How to teach yourself to play guitar

Guitar is one of the most versatile and most rewarding instruments to learn. It can be used to play almost any genre of music, and is a great tool for composing your own songs. Although getting good takes a lot of work, learning the basics is actually pretty easy. Here is how it is done.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Guitar
• <br>Chord chart
• <br>Strings
• <br>Picks

1. Think about what kind of music you want to play. Electric guitars are great for rock music. Acoustic guitars are the most versatile. They are good for pretty much any kind of musical accompaniment. Because their strings are thicker, they are somewhat harder to play than electrics. Nylon string classical guitars are good for classical music, but can also be used for folk. They have a very soft sound, however, which makes them not very well suited for aggressive acoustic playing.

2. Decide what you want to spend. Starter guitars can run $100 or less, while high-end models can get into the thousands. Plan on spending about $300 dollars for a pretty solid starting model.

3. Go pick out a guitar. If you can, bring a friend who knows how to play. Look for low action--strings close to the neck--a comfortable size for your hands, and a sound you like. Buy the guitar, an extra set of strings, and some light and medium picks.

4. Buy a chord chart while you are at it. Although you can get all the chords you want off the Internet, a chord chart provides an easy to use reference that is worth the few dollars it will cost you.

5. Learn three chords. The chords E, D and A are a good first bet. Practice each chord in turn, holding down the strings all the way and slowly strumming the whole chord.

6. Practice switching between chords. First play eight slow, steady beats of each before switching to the next, then pick up the pace. Practice until you can easily switch between the chords and get a good tone without stopping your playing.

7. Learn a few more chords. Pick up C, G, E minor and A minor. The last two are variations of chords you already know, which will give you more musical flexibility.

8. Learn some simple songs. Free Falling, Brown-eyed Girl and nearly any punk rock song ever written can be either played with three chords, or simplified to use only three chords. The same thing goes for many blues tunes. Look around the Internet for tabs, or buy them from your local music store.

9. Play with other people. You will learn more quickly and have a lot more fun playing with other musicians.

[stefanie720]

on 2/9/2009 Awesome tips on how to begin. I especially like how you added in some specific titles of easy songs to learn. When people would suggest popular songs that were easy to play, it really helped me learn how to play and get ahold of different strumming patterns. I give you 5 stars !!