How do you play guitar?
Posted on August 2, 2007
Filed Under Beginning Guitar |
“How do you play guitar?”
-Denise
Denise,
Your question: “How do you play guitar?” is pretty general but let me give you a quick starting point.
A good place to begin learning to play the guitar is by learning a couple of basic chords: G, C, and D for example. Once you can change from one chord to another with your left hand begin thinking about strumming with your right hand (think of your strumming hand as your own personal drummer).
Most songs are in what’s called 4/4 time (pronounced “four-four time”). This means that there is a 4-beat cycle that repeats over and over throughout the song (1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 1-2-3-4 etc.) Your right hand is used to touch the strings in relation to these beats.
Hopefully this is somewhat helpful but here is what would be better:
Do you have a friend who knows how to play guitar well enough to get through a song without stopping? If so, get together with that person and ask him or her to explain to you how to play some basic chords (G, C, D, Em, and Am) write down diagrams of these chords so you can remember them after your get together. Ask this person to show you a simple “up and down” strumming pattern.
Play around with these chords and strums until you are making some “good noise” (something that vaguely resembles a song). Once your fingers begin to move around the fretboard with some degree of comfort, ask around for a good guitar teacher in your area. A good teach will help you get going in the right direction while avoiding bad habits.
There are tons of good books for beginning guitarists.
Mel Bay and Hal Leonard both have good method books for beginners. There are lots of good websites with great guitar information too: www.acousticguitar.com is one of my favorites. Or you could round up 10 or so friends who also want to learn to play the guitar, set up a date and invite me to come teach a Foundations for Great Guitar workshop.
All the best,
John
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I was expecting to find pictures or video i cn download that atleast show how if not to sum degree teach me or anybody else to play the guitar, its nt easy to find someone willing to teach without having u pay through the nose.