If you think learning to play a musical instrument is difficult,
then you haven’t learned how to play the guitar. You may not become a
musical genius overnight, but in just a few short lessons you can learn
how to play the guitar and be well on your way to a consummate professional.

There are essentially two elements of learning to play the guitar: positioning
and chords. Once you learn these elements you will be equipped with all you need
to begin playing the guitar.

While you are anxious to play the guitar, you must first learn how to hold the guitar.
Many people think they only need to place the guitar in their lap and they’re ready to
play. Holding your guitar incorrectly can actually affect the sound your instrument
generates. When you play your guitar you will either play it sitting or standing.
When you play your guitar sitting down, you want to be sure the guitar rests comfortably
in your lap. The main thing to remember is that you don’t want your body to support the guitar.
Standing and playing the guitar is more of a presentation style.

You will hold the guitar
like you would if you were sitting, but you place one foot in front of you to prevent stress
on your back. When you first learn how to play the guitar, holding the guitar may seem awkward.
Just give it some time and it will eventually seem natural to you.

Once you feel comfortable holding your guitar, it’s time to focus on positioning. Positioning
refers to what you do with your hand to play music using the guitar. Let’s start with the left
hand. The longest part of the guitar, the neck, is the area of the guitar where you will
position your fingers and thumb so that you can create the great music afforded to the guitar.
You should not place too much force against the fretboard when you play a note.

Your right hand is responsible for picking, plucking, or strumming the strings.
You can decide for yourself how to play the guitar using either method. The proper
way to hold your hand when you play the guitar with a pick is to make a fist with your
thumb on the outside of your hand.

The pick slides between your thumb and index finger.

You then pick the strings in an upward motion. To play the guitar with your fingers, or
pluck the strings, you use your thumb and index finger. Like when you use a pick, you pluck
the strings in an upward motion. Strumming involves playing all the strings all at once.
If you’re wondering how to play the guitar if you use a left-handed guitar, you will
position your fingers in mirror image of the instructions presented here.

Although you are just starting out, you are probably anxious to start actually learning
how to play the guitar. There is one more important element to learn before you can actually
playing music. It doesn’t matter what genre of music you are interested in playing, you will
need to be able to recognize chords to play music. A chord chart represents the neck of the
guitar and indicates by using “X” marks, hollow circles, and numbered circled how to play a
particular chord.

The fretboard consists of six strings and five frets. The hollow circles in a chord chart
indicate strings that you play.

The numbered circles indicate which finger to use to play
the chord. Neglecting to include your thumb, associate each finger with a number beginning
with the number one (for example, the index finger would be 1, the middle finger would be 2,
and so on). The “X” on the chord chart indicates that you should not play that string. Once
you learn how to play the guitar and learn the five major chords (C, A, G, E, D) it will be
easier to learn how to play just about any song.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/how-to-play-the-guitar-3037.html

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For more more information about how to play the guitar please visit http://www.guitar-directory.net/LearningGuitar/

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Is it really possible to conquer the guitar fretboard? Do you find the notes you want to find? Is tabulature cheating? Let me invite you to the guitar fretboard!

I suggest that you right now start to take command over your guitar. Usually when you are playing your first guitar sheet music melodies you will have to learn the notes in the first position on the guitar. To have a good grasp of these notes on the guitar I suggest that you learn them slowly and with concentration.

I usually begin by teaching the notes on the first string like E on open string, F on fret 1 and G on fret 3. On string two you’ll find B on open string, C on fret 1 and D on fret 3. With these notes you can play the song Mary Had A Little Lamb.

Using the previous notes the melody can be played as follows:

E D C D E E E D D D E G G E D C D E E E E D D E D C

I hope you recognized the melody. This kind of music notation doesn’t give any hints as to how the rhythm is to be played but you already know the melody, right!

Is using tablature cheating? My father taught me some interesting things about learning to read guitar sheet music.

