Guitar Lesson dot biz

gutierrez2085@sbcglobal.net asked:

I’ve read many times that for beginners light gauge strings are better, but I’ve also read that some gauge guitar strings may not be “compatible” with certain guitars. I don’t want to buy guitar strings that aren’t going to work on my guitar. Can someone please help clarify this for me? I don’t know where else to turn.

Muna wa Wanjiru posted:

With so many things to do in our lives we need to find ways in which we can unwind and relax. Of the many different activities that can be found, guitar playing is found to be popular. To learn to play guitar can take lots of time and practice, or you can find different courses that will help speed up your playing style.

These various courses are perfect for the person who feels frustrated by the lack of progress that they may be going through using the normal channels to learn to play guitar.

Regardless of the reason for choosing to learn to play guitar, you have a good chance of being able to master the many different chords, scales, rhythms, and the various riffs that are used in guitar playing as well.

When you are looking at these different forms of music that are used in guitar playing you might at first feel overwhelmed. This however will change as time passes and you feel more confident about your ability to learn to play guitar.

The first step to achieving this is to choose a guitar that will feel comfortable in your hands. Once you have found your guitar you will then need to find an instructor, or a place where you will be able to learn to play guitar without feeling uncomfortable or shy.

After all, the various people who are learning to play the guitar with you are also there to learn. This means that they too will need to learn the various techniques, tips and methods of being able to play the guitar, so don’t feel embarrassed about to learn to play guitar alongside them.

From your instructor the very first step that you will learn about is the placing of your fingers on the guitar strings. You will then be told what the name and the chord of each string is called.

This is very important as when you are playing guitar music you will be manipulating the guitar strings to help you produce great music. For your first guitar playing lesson you will be shown a small song that will help you to see how to place your fingers on the chord to make the sounds that are needed in the song.

From this step you will then proceed to the next step which is to learn to play guitar scales. These scales are important too as you will become familiar with the position of these many notes, and when you are playing any piece of music your fingers will be familiar with finding the scale before you are even aware of that fact.

The most important ingredient you need to learn to play guitar however, is nothing other than your enthusiasm and your commitment. With these two things and a guitar in your hands the music world can become your oyster.

Muna wa Wanjiru posted:


Being able to play a musical instrument is a great relaxing activity and of all of the instruments that you can pick a guitar is one of the best. In order to get your playing ability up to scratch there are lots of different guitar instructions that you can look into.

These instructions can be found in the form of professional instructors who are able to teach you different styles of playing, and other things such as DVDs and video forms of guitar instructions are also available.

These instructions will show you the various ways of playing your guitar and you will be able to go through these steps over again until you have mastered what you need. With these types of guitar instructions you have the ability to control the pace of your learning.

The various instructors who can give you guitar instructions will be able to show you the right placement of your fingers as you will be able see how they place their fingers on the guitar body and the strings. You will also be able to ask from these people any questions you have about the whole guitar learning process.

Also the many instructors will be able to help you make the transition from beginner to intermediate level, a smooth one. These instructors will also be able to help you with advice and guitar instructions about switching from one type of musical style to another completely different style.

For instance you should be confident to switch from Latin guitar music to classical music styles. Once you have become completely confident and comfortable about playing these varying styles of guitar music you will be able to advance your lessons to the next level of playing.

Besides learning how to play the guitar your guitar instructions should state how to tune the guitar strings and the best way to care for your guitar. These instructions will let you gain even more enjoyment from your guitar and you will be able to play your guitar with a minimum of problems.

By looking into the type of guitar instructions that are suited for your level of skill you will see that these classes can be further divided into other categories such as playing a bass guitar, an acoustic guitar or even an electric guitar.

This doesn’t mean that you will want to, or even have to, play any of these other types of guitars. It just shows that you have a wide range of choices and options available if you want to switch to different a type of guitar.

This will of course, mean that you will probably need to get yourself a new set of guitar instructions. But then again if you really love to play guitar this becomes fully worth it in the end.

Kristaps Baltins posted:

Many of beginner guitar players choose acoustic guitar as their first instrument. That is, is many ways, a wise choice. You don’t have to buy additional accessories to make the guitar sound louder , and acoustic guitar also weights less than electric guitar.

Playing acoustic guitar is different than playing electric guitar. Let’s take a look at these differences.

