How To Play Chords On the Guitar - Five Easy Steps To Learning To Play Acoustic Guitar

Three Steps To Learn Guitar Tabs

Have you recently bought a guitar, and are now looking at the best way to learn guitar tabs? If so, then it's important to remember that a huge number of people are put off playing guitar, or at least taking it much further than the occasional rather sad sounding twang, simply because they go about it the wrong way. In this article we'll be looking briefly at some of the best ways to make the most of every minute you spend with your guitar, in order to maximise both your success and the enjoyment that comes from learning to play guitar.

People tend to approach the whole idea of starting to learn guitar tabs in different ways. For a few people the best approach is to find a music teacher, and pay for regular music lessons, at least once a week, in order to learn how to play guitar properly. This is particularly useful if you're looking to play classical guitar, but there are plenty of music teachers available offering lessons in everything from acoustic and classical to rock.

Other people tend to stick to books and manuals, working out for themselves where their fingers need to be, and some can even judge their performance accurately enough by listening to the sounds they're making. Some people know a group of friends, and may well hang out with them, jamming and learning from each other, which can work well. But all of these methods tend to result in people giving up too soon. Music lessons can be expensive, and limit your creativity. Diagrams teach you very little about how to play guitar tabs, because they only show one aspect of the problem. Jamming with friends may be fun, but often the learning will be incidental, and the techniques you pick up may not be ideal.

However, if you want to learn guitar tabs properly, there are a few things you can do which will make a big difference. First of all, have a look at the many learn to play guitar video tutorials now available online. Many of these are published by well known, accomplished musicians and performers, who will not only teach you some of the best ways to learn guitar tabs, play chords and switch from one chord to another, but may even help show you how they go about playing some parts of their own songs. There's nothing quite like learning how to play one of your favourite songs than watching a real performer show you step by step.

The second thing to consider is that learning to play guitar, especially in the early days, will be slow. It's surprising just how much strength and tolerance you need in your fingers and wrists. As you get used to playing you'll start to relax more, but it is to be expected that to start with you'll be a little tense, a little stiff and a little tight, and this all adds up to strain. Limit yourself to no more than ten minutes at a time, a few times a day. Build up gradually, and give yourself a break.

Listen to your own performance. If you can record your performance, this is great - if you can video it, even better. By watching the learn to play video tutorials online, and comparing these to your own performance you can quickly start to identify the differences, helping you to build up gradually,

Finally, it's worth remembering that whilst it's great to have a dream and a goal, perhaps playing in a band, this is only going to happen after a very long period of learning, practising and trying. If you want to learn guitar tabs then take it slow and steady, use online video tutorials and listen to or watch your performance form time to time. Learning from the professionals doesn't have to mean paying for expensive music lessons, but it also doesn't mean you'll be playing Glastonbury next week either.

Teach Yourself Guitar - 5 Amazingly Easy Steps For Newbies

Before you teach yourself guitar, there are 3 main things that you have to take into consideration.

The first and most important consideration is to find or buy your own guitar. If you do not have cash yet, you can borrow first but try to get some part-time work to save enough to buy your very own guitar. If you do not mind, you can always get a used guitar since you are just a beginner. You can borrow a guitar the 1st few weeks but it is recommended that you have your own guitar so that you will be able to learn faster. When you use the guitar so often, it will naturally see some signs of exhaustion. Therefore if you use a used guitar, you won't feel so sad to see your brand new old getting a bit old so soon.

The next thing you have to consider is choosing the right guitar to play with. This would be depend on you own preference. Which type of songs do you like to play? Are you the sensitive type and prefer to play ballads rather than playing pop or rock songs? Many guitarists started playing the acoustic guitar before going on to bass or electric guitar. Acoustic guitar is easily available in the music shop with various brand such as Ibanez or Taylor Acoustic Guitar and it is more flexible in the sense that you can play it anytime, anywhere you want to and even on American Idol.

The 3rd consideration is to find someone to listen to you. It will be easier if you have someone who can support you and to give you their honest opinion on how well you are playing the guitar even though the truth might sometimes hurt you. This will fast track your effort to teach yourself guitar. It will be a plus point if he is an experienced guitar player so that he can correct your techniques and give you tips on how to improve your techniques which books and online tutorials can't.

