Learning to play the guitar as a beginner can be a seemingly daunting task. With so much to learn and master beginners are often put off by the overwhelming amount of information they are required to process and learn. However, learning the guitar doesn't have to be a hard task. By following these five simple steps you too can be playing the guitar like a pro within days.
1. Familiarize Yourself with Your Guitar
Upon purchasing your first guitar, especially if its an electric, you're most likely going to be utterly clueless as to what each part does or is called. Nut, bridge, saddle, bride pickup - the technical lingo of the guitar can all be quite confusing for the beginning guitarist. However, there are many resources on the net that have detailed illustrations of the parts of the guitar and what it is they do - use them, and familiarise yourself with the ins and outs of your guitar. Treat it as an extension of yourself, and really get to know it.
2. Memorize the notes of Standard Tuning
In order to standardize the tuning of the guitar and allow for easy manipulation of chord shapes and scale patterns guitars are generally tuned to the tuning of EADGBe. This is by far the most commonly used tuning used by guitarists, and from it can be derived a multitude of other tunings. It is crucial that you memorise this tuning now, as you will be using it as a reference point for every other tuning you in turn choose to use.
3. Learn to Tune Your Guitar Both by Ear and Via a Tuner
Being able to tune your guitar by ear is an incredibly important asset to have, and as such learning it should be of top priority to the beginning guitarist. In order to tune your guitar by ear you must first use a reference pitch, commonly that of E, in order to tune one string to the correct pitch. From then you can go on to tune the rest of the strings based off of this first string. In addition to this, learning how to properly use an electronic tuner is of importance, as you will be frequently be using one for many years to come in order to quickly and efficiently tune your guitar.
4. Begin Learning the Basic Open Chords
One of the first major steps you will take as a guitarist is learning to play some of the basic open chords. These chords, such as C Major, G Major and A minor, can be used to play literally thousands of songs due to the fact that nearly all songs, especially in the Western world, make prominent use of simple chord progressions. As a result of learning just 3 or 4 simple chords you will find yourself in the position to be able to play literally thousands of songs.
5. Practice strumming the basic open chords.
After learning a few basic chords working on your strumming technique is crucial. Strumming patterns provide the rhythmic aspect to a chord progression, and by using a different strumming pattern a totally new rhythmic aspect can be achieved. After mastering a few simple strumming patterns you will be in good stead to be able to play your first songs on the guitar.
After learning and mastering the basic open chords of the guitar you are already well on your way to becoming a virtuoso guitarist. With just three or four basic chords you can play the basis of hundreds upon thousands of popular songs, which you can use to impress your friends and family or start writing your own original music. In addition to this you can start developing yourself as a guitarist, and start focusing on more advanced techniques now that you have most of "the basics" down pat. For fun, try searching for "basic songs in the key of G", or perhaps in the key of C. I guarantee you that you will find at least one song that you already know quite well.
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