My dad was the only guitar tutor in the town where I lived and he taught mostly classical guitar pieces. His young students, I was one of them, learned those first guitar pieces very rapidly because he used a system similar to tablature showing the frets and strings to play, along with the sheet music. Tablature wasn’t common back then. I remember somebody remarking that his system prevented the children from learning to sight read sheet music.

His reply was that if somebody really wants to learn the notes they will anyway!

I agree with that and I have found that if a pupil is not motivated learning guitar sheet music they will not advance in this area whether they play with or without tablature.

Do you think your fingers has anything to do with guitar playing? I guess you’ll answer yes!

A more important question is if the fingers you choose to use can have a bearing upon your guitar playing. Left hand fingering means which finger you use when playing a specific note.

Usually when playing the first pieces on the guitar on the first frets one plays the notes on the first fret with the index finger, notes on the second fret with the middle finger, notes on the third fret with the ring finger and notes on the fourth fret with your little finger.

Why mess up everything with this fingering stuff? Isn’t it possible to play every melody with your left index finger and forget about fingerings?

Well, of course you can play melodies with your index finger but your progress will be very limited beyond just playing easy melodies.

Besides you’ll have to move your hand all the time as you change frets and, most importantly when reading sheet music, you’ll have to look at the guitar fretboard all the time instead of looking at the sheet music.

The important thing when learning to play the notes on the guitar is to make a conscious effort to learn the notes and not to work on too many notes at the same time.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-lesson-the-e-f-g-of-learning-to-play-guitar-sheet-music-10470.html

About the Author
Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

There are many ways to notate music on the guitar. You can use sheet music easy to understand when you have learned to read sheet music. To learn to read sheet music on the guitar is however not so easy for many students.

What different ways are there to notate guitar melodies?

1. You can use guitar sheet music. The advantage is that it is universal, meaning that other instrumentalists will understand the notation.

2. You can use guitar tablature. A tablature staff consists of six lines representing the six strings on a guitar. Number on the lines indicate what fret to press down. Guitar tablature is very common on the net and is a widely used.

3. Use another system.

4. Describe with words how to play the melody on the guitar.

In this article I will use an easy system that doesn’t need a staff and I will also describe how to play the melody on the guitar with words. We will learn to play the melody Happy Birthday To You.

How to read the guitar notation

The first number tells you what fret to press down. The second number what string to play on. An example:

1/2

This means, press down the first fret on the second string.

Let’s play Happy Birthday To You. We can divide the song into four parts:

1. Start by playing the open third string twice. When you play a string without pressing down a fret is called to play an open string. Then you press down the second fret on the third string and the open third string. Play the first fret of the second string and the open second string. It will look like this:

0/3 0/3 2/3 0/3 1/2 0/2

2. Play the open third string twice. Play the second fret on the third string and the open third string. Play the third fret of the second string and the first fret on the second string. It will look like this:

0/3 0/3 2/3 0/3 3/2 1/2

3. Play the open third string twice. The third fret on the first string and the open first string. The first fret string two and open second string. Second fret on the third string. It will look like this:

0/3 0/3 3/1 0/1 1/2 0/2 2/3

4. We finish the song by playing the first fret first string twice. Open first string and first fret second string. Third fret second string and first fret second string.

1/1 1/1 0/1 1/2 3/2 1/2

Learning to play the song Happy Birthday To You on guitar is a good investment. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, “Happy Birthday to You” is among the top three most popular songs in the English language.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-lesson-learn-to-play-popular-melody-on-your-guitar-13088.html

About the Author
Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

I’m on a mission. To convert.

To convert guitar players and aspiring guitar players to open-D. It’s the tuning so important to guitar in the last number of decades, but too often, so overlooked by the mainstream. Standard tuning has a stranglehold on the business of learning guitar. The reason, to me, remains unclear.

As a starting point, an open tuning is clearly the logical choice. What easier way to begin to play guitar, but with an open, major chord? How much more confidence could an aspiring guitarist (of any age, but more on that later) need than to be able to play a nice sounding chord without putting finger to fret? That’s what you get when you start with an open tuning.

