Start Learning Guitar
Do you want to learn how to play guitar?
Steps
- Make sure you really want to. Learning guitar isn't easy and if you're not committed you'll give up halfway and will have wasted your money and time.
- Make sure you buy a good guitar. This is a good investment. A good guitar can last you for decades but if you only buy a cheap or "beginner" guitar, you'll end up having to buy another one later as these are not good quality and won't sound good for very long.
- Find someone in the yellow pages who can tutor you on playing guitar. If you can't find someone you like then find out who of your friends can play guitar and will be willing to teach you.
- Buy some good guitar instruction books. A good book has illustrations of chords which you can then use to practice your chords with.
- Make sure your tutor knows what they're doing. If they teach you incorrect techniques, it will be very difficult to get rid of these bad habits.
- Decide whether you want to play lead or rhythm guitar and tell your tutor that you want to focus on that specific style. It's better to be very good at either rhythm or lead than to be mediocre at both.
- Get some instruction videos to watch at home.This isn't very necessary, but can come in handy if you're not sure your tutor does the right things.
- Practice, practice, practice!
- Don't become discouraged if you struggle to get certain things right. Most professional guitarists you hear on the radio had to work at their playing for years and years before even being slightly good.
- Always make sure your guitar is tuned otherwise it will sound horrible. If you can't tune it by ear, get an electronic tuning device (ask for it at your local music store).
Tips
- Even if it seems you're getting nowhere, just keep on going you will eventually get out of the rut and become a great guitarist!(be patient with yourself).
- You don't have to be able to read sheet music to play properly. Some of the best guitar players in the world can't read sheet music at all.
- Find a guitar hero. Someone like Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, Steve Clark, etc. and strive to their style of playing but don't copy them entirely, also add your own special touch to your style of playing.
- If you play for someone and they criticize you, don't listen to them if it's not constructional criticism. Most likely they don't even know how to hold a guitar, otherwise they would understand how hard it is to learn and would understand if you're not playing like Jimi Hendrix yet.
- It's better for a beginner to get a guitar with six strings rather than twelve strings. A guitar with twelve strings is very hard to play, even to practiced guitarists.
- You don't have to be very musical or have a 'musical-ear' etc. to play guitar well. Sure it helps but don't listen to someone who says you have to have certain talents to play guitar. Anyone who sets their mind to it can play!!
- Find some friends who want to learn it as well and come together regularly to show each other what you've learned so far and by doing so, learn from each other. Learning together will also help you stay motivated.
Warnings
- There are no shortcuts to learning guitar.
- Make sure you press strings down firmly when playing otherwise it will create guitar buzzing which doesn't sound good at all.
- Get a good pick (plectrum) which is not too stiff and not too flexible. The pick really affects the sound of your guitar so first test out a pick on a guitar at the store before buying it. Also make sure you can play comfortably with it,different players prefer different picks.
- Take good care of your guitar and take good care of the strings with an anti-rust solution(for steel strings).
- It can take years to learn to play properly.
- If you're buying a second hand guitar, look at it very carefully from all sides for any cracks or damage before buying it. Ask the person at the store to tune it and then try to play it to feel if it is comfortable and if it sounds right.
Things You'll Need
- Guitar
- Pick (plectrum). Buy a few extra because you lose them quite easily.
- Electronic tuner (optional)
- Amp and cable (if your guitar is electric)
- Guitar strap (optional)
- Anti-rust solution (for steel strings)
- Extra strings (in case one of them snaps) this usually only happens to nylon strings if the string is quite old, is wired too tightly or is plucked too hard.
- Willpower
- Motivation
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