Trevor Greenfield asked:

tarted to learn guitar is no different to learning anything else. The sooner we can start to sound half-way decent the better. All we want to do is go from that point of knowing little or nothing to becoming very familiar with the subject in the shortest time possible.

People get into playing guitar in lots of different ways and sometimes the way that you are introduced to guitar playing can have a big influence on the style you choose and how successful you become.

So let’s look at some of those processes and maybe give you some useful pointers to assist your guitar playing.

I guess quite a few of us get introduced to playing an instrument at school these days and have a reasonably open choice as to what style of guitar we choose.

Many adults, however, having decided to play end up buying a second hand instrument from a local classified ad without any real understanding of the different types of instrument and whether the one they have chosen is best suited to the style they want to play.

Choosing a guitar

There are many different types of guitar but they basically break down into acoustic or electric.

The Spanish or classical guitar is the oldest type of guitar and is an acoustic instrument. This means that it creates its sound by the vibrations of the string which are amplified inside the hollow body. It has nylon strings and has a smaller body than the other types that we will look at. It also has a much wider neck than the other types of guitar. This has some advantages when you are just starting out in that it makes it easier to play chords without the annoying buzzing or touching the wrong strings that are a real pain at first. The wider neck does also mean that you have to stretch your fingers wider to form the chords which can be difficult for children.

I personally think it is a good idea for everyone to start out on a classical guitar and learn the basics of chords, how to form them, some music theory and how to play melodies with both the fingers and a pick.

However, for those of you that want to play rock guitar with all kinds of electronic effects, starting out with a classical guitar will probably not be very appealing. All I will say here is that if you study the great rock guitar players as I have you will find that almost without exception they started out learning the basics on a classical guitar.

The steel strung guitar is also an acoustic guitar which is generally bigger in the body and has a longer neck. This is the style of guitar that folk singers and country singers tend to use. The strings are closer together making it harder to form clean chords and push down on the neck. When you are starting out you will get very sore fingers playing with these steel strings while the ends of your fingers harden off.

Finally we have the many types of electric guitar which generally have sold bodies and rely almost entirely on the electrification to create the sound which is pushed out through an electric amplifier.

I said that often the type of guitar we choose has an effect on our playing experience and this is true. As a guitar teacher, I often found that a child would come to me for lessons with a classical guitar that his or her parents had bought them and would get discouraged when it didn’t sound like Eric Clapton.

I had to explain that you can only play a certain style on a classical guitar but that learning the basics would set them up for life. Some of them accepted this and worked hard to improve but the majority who were impatient like most of us or didn’t really have a passion for it would quit.

The choice of guitar for you is really down to the style you want to play and the budget you have to spend. I would recommend that when you are starting out, you visit a large guitar store with lots of choice and knowledgeable staff to help you.

In the specialist music stores you will always find that the staff are not only very helpful but that most of them are good players too and will be able to demonstrate what the instrument is capable of in the hands of someone that really can play.

Go along, take your time to try some out and don’t worry that you sound like a beginner. We were all beginners once and the guys in the store won’t laugh at you.

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Fabian Tan asked:


Learning guitar chords may seem daunting for a new guitar player. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Remember, the guitar professionals were once novices who didn’t have a clue about chords as well! In this article, I will divulge some proven tips for learning chords quickly and easily.

Firstly, let’s define what a guitar chord is. A guitar chord is a collection of tones sounded in harmony by pulling two or more strings on a guitar. It usually requires playing open strings.

Now that we have got the definition out of the way, it is time to get straight down to the methods! Obviously, one of the main difficulties in playing chords is using a few fingers a tight space in an attempt to play a tune. Well, practice makes perfect. You can speed up the process of learning chords by referring to a guitar chord diagram. These diagrams show the organization of the guitar chords you should be playing.

The second tip is to find a song, preferably an easy song, which you like and to try to play the chords to it. Starting with an easy song helps build you competence in chord playing

My third tip is to simply choose a chord family and really practise it until you become really good at it! If you try to learn too many chord families in a short space of time, you may end up with information overload, and you will not be able to learn as quickly. This is a common mistake many beginners make.

