Getting your first guitar is somewhat exciting. When you pick it up and strum, you need to take in whatever you can—notes, chords, scales, twists, slides, every last bit of it, everything!— as quick as you would so be able to you can amaze loved ones with your ability.

In their zeal to learn to play, however, many beginning guitarists encounter potential stumbling blocks that, if not addressed, can hinder progress or halt it altogether.

Regardless of your ability level, it’s critical to assess your playing style now and then to ensure you have great practice propensities before you lose track of what’s most important.

Take a look at our list of things any guitarist should learn right away:

1. Guitar Anatomy

Before you figured out how to drive an automobile, you were educated about every one of the handles, knobs, and gears. Same runs with figuring out how to play guitar.

Before you can start playing, you need to know where everything is and what everything does.

It’s a visual anatomy of all the components for both acoustic and electric guitars. We recommend looking for something like this to fully understand how everything works.

2. How to Hold a Guitar

This may appear to be rudimentary, yet if you’ve never sat down with a guitar, you may feel completely lost. Figuring out how to hold a guitar legitimately by situating your left hand on the neck and right hand over the soundhole are the basics to making the ideal sound out of your guitar.

3. How to Tune a Guitar

Before you play anything on your guitar, ensure the instrument is in order. You can purchase a tuner or utilize the Guitar Tricks’ online tuner.

Check and double check your tuning, and then recheck it after you’ve been playing awhile. And if you don’t know how to tune the guitar by ear yet, make it a goal to learn how to do so as soon as possible.

4. How to Hold a Pick

Suppose you’re entirely new to learning how to play guitar, the pick is the small plastic tool used to strum the strings on the guitar. Picks are super cheap and are super easy to lose. So grab a bunch!

The basic rule is: Place the pick between the tip of your first finger and your thumb. Of course, you’ll figure out your specific holding style once you get into the groove of playing.

There are various styles of picks ranging from thin to thick. We recommend starting with a smaller pick as they are much more forgiving for the beginner player.

5. How to Read Tabs and Chords

The best way to learn guitar chords is slowly — very slowly at first.

Reading tabs and chords are very simple. Don’t rush, because it takes an age for your fingertips to shape the chords and find the right frets.

Keep things that slow until you’ve perfected that chord. You can download and use various online Apps available – they listen to you while you play and corrects when you play chords wrong.

The last thing we would suggest is if you tend to have more extended sessions (anything over 30 minutes) try and have a break every 5-10 minutes for beginners. A break can be a 5-minute change of exercise or song or an actual break.

Love it or leave it. But remember, when you learn it, you really can’t unlearn it. Best of luck!!

Want to know more about Electric Guitar? Or want to learn how to play guitar? Then visit GuitarConfidence.com, enroll yourself and learn to play guitar!

Guitar Confidence provides private in-home guitar lessons throughout the East Bay including Benicia, Berkeley, Clayton, Concord, Crocket, Danville, Dublin, Fairfield, Hercules, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Vallejo, & Walnut Creek, CA.

“It’s a magical thing, The Guitar. It allows you to be the whole band in one, to play rhythm and melody, sing over the top. And as an instrument for solos, you can bend notes, draw emotional content out of tiny movements, vibratos, and tonal things which even a piano can’t do.” – David Gilmour

Guitar Confidence provides private in – home guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, banjo and mandolin lessons throughout the East Bay including: Benicia, Berkeley, Clayton, Concord, Crocket, Danville, Dublin, Fairfield, Hercules, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Vallejo, & Walnut Creek, CA.

I am Rex founder and lead instructor at Guitar Confidence. I have over 40 years of experience as a musician, music instructor, arranger and performing artist. He has been a guitarist in San Francisco Bay Area and New York City recording and performing with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis Jr., Paul Simon, Michael Jackson, Wild Cherry, The Drifters, Tammy Wynette, Jackson Brown, The Pointer Sisters, Tower of Power and many others.

Guitar Confidence is providing FREE guitar lesson for all new students enrolling now. All you have to do is enroll yourself and any of your family members to get this free lesson.

