Note: This is part 3 of a 3 part series. Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.

This is the 3rd and final part of the Beginners Guitar Tutorial series. If you haven’t read part 1 and part 2, then get to reading them now!

Alright, after all that hassle in explaining the aspects of preparation, its time to get to the real essence of playing the guitar. This post will be the shortest but it is by far the most important, and will be responsible for bringing you past the newbie stage and helping you get results in 1 hour which others take 4 hours using conventional approaches.

These are my final 3 very important points I will make to bid you well on your journey.

Topics Covered

• Curved fingers and minimal force

• Play with a specific sensory organ

• Play the songs you like at every opportunity possible

Curved Fingers

The following pictures illustrate the difference between curved and flattened fingers while pressing the frets.

Flat fingers

3 advantages of curved fingers:

1. they don’t get in the way of your other fingers
2. they don’t touch the other strings (notice the right-most finger is touching the thickest string, if the string were played, it either would not sound or sound muffled or be buzzing
3. You can use less force (think of a knife vs a bat, you want a knife to be able to ‘shred’ the guitar)

Feel/hear/see the sound

This is going to be extremely vague, but the essence is to play in the way that suits you best.

For rank beginners, there will unlikely be a best way. But ask any of your musically trained friends, and they will tell you that there is a certain connection between the musician and the music. That’s the reason why some people can simply close their eyes and continue to play with feeling, never missing the notes. When their in this state, they are certainly not thinking about the notes, they are not looking at their hands, but rather playing from some inner source of musical inspiration.

Of course, you don’t have this ability yet, and it will take quite a while to develop, but the principle notion is not to confuse yourself with multiple input streams.

This means that if you choose to use visual feedback to tell if you’re playing the notes right, stick with it. Don’t try to listen to the music to hear if it’s right. And certainly don’t try to feel the music. This is mainly to cement various techniques (like always checking to see that your fingers are curved) and keep a tab yourself from picking up bad habits.

For example, the most common habit is to press as hard as possible to sound a note, whereas using minimal force will not always be consistent. Hence the tendency to press really hard. The note may sound right to you, but it certainly doesn’t look/feel right.

Eventually, you will find out which method suits you best. Focus on using one form of sensory feedback. Then after some time, feel free to let go of this notion. Ultimately, music will emerge from your fingers just because you want it to.

Play the songs you like

Never ever feel that there is only one way to learn the guitar. Some people recommend starting out with specific songs, specific chord progressions, etc. While that is fine, it has a lot of in built inefficiencies.

The most horrendous one is the notion that you have to master a specific set of skills before progressing to another. Who says you must strum before you pluck? Or do chords before trying to play lead?

Truth is there will never be mastery in any aspect of guitar playing. I can do chord changes in half a second, but there’s still tons I can do to improve my chord playing in the other aspects like tone, consistency of volume, etc.

But above all else, if you’re playing songs which you enjoy, the progress is going to be faster, simply because you’re willing to put in more time and more focused effort. It won’t even feel like hard work at all. Then after 2 months, you’ve realised that you’ve made marked improvements compared to any ‘traditional’ approach.

So what are you waiting for! Go get some scores of your favourite tunes and starting playing! And do be sure to check back often for more tips on technique and learning.

Note: This is part 3 of a 3 part series. Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2

Related posts:

1. Rank Beginners (no musical experience) Guitar Tutorial 1
2. Rank Beginners (no musical experience) Guitar Tutorial 2

Note: This is part 2 of a 3 part series. Here are links to Part 1 and Part 3.

This is the 2nd part of the Beginners Guitar Tutorial series. If you haven’t read part 1, then get to reading it now. If you’ve already read this, then proceed to part 3.

This will be the longest of the 3 sections due to the topics covered. But that’s simply to lay the groundwork for future endeavours – the necessary paperwork if you want to put it that way.

Total read time: approximately 20 minutes (but there are lotsa pictures and even a video!)

Topics Covered

• Key features of a guitar

• Reading the instruction manual (tabs and notation)

• Playing the first chords

Key features of a guitar

A guitar is basically a stringed instrument with frets, there is a neck, body and fretboard. Of course, most importantly, there are the strings. I will not elaborate more, I think you know what a guitar is.

Reading Tabs & Scores

A tab is a very common way guitarists like to pen down their songs. My theory is that it was a simple and small package that was easy to distribute.

This is an example of a tab. And yes, it can be written in any text file.

E ——————
B ——————
G ——————
D ——————
A ——————
E ——————

Each line represents a string. The topmost line represents the thinnest string which is also the lowest one on the guitar. Each line then represents a different string, with the bottom line representing the thickest string closest to your face. The letter next to the string then represents the tuning (ie: the note that is sounded if you played the strings without pressing any frets)

The numbers represent the fret number. So a 0 means to pluck the string without pressing any frets, in the case of that at the bottom, play the high E string (thinnest one) without pressing any frets (also called the open position).

