Sunday, January 24, 2010

A Beginner Guide To Learning Guitar

By Brock Davis

There is much more to learning how to play guitar than just picking up the instrument and starting in. It's very important to begin with the basics. You need to know what your goals are, and you also need to have a good guitar learning program. You should be able to expect to learn certain things in just about any beginners' guitar course you might try.

If you want to move on to an intermediate guitar course, you need to know those things before moving on. Here is a checklist of items you must learn in any beginners guitar course.

By the time you finish your guitar course you should have the information you need to decide which type of specialty you might like to explore. Your choices include classical guitar, jazz guitar, rock guitar and country and folk guitar, but there are many others. Keep in mind, however, that all these guitar styles start off the same way, with the basics.

First you will learn the parts of the guitar and how they interact. Next you will learn what makes a good guitar and its maintainence. It will help you get the kind of sound you wanted easier.

You will find out the difference between nylon and steel string and when to use them. You will learn what kind of neck flexibility works for which kind of playing and how the suond is affected by the guitar shape. You will learn the difference between upstrokes and downstrokes and the various strumming techniques. You should start by learning a few basic chords like C, G, D7 and F. Understand how the chords are constructed and their interaction among them.

You'll also learn finger picking, which may seem too advanced to be in a guitar for beginners course. It also might seem like it would be better with a different kind of music. Finger picking is a valuable technique, however. Learn to use both hands and how to have a fair amount of dexterity with both. Even if you never use a technique like finger picking, it is better to know it than to not know something you need to be able to play what you want.

Tuning and knowing how each chord works with each key are also important skills to master during your guitar for beginners course. You'll start off using open tuning and then try barring, which is pressing down the strings across the fret and completing the chord using the rest of your fingers.

You'll learn scales, too - they're the basis of almost all guitar playing out there. Once you have a good grasp on your scales, your ability to progress will increase greatly.

You could have the temptation to want to jump right in to learn the guitar but do not do that. First you should get a good foundation in your basics before then you can be a truly skilled guitar player. Without a good foundation, you will not be able to handle the advanced techniques. Nobody can become a skillful guitar player without going through the basics. Remember that those professional guitars also started as a beginners many years ago.

I can understand that learning to play guitar can be a bit overwhelming at first. But with patience and focus, you will be jamming with the best in no time at all. - 23812

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