So, if you want to add music to your life by learning to play guitar, then just visit my website guitarconfidence.com and give me a call. I have been doing mobile guitar lessons for many years. I will come to your home and give you private guitar lessons at your home. Guitar Confidence covers over 30 cities in the East Bay and South Bay areas; including Danville, San Ramon, Dublin & Pleasanton.

I have designed two different guitar teaching systems for beginners and accomplished guitar players. Whether you just want to play for pleasure or want to learn guitar I will help you with your dream and provide you with one to one tuition. Guitar Confidence’s mobile guitar instructors come to you to give you personal one-on-one lessons in the privacy of your own home.

So, what are you thinking about! Come and learn guitar, banjo, or ukulele lessons. I guarantee you it will be great fun.

“Enthusiasm is everything. It must be taught and vibrating like a guitar string” – Pele 

There was a time, when the ability to play guitar or any musical instrument, as a matter of fact, was considered an essential part of an individual’s basic education. But by 2000s, electronic diversions like music-playback machines and video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band series made the effort of mastering an actual musical instrument somewhat less appealing. But even today, there are more than 100 million musicians in the US which is a very good number.

So, why is that we have diverted ourselves from the real music and entered in a word of virtual music. Well if you are thinking about it then you are not alone. And if you were the one who looked to learn guitar but could not because of various reasons, then again you are not alone.

When it comes to learning guitar, there are much more students out there looking specifically for guitar lessons rather than any other musical instrument lessons.  Orchestra and band continue to be the things that kids get involved in during high school, while pop music instruments especially guitar continues to be the dominant thing in American culture.

So, do not pause to take up your guitar. Listening to the music is a great feeling but playing one is even better. Create music and the joy you feel will be priceless. Learn it, play it and in no time the guitar will become your best friend.

We at Guitar Confidence will help you play your favorite musical instrument ‘Guitar’. We provide private in – home guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, banjo and mandolin lessons throughout the East Bay including: Benicia, Berkeley, Clayton, Concord, Crocket, Danville, Dublin, Fairfield, Hercules, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Vallejo, & Walnut Creek, CA. Call Guitar Confidence at (925) 695-7060 or visit our site for more information on guitar lessons.

And the best part is your first guitar lesson will be on us, i.e. it will be absolutely FREE! So, hurry and be a part of the musical world.

I am Rex founder and lead guitar instructor at Guitar Confidence. I am a guitarist and a guitar trainer with over 40 years of experience as a musician, music instructor, arranger and performing artist. I have been training students for a long duration of time and the most common problem with new guitar players which I have observed is impatience. They just want to begin shredding solos and playing guitar like a rock star.

If you watch some of the top guitarists in the world, regardless of whether they play classical tunes or heavy rock, they all have one thing in common i.e. good technique, meaning they are properly applying all those basic requirements for playing great guitar.

One of the major reasons why so few people become great guitarists is not because they lack talent, but rather due to not knowing all the things they need to do or practice to reach their goal. Guitar learners usually have more than enough things to practice but struggle most with creating an overall plan to get them the result they are looking for. Moving your guitar playing ability from wherever it is right now to where you have always dreamed of can be achieved. For this you must join a guitar learning institution and have a well-structured guitar practice regimen is a key first step to do this.

My main motive behind starting Guitar Confidence is one and one thing only and that is to provide the gift of guitar to as many people as possible by teaching them how to play guitar. Now-a-days people with their busy life schedule do not find time to learn guitar and give up even before starting it. The best part of Guitar Confidence is that it will provide you in-home guitar, bass, ukulele, banjo, and mandolin lessons throughout the East Bay including San Ramon. Guitar Confidence covers over 30 cities in the East Bay area; including San Ramon, Benicia, Berkeley, Clayton, Concord, Crocket, Danville, Dublin, Fairfield, Hercules, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, Vallejo, & Walnut Creek, CA.

I have designed two different guitar teaching systems for beginners and accomplished guitar players. Whether you just want to play for pleasure, or want to learn guitar I will help you with your dream and provide you with one to one tuition. Guitar Confidence’s mobile guitar instructors come to you to give you personal one-on-one lessons in the privacy of your own home.

