Easy Guitar Playing Lessons

By: Ronald W. Firquain

If you have a six-string, a pick and a solid but comfortable armless chair, you are ready for some easy guitar lessons. Here are some of the basic things you should learn.

Know your instrument.
The topmost portion of your guitar is called the head or the headstock. This is where you well find the tuners, which are used to adjust the pitch of the six strings. The long part attached to the head is the neck.

Down the neck is the body of the guitar. If you are using a classical or acoustic guitar, you will find a sound hole in the middle. This serves to project and amplify the sound. Electric guitars, on the other hand, do not have holes. Instead, they have pickups, which intensify the sounds coming from your instrument. Of course, you have the strings that are attached to the tuners, run down over the neck, over the hole and attached to the bridge.

Hold your guitar properly.
The thickest guitar string should be the topmost when you hold the guitar and the neck should be parallel to the ground. The body should rest comfortably on one of your thighs.

Tune your guitar.
Before you can learn how to play the guitar, you will have to learn this skill first. You can refer to a book, an online source or a friend to learn how to tune. You can tune your guitar three ways: by ear, with a piano or a tuning flute.

Next, decide on your fret hand. This is the one that will be spending a lot of time on the neck of your guitar, pressing on the chord. If you are right handed, it is your left. If you are left handed, it's your right hand. Your pick hand is the other hand. This is the one that will hold the pick and strum the guitar.

When using your pick to strike the strings, make sure not to strike too hard or too soft. You are a beginner and need to hear how you sound like. Use only your wrist when you play and not your whole arm. Practice three different strokes on each string: downward, upward and alternate down and up. Once you get the hang of it, you will learn the best pressure to put on the string to produce the proper sound.

Learn the chords.
Get a chord book and begin practicing the chords. You can practice doing them one by one as shown on the book until your mind and fingers memorize them. Only problem is that this can get a little boring. There is just no sense playing a bunch of chords that do not sound like a real melody.

The better alternative would be to learn the most common chords first. These are: C major, D major and G major. Play one chord first until you memorize it and then move to the other. You can then practice moving from one chord to the next, keeping both the sound and the movement as fluid as possible. Practice on songs that play these chords until you have mastered them. When you do, move on to other songs using other chords.

Where to find your lessons online.
There are plenty of resources you can turn to for easy guitar lessons books, magazines and online resources. If you want free lessons, here are some websites you can check out for help.

If you know the basics of playing the guitar, this site is a great resource for learning easy songs. Do not worry, because lessons are designed for beginners. A few sessions online and you should learn enough songs to surprise anyone in no time.

Not only does this site feature easy step by step lessons on guitar playing, there is also a link to a page featuring songs made popular in the 1960s. Bring back the groovy years with easy to follow instructions.

All the easy guitar playing secrets you have always wanted to learn are here, plus you get to learn how to play lead guitar. You can also order their instructional CD-ROM to learn easy guitar lessons at your own pace.

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