistence is the key with and in everything! If you really maintain a sincere desire to learn and to keep on with your practices, you will be amazed at all the beautiful music that you have learned!
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Do you want to learn Guitar?
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