The guitar is a great instrument. It is portable, relatively inexpensive, easy enough to learn the basics and you can take your playing as far as you want. Lots of people – from kids to grandparents – learn the guitar every day. And if you’re one of them then Guitar Confidence is the right place for you.

“It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.” – Johann Sebastian Bach

Music is definitely the greatest creation of man, and is probably the most powerful thing on this planet. Can you imagine how life would have been if there were no music? Well, I don’t even want to think about it, life without music would have been tragic. Music has been wired into the very existence of our life for centuries. Music keeps us going actually, and a life without music would be the last thing on earth we would have wished for. Music makes this world lively and active, it brings cheers and happiness in our life. An artist playing a musical instrument and the person who listens to it, both equally enjoy the music.  Music is one of the most cherished human experiences and everyone enjoys some sort of music. Music can not only be enjoyable it can also have a positive effect in our life in various ways.

Music is the universal language, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet in the 19^th century said that music is “the universal language of mankind.” Because of the kind of effect music has in our life, music has crossed boundaries to unit people from different countries, background and cultural heritage. There is nothing like music to take you to a place in time. Music bridges the cultural divide: a study conducted by Researcher Thomas Fritz from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany has shown that regardless of culture or previous exposure, people in Cameroon were accurately able to recognize three emotions in Western music – happiness, sadness and fear.

Playing musical instrument will make you smarter, “Mozart effect” which refers to a set of research results indicating that listening to Mozart’s music may induce a short-term improvement on the performance of certain kinds of mental tasks known as “spatial-temporal reasoning”. In short it will make you smarter. It is, also, said that music training at an early age helps develop certain parts of brain which are involved with language and reasoning.

Playing music will improve your creativity: According to a HuffingtonPost article, music is a great way to enter “mind-wandering mode,” which can unlock creativity. This article talks about Levitin, a professor of neuroscience at McGill University, according to whom there are two primary modes of brain operation: Either you’re paying attention to something very closely and you’re deeply engaged in a task, or you’re in “mind-wandering mode”. It’s in this “mind-wandering mode” where most of the creativity takes place, and we’re able to come up with innovative solutions to problems.

If you play guitar, it will reduce stress and anxiety: Playing guitar has a calming effect. It has a unique link to our emotions, and hence it is very effective in managing stress. According to a study at Mind-Body Wellness Center and Loma Linda University School of Medicine and Applied Biosystems stress can be reduced on a genomic level by playing a musical instrument.

Music is everywhere, and it can set the ambiance in any room by only changing the style and sound of it. Soft music in a restaurant creates a great romantic ambience for a couple, while loud and inspirational music increases the motivational level of athletes before a match.

For decades different music genres like classical, jazz, rock, blues, hip hop, country, rap, bluegrass, folk, metal, etc. have evolved and ruled the heart, mind and soul of people. Music is a great force which can bring people together and create international peace, love and brotherhood.

So, if you want to add music to your life by learning to play an instrument, then just visit my website guitarconfidence.com or give me a call (925) 695-7060. I’m Rex and I have been doing mobile guitar lessons for many years. I will come to your home and give you private guitar lessons at your home. Guitar Confidence covers over 30 cities in the East Bay and South Bay areas; including Danville, San Ramon, Dublin & Pleasanton.

“The first person who showed me that I could be a maker of music was one of my best friends. It’s like, you can’t see yourself doing something until you see somebody else doing it. Other people were encouraging me singing, but this was the first time that I could see myself writing songs and playing guitar.” – Cam

If you closely watch some of the top guitarists in the world, irrespective of whether they play classical or heavy rock, they all have one thing in common and that is a simple yet strong technique, meaning that they are properly applying all those basic requirements for playing great guitar.

Good technique is the only way and most proficient way to play guitar, putting your hands and fingers in the right place at the right time. Below are some tips on how to develop a good guitar playing technique.

Practice Standing Up and Sitting Down: Playing your guitar hanged across your shoulder is a very different posture to sitting down. On a chair, you tend to guess to see what your hands are doing (avoid this habit). And when you practice standing, everything changes to a different position. Make sure you have a good guitar strap and adjust it to a comfortable length, and regularly practice playing the guitar sitting down and standing up.