Learning guitar chords can be trying at first, but after a while, you will begin to get more comfortable. Getting a large repertoire of guitar chords under your belt is important as it is the base for higher levels of guitar playing.



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Robert asked:


s think we would like to play guitar, but thinking about it and actually trying to do it are two very different things. You can choose a guitar to buy, but once you are holding this instrument in your hand it is difficult to know how to play it – or even how to hold it properly. The good news is that there are plenty of resources available to learn how to play guitar, and some don’t even require that you leave the comfort of home to take advantage of them. There are many great websites that will teach you the basics of learning guitar so you can be strumming tunes before you ever even schedule your first private lesson.

The Basics

The first step in learning guitar is to collect all of the necessary supplies. Of course, the guitar is the first component to this process, but you will also need a guitar pick and a willingness to learn this craft. Keep in mind that your fingers will get sore when you first begin, so take a break between sessions and know that the discomfort will go away the more you play. To make the first few lessons a little easier, keep your fingernails trimmed down to make it easier for you play the notes and strum the strings.

The next step will be to learn some basic guitar terms, so that when you go online to take your lessons you will understand what the virtual instructor is talking about. Strings are strung across the guitar, and these are the elements you will use to get sounds out of your instrument. Frets are the small metal bars that divide the neck of the guitar into sections. When you go higher on the frets, you will go higher on the sounds.

Finding an Online Tutor

Once you’ve got the basics down, you can begin to shop for a video tutor that will get you started playing your instrument. The easiest way to find instruction is on the Internet, although you can find instructional DVD’s as well. Some of the websites you find will be free, while others will charge you for the instruction. You will need to decide for yourself whether you can find quality instruction without paying for it.

Many of these websites will also offer you reviews of guitar products that will help you find the best equipment and software for your needs. When you do find the best online tutorial, make sure that you follow the process step by step to ensure that you don’t miss any of the vital information in the early stages. Work at your own pace and make sure you completely master one lesson before you move onto the next. This will ensure your success in your guitar playing endeavor and help you make the most of your new hobby.

Guitar playing can be a fun pastime if you take the time to learn how to do it properly. With the right equipment and a good online tutorial, you will be strumming tunes in no time at all.

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Andrew Koblick asked:


Whether you are an amateur or a professional guitar player, you will agree that you can never say that there’s nothing more you can learn in playing the guitar. There’s always one more guitar lesson you have to learn in order to become even more proficient. One should never underestimate the power and the advantages of practice, and practice is the only way you can become an ace in playing the guitar. Let this be the first guitar lesson you take! Practice, practice, practice.

Now you can learn guitar with lessons delivered directly to you.

A recent survey has found several guitar newsletters which

include free guitar lessons. Probably one of the oldest and most popular

will be found at http://www.guitar5day.com Lesson, guitar biographies and other items of interest are published twice monthly. Random lessons will also find there way

into the mix.

If you want to learn guitar, the first things you want to do are become familiar with the guitar and learn its anatomy. When someone tells you to turn the second tuner on the head, you shouldn’t start pulling your ears. You should know where the tuners are, which the fretboard is and which the bridge is, and so on. Do not underestimate this first guitar lesson. It is very useful to know the main things about the guitar. You also want to learn how the frets, strings and fingers are numbered as this is vital in learning the right techniques when you’re a beginner. When your teacher (or the book you’re learning from) tells you to pick string 1, with finger 1, on the first fret, you should know exactly what he means.

The second guitar lesson for any beginner who wants to learn guitar should be the stringing and tuning of a guitar. Stringing is a fairly easy process. Tuning the guitar, however, can prove to be a little more difficult for beginners as you should know how string A, for example, should sound. That’s mainly the reason why the usage of a guitar tuner is recommended until you become familiar with the notes. This is a guitar lesson that you can find in any book or online guitar lessons site.

