Learn Guitar: Simple Techniques

“Man! I wish I could play the guitar like that, or even play anything at all!”

Well that was me, 8 years ago. I was growing into a young adult and was a huge lover of everything music. Unfortunately before then, I never took the time to actually learn how to play any instruments. One day, I was inspired by a co-worker who had been jamming on his guitar at a get together. He was around my age, and he himself had recently learned how to play. I always thought that it was something you had to learn when you were younger, and it was too late for me to pick up on it. But through this new found inspiration, I forced myself to go out and buy a cheap guitar and attempted to teach myself to play. It took me awhile in the beginning, but that was mainly do to frustration. Hey, I just wanted to rip into it and jam out like I was Eddie Van Halen. Like everything else, I found out it takes practice. Although not as much practice as some would think.

The following are some great tips and techniques that will help you on your way to get started playing guitar. You don’t need to pay for a fancy guitar teacher. Not to learn the basics.

– Go buy yourself a cheap acoustic guitar. You want something where you won’t care if it gets banged up. But it’s got to be fairly decent and durable. Nothing with “nylon” strings or anything like that. A decent one should cost you between $100-$150. It is best to look at your local pawn shop, or on eBay.com, where you can find some great deals. Make sure you pick up a bunch of guitar picks (trust me, you will lose them easily), and a cheap electric tuner. You should be able to find all those items for under $20.

– After you’ve gotten all your materials and your guitar is tuned. It’s time to start learning to play. The best way, I’ve found, to do that is by taking things slowly and doing it enough so that it becomes second nature to you. You remember when you learned to walk, ride a bike, drive a stick shift car, typing on your keyboard, etc. You can say that you practiced it, but anything you do repetitively on a daily basis, you will become good at and it will become second nature to you. With learning to play the guitar, you need to work on three basic things in the beginning: Speed, Finger Positioning, and Rhythm.

a) Working on your speed is not overly complicated at all. You just need to find a pattern, and once you’ve found it, play that same pattern over & over again until you can play it fairly fast. As time goes on, with every new note you learn on the guitar, you will use this same technique to build up your speed. When you are away from your guitar, whether it be driving in your car, at the work place, etc. Take the hand you use to press on the chords, open it up all the way, and with the same hand begin to touch the tips of each finger (index,middle,ring,and pinkie) to the tip of your thumb. Go back and forth, repeating this process. This will also help develop your finger speed.

b) Finger positioning or learning the actual “chords” can be a little more challenging than plucking a string. But it can also be the most rewarding, and it’s not really that hard to pick up after you’ve learned your first couple of chords. A great place to find every chord on the guitar is at: http://www.chordfind.com/

The best thing to do is try to learn two chords every couple of days, or at least every week. Let’s say for your first lesson. You learn the “E” and “A” chords. Position your fingers in place to make the sound of the “E” chord and strum the guitar a couple of times. Then as fast as you can (do slowly at first, and build up speed as you learn), switch to the “A” chord and strum the guitar a couple of times. Repeat this process over each session until you’ve become comfortable with moving back and forth between chords. Then once you are comfortable, throw in another chord. Like the “D” chord, or “G”, or “C” chords. Mix each one of these in as you learn more and more chords. And work on your speed at the same time.

c) Rhythm, not everyone has got it, but you can learn it. Rhythm will come at the pace you strum the guitar, and in the beginning, it’s best to count out loud each time you strum the guitar to help you with your rhythm. You want to count in fours. “One… and… Two… and… Three… and Four…” .Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Now use this technique with every chord you have learned. After that, mix it all together so that you are doing something along the lines of:

E Chord – “One… and… Two… and… Three… and Four…”

A Chord – “One… and… Two… and… Three… and Four…”

D Chord – “One… and… Two… and… Three… and Four…”

G Chord – “One… and… Two… and… Three… and Four…”

C Chord – “One… and… Two… and… Three… and Four…”

Repeat this process until you’ve become comfortable with it. Notice the key word in all of this? Repetition is the key to becoming a successful guitarist.

– After the first couple times you play, your finger tips will become sore. Soon after, with about a week or so of practice. They will end up developing a small callus at the tip, which is a good thing, because the harder the callus the easier it will be to play.

Learning your Speed, Finger Positioning, and Rhythm is all the basics you need to know to put together music. Now practice sessions do not need to be one hour long sessions each day. No, that is not the case. You can learn guitar by only picking it up and practicing for 10 minutes a day. As long as you pick it up for 10 minutes a day and use these techniques I have told you about above, you will be on your way to becoming a pretty decent guitarist in a couple of months. You will begin to see that it’s not actually that hard to learn once your fingers, hands, and arms have become accustom to it.Ã?¯Ã?¿Ã?½ Then you can use your own creative mind to put music together through pattern and lyrics.

I started teaching myself 8 years ago. When I first started out, I used these same techniques. I’m self taught and have never used nor paid for any kind of teacher or instructor to guide me. I’ve used these same techniques to teach acquaintances of mine. They have now grown to love the instrument and thank me every time I see them for bringing such a simple and beautiful hobby into their lives. I have learned how to play many of the popular songs out there, as well as written some of my own material. Once you learn the basics, you are well on your way to knowing everything their is to playing guitar. It’s just practice and repetition from there on out. Learning guitar will provide you a brief escape daily from the everyday hectic and stressful world we live in.

So what are you waiting for? Pick up a guitar and strum away!