Monday, 04 October, 2010 09:42 Written by Joshua
If you are thinking of taking beginner guitar lessons you are in for a great adventure. The guitar is said to be easy to learn but hard to master; the beauty of the instrument is that nearly anyone can play it to entertain themselves or choose to take more guitar instruction and learn to bring joy to others. During your first guitar lesson you will learn a few basics and most likely return home able to play a simple melody and a couple of chords.
Before you start taking beginner guitar lessons it’s important to find a teacher who is a good fit with your style. If you like death metal shredding you won’t learn much from an instructor that specializes in folk music! Likewise, if you want to play classical pieces you probably don’t want guitar instruction from the ex-guitarist of your famous local punk band. Before you take that first guitar lesson, be sure that your instructor shares your musical interests and is proficient in all the nuances and developments of your chosen genre.
After you’ve chosen a teacher your first lesson might seem a bit anticlimactic but you won’t realize how much you’ve learned until you begin to practice at home! Your first guitar instruction will most likely involve learning the names of the six strings, a rudimentary introduction to intervals and the shapes of a couple of basic chords. If you’ve chosen an hour’s guitar instruction opposed to the standard thirty minutes you’ll likely leave with a beginner’s knowledge of tablature. Tablature shows a guitarist where to put their fingers to strike a note or shape a chord as opposed to standard notation.
Once you get home you’ll probably want to practice what you’ve learned right away, while it’s fresh in your mind. Your teacher may have jotted down a melody and chords for you to practice so that you can begin to learn your way around the fretboard. You’ll internalize the information and train your fine motor muscles more effectively if you have a place to practice that is free of distractions and fairly quiet.
Thursday, 16 September, 2010 17:56 Written by Joshua
Whether you’ve always wanted to learn how to play the guitar or it’s a new idea to you, you can learn how to play guitar easily. It’s a simple matter of physical coordination and training your small motor muscles. You’ll develop the musical skills like timing and rhythm as you learn to play if you’re like most people.
The first thing you have to decide when learning how to play guitar is which kind of guitar you want—acoustic or electric? Acoustic guitar is a sound all to itself; in fact, even death metal bands still use acoustic guitars to lend atmosphere and richness to the melodies of some of their songs. If you listen closely you can hear acoustic guitars on almost any of your favorite CDs. If you want to learn how to play guitar easily and don’t want to struggle in any way, acoustic probably isn’t for you. Choosing an acoustic guitar means callouses on your fingers and a brief period of sore fingertips. While an electric will make your fingers a bit sore at first, with proper setup and very low action you’ll hardly notice it. Once you’ve chosen your guitar, how to learn guitar is the next step.
Sunday, 06 June, 2010 14:51 Written by Joshua
The most important thing to remember when learning new chords and when you learn how to play guitar in general is your hand position. A proper hand position can reduce the stress and strain on your fingers and help you to progress in your practice sessions a lot more quickly and easily. The main principle in having a good hand position with your left hand on the guitar is to make sure your hand is very relaxed and not tensed up. You are less likely to make mistakes when you are relaxed.This can be a little difficult at first because beginning to learn a new instrument can sometimes be frustrating and therefore cause you to be tense and thus being counterproductive.However, if you always make sure that your hands are relaxed and you keep your wrist loose you will be able to play better as well as enjoy playing more. Below you will find an example of proper hand positions.
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Sunday, 06 June, 2010 14:45 Written by Joshua
Just wanted to give you a quick tip before we get started. When you learn how to play guitar, it is far more important for you to practice multiple times during a week than to practice only once for a long session. This is due to your brain processing information in chunks at a time and only holding a certain amount in short term storage.
A good example of this is phone numbers.It is very difficult to remember any more than 7 digits at a time.However, if you give yourself time between practicing, even if only 10 minutes, you’ll find that your brain is much more efficient at turning your short term practice into long term knowledge. More info on effective learning is contained in the Jamorama product.
Sunday, 06 June, 2010 14:34 Written by Joshua
In the chord diagram being shown below you may notice that the A major chord is played using fingers 1, 2, and 3.This is the style of chord diagram that we will be using from now on. The A major chord is made up of several notes.These notes are A, C# and E.For now we will not worry about knowledge of individual notes.
You may notice a red dot next to the sixth or top string in the diagram above. This simply indicates that the string will not be played for this chord. All other strings will be played.So what does the chord look like when being played?Well, I’m glad you asked!Check out the demonstration below and then lets head into our first practice exercise.
