Important Guitar Tips For Beginners - How To Do It Right From The Get-Go

By Remy Moz Remy Moz
Level: Platinum

Remy Moz is the Editor-in-Chief of ReviewMOZ.org. At ReviewMOZ.org readers can "Learn, Compare and Save" by reading professionally written product reviews, comparisons, and customer feedback ...

Learning the guitar seemed easy enough to me then because almost everyone I knew at that time seemed to know a few chords and so I thought, "How hard could it be, right?" Boy, was I ever wrong. If you aren't determined enough, you could just easily ditch the whole thing. But if someone told you what you should expect, wouldn't you be more prepared and more ready to see yourself through all the challenges? Learn and Master Guitar by Steve Krenz does just that and so does this article.

The first challenge you'll ever run into when learning the guitar is dealing with the pain of training your fingers to be nimble and strong enough to hold the chords. Learning how to position your fingers might look easy but it can be a pain. However, you can make the pain all worth it if you know the right technique from the get-go and if you learn a few exercises to warm-up and strengthen your fingers. Buy Learn and Master Guitar if you want to go and learn techniques from the pros as early as now. The more you've trained yourself to do it right the first few tries, the easier it will be for you as you progress.

So how do you position your hands? First, you need to focus on training your left hand before you move on to the next. Learning one at a time should make it easier. Your left hand should be positioned in a way that no sound will be muffled when you pluck or strum with your right and in order to do that you need to start with the proper positioning of your thumb.

The thumb is often ignored by most first-timers because when you're on your first learning session, you really just want to be able to play the song you've chosen, paying little mind about technique. I understand. I've been there. And like I said, you do not want to build a habit that'll impede your playing later on and that will be hard to break. In any case, your thumb should be planted firmly against the back of the neck of the guitar and should be at least halfway down, with the left thumb pad the only part touching the guitar. Don't bend your thumb or curl it. You also want to make sure you keep your wrist bent in and never out or backwards. For diagrams on this and for other proper hand and finger positioning, go to Learn and Master Guitar Reviews. You may also compare this program with other learn guitar programs by checking out general review sites like ReviewMOZ.org.

Before you purchase any online product, go to ReviewMOZ.org and take a look at the Product Reviews, comparisons and user ratings of a wide variety of consumer products and services. Check out Learn & Master Guitar and Learn & Master Blues Guitar by Steve Krenz, Jamorama Guitar, Guitar Maintenance by Greg Voros, Guitar Super Stars and other music learning courseware at ReviewMOZ.org.

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Article Submitted On: April 07, 2011

I Can Play Guitar, That Means I Can Play Bass Too, Right?

Learn To Play The Right Way

Along with the piano, the bench is a very important piece to playing the piano. Piano is meant to be calm and relaxing, so there is certain etiquette to it. Imagine someone playing the piano while standing up. Now imagine someone playing a piano sitting at a bench. Which mental picture looks right? Your answer will probably be the one where the person is sitting down because the piano keys are at a lower level. It definitely looks more elegant to have someone sitting at a duet piano bench with another player or alone at an artist piano bench.

Sitting at a bench with good posture is not the only thing that is important. Having good posture helps you play by keeping you more focused on what you are doing instead of being comfortable and slouching, and it also looks better than seeing someone slouched over on their bench. When you play, you have to realize that people are watching you and only you. When you are in a band or orchestra, the audience has more people to look at and may not recognize certain flaws. With playing the piano, it is easier to have your flaws noticed. When playing at a recital, remember to sit up straight, keep a good rhythm, and try to look confident in what you are doing. Even if you mess up, the audience will not notice if you keep going and act like nothing went wrong.

Throughout your lessons, you may have heard your teacher or instructor talking to you about your hand positions. There is a certain way to play and with everyone watching just you, you do not want to look sloppy. You want a fluid movement with your hands and this means that you will need a lot of practice determining what keys to hit with which fingers. Playing the piano can be related to typing on a computer keyboard. Anyone who has ever taken a keyboarding class knows that you have to move your fingers but keep them in the same general area. If you do not do this, you cannot type as fast and you have to look around to find what key to press next. Knowing where your fingers need to go and creating a fluid motion can help you produce less choppy music.

Another problem that many people have when they begin playing is not being able to read music. There are musicians, who like to listen and find the notes themselves, but these are the people who are self-taught; it takes serious dedication and a lot of skill to be able to play this way. For children or anyone learning to play the piano, it is important that they know how to read sheet music. It can be difficult for some people, but it is crucial to learning to play the right way.

Anyone can play any instrument if they learn how to read music or listen to the notes. It takes some practice, but there are tricks that seem fussy such as keeping good posture, but it looks better to the audience and can even help the pianist.

The Yamaha YAS-23 - It Just Feels Right

I've played Yamaha saxophones long before I wrote this Yamaha YAS-23 Review and if you've ever played a Yamaha saxophone you know why they're so popular and sell lots of them. Although I still prefer the sound of a Selmer, but Yamaha saxophones have certain playability factor that makes them feel right.

The Yamaha YAS-23 alto saxophone is a highly recommended horn for any beginner or even intermediate looking for a good quality, well playing saxophone.

Now the Yamaha YAS-23 isn't the best model they make, far from it. It's still a Yamaha though and there's a certain amount of integrity and quality this company is known for. Because of this, there are still some comparisons that can be made between the YAS-23 that retails brand new for about $1500 to the models they sell in the $4000 range.

Some of the differences won't have a huge impact on a player that's just starting out for several reasons:

Quality

The quality of some of the materials such as tone hole pads, rods, and finish aren't as good as the professional models but longevity isn't what the student models are made for. Yes these parts will wear out a lot sooner but can easily be replaced as needed and last for several more years and generally speaking, long enough for any beginner.

You'll also notice just by looking at this sax that the quality of the lacquer isn't as nice, and the keys and rods are silver and not gold.

Also these "cheaper" parts won't make a noticeable difference in sound or performance for the beginner to intermediate player.

High F#... Naaa!

Some models have a high F# key but not the Yamaha YAS. Having a high F# can make it easier to play the note, that's why it was invented. My first sax didn't have one either and it took some time to develop the technique to produce a high F# that was in tune.

When I got a saxophone that did have that key I found it a bit easier to get the note in tune but I'll argue that I made good improvement while working on my tone and embouchure up there without the high F#, so going without in this case isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Best thing to Take away from this Yamaha YAS-23 Review... It Just Feels Right!

The Yamaha YAS-23 is much like all other models by this manufacturer and that is they just "feel right"... and that's very important! You know what that means when you try playing many different makes and models.

Some feel like they were made by someone who wasn't a player because of the spacing between some of the notes for example, or the height of a particular side key. These are things that affect our speed and playing comfort... just doesn't feel right.

Yamaha's designs seem to have the comfort and playability that seems to come more from a player's perspective... it just feels right!