How to Play the Guitar
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.