I remember the first time I picked up a guitar and while it was a very magical moment it was also an intimidating one. I was dreaming of having a guitar and learning how to play it for quite some time and the fact that so many musicians I’ve looked up to played it so virtuously that it made it look so easy made me think that I can learn it in no time.

But of course, that wasn’t the case as I soon realized the first moment I laid my hands on an acoustic guitar. “Where do I start, what do I do?” was the thing on my mind. But I came across some very important things that I will show you here as they helped me, after big yet fun efforts to became really good at it. The good old saying “practice makes perfect” suddenly makes sense when you strive to become a guitar player, and it’s the only thing that people will really tell you at the beginning: play, play, play.
But here are some things that no one will tell you.

But before you even start to read the techniques through which you can learn how to play the guitar there is one very essential thing for you to read and learn. I’m talking, of course, about the component parts of the modern guitar. Understanding how these parts work is a very vital thing.

The guitar parts are the headstock, the tuners, the nut, guitar neck and fret board, sound hole, the body, and bridge. All of these components are absolutely essential for the instrument to work.

 

 

I’ve seen countless people recommending the acoustic guitar for beginners and I can understand why. My first guitar was also an acoustic one and on that guitar I managed to become really good and later make the normal transition to an electric guitar. Why is it recommended to use an acoustic guitar when starting? It’s quite simple actually.

With the electric guitar you need more than the instrument to have it play; you also need an amplifier and those things don’t come cheap. And of course acoustic guitars, even good ones, cost way less than an electric guitar and they are far easier to carry around. Plus, the sound of the notes emanated from the hollow body of your acoustic guitar can make you fall in love with your instrument instantly, thus enabling you to want to become good at it.

But no matter whether you choose to play on an acoustic or electric guitar there are some things you should know. The first of these things would be to set some goals and ask yourself what you really want to learn. Some people will pick up the guitar just to play songs from their favorite bands but others will pick it up and decide they want to learn and decipher everything. So, what type of person are you? Nevertheless, a guitar player will always start his studies with either chords or tablatures. I started my lessons with tablatures and then I moved up to deciphering the chords.

There are countless methods on how to start and thanks to the age of the Internet all of this knowledge is available to you for free at anytime and anyplace. But there’s one rule that you should consider. Always take one thing at a time and always make sure to start with the most elementary things. When speaking of chord progressions you should know that the most basic chords are C, A, G, E and D major. With the right charts and lessons these can be fairly easy to learn and play. Take each one at a time and learn how to position your fingers on the fret and after you’ve got acquainted with at least a couple of them you could try to make the transition from one chord to the other. Once you learned at least three chords you will find out that it’s all it takes to already play a few easy yet popular songs.

As I’ve mentioned above we live in the era of information and it’s become amazingly easy to pick up a guitar and begin to learn because the Internet is full with thousands and even millions of tutorials that will teach you all types of techniques, starting from natural harmonics, hammer-ons, pull-ofs and ending with alternate picking. Take advantage of the Internet, search for keywords like learn to play guitar, learning guitar, or how to learn guitar and be amazed of how many people out there have made videos or e-books for you to learn how to master this wonderful instrument. Head out to YouTUBE and search for guitar tutorials and you will come across guys like himwho will teach you everything from the very basic stuff to the more advanced techniques.

Another beautiful thing about YouTube is that it’s full with people who will teach you how to play songs, almost any songs. If you’re a Beatles fan for example, there are thousands of tutorials for almost every Beatles song ever recorded. But for this you’d already have to be fairly knowledgeable with at least the basic chords. Take everything step by step and you will get where you want to head!

Another thing that you can learn very easily from the people posting tutorials on YouTube is the picking. Another important decision for you to make is whether you want to pick with your fingers or with a pick? Most people will always use a pick for many reasons, one of which is the sound of the chords which will always sound infinitely better while struck with a pick. But there are people who prefer to use their fingers. I recommend you to always use a pick. It can be very tricky at first but with a little practice you will learn how to master it. Countless videos will show you variations of picking and strumming so you should check that out.

Also, don’t forget to check out sites like all-guitar-chords.com that have a database of every guitar chord there exists and they can even teach you on how to play those chords. You will soon find out that besides the basic Am, G and C chords there are others that can look pretty frightening for the eye of a beginner. But don’t be alarmed. Remember to take a step at a time and practice hard, this way you’ll get to teach yourself more complicated chords. You’ll find out that there’s nothing like the satisfaction of teaching yourself things. The Internet is a wonderful tool for a beginner guitar player. Make use of it!

There are people who learned how to master the guitar on their own and while this is a truly magnificent accomplishment you should know that there many guitar instructors who would be willing to teach you how to play your guitar. Whether you choose to take lessons from videos off the Internet or from an instructor who’s sitting right next to you, you should know that both of these techniques have sizeable downsides and upsides. The upside of using the Internet is that while watching a video tutorial you have the ability of controlling it because you can fast forward it or take it back to a point where you didn’t understand what was going on. If you’re a shy person the Internet and its tutorial videos can be your best friend. The downside of the Internet is that you can’t really ask questions like you would ask an instructor who’s by your side. You’ll have to make lots of research to learn a lot of new things. Plus, the Internet will give you the tools but will almost never really guide you like a person will.

Now if you deice to turn to a guitar instructor there are some things you should take into consideration. Always make sure that the instructor is a nice guy who loves to teach and not just a regular guy who doesn’t have lots of patience and only teaches you for the money. Of course, you could take lessons from Slash himself but if he’s a guy without patience it’s all in vain as it will never be a pleasurable experience. If you’re looking for an instructor try to ask your friends if they know a really good one. A good instructor can really make you fall in love with your instrument and you’ll soon find out that having a person sit right next to you, guiding your steps and giving you homework is absolutely wonderful.

This being said, all you need to do is to take that guitar of yours and practice it and work hard because in the end it will pay off. There’s no easy route to play this magnificent instrument, it takes a lot of determination but if you love music and playing the guitar, it’s all good and worthwhile!

Plus, the chicks dig it!