My personal story went like this. Frustrated novice guitar player (“novice” for years on end!). Gets nowhere with guitar for years. Does research (i.e. reads guitar magazines). Realizes many of the greats played in alternate tunings (K. Richard, J. Mitchell, E. James, R. Johnson, R. Cooder, J. Page, etc, etc.). Re-tunes guitar until he finds one that works – open-D. Presto! Light bulb comes on, a better guitar player is hatched.

Open tunings are mentioned, frequently enough, in magazines articles, transcriptions, books and the like. But very seldom or never have I seen an outright promotion of their use as a stand-alone approach to guitar (my god, even Keith switches to standard tuning every now and again!). And open-D, the most logical of all starting points, is rarely mentioned at all. I have yet, in 20+ years of public performance, have anyone come up to me and say – “How about that – you play just like I do, in open-D”. People do come up, but the comments are almost always, “You sure use some funny chord positions” or “Are you playing in a different tuning”. Amazingly, many guitar players associate “open tuning” with “more difficult”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, to make the transition from standard tuning is a bit of a learning curve, but once you’re there, POW! You’ll never want to play any other way (although just adding proficiency on an open tuning to your standard tuning is a giant leap).

Which brings us back to beginners. No matter what the age, a beginner, whether 6 or 60 years old will find open-D an easier way to start playing guitar. It is so obvious. Focus on the strum without any fingers on the fretboard, and then work your way up to one finger on the fretboard (the basic major chord in open-D is just one finger). What a way to develop early confidence. The truth is, and I am living proof, you would never have to make the flip to standard tuning. But if you wanted to, it’s just small tweak up to standard – sort of drop-D tuning with three other minor adjustments back and forth, to and from standard E A D G B E, to D A D F# D.

One question that arises – why open-D, then, of all the potential starting points? The absolute simplest choice may be, for easier understanding of theory, keys and harmony might be open-C C G C E G C, but that gets a tad floppy sounding, as the guitar strings are so slackened. Going the other way to open-E E B E G# B E might be going too far the other way, though it’s used. Open-D seems the perfect choice! For singers wanting to accompany themselves, of course, it becomes an issue of vocal range tied to the guitar tuning. A capo may be in order.

I’m such a fervent believer in open-D, I’ve written a book – Guitar-eze A Simpler Approach to Playing Guitar, with a companion Chord Book, as well as a website and a blog dedicated to helping guitarists and aspiring guitarists see the light. Who knows? Maybe some day open-D will be known as “standard tuning”.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitareze-the-easier-way-to-learn-to-play-guitar-really-15322.html

About the Author

Fur Elise is a famous piano solo by Beethoven. In this guitar lesson you will learn to play Fur Elise on your guitar. You don’t have to read sheet music notation so let’s start!

As I told you we will not use sheet music. Instead we will use guitar tablature.

Tablature is a form of musical notation, often with numbers and letters, which tells the player where to place their fingers on the guitar fretboard rather than which pitches to play.

I will use my own type of guitar tab notation today to make sure that the guitar tab is correctly displayed on article sites. The more common guitar tab staff notation you will find on my site.

The six strings on your guitar is numbered from the one with the highest pitch. This string is called the first string.

Let’s start with the first part of the melody with guitar tab:

01 42 01 42 01 02 32 12 23

Now we will take a look at this guitar tab and how to interpret it. You have probably noticed that the numbers are organized in pairs.

The first number in the pair tells you what fret to press down and the second number what string to play.

01 tells you to play the open first string. This means that you play the string without pressing down a left hand finger.

42 indicates that you press down a left hand finger on the fourth fret of the second string. Well, now it’s time for you to play the melody. Did you recognize the melody? Good!

This type of guitar tab doesn’t indicate the length of the notes. If you sing the lyrics you will probably feel how to play the notes.

What finger should you use when you play with your right hand? In this guitar lesson we will not concentrate on your right hand. I suggest that you play the notes with your thumb or in another way you choose.

Let’s play the next guitar tab:

35 24 23 02 24 13 02 12

What about your left hand? You can play the notes with your index finger but I suggest that you assign the notes on the first fret to your index finger, the notes on the second fret to your middle finger and so on.