The first and main difference is the body. Acoustic guitars has a hollow bodies, and they’re projecting sound only with acoustic methods. That’s different from electric guitar, who has pickups and need amplifier in order to make it sound loud. The neck and scale also is different. Usually acoustic guitar’s scale is shorter than electric guitar’s scale , making it harder to reach higher notes. The neck is usually fatter than electric guitar’s neck.

The difference is also in strings. The are strings that are made and should be used only on acoustic guitar in order to maintain the guitar’s sound quality. Unfortunately not all people realize it, so they make mistakes such as putting electric guitar’s strings on acoustic guitar. That’s not right and can ruin your sound and even guitar. One of the biggest mistakes is to put an electric guitar’s strings on a classical guitar (acoustic guitar with nylon strings) , which requires specific strings. Doing it you can even brake your instrument.

To sum this all up I can say that acoustic guitars has much wider variety than electric guitars, so there’s a greater chance that you will purchase the right instrument.

 

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Ricky Sharples posted:

The acoustic guitar is a popular instrument amongst all age groups and is a very rewarding instrument to learn to play even though you do not get to fool around with cool electric guitar sounds. So let us take a look at the techniques you will learn as an acoustic guitar player and some legendary guitarists whose work will need to become familiar with in order to hang out with other acoustic guitar players.

You can think of acoustic guitar technique in two ways: you can be a strummer or a picker. A strummer plays by dragging your thumb, index finger or plectrum across the guitar strings. You can find a multitude of strumming patterns on the internet. Start with the simplest you can find. Some strumming patterns simply show the names of the chords you are supposed to be strumming, and others show that you include only selected strings. The strings that are not included can be damped with the little finger of the left hand or the heel of the right hand.

You can pick using a plectrum – this technique is called flatpicking – or use your fingers. If you decide on fingerpicking you might want to use picks which fit on the thumb and tips of your fingers. Steel strings are hard on the fingernails so you might need fingerpicks to stop your nails being torn to shreds. Nylon strings do not demand the use of picks but after you have had some experience playing guitar you can make the decision based on the kind of sound you want.

A simple start to fingerpicking is to finger an E minor chord and place your fingers on the strings you intend to play. Do not try and do any picking, just decide which strings are the ones you are playing in this chord and place your right hand fingers in a plucking “stance” ready to play. So for the E minor chord you could place your thumb on the sixth string and your first finger on the third string, you second finger on the second string and your first finger on the first string. Now pluck each string by pressing down with the thumb and pulling up with the fingers.

If you want to see what you can do if you foster your devotion to the acoustic guitar, Leo Kottke is a good start. He is an innovative fingerstyle acoustic guitarist who is strongly influenced by folk music, jazz and blues. Another great is Tommy Emmanuel, an Australian acoustic and electric guitarist known for his energetic fingerpicking style. He has developed his own style based on the “travis picking” style of playing he heard played on records by Chet Atkins.

“Travis picking” is a style of finger picking which involves playing bass with the thumb, and melody with the first two or three fingers simultaneously. This picking style was developed by Merle Travis, an American country and western singer and songwriter who composed one of the early fifties hit songs, “Sixteen Tons”. While we are talking about travis picking, you have probably heard of Chet Atkins. He was an influential Nashville guitarist and producer of records for many famous recording artists. He played mostly electric guitar and his picking technique was inspired mostly by Merle Travis with musical influences from Django Reinhardt and Les Paul.

For the acoustic guitar player who elects to stay with  the plectrumn, “Doc” Watson is an American bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music singer and guitar player. He is revered by other guitar players for his astonishing flatpicking style although he does do fingerpicking.

The acoustic guitar repertoire of today owes alot to the folk revival of the sixties. Here are some names from that era whose work you should catch up with:

John Renbourn the English guitarist and songwriter is best known for his work with fellow guitar player, Bert Jansch and his career  with the English folk group Pentangle. Renbourn’s musical interests include early music, folk, classical music and blues.

Bert Jansch is a Scottish folk musician whose influences include English guitarist Davy Graham. His music has influenced Jimmy Page, Ian Anderson, Donovan and Neil Young.

John Martyn is an English guitarist who also sings and writes songs. He has made twenty studio albums and worked with famous musician like Eric Clapton, David Gilmour and Phil Collins. He has invented his own sound featuring an acoustic guitar played through a fuzzbox, phase-shifter and Echoplex.

Davy Graham is a guitarist who featured heavily in the English folk scene in the nineteen sixties. Many acoustic guitar players like Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy and Jimmy Page. His acoustic instrumental piece, Anji was recorded by Paul Simon on an early Simon And Garfunkel album.

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