Learning to Play the Guitar

If you decide you want to play the guitar, you need to know several different things to get started. First, choose a guitar that best suits the style you want to play. In this article, I will explore the many different types of guitars. I will also introduce you to the many books and web pages out there devoted to teaching people how to play guitar. Lastly I will list a couple things I discovered when I began playing guitar.

Choosing the right guitar for your style is very important: electric, acoustic, acoustic/electric, resonator, classical, and 12 string guitars. Hundreds of manufacturers exist that produce a wide quality of guitars. Some companies specialize in making beginner guitars, while others specialize in making top-of-the-line guitars. Guitars can range in price from $100 to well over $10,000, depending on the quality of woods and detailing.

For this article we will stick to the most basic guitars, the acoustic and the electric. The acoustic guitar features a hollow wood body with steel or nylon strings. It requires no amplification or plug-ins. The wood vibrates and that is what makes the sound. An electric guitar is also made out of wood, however the body is usually solid and contains electronic pick-ups that hear the strings vibrations. In order to play an electric guitar you need to have an amplifier that processes the sound from the pick-ups and then plays it out of a speaker. An amplifier can cost anywhere from $80 to $5,000, depending on the amount of power it has and different features such as effects. With an amplifier you can change the way the guitar sounds, from heavy metal distortion sound to a clean soft sound, using effects.

In order to choose a guitar you need to assess what kind of music you like and the type of music you want to be able to play. If you like heavy metal, punk, or alternative music, you will probably want to start with electric guitar rather than acoustic. If you like classic rock such as the Beatles, Eagles, and the Rolling Stones or modern stuff like the Dave Matthews Band or John Mayer, you will probably want to start with acoustic. Even though these bands may use electric guitars, the songs are usually written and based on an acoustic guitar with an accompanying electric guitar playing lead. The best advice for choosing a guitar and learning how to start playing is to pick a favorite artist to emulate. Find an artist that you really like and see what they play most often. Used guitars are also a good option, they can save you a lot of money. A good place to find used guitars and even new guitars is eBay.

After choosing the guitar that’s right for you, you’ll want to start learning how to play. Thousands of books and web pages are devoted to teaching people how to play guitar. Also there is probably several people in your local area that give lessons. So how do you decide where to begin once you have selected the right guitar for you? There is no right answer and no sure way to being a successful guitar player. If you are a player who is really serious in becoming good as fast as possible, lessons might be a good route to go. I find it is better to buy books or posters that list all the main chords before taking lessons. Learning all the basic chords and how to switch between chords takes a lot of practice. It is a waste of time to take lessons without having at least a basic knowledge of the main chords and the main strumming patterns. If you do finally decide to take lessons, I suggest looking around for a teacher who is willing to teach you the songs you want to play rather than the most basic of songs. The latter approach will often cause you to lose interest. But if you have a teacher who will teach you the things you want to know along with the skills used in playing those songs, you will keep your interest in playing and become a better player overall.

Several key things helped me when I was learning how to play the guitar. The first thing I did was to buy a poster with all the main chords on it and learned how to switch between those chords. The main ones were G, C, and D. Hundreds of the most popular songs are constructed from these three chords. After I had a firm base of the most popular chords, I took a few lessons to learn how to play some basic songs. A good tip is to learn how to play entire songs, not just parts of songs. This is very important because a lot of beginning players and even skilled players will just learn the most common parts of a song. By learning the entire song you will not only be able to play it all, which in itself is a major plus, but you will also gain the important skill of song structure. You will learn that most songs have an intro, verse, chorus, bridge and an outro. Knowing how to put all these parts together will significantly help your playing. So avoid the common pitfall of learning bits and pieces of all your favorite songs and take the time to learn the entire song.

If you follow some of these basic tips you can be on your way to becoming a successful guitarist. Don’t expect the process to be fast. Most players who have been playing for 15 or more years, don’t consider themselves good guitarists. That’s a great thing about the guitar, no one can ever master it, you can just play it to the best of your ability. It takes a lot of practice to become good, but it can also be very rewarding. So if you’re interested in picking up the guitar, I strongly encourage you to take some of these tips that I’ve listed. You won’t regret it.