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.
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