E ——–0———
B ——————
G ——————
D ——————
A ——————
E ——————

The number 3 on this first line means to play the same string while holding down the third fret.

E ——–3———
B ——————
G ——————
D ——————
A ——————
E ——————

The tab is then read left to right. So in this next one, it means to play the first string on a third fret and then followed by the second string on the 5th fret.

E ——–3———
B ————5—–
G ——————
D ——————
A ——————
E ——————

For notes that are supposed to be played together they will be written along the same vertical line:

E ——–0———
B ——–1———
G ——–0———
D ——–2———
A ——–3———
E ——–0———

So you press all the frets necessary and then play them all at once by strumming all the strings. Incidentally, the above is the basic C chord pattern discussed later.

Of course, it does have its downsides. For one, there’s no rhythm or note value given to any note in such tabs. This makes it really confusing for a person who doesn’t know how the song is supposed to sound. Even if you do know, learning a new song which you cannot play yet is frustrating when the notes don’t flow right and the rhythm is completely wrong.

Of course, some people have come up with a solution, which is to create software which allows one to play the actual song while simultaneously viewing the tab.

If you’re a windows user, then powertabs are a free option with tabs available at powertabs.net. People basically write various songs into the software which allows the software to play all the parts, or even play all the rhythm parts and mute and lead, which you naturally are supposed to fill in (and don’t forget to pretend that you’re a rock star)

If you’re on a Mac like me, and/or want to progress beyond simple strumming and plucking (say playing guitar solos in a real band), I will highly recommend GuitarPro5. Yes, it does cost money, but it will be definitely worth every single cent.

The greatest benefit I have gained from such software is the fact that you can download the songs you want to play as a tab and open it in the software. The software will then play the song and you can try and match whichever part you want to play. This makes learning 10x easier than staring at a txt file tab which doesn’t tell you anything.

The next few pictures basically show how the software tells us what is being played, indicated by the green line.

—-

And here it is a little later into the song.

—

And this is the score for the rhythm guitar.

—

A picture tells a thousand words, but a video probably a million. So here is the GuitarPro program playing a short excerpt from one of my original songs. All sounds were generated by the software, I simply input the notes.

Some websites such as: http://tabs.guitarworld.com/ also give free tabs that are fully licensed in a nice readable format.

Finally, there is the the method of simply writing the chord letter above the part of the song where the chord should be played. Example below:

Of course, here, it assumes that you know how to play the chord, which brings us to the final section of this long post.

Playing the first Chords

The best way to learn chords is always to know how to press the right frets to create the right sound.

Personally, I find that chords are the best way to begin and should be the first thing you learn with a guitar. You should familiarise yourself with common chords and practice these to a level of proficiency whereby you can change chords fast enough.

My take on the best way to learn this, is to simply take you favourite songs and play the chords to the lyrics while listening to them. If you can change chords quick enough to match the song, use it as a benchmark and congratulate yourself (eg: I’m now good enough to accompany my family in singing Happy Birthday with a guitar)

A chord dictionary is always recommended. GuitarPro5 and powertab have inbuilt diagrams like the one below.

Fortunately, you can easily find such chord diagrams on the internet.

http://www.chordbook.com/guitarchords.php – a cool flash based guitar chord diagram

http://www.all-guitar-chords.com/index.php?ch=C&mm=&get=Get – another such site but not in flash

So that’s it for this part, it was long, but I hope you now have some knowledge to get started on your guitar journey. Part 3 will round up this topic, and thankfully it will be a shorter post.

Note: This is part 2 of a 3 part series. Here are links to Part 1 and Part 3.

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1. Rank Beginners (no musical experience) Guitar Tutorial 3
2. Rank Beginners (no musical experience) Guitar Tutorial 1
3. Some Basic Scales

Image Credit: Fernando Soares

Note: This is part 1 of a 3 part series. Here are links to Part 2 and Part 3.

If you’re starting out guitar, and you’ve answered yes to the question for whatever reason, I hope that this guide will benefit you.

Let’s set things straight from the start.

I’m a big believer that everything follows the 80/20 principle.
I also believe that it takes hands-on time to master skills.
But I also believe that everything should be fun.
In this 3 part series, I intend to give beginners the basics for starting the guitar. There will be topics which I will address in the future. But these are the basics, 3 points each in 3 separate tutorials, which I will try to make as short as possible. The important thing is picking up the guitar and playing for yourself.

Part 1

Topics Covered

• Why play guitar?

• What can I expect?

• How do I start – a primer

3 reasons to play the guitar

• It makes you look cool

The first point is probably the most important point. It certainly was mine!