It means that the 42 note in the beginning of the melody will be played with your little finger. Is it difficult? Yes, it will be difficult but not for long! You will get used to these fingerings if you are persistent!

In the long run you will probably even find it easier to play melodies this way if you get used to this more sophisticated fingering!

Let’s continue! The next guitar tab is identical with the first line:

01 42 01 42 01 02 32 12 23

and the next guitar tab nearly the same as the second line:

35 24 23 02 24 12 02 23

A new melodi is introduced:

02 12 32 01 03 11 01 32

and ends this way:

34 01 32 12 24 32 12 02

By now you know how to play this guitar tab notation so let’s play on!

01 42 01 42 01 02 32 12 23

35 24 23 02 24 13 02 12

01 42 01 42 01 02 32 12 23

35 24 23 02 24 12 02 23

Now you can play Fur Elise by Beethoven with guitar tab. Congratulations!

I suggest that you memorize the melody one line at a time so that the reading of this guitar tab will not slow you down when you play the melody in public!

This is a nice melody to know by heart as part of your repertoire for example when somebody asks you to play something! Everyone knows this song, don’t they!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-lesson-learn-to-play-guitar-tab-solo-with-fur-elise-26059.html

About the Author
Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and guitar tab at http://www.capotastomusic.com

You don’t need to know guitar sheet music to learn to play guitar melodies. Let’s learn Morning Has Broken with guitar tab!

“Morning Has Broken” is a Christian hymn. Cat Stevens has recorded a popular version of the song.

Here is the first verse:

Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the world

As I mentioned we will not use guitar sheet music notation. Many people find it hard to read sheet music on guitar.

In order to learn to play guitar melodies we will use another notation system called tablature.

Tablature or guitar tab is a form of musical notation, often with numbers and letters, which will tell you where to place your fingers on the guitar fretboard in order to play a melody.

In this article I will use a type of guitar tab notation with numbers only. The more common guitar tab staff notation you will find on my site.

Let´s take a look at your guitar!

The six strings on your guitar is numbered from the one with the highest pitch. This string is called the first string.

In order for me to tell you how to play the melody on your guitar I will write down which fret to press down with your left hand and which string to play.

If I write 31 it means that you are to press down the third fret on the first string. The first number indicates the fret to press down and the next number the string.

01 means: play the first open string. This means that you play the first string without pressing down a fret.

The first part of Morning Has Broken with guitar tab and lyrics looks like this:

Morning has broken, like the first morning

35 24 03 12 32 02 23 03 23 02 23 03

You will start with the note C here notated 35. That is, press down the third fret on the fift string.

In this type of guitar tab notation you will not have an indication as to the length of the notes. I suggest that you sing the lyrics in order to feel how the melody is to be played.

Let’s look at the next guitar tab:

Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird

35 04 24 03 23 03 24 35 04

In this guitar lesson we will not deal with how to play the strings with your right hand fingers. I suggest that you play the strings with you right hand thumb or some other way you choose.

The next guitar tab looks like this:

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

03 24 03 12 23 03 24 35 35 04

What about your left hand? You can play the notes with your index finger but I suggest that you assign the notes on the first fret to your index finger, the notes on the second fret to your middle finger and so on.

It might be a little bit difficult at first but in the long run you will find it easier to play melodies with these left hand fingerings if you are persistent!

Now we will continue with the next and last guitar tab:

Praise for the springing fresh from the world

24 04 24 03 23 04 24 04 35

I promised you that you could learn Morning Has Broken on your guitar without sheet music and now you have accomplished this and I have kept my promise. Congratulations!

It would have been nice to hear you play the melody but I guess it is not possible so play it for a friend!

I suggest that you memorize the melody one line at a time so that the reading of this guitar tab will not slow you down when you play the melody in public!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-lesson-learn-to-play-guitar-tab-solo-morning-has-broken-26965.html

About the Author
Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and guitar tab at http://www.capotastomusic.com

You can learn to play melodies on your guitar even if you do not know sheet music notation. We will instead use easy to learn guitar tab or guitar tablature. Let’s learn Yankee Doodle!

