Guide to Beginning Guitar

This thread is now copyrighted for use by me and only me.

STRAGGLER'S GUIDE TO BEGINNING GUITAR

CONTENTS

Sec 1- INTRO

Sec 2- GUITAR TYPES/PARTS

Sec 3- BEGINNING PLAYING/TUNING

Sec 4- CONTINUING GUITAR/ GETTING GOOD

____________________________________

Sec 1-INTRO

I've been playing guitar for around 3-4 years now, on and off, and I really enjoy it. I'm just going to go ahead and list some of the pros and cons of playing guitar:

Pros:
-Portable instrument, unlike a piano, that you can move and play anywhere you like.
-Versatile. Dozens of different syles of playing, including metal, jazz, rock, pop, blues, bluegrass, classical, country...you name it. and you can even improvise your own style once you get good.
-two types: electric and acoustic, for some variety, and helps you choose your own style
-able to become a member of a band, which is tons of fun. Show off to other people, teach other people how to play...it's a good skill to have when you're bored.

Cons:
-Takes a lot of practice
-Guitars can be expensive
-So can amps, cables, repairwork
-May hurt your fingers a bit at first when you're doing new chords/bends etc.

Sec 2- TYPES OF GUITARS/PARTS

Now there are two fundamental types of guitars, which are acoustic:


I suggest beginning with a nice acoustic guitar, but again it's your choice. You can move straight on to electric, but you're going to need an amp, etc as well. Make sure you have enough cash.

IMPORTANT: I've learned that buying 1, really nice guitar that fits your style if better than buying a lot of cheap guitars that aren't as good. Try to abstain from looking online and actually go to a store near you and try them out. It's a lot of fun, trust me , and it's better than just looking for the cheapest online which is usually not such a good idea. You might really regret what you buy. In a store, you can really get a feel for what you like, and they'll tell you the same thing: get a good guitar that you're going to be happy with.

And electric:



this shows the parts of an electric guitar. I'm gonna tell you what they do:


Fret: Push down on the fret you want to make a distinct sound. Place your finger not on top of the fret, but just in front of it. Don't put it on the edge or the middle. You'll see what I mean when you play. Frets are metal bars that put tension on the strings, and the farther up you go on the frets, the higher the sound because there's more tension.

Body: The main part of the guitar, where you strum. Can have lots of varied designs and materials, such as spruce, maple, cherry, mahogany, etc. Can be either hollow-bodied (a more deep sound) or solid body (a more tight sound)

Strings: 6 of these. From the top, the strings are called, E, A , D, G, B e. They descend in pitch as they go down, and the top and bottom are both the same note, only different pitches.

Bridge: This is what suspends the strings. They are attached on the other side of the guitar on the tuning pegs.

Pickup switch: For electric/hybrid guitars. Changes the sound that the amp makes, from lead to backup. Can really change the style of your playing.

Tremolo: Not all guitars have this, but you use it to push down on the strings to create a wavering sound. Also called a whammy bar.

Volume and tune controls: Change the effects of the amp on your guitar. Turn them to adjust distortion, volume, and tone. Also changes the style of your play.

Pickups: For electric/hybrid guitars. Metal boards along the body that pick up sounds from your playing and carry them to the amp.

Neck: The long part of the guitar, also called the fretboard. Hold this with your left hand, and the body with your right.

Nut: Connects the headstock and the neck. Can be made from a different material than the rest of the guitar, basically is used for supporting the neck and defining how high the strings are off the fretboard.

Headstock: Area of the guitar that contains the tuning pegs, the very tip. Usually adorned with brand name, make, etc.

Tuning pegs: When your guitar gets out of tune, you have to retune it. Doing so for a guitar is much easier than doing so for a piano, all you have to do is turn the pegs until the desired sound is reached. this can be done several ways, which will be explained later in the guide.

Congrats, you now know what all of the parts of the guitar do!

Sec 3- BEGINNING PLAYING/TUNING

Now that you have your guitar, you're going to want to play some music. It's best to start guitar sitting down, because it's much easier to play like this:

When you're starting out, because your head and eyes will be closer to the guitar; it's easier to play more coordinated like this.

