Unlock the Secrets of the Guitar

Consider the following four steps to learning to play the guitar as a beginner:

Step 1: Know the Parts of your Guitar

Once you have a guitar, you’ll want to learn the different parts. You can find a picture of a guitar and its features online or in an encyclopedia. A few of the features are:

• The bridge 
• The head
• Frets
• Body
• Strings

 

 

The pickups, knobs, and switches found on guitars are also important. If your guitar doesn’t have some of these options, don’t worry about them. They aren’t a part of playing the guitar, but they change how it sounds. Make sure you know where each part is located on your guitar when you begin playing so that everything will be easy to identify later when needed.

Step 2: Learn the Correct Posture and How to Hold the Guitar

Once you know all the guitar parts, you need to know how and where to position your body while playing. You should be seated with your left foot flat on the ground and your right foot pointing slightly outward. Your shoulders and back should be relaxed, and you should have a slight arch in your lower back.

To hold the guitar correctly, rest its body on your right leg with your arm lax around it. Then, to position the neck of the guitar for playing, extend it towards you so that it is parallel to the floor.

Step 3: Learn to tune the guitar 

Once you have learned the correct posture and how to hold your guitar, you are ready for the next step of learning how to play the guitar. Tuning your guitar is how you make it sound the way you want. If your guitar is not well-tuned, it will sound bad! Read on to learn the different ways of tuning a guitar:

• Tuning your guitar with an electronic tuner

Below are the steps to follow when tuning your guitar using an electric tuner

• Purchase the most common type of tuner, known as an “automated chromatic” or just a “chromatic” tuner. These are relatively inexpensive and easy to use and allow you to tune any guitar. The most common place to find one is in a music shop, but if you don’t have a local music shop nearby, they can also be found online at websites such as Amazon.
• Turn the tuner on and connect it to your guitar by either clipping it onto the headstock or plugging it into your instrument jack. Automatic tuners come with directions on doing this; if you’re unsure what to do, check them out!
• Begin playing each string on your guitar (in order from the first string down through the sixth) until the correct note appears on the screen. Adjust each string accordingly until your guitar is tuned correctly
• Tuning by ear using another instrument

Here is how you tune a guitar using another instrument:

• Find an electric piano or other well-tuned instruments that play specific notes when keys are pressed (as opposed to instruments like electric organs, which may play chords when keys are pressed). A piano works best for this method, but any well-tuned instrument will work fine.
• Hold down the lowest note on the piano—the A key—and strum the fifth (A) string on your guitar at once to hear both notes at once. If they sound similar enough that you believe them to be almost identical in tone quality, then move to the next step; if not, continue adjusting the fifth string until both tones seem similar enough.
• To adjust the string’s tone using a tuning peg: turn counterclockwise for sharp/higher pitch; turn clockwise for flat/lower pitch.

Step 4: Learn a few chords and scales 

The beauty of learning to play the guitar is that it is not as complicated as many other instruments. However, there’re still some things you need to learn to play the instrument well. After knowing how to tune your guitar, the next step is to start the actual playing. You can start by learning the basic chords and scales.

Chords provide harmony, and the scales provide the melody for a song. You will learn various types of scales, and depending on your preference, you can practice with any scale you want. The most popular scale used in popular music is called the major scale, consisting of 7 notes, but there are also minor scales consisting of 6 notes.

Once you master this step, you’re well on your way to becoming the prolific guitarist you want to be. Now you only have to build up your speed by learning new songs!