Yankee Doodle “Yankee Doodle” is a well-known American song, today sung patriotically. Originally it was a satirical song.

The first verse and refrain goes like this:

Yankee Doodle went to town
A-Riding on a pony
He stuck a feather in his hat
And called it macaroni

Yankee Doodle, keep it up
Yankee Doodle dandy
Mind the music and the step
And with the girls be handy

What is guitar tab?

We will use guitar tablature so you will not need to read sheet music notation. You will only use the four thinnest strings on the guitar. The string with the highest pitch is called the first string or E-string.

Tablature is a form of musical notation, often with numbers and letters, which tells the player where to place their fingers on the guitar fretboard rather than which pitches to play.

I will use my own type of guitar tab notation today to make sure that the guitar tab is correctly displayed on article sites. On my site you will find many popular melodies with the more common guitar tab staff notation.

The six strings on your guitar is numbered from the one with the highest pitch. This string is called the first string.

Look at this guitar tab notation:

11 12 03

As you can see the numbers are organized in pairs.

The first number in the pair tells you what fret to press down and the second number what string to play.

11 means that you press down the first fret on the first string. 12 that you press down the first fret on the second string. 03 that you play the third open string which means that you pluck the string without pressing down a fret.

Let’s start with the first part of the melody with guitar tab:

Yankee Doodle went to town

12 12 32 01 12 01 32

12 tells you to play the first fret on the second string. 01 means that you play the open first string.

This type of guitar tab doesn’t indicate the length of the notes. If you sing the lyrics you will better feel how to play the notes.

The names of the four notes you have played are C C D E C E D

How do you play guitar tablature with your left hand?

If you want to use your left hand in a professional way I suggest that you play the guitar tab notes on the first fret with your first finger, the notes on the second fret with your middle finger and the notes on the third fret with your ring finger.

Let’s proceed with the next words:

A-Riding on a pony

03 12 12 32 01 12 02

The names of the seven notes are G C C D E C B

How do you play guitar tab with your right hand?

Well, there are many ways to pluck or play the strings with your right hand. The easiest way is to use your right hand thumb. I suggest that you use your right hand thumb and concentrate on your left hand fingerings.

Here is the next lyrics and guitar tablature:

He stuck a feather in his hat

03 12 12 32 01 11 01 32

The names of the tablature notes are G C C D E F E D

And called it macaroni

12 02 03 23 02 12 12

The names of the guitar tab notes: C B G A B C C

Learn to play guitar tablature part 2

Here comes the lyrics and the guitar tab for the refrain:

Yankee Doodle, keep it up

23 02 23 03 23 02 12

Guitar tablature notes: A B A G A B C

Yankee Doodle dandy

03 23 03 34 24 03

Guitar tab notes: G A G F E G

Mind the music and the step

23 02 23 03 23 02 12

Guitar tablature notes: A B A G A B C

And with the girls be handy

23 03 12 02 32 12 12

Guitar tab notes: A G C B D C C

Where can you find more guitar tab?

Now when you understand guitar tablature notation you can find many songs written this way on the internet. Search for guitar tab or guitar tablature. A complete guitar tab staff has six lines representing the six strings.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/guitar-tab-learn-to-play-yankee-doodle-with-guitar-tab-65375.html

About the Author
Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and guitar tab at http://www.capotastomusic.com

In high school, did you ever dream about starting your own rock band? Want to duplicate the soothing sounds of folk tunes for family and friends? Does your favorite musician work magic with a Gibson ES 335? Is Jimi Hendrix your idol? It doesn’t matter the reason why you want to play the guitar – a seed has been planted and now it is time to nurture the desire.

Where to begin? Playing guitar (whether for fun or professionally) takes patience and determination. By following a few tips, you can harness your passion or interest for the instrument. You will also find that fueling your creativity and developing this new form of expression will take time. Great guitar players do not blossom overnight.