Take it slow and steady: Do not think about playing your guitar fast or trying to know how fast you can play. Good technique is about precise finger placement and hitting the right notes every time, particularly when it comes to scales and playing complicated bar chords. Concentrate on playing the guitar right and speed would come automatically.

Practice with a Metronome: Use metronome while practicing for better timing and rhythm. Although it will feel a bit obstructive at first, a metronome will make you a more consistent guitar player. Practice every day strumming your guitar with a metronome, and you will notice significant improvements in your timing in a short duration of time.

Get one-on-one Lessons from an expert: Lessons are not just for beginners. Every guitar player has a soft spot which should be taken care of before it becomes a major problem and a good instructor may help you with it. It is never too late to learn from a professional guitar instructor. And if you are not sure of one, then contact GuitarConfidence.com.

Guitar Confidence’s trainer Rex has over 40 years of experience as a musician, music instructor, arranger and performing artist. He has been a guitarist in San Francisco Bay Area and New York City recording and performing with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Sammy Davis Jr., Paul Simon, Michael Jackson, Wild Cherry, The Drifters, Tammy Wynette, Jackson Brown, The Pointer Sisters, Tower of Power and many others.

Rex’s guitar teaching system is great for beginners and accomplished guitar players. And, if you are located in the Greater East Bay Area, you have the option of having your lesson in the convenience of your own home. Guitar Confidence provide private in – home guitar, bass guitar, ukulele, banjo and mandolin lessons throughout the East Bay including: Benicia, Berkeley, Clayton, Concord, Crocket, Danville, Dublin, Fairfield, Hercules, Lafayette, Livermore, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Vallejo, & Walnut Creek, CA.

“When I die, I want people to play my music, go wild and freak out and do anything they want to do” – Jimi Hendrix

Consistently being named as the greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone magazine and almost every other publication that has ever compiled such a list, Jimi Hendrix combined matchless brilliance, an improvisational spirit, and touching soul every time he picked up the Guitar.

In a brief career, Jimi Hendrix expanded all the explosive possibilities of the electric guitar. He was a master at mixing different type of music to produce a new musical sound out of his electric guitar. His innovative and creative method, often experimenting with amplification created astral-quality feedback and roaring distortion. Considering Jimi Hendrix could not read or write music, it is astonishing that his rise in the music industry took only four years. His musical passion had influenced and is still influencing some of the greats from David Bowie, Robert Smith and Freddie Mercury to moderns like Matt Bellamy, Dave Grohl, and Josh Homme.

Below are some of my personal favorite of Jimi Hendrix:

Voodoo Child (Slight Return): This song was released as a single just after the death of Hendrix and it shot to Number One in the UK. It did not even crack the Hot 100 in America, but it has been since played on classic rock radio around 10 billion times.

Purple Haze: The opening track on the US version of his debut LP, Purple Haze presented Jimi and his backing band with 2:50 of scorching, fuzzed-out and psychedelic glory.

Little Wing: A stunning guitar solo, it was the first time that Jimi recorded his guitar through a Leslie speaker, creating the wave-like echo sounds that make it’s guitar parts so distinct.

Machine Gun: Recorded during the Vietnam War, it one of the most frenetic anti-war songs of the era. At the end of the song, it sounds just like an actual machine gun, and drummer Buddy Miles’ background vocals sound like the screams of a war.

The Wind Cries Mary: It was written by Jimi, the band spent hours, working in the studio on the song, but finally decided to with the very first take. It was the third single of the group.

Jimi Hendrix only lived to the age of 27, but in this short span, he created a remarkable collection of songs that continue to make Jimi Hendrix as one of the most popular stars in the world of rock music.

If you are inspired by Jimi Hendrix and want to learn guitar just give “Guitar Confidence” a call. Our instructor Rex has now been doing mobile guitar lessons for many years and brings the joy of guitar to anyone who wants to learn. We travel to over 30 cities in the East Bay and South Bay areas; including Danville, San Ramon, Dublin & Pleasanton.