You’ve told yourself that you always wanted to play the guitar but you never have the time. You work like crazy and by the time you get home you barely have enough energy to have a conversation. Wouldn’t it be great to have a passion you can develop and be that Rock Star you always imagined yourself to be? Of course you want that but the excuses start filling your head and your dreams die even before they begin. Well I’m saying there’s a way. A way to make the time and develop your skills you need to start playing guitar and jamming with other musicians. All you need is a foundation of the essential techniques that are easy to learn and a way to approach the learning process that is not overwhelming. I can show you how you can go from not playing guitar to jamming along to your favorite songs and eventually writing your own songs. If you can set aside ten minutes everyday you can play the guitar. What most people don’t know is that it does not take very long to learn how to play guitar. It might take a lifetime to master, but it takes ten minutes a day to learn. I’ve started playing guitar late in life, and I didn’t have much direction. I didn’t have a guitar teacher I stuck with. I just didn’t have the discipline. What I needed was a mentor – someone who could guide me in the right direction. Of course you could learn by trial and error, like I did, but it would take much more time than it should. Here’s a list of my free tips that are absolutely essential in learning how to rock out on guitar.
Try not to get frustrated in the beginning. Not even the greatest guitar virtuosos were born with their incredible abilities. It’s never too late to start, and even the most unpolished beginners can learn the guitar with enough practice.
1- Buy a decent Guitar. I suggest going to your local music store and talking with a salesperson. You can expect to spend at least $100-$200 on a decent beginner guitar which will start you on your path to rock stardom. I suggest not getting a cheap guitar. There’s nothing that will dissuade you from playing guitar than one that doesn’t stay in tune.
- I suggest buying an electric guitar rather than an acoustic. I think it’s easier to use as a beginner. Plus there are many benefits: You don’t have to press as hard on the fretboard to form chords, you can plug into your amp with headphones and practice anytime and you can experiment with pedals – which is tons of fun!
2. Tune it up. You can either buy an inexpensive tuner at the music store or search google for an online guitar tuner. You can also use this one: http://www.get-tuned.com/old_online_guitar_tuner.php. Either is fine. You want to make sure your guitar stays in tune at all times. Tune often. Even the best guitars go out of tune after 1 song.
3. Pick one of your favorite songs to learn. In the beginning, I suggest an easy 3 chord song that you can focus on. For most rock songs, there are only a few chords, repeated in different ways.
- Do an Internet search for “easy guitar tabs” and look for a song you like — if your goal is to become addicted to playing guitar, nothing will accomplish that faster than mastering a recognizable riff from one of your favorite songs.
Tip 1- Practice guitar chord exercises. For example, if you are trying to learn the G chord a good exercise to practice would be picking each note and then strumming, this will give you a good idea of how well you have formed the chord. If you’re hitting a lot of dead notes they will become obvious when you pick through each note.
Tip 2 – Changing from one chord to another is without a doubt the best way to learn guitar chords. You’re putting yourself under pressure and committing the guitar chord shape to your muscle memory. Once you have it in your muscle memory it becomes a lot easier to form the chord again.
Tip 3 – Learn three chords at a time, I don’t know why this works, but it just does. Maybe it’s a magic number that our brains relate to, who knows? They key thing is that if you pick three guitar chords you want to learn and keep practicing them, then you’re going to learn guitar chords a lot faster than if you just pick one or two. I’d recommend starting out with some of the easier ones (D, A, E, G), pick three of those and get to it!
Tip 4 – Learn guitar chords in your head. Try this: Picture yourself holding your guitar, zoom in one the neck where you are going to form the chord. Now put your fingers on the strings and really concentrate on how you are going to get each finger into position. Those of you who already use this method know how powerful it is. If you don’t think it works then I only ask that you try it for one week and see what kind of results you get, you will be pleasantly surprised.
4. Repetition is key. Keep in mind that if it was easy, everyone would play. What I can guarantee is that if you have the desire and discipline to play ten minutes everyday, you will learn to play the Guitar. Also keep in mind that every guitar player has to start somewhere. They were in exactly the same place as you are right now.
5. Use your ear. Very important! Dare to experiment. Play along to your favorite songs. Hit random notes on the fret board until you find ones that sound in unison with the song your listening to. Remember there are only 12 notes on the guitar. After that it all repeats. A few have to sound good! A bit of music theory can explain all this, which is something I will teach later in my course but for now you want to have fun with the guitar.
6. Learn the basics. There are volumes of info you can learn on the guitar but the learning the foundation is essential. I am speaking of the basic open chords, bar chords and the major scale. Everything else is built of off these concepts. Don’t get overwhelmed. It can all be taught in pieces. I will present these concepts to you as a basis but for now use it as a reference. Your focus should be learning easy songs on the electric guitar with just a few chords.
7. Posture is also very important. Correct posture will help your overall performance. You need to sit up straight and make sure you have a flat back. You may find a tendency to want lean over the front of your guitar so that you can see what you’re doing with your fingerings. Instead of looking over your guitar, use your fret dots to know where your fingers are. Ultimately you want to play without looking at your instrument and fingers.
- Close your eyes and feel where the chords are and learn to trust your hands. Very rarely do you see musicians stare at their guitars while they play. Practice for accuracy then speed. It’s okay to make mistakes, you will get better.
Lets get some basics down…
Chord charts
How to read guitar chord diagrams or charts.
Guitar chord diagrams represent the position of the fingers of your left hand, and how they press down on the strings to make the chord sound when you strum.
The guitar chord diagram is a visual representation of the guitar’s neck.
Guitar chord grid overlaying guitar neck.
The numbers on the finger positions (the black round circles), correspond to the fingers in the diagram below:
Chord fingering.
A small “x” on the top of a string means that you do not play this string.
D7 chord diagram:
These photos show how the fingering from the chart translates to the real world.
D flat guitar chord:
The number 3 on the chord diagram corresponds to the third fret along the guitar’s neck.
Here are the basic chords you need to know:
Legend:
X: Don’t play this string
Numbers represent fingers on frets
Ok! Lets play!!
KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR
INTRO: G-D, C
G D Am7
.. Mama take this badge off of me
G D C
.. I can’t use it any-more
G D Am7
. It’s getting dark, too dark for me to see
G D C (D)
. I feel I’m knockin on heaven’s door___
CHORUS:
G D Am7
.. Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
G D C (D)
.. Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door___
G D Am7
.. Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door
G D C (D)
.. Knock, knock, knockin’ on heaven’s door___
G D Am7
.. Mama put my guns in the ground
G D C
.. I can’t shoot them any-more
G D Am7
. That long black cloud is comin’ down
G D C (D)
. I feel I’m knockin’ on heaven’s door___
ENDING: CHORUS, THEN REPEAT AND FADE
G D Am7 (G)
I hope this help you learn something about playing the guitar. Please leave feedback or feel free to ask any questions.
Good Luck!
Scott
slmcat 