Learn Music From Home » Learn To Play Guitar http://learnmusicfromhome.com Learn to Play an Instrument Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:54:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Learn To Play The Guitar http://learnmusicfromhome.com/learn-to-play-guitar/learn-to-play-the-guitar/ http://learnmusicfromhome.com/learn-to-play-guitar/learn-to-play-the-guitar/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 18:49:49 +0000 maynard http://learnmusicfromhome.com/?p=36 If you have always wanted to learn how to play guitar, then you’ve come to the right place!

Whether you’re interested in folk, country, rock, jazz, or any number of other musical styles, learning how to play the guitar can give you the ability to play and perform your favorite songs, or even write some of your own. But just like any instrument, learning to play the guitar can take a good deal of patience, perseverance, and good old-fashioned practice. For those who stick with it, though, learning how to play the guitar can be an extremely rewarding experience and can provide endless hours of personal enjoyment.

What you need:

  1. A six-string Guitar
  2. A Guitar pick: Light gauge (thinner) picks are preferable for beginners
  3. Patience: Definitely a virtue for learning how to play guitar
  4. A love of music and a desire to learn

Keep in mind:

  1. Keep your fingernails short by trimming them regularly. This will allow your fingers to hold down the notes easier and produce a better sound.
  2. Your fingers will start to hurt as you begin to play. This is normal. Eventually, with time and practice, your fingertips will develop calluses and the pain will go away.
  3. Take some time in between lessons to make sure that you’ve mastered each part. Practice each lesson for a few minutes before moving on to the next.

The Basics

  • Before we start playing, let’s first go over a few of the basic terms and parts of the guitar that you will need to know in order to proceed:

Strings

A normal guitar has six strings, each of which has a different size and note value. In standard tuning, the bottom string (also the skinniest and highest sounding) is an E note. This is also known as the 1st string. The 2nd string up (a little bit thicker and lower sounding) is a B note. The 3rd string up is a G note, 4th is a D, 5th is an A, and the 6th string (thickest, lowest sounding, and closest to your body) is also an E note. When in tune, playing the 1st and the 6th strings open should produce the same note, albeit at different pitches. Mnemonic devices can help you remember the order of the strings: For example, from top to bottom: Eat All Day Get Big Easy. Or come up with your own.

Frets

  • While the strings divide the guitar from left to right (as in the diagram), frets are small metal strips that divide the guitar into sections from top to bottom. If you look at your guitar from above, you can begin to see that the strings and frets together form a kind of grid that covers the entire neck of the guitar. Placing your finger on a string in between two of the frets is what enables you to play a note. The higher up you get on the frets, the higher the notes sound. In general, each fret is a half-step higher than the previous fret.
  • TIP: Since you don’t actually put your finger directly on each fret, guitarists usually describe frets as the space on the neck between each metal strip. So, the 2nd fret would refer to the second gap between frets that is found on the neck, rather than the second actual metal piece.

Tuning Your Guitar

  • One of the most important things you will need to do in order to keep your guitar sounding good is to tune it on a regular basis. The process of tuning your guitar involves adjusting the pitch of each of your strings so that they play the correct note. This is done by tightening or loosening each of the tuning pegs.
  1. Place a finger on the 5th fret of the 6th string and play the note.
  2. Play the 5th string “Open.” When in tune, these two notes should sound exactly the same.
  3. Adjust the tuning peg for the 5th string so that, when played open, it makes the same sound as the 5th fretted 6th string.
  4. Place your finger on the 5th fret of the 5th string and repeat this process with the 4th string “Open.”
  5. Repeat this process for the 4th and 3rd strings.
  6. When you reach the 2nd string, things change slightly. Instead of placing your finger on the 5th fret of the 3rd string when adjusting the 2nd string, place it on the 4th fret.
  7. To tune the 1st and final string, go back to the previous method by playing the 5th fret of the 2nd string.

Playing Chords

Now that you’ve got your guitar in place and your pick in hand, you are ready to start playing the basic chords. As you’ve probably noticed by now, making noises come out of the guitar is relatively easy. Making noises that actually sound good is another story. A Chord is a combination of at least two notes that are played simultaneously, creating a fuller, richer sound than can be achieved by playing each note individually. Most chords involve at least three notes played together, while some may use even more. Also, chords usually involve playing multiple strings at the same time, which is called strumming.

Play the video and see how it is done.


Proper position while playing guitar not only serves the purpose of allowing to play the guitar without unnecessary discomfort, but additionally it really helps to produce the right sound coming from your acoustic guitar. So it is crucial that you really take time to learn how to position your body in the right way as well as holding the guitar in the proper manner.

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