The first things you're going to want to start off with are chords, and individual notes. A chord is basically a combination of strings pressed down that make a note. Some basic chords are in this picture:


As you can see, you want to press down on the frets near the edge, but not on it for the clearest sound. If you have your guitar, go ahead and try some of these chords out. Remember that the left hand side of the box represents the top of the guitar, and the right represents the bottom.

practice a few of these, here's a good beginner song that you can learn with these chords:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/a/animals/house_of_the_rising_sun_crd.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzcfTDD-tOo

Try to play along with the music, just by strumming. Set your guitar to backup if it's electric to play this song. You're going to want to use a more thin pick for strumming in general, so if you have any picks yet, use a thinner one for this song. The melody is quite simple, just play each chord from top to bottom amd back up to top. So for the A, play E-A-D-G-B-e-B-G-D-A-E.

I provided a source that gives you chords. Now, you may have seen a tab before. Here's a rather easy one.

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/b/blink_182/dammit_tab.htm

Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUq_gBa_8iQ

Just try the beginning melody, don't worry about the second part yet. In order to play along with a tab, simply have the numbers on the lines correspond with what number fret you are pushing down. So if it says 3 on the A string, go to the A string and push down the 3rd fret, and viola! For 0, just play the string, no frets. See if you can get that down. Get faster, and try to play along with the music.


This is the best way to learn a song on your own, I think. When looking for a song to learn to play, just type in on Google "X" chords or "X" tab and you'll find what you need.

TUNING: You can use a guitar tuner online, such as this one:http://www.gieson.com/Library/projects/utilities/tuner/

To use this tuner, hit the E first, then play your E string. If it sounds higher than the one in the tuner, turn the tuning looser, and vice versa. When the two seem to match, and there's no more wobbling noises, move to the next string. You'll want to tune your guitar maybe once every 2 days, depending on how much you play. You can buy a tuner at a store, which will tell you where to adjust your strings if you're out of tune.
You can also tune with an already in tune guitar, just by playing each string along with it, then adjusting.

Finally, you can tune your guitar to itself if you want to play solo and can't be bothered to find a tuner. Since the top E and bottom e are the same note, play these two and adjust the top so that there's no more wobbling sound. Now here's a trick. The E string with the 5th fret pushed down and the open A are the same note, E. So, they should sound the same. Tune them together if they don't, by tightening/loosening the A string. Next, do this for the A and D strings. And the D and G strings. For the G and B, play the G on the 4th fret and the B open this time, because they are the same note. Finally, play the B string on the 5th and the low e open, and tune them. Now you know how to tune your guitar! Congrats!

Sec 4- CONTINUING GUITAR/GETTING GOOD
Now, I realize this guide can't teach you everything about guitar. You'll probably want to find a teacher if you really want to become good. You're also going to have to practice your chords and whatever else your instructor teaches you every day. Soon enough, playing chords will be a snap and your fingers will know where to go instantly. Remember to pursue new styles and songs as you progress. There's really no limit to what you can do, but I hope this guide has set you off in the right direction and given you some good pointers. Guitar is an amazing instrument, and it's given birth to some of the greatest music ever.

Tell me what you thought of this guide, or if i should add anything to it. Thanks people.

 

Looked like a good guide at the begining but I didn't go all the way through it. I scanned through and here are a few things I think you could work on imo.

• Bold, italicize, and underline your text. It makes it easier to read and organize.
  
• Color your text according to title and sub-section. It helps to know when your moving on to a new point.
  
• Title your guide and give yourself ownership of it.
  
• Make your new sections identifiable. INTRO, pros, cons, types of guitars, important, fret, etc. Can all be bolded and seperated from your regular list.

Another thing I recently learned how to use were the dotted and numbered lists like I used above.

By using [list tags you can create a bullited list. or [list="1" for a numbered list.

you can use [* tags for each thing you decide to list and just make sure you close them after with a [/list tag

Those are just a few basic things you could work on. Hopefully I helped you improve your application and guides

(Close all the above tags ^^ with a ])

 

Fixed a couple things, I think it looks better now. Thanks for the feedback

 

Better. But I would also use bold and underlines for your main topics and keep them the same color, then use a seperate color for all your sub headings like "frets:"

 

Nic, Can you make a guide for begginer violen for my sister.