When I began, I was a 14 year old stuck to the piano, just like another 100 other people i knew. Basically, being good at guitar was a way to be unique and remarkable in school.

The serious point though is: You gotta have the right motivation to play. Don’t forget that learning an instrument is not a year-long endeavour. Well, it’s possible, but don’t expect to get to a remarkable level in that time frame. Hence, you need the drive to continue for years on end.

• Greater Appreciation for music

When you can hear the subtleties of the notes coming from your fingers, you will hear the subtleties coming from the notes of other musicians. You probably will explore various forms of technique, style, etc and hence realise how modifying even your strumming pattern by a single stroke can bring life to an otherwise dead song.

At worse, you’ll start to appreciate the difficultly and level of expertise necessary to produce some forms of music.

• Its Easy!

If you’re wanting to strum along to your favourite tunes, yes its going to be relatively easy. Meaning that anyone willing to put down some time (how much is answered later) will be able to pick up a guitar and play along to a song with chords.

If you want to become a virtuoso, be prepared for a long ride. Still, though it may be technically hard, it may be perceived to be easy since you’d be so passionate about playing.

3 things to expect during the learning process

• Practice, practice and more practice

It’s one thing to know what to do, and its another thing to actually do it. The amount of time you put in will be reflected in the results you get.

When I started, I would practice for at least an hour on weekdays and an average of 3 hours and up on weekends. Of course, I only did this for about 2 months. For the reasons for my doing so, check out the post on ‘My Theory of Learning any skill’.

Simplistically, more in = more out, up to a point (discussed in the theory of learning post)

• Getting stuck at various points

There will be points you will get stuck at. For some its being unable to hold down a certain chord structure. For others it may the note always buzzing (not always your fault – covered in part 2).

The only way is to keep at it.

Sometimes it really is a huge technical issue which people may take years to resolve. But who cares! Just keep playing and enjoying the music, most people won’t notice anyway.

• Blisters and angry neighbours

If you’re playing correctly (addressed in part 2), then you will have blisters and eventually slight calluses. Not much can be done, its the skin reacting to the stress and awesomeness now coming through your fingers. Push through it and the pain naturally goes away. If you’re doing things right, blisters should rarely happen and if they do, know that it may be up to a week before they completely heal.

Also, try not to play too loud (more relevant for people using electric guitars), you may get complaints from your neighbours (or angry brother trying to study in the next room).

3 things you absolutely must do to begin playing the guitar

• Get a Guitar (with all the strings)

Whether you get an acoustic or electric guitar, it doesn’t matter.

I myself am biased towards the electric, and in particular for ibanez guitars. However, I did start off with an acoustic guitar.

In general, acoustic guitars tend to have strings raised higher from the neck (higher action), and use thicker strings compared to the electric (though you can easily replace them with thinner strings). This means that more force is necessary to depress the strings, and thus may frustrate beginners with the inability to consistently sound notes.

Since the acoustic is by far the cheaper and more common option for beginners, this problem must be faced. The key is to follow the principle of ‘curved fingers and minimal force’ discussed in the next part and keep at it. The problem will naturally resolve with time, though you may get much more blisters doing so.

• Tune the Guitar

3 options here.

- Get someone who knows how to do it to do it for you.

- Get an electronic tuner for $15.

- Listen to a track with each note.
http://www.howtotuneaguitar.org/ – By default set to the most common standard tuning, but you can change it to whatever you want.

• Hold the Guitar and start playing

Yes, it’s that simple. For those guys who don’t know how to hold a guitar, the picture says it all.

If you’re feeling awesome, then go out and buy a guitar strap and start rocking!

Overview

These are the basics. They do not tell you yet how to actually play the guitar – that is covered in part 2.

However, I will point out this very important point: Play it YOUR WAY

Hey, musicians in the past didn’t have the internet. Some of them didn’t even use telephones. The guitar was obviously invented way before any technology came into the picture. Hence the technology only makes it easier, the fundamentals remain the same.

Also, I’ve seen musicians who don’t know how to read a musical score. They didn’t even know what a C chord was! They simply were passed some knowledge that if you press the strings in a certain way, a harmonised chord will sound. They then took it from there and fiddled with the guitar until they became really good at it. Yes, it probably took them years, and lots of time fiddling. But I will guarantee that they had a fun time doing it, which is what it’s all about anyway.

Take fun seriously. There are many ways to learn the guitar.

If you don’t want to read tons of sheet music and spend money on classes (which i feel are a waste of time). Then just pick up a guitar, and play, do it your way.

The act of playing is the most important part, do not get caught up on other things like theory, drills, etc at the beginner stage.

At the end of the day, it’s all about how you sound.

Note: This is part 1 of a 3 part series. Here are links to Part 2 and Part 3.

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