Purchasing a Guitar

Before you start learning the ropes of guitar playing, you’re going to need an instrument to carry out your lessons. The type of music you wish to play will determine the kind of guitar you require. For example, an acoustic guitar is used to generate the sounds of country, ragtime or folk. The body of the guitar is large and hollow, creating a sound that many deem “natural.” Rock music often utilizes an electric guitar, which offers a rather distinctive amplified sound. Additional guitars to look into include the steel, solid body, archtop, resonator, bass and twelve-string guitar.

With the purchase of a guitar, there are other necessary pieces of basic equipment. A guitar pick is required to help play the chords of your instrument. The size of guitar pick is quite small, prompting easy breakage and it can also be easily misplaced. This is why beginners should have a good number of guitar picks on hand. When purchasing picks, the medium gauge varieties are suggested because they are less apt to break. You should also invest in a comfortable chair.

Getting Lessons

While some guitar players are able to naturally experiment with chords by ear and strum along with less guidance, others require the assistance of structured lessons. There are numerous ways to learn how to play the guitar. If you are able to afford a private tutor, you can take advantage of one-on-one instruction, which may speed up the learning process. Sometimes, beginners benefit from group learning, which provides a wealth of constructive criticism. The Internet also offers a way for beginners to privately learn online. Some websites offer a computer keyboard lesson on learning scales, which some beginners find quite easy.

Whichever approach you take in learning to play guitar, you should know that setting goals for yourself makes the process more rewarding. Achieving personal milestones further motivates your desire to find a common ground with the instrument and who knows how far your lessons will take you.

Recognizing why you want to play guitar in the first place will also help you to better accomplish your goals. Some people want to learn to play for fun, peaking with a performance in front of family and friends. Others would like to share their talents with a slightly larger crowd, probably visiting a few coffee shops or open-mic nights. Then there are the masses of learners who have bigger dreams of taking to a stage in front of thousands. No matter what the goal is, you can’t get there without loads of practice.

What You Will Learn

Guitar lessons usually start with building a basic foundation, such as how to properly hold the guitar and establishing correct posture when playing. There is a wide range of techniques involved in playing the guitar and after a few lessons, you may start to find your niche.

One of the most important things to focus on when playing a guitar is understanding and mastering the chords. There are books and charts to help you along this important part of the process. There are many different chords to familiarize yourself with and taking them one at a time will lead to better results.

Additional areas of guitar instruction may include learning how to properly hold a pick, memorizing scales, tackling music theory and selecting a music style. Instrument maintenance, such as tuning and caring for your guitar is also of importance.

Sticking With It

Staying motivated is one of the best things you can do when learning to play the guitar. It is easy to become frustrated with a new project and abandon it before truly experiencing any benefits. On some days, you may have to dig deep to reclaim your passion and dedication. Other days, you could be composing the next pop hit. Give the process a chance and remember that it takes time to get the hang of this instrument. The best thing you can do is continue to practice and soon, you will reap the rewards of hard work and focus.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/article-marketing-articles/you-can-learn-to-play-the-guitar-76993.html

About the Author

Kevin is the publisher and editor of musicianhome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development. Download a free introductory guitar course also.

This article is devoted to learning how to play guitar (and even those just thinking about learning to play or giving the gift of music to a loved one) and how to approach gaining some kind of proficiency on the instrument. Now, we’ve all seen people playing the guitar at various times, sometimes on TV, sometimes up close (a real treat), playing various kinds of music and at varying skill levels. I think the hardest obstacle to overcome when you’re learn to play the guitar today! Hopefully, this gives you a bit of direction as you learn to play the guitar. Remember that it’s simply a matter of spending some time regularly practicing some of the basics and then applying them to your favorite music. Keep expanding your knowledge of the basic chords and learn to play songs that use them, along with the strumming patterns of the tune. Combined with some classical pieces for dexterity and developing your sight-reading chops, you’ll be well on your way to mastering the guitar in no time!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/learn-to-play-guitar-a-beginners-guide-88437.html

About the Author

Christopher Sung
Learn to Play Guitar