How To Play A Guitar - Playing Tips You Should Know

Learning How To Play The Guitar

Learning how to play a guitar will come with a lot of patience, time, and best of all – fun. But, when you first pick up your guitar at the store, and get home, you might immediately be frustrated. Everything you do just doesn't seem to sound as great as it does on the CD, and you suddenly realize that even the things that looked the most simple on your favorite artist's DVD seem to be incredibly difficult for you. Why won't your hands and fingers just do what they're told??

Don't get too worried – they will, after some practice and just a few basic playing guitar tips. Remember, no single article will cover all the aspects of learning how to play guitar. Each of these tips will have to be concentrated on separately in your playing guitar lessons.

So, where do you start?

The first place you need to start is chords. Just buy a chord book, or check on the internet, and learn how to play the basic 'open' chords of C, A, G, E and D. Learning these chords will cover most of the other chords, because those chords are the same shapes just moved over the fretboard.

Don't just learn the shapes, but also learn how to change over quickly while strumming. Start with a simple up and down strum pattern, and change chords on every fourth beat. Learning basic strumming patterns first prevents you from teaching yourself bad strumming habits. Habit is what it takes to learn guitar.

While learning chords, you should also learn how to play guitar intervals and scales (when you're a little bored with chords.) This might also be frustrating at first, but you definitely will get the hang of it the more you just do it. Intervals fall under theory (yes, you will have to learn theory, but theory is fun when you see how it makes you a monster on the guitar) and consist of the space between notes. For instance, the space between the G and A note on the sixth (thickest) string is known as a full-step. This is an interval. When it comes to scales, intervals (the space between all the notes) are of utmost importance.

While we're talking about it, make sure you know how to tune your guitar! And learn the notes on the last two strings (5th and 6th, the thickest strings) to start with. This will be imperative with chords and lead playing. Also, learn some of the lingo, like knowing which string is the first and fifth, and knowing the actual body of the guitar (frets etc.)

When you learn how to play a guitar you will have to focus on scales. The first scale to learn is the MAJOR scale, which forms the basic core scale of all Western music. Knowing this scale will greatly improve your lead playing, solo abilities, chord construction, ear-training (the ability to hear notes in music and pick them up easily on your guitar) and even song writing. Yep, it can do that much for you.

Once you learn the major scale, it's good to learn the BLUES or PENTATONIC scale. Learn it in comparison to the major scale – so, see which notes (intervals) have been moved or changed. Learning the major scale will take some time, so don't be in a hurry. Take both of these into your jam sessions.

All this theory, but where's the fun?

Ah, this is when we quickly discuss some guitar playing tips that will help you improve quickly and have some fun while you do it.

1)Listen to music
And listen to different styles – not just your favorite. Listen to the subtleties of the guitars, the different sounds, the note placements, how the guitar works with the other instruments (vocals, drums, bass.)
2)Jam! Jam!
Yes, get together with some musicians and just jam together. Don't be intimidated if they're better than you – learn from them. Also, don't be afraid to experiment, and get comfortable with a guitar around your neck and under your eager fingers.
3)Practice
We've been discussing some practice techniques above, but it's important to remember to practice every day. Muscle memory is an amazing thing – something you battle to do today, you find you can do easily tomorrow. All you're doing is training your finger muscles and ears to know what they're doing.
4)Watch
Get some DVD's of great artists and just watch them play. See that relaxing with the guitar is far more important. If you're into heavy metal, don't let the jumping around and angry faces fool you – they make guitar playing look more aggressive than it is. In fact, if you look closely, you'll notice that they're playing (strumming or picking) their guitar very gently even though their stage show is quite aggressive. It's mostly show – nothing wrong with that!

So, take those tips in mind when you want to learn how to play the guitar, and have fun! Remember, no single article will cover everything, so use this as a basis for research and a way of knowing where to start. The last point : NEVER give up, it's not worth the regret. Just be patient and learn as you go.