Before you know how to play the guitar, you should know the basics like the type of guitar that you want to play and the materials needed to play the instrument.
Guitar is one of the easiest musical instruments to learn. Different age groups can also play this instrument because it can play different genres of music like jazz, country, alternative, pop, and folk.
For acoustic guitar, there are nylon-stringed and steel-stringed guitars. Nylon-stringed guitars are easier to play especially when you are a beginner. This is because you don't have to put much pressure on the strings to be able to play it.
Learning to play the instrument needs a lot of patience before you really master playing it. You need to practice and practice especially when you are a beginner.
The basics on how to play the guitar include knowing the parts of the instrument. The headstock of the guitar is the topmost part. You can see the tuning pegs located here. The nut is the material after the headstock (usually color white) that guides the strings because it has carvings where the strings are inserted. The tuning pegs can be turned to tune the strings of the guitar. The neck of the instrument is the long and skinny part where the strings are located. The frets are also located here. The frets are the metal strips in the neck. The body is the largest part of the instrument that is bulky depending on the design of the guitar. This contains the hole where the vibrations are created in order to make a sound when the strings are plucked or strummed. The bridge is the part where the strings are attached at the other end of the instrument. This can be found in the body.
The strings of the guitar corresponds to some major chords: E, A, D, G, B, E. They are numbered as six down to one correspondingly. The sixth string is the thickest and the first string is the thinnest. The frets are used to play the guitar chords. The numbers in the chord book corresponds to the fret number where the finger will be placed. The fingers to be used are index to pinky fingers. The thumb is used to hold the back of the neck and sometimes used in advanced guitar chords.
The two conventional ways of playing the guitar are through strumming and plucking. When you play through strumming, you need guitar chords but when you play through plucking, you need guitar tabs. Chords are sort of general notes while tabs are specific notes like when you play a piano.
You can play the guitar using a guitar pick. This is advisable for beginners but you can also play using your fingers alone.
As a warning, your fingers will hurt when you start playing the instrument. This is normal especially when you are a beginner. As time goes by, callus will be formed in your fingertips. With this formation, the pain will be lessened and you can play longer than without it.
So grab your instrument and learn how to play the guitar. You can study on your own or you can ask someone to teach you the techniques.
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