How did I learn to play the guitar? Personal experience and advice from one self-taught musician…

One day I came up with the idea of ​​learning to play the guitar. I sat down to look for information on this topic on the Internet. Having found a lot of things on the topic, I could not understand what information was important and what was unimportant.

In this article I will tell you what a beginning guitarist needs to know: how to choose a guitar, what strings are best to start playing on, how to tune a guitar, what chords are and how they are placed, etc.

What types of guitars are there?

There are many different types of guitar. The two main types today are the electric guitar and the acoustic guitar. Guitars also differ in the number of strings. This article will focus only on six-string acoustic guitars. Although some of the tips are also suitable for electric guitars with the same set of strings.

Which guitar should I buy?

When buying a guitar, you should understand one simple truth: guitars have almost no objective parameters. The only objective parameters of a guitar include, perhaps, the wood from which the body of the instrument is made, and the material from which the strings are made.

Guitars are made from almost every type of wood or rolled wood that exists. I don’t recommend buying guitars made from plywood, as they can fall apart in a couple of months, and they don’t sound very good.

Strings are divided into two types: nylon and metal. I recommend taking a guitar with nylon strings, as they are easier to hold on the fretboard when playing chords.

One more thing. If you’re left-handed, you might be better off with a left-handed guitar (the neck faces the other way). Everything else is purely subjective. It’s best to just come to a music store, pick up a guitar and play; if you like the way it sounds, buy it without hesitation.

How to tune your guitar?

Each of the six strings of the guitar is tuned to one specific note. The strings are numbered from bottom to top, from the thinnest string to the thickest:

1 – E (the thinnest bottom string)

2 – you are

3 – salt

4 – re

5 – la

6 – E (the thickest top string)

There are many ways to tune a guitar. The easiest way for you will be to tune your guitar using a tuner. The tuner is sold in most music stores. You can also use a digital tuner, that is, a program that will perform the same functions as an analog tuner. A microphone is required to use these programs (acoustic guitars only).

The essence of the tuner tuning is that when the device is turned on, you turn the pegs for each of the six strings and pluck the string (make a test). The tuner responds to each sample with its own indicator. So, you need the tuner to respond to the six strings of your guitar with the following indicators: E4, B3, G3, D3, A2, E2 (listed in string order from first to last).

Starting to learn to play the guitar

Here you have two options. This is either going to some courses, classes with a teacher, and so on. Or you can become self-taught.

Regarding the first route, it is worth saying that the prices per hour due to the popularity of the service are quite serious, on average 500 rubles for 60 minutes. For normal results, you will need at least 30 lessons, that is, you will spend approximately 15 thousand rubles. An alternative could be a digital course, which, with the same effectiveness, will cost 5-8 times less. Here, for example, is a good guitar course (click on the banner):

Let’s talk about the second way in a little more detail now. Let’s start with the fact that when you play the first chords, the fingers of your left hand will ache a little, and also, if you do everything correctly, then your forearm, and even your back a little. This is fine! You just get used to new movements. The discomfort will go away in a couple of days; help yourself with a simple physical warm-up that will free up all your muscles.

Regarding the positioning of hands and holding the guitar in general, the following can be said. The guitar should be placed on the right leg (not very close to the knee), and the neck of the guitar should be grasped with the left hand (the neck is the left part of the guitar, at the end of which there is a tuning machine). The left thumb should only be behind the fingerboard and nowhere else. We place our right hand on the strings.

There are a ton of chords, fights and plucks on the Internet. Chord patterns are called fingerings (these fingerings indicate where to place which finger). One chord can be played in several different fingerings. So, you can start playing and learn how to play your first chords on the guitar, you can also read the material about tablature to see how you can play the guitar without knowing the notes.

It’s enough for today! You already have enough tasks before you: find a guitar, tune it and sit down with the first chords, or maybe purchase a training course. Thanks for your attention and good luck!

See what you’ll learn! This is cool!