Once you have that in place, you can now start to learn strumming the guitar. Can you teach yourself guitar strumming? Is that possible? Of course, just use Goggle and YouTube for free resources for a start.

1. You have found the right guitar. Place the guitar in a comfortable position. It would be easier if you are sitting down and then rest the base of the guitar on your right thigh. Use your left fingers to support the other end of the strings and for tuning and changing the notes. Your right hand fingers is used for strumming and plucking. This will create the proper body positioning. Try to maintain a good posture and also a comfortable position to avoid straining your muscles.

2. Put the notes and books in front of you and follow each step carefully. You need to be familiar with all the basic chords and then try to memorize them. Try to play slowly and focus on the easier basic chords first. Once you know the basic ones, then you can go on to the harder ones which contain frets and power chords.

3. Choose some easy songs to play on the guitar. It would be good to choose songs which repeats only four or five easy chord sequences. A good example is You and Me by Lifehouse. It consists of just four chords namely G, C, E- minor, and D which is repeated.

4. While you are playing the guitar, you can also sing along or hum together. This will help you to get into the mood and be a source of inspiration and staying close to the correct melody. As you sing, you will notice whether you are strumming the right chords or if you have gone out of tune.

5. Take your time. Never give up on yourself. You need to be persistent although you feel like giving up sometimes. Do no worry if you see blisters on your fingers, it shows that you have been practising hard.

Rome was not built in one day and so it will take time to teach yourself guitar. If you persist, you will master it in no time. Playing guitar is not hard if you are persistent and have a positive attitude.

21 Steps to Rapidly Improve Your Guitar Playing

1. Regular daily practice may sound boring, but set yourself a reminder, commit to 20 to 30 minutes five times a week and you'll be impressed with the progress you make!
2. Know the difference between "practice" and "play". Practice time is when you focus on things you can't already do. Yes, that new tune you should have learnt by now! Playing is just letting it flow, not working on or thinking about what you're doing, but just having fun.
3. Get a Metronome. Yes, the little item which bleeps! Working with one regularly strengthens the internal metronome you never knew was in there!
4. Listen and learn styles you wouldn't normally choose. If you're into pop/rock, go learn some country: it'll give you a new way of thinking, plus some new ideas.
5. Keep a practice diary. Write down what you learn. That way, you can look back and see if you can still play the songs you were working on a while ago. Great way to measure progress.
6. Regularly review what you learnt to see how far you have come.
7. Set goals. Find a song you can't play, set a date that you'll be able to play it by, and work hard to achieve your goal.
8. Play with more advanced players. You will learn the most by falling on your face live and getting your butt handed to you!
9. Have a practice buddy. Find a friend you can practise with, monitor each other's progress and point out mistakes you can see. It's far easier to see the mistakes of others than your own.
10. Find a local Jam. You might be nervous, but you'll meet some great musicians and get over your fear of just getting up there and playing something.
11. Record yourself playing your favourite song (without the song in the background) and then listen back. What works? What sucks? Be very critical.
12. Transcribe - learn how to work out songs, solos and licks.
13. Learn to just "hear it" - knowing where the music's going is a must if you play in a band, forget the music or are at a jam. If you can just "hear it", people will be lining up to play with you!
14. Keep a "to work on" list. If you hear something you would like to play, write it down, add it to the list.
15. Evaluate every gig. Assess what worked and what didn't. Work on the things that didn't.
16. Learn all your scales: each and every one of them, know them backwards, forwards, sideways and back to front!
17. Learn every chord and voicing. Work out every chord possible (there's a lot of them!), then learn all possible versions of that chord (voicings and inversions).
18. Work on your sound. Experiment with your tone, explore new sounds, borrow pedals to try out. Work on copying famous people's tone.
19. Start a folder. Jot down on musical/chord box/TAB paper everything you work out. Flick over this later and quickly get up to speed with what you learnt.
20. Tuning. We've all been to too many gigs where people have played out of tune. Make sure you always play and bend in tune. If you're at a gig, tune in between each song (or at least check).
21. Finally....enjoy: have fun!

This article has been viewed 3 time(s).
Article Submitted On: March 22, 2011