The third and longest guitar lesson (most probably a lifetime if you’re really passionate about it) is the actual playing of the guitar. As any player can tell you, it’s mainly about technique and passion. You can master the technique by continuous practice and feed your passion by playing extensively. And this is the most important guitar lesson you’ll ever learn as ou learn guitar, that it’s not always about the talent, but most importantly, it’s about how determined you are to play the guitar.

Guitar lessons can differ from one player to another, because you have: acoustic and electric guitar equipment. If you’re a classical music guitar player, you should know the correct position when playing, the right way to hold the guitar, and the right to pick the strings with your right hand fingers. If you’re playing electric guitar, you have to know the right way to hold the pick and the best techniques to achieve the speed you want. These are all guitar lessons that are available on the Internet and in every learn guitar book ever written. These are the essentials and if a book does not contain this information don’t buy it and go look for one that does.

And then there are the ‘fine tuning’ guitar lessons where you learn guitar in several styles, such as jazz, bossa nova, rock, rock and roll, country, and so on. But in the end you’ll end up having your own personal style and that’s when you’ll know you have learned guitar well



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Andreas Wahlstedt asked:


If you are brand new to playing guitar, then guitar chords are one of the easiest things to learn. All you really need is a good reference, like a chord dictionary, in order to learn and memorize the shape of any chord you want.

This article focuses on helping you make sense of the different chord types you’re likely to come across, and should give you an edge when you’re ready to learn some of the music theory involved in chord construction.

So, let’s begin by taking the mystery out of some chord-related jargon you’ll likely come across. We’ll start first with the basic definition of a chord.

BASIC CHORDS

The simplest type of chord is created from 3 (usually distinct) notes played simultaneously. An F-major chord, for example, consists of the notes F, A and C. All of the fundamental major and minor chords, can be created with just 3 notes.

ADVANCED CHORDS

A chord isn’t limited to just 3 notes, nor is it necessary for every note to be unique. For example, if you play F-major as a ‘Barre’ chord you will have the following pattern of 6 notes: F-C-F-A-C-F.

In theory, you could have a chord with more notes than you have fingers!

The most complex chords are usually created by stacking intervals, adding or suspending tones and creating inversions. For example, a D-major9#11 is built by adding the 7th, 9th and 11th tones of the D-major scale on top of a D-major chord.

You might wonder how this is possible when there are only 8 notes within the scale. What’s happening is that the 9th and 11th notes are actually just repeated notes, started from the beginning of the scale. In this case, the 9th note is ‘E’ and the 11th note is ‘G’.

Some terms to memorize: augmented (aug), suspended (sus), diminished (dim), add, subtract(-).

POWER CHORDS

Power chords are technically not chords in the strictest sense because they consist of only two notes. Power chords are actually intervals of what’s referred to as ‘bare fifths’. The easiest place to play them is on the bottom (low) strings of the guitar.

In order to create a ‘bare fifth’ interval, all you have to do is drop the “third” from a basic chord, and just play the root note with the dominant fifth. An A-major power chord, for example, is simply the notes A and E.

Remember the song “Jessie’s Girl”, by Rick Springfield? The main riff of the song is a progression of power chords. Try playing it in D-major using the following progression of fifths starting from the 5th fret position: D/A, A/E, B/E, G/D, A/E, D/A.

And that’s it for this tutorial. If and when you want to learn more about how to create your own chords, I recommend picking up a good theory book that teaches relationships between scales, chords and modes.



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sb asked:


I play a classical guitar. I find that even when I cut my index finger fingernail as short as possible, it’s still too long. Anyone have similar issues or tips on fingernail care?
thanks for the replies. i want to clarify that I’m interested in my left hand (the one that fingers the fretboard). I find that even when I cut my index finger as short as possible, it’s still too long.

Guitar playing

Maybur asked:


I’m learning guitar and I only know a couple of chords, but how do I strengthen my fingers, and toughen my fingertips up? Any tips are helpful. I heard from someone (can’t remember who) to put rubbing alcohol on my fingertips after playing and it can help a little, but it doesn’t seem to help that much. Other than just keep playing (which I’m doing) anything I can do?

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