Guitar and music in general is personally one of the most fulfilling hobbies you can pick up. Music is blind to color, culture and deaf to language. Any person can simply take pleasure in any style and truly sense it. It's extremely stimulating when you blast out a power chord through an amp at a rocking decibel. Or singing out songs over your acoustic for family and friends. Releasing your feelings and emotions through sound is a truly mind-blowing moment. So lets jump right into some easy guitar lessons.
One more thing to the newbies before we start. Do not give up and have patience. I will never forget grabbing my first guitar for the first time knowing I would be jamming to my favorite CDs immediately. Boy was I wrong. I couldn't even get a single note to sound out clearly and definitely couldn't hold multiple fingers to form a chord. I didn't give up, I adjusted my goals and stuck to it.
For most people, playing the guitar for the first time is not simple, your fingers most likely will not go where you want them to. So you need to do drills to get them better. No secrets here to playing guitar, just training and repetition. I'm not the first person in your life to tell you this, practice makes perfect. This first stage of guitar is about getting your fingers strong and bendable. It can become tedious sometimes so I would work in front of the TV until I improved.
Getting both hands to play nicely as one is also going to take some practice so don't get dispirited. Your fingers are going to hurt at first so play through it as long as possible and then take a breather. Calluses will build up on your finger tips and the soreness will go away. Trust me the worst part about beginning guitar is beginning guitar. Please just stick with it and battle through it, the rewards will be immeasurable.
So let's start with your strumming hand. This is your picking hand and your rhythm hand. You can use a pick or your fingers. Practice picking slowly and steady, alternating down and up. Start slow and play along as you tap your foot to keep in time. Down, up, down, up, down, etc. alternating slowly. Don't rush this, build up speed as you get comfortable. Practice this on 1 string then move on to 2 strings, then 3 strings and so on as if you were practicing chords. When beginning or practicing in front of the TV you can mute the strings with your other hand to really pay attention to the rhythm.
Ok how about that fretting hand. This is the hand that is going to pick out the notes to be played. This is the hand that also may start to hurt and the hand that doesn't seem to know what it is doing when first beginning. Again take it slow, take it steady, and please be patient. We need to get all four fingers working with each other. Now it is easy to skip out on the pinkie training because they are the hardest, do Not do this. If something feels uncomfortable when playing guitar it just means you need to practice more.
So here is the nitty gritty exercise to get you smoking on that fret board. On fret one of your low E string press down strongly with your index finger. While still pressing use your middle finger on fret 2. While holding both down press your ring finger on fret 3. And of course the pinkie on fret four . As you are doing this you should be picking, always alternating, down and up, down and up. You then simply back up this process by lifting your pinkie first, then ring, etc So press 1, 2, 3, 4 and then reverse 4,3,2,1 while alternating your picking down and up.
Start this exercise slow and get it precise, do it until your fingers are bleeding. Then as it gets simpler build up your speed. Practice this on all strings, all over the fretboard. This will unlock your fingers and really get them going. Get this down pat and exact then build up. Guitar is my obsession and hopefully this can help you on your way. It truly is an amazing instrument. Videos and photos will really help burn these concepts in your brain. Check out these easy guitar lessons.
One more thing to the newbies before we start. Do not give up and have patience. I will never forget grabbing my first guitar for the first time knowing I would be jamming to my favorite CDs immediately. Boy was I wrong. I couldn't even get a single note to sound out clearly and definitely couldn't hold multiple fingers to form a chord. I didn't give up, I adjusted my goals and stuck to it.
For most people, playing the guitar for the first time is not simple, your fingers most likely will not go where you want them to. So you need to do drills to get them better. No secrets here to playing guitar, just training and repetition. I'm not the first person in your life to tell you this, practice makes perfect. This first stage of guitar is about getting your fingers strong and bendable. It can become tedious sometimes so I would work in front of the TV until I improved.
Getting both hands to play nicely as one is also going to take some practice so don't get dispirited. Your fingers are going to hurt at first so play through it as long as possible and then take a breather. Calluses will build up on your finger tips and the soreness will go away. Trust me the worst part about beginning guitar is beginning guitar. Please just stick with it and battle through it, the rewards will be immeasurable.
So let's start with your strumming hand. This is your picking hand and your rhythm hand. You can use a pick or your fingers. Practice picking slowly and steady, alternating down and up. Start slow and play along as you tap your foot to keep in time. Down, up, down, up, down, etc. alternating slowly. Don't rush this, build up speed as you get comfortable. Practice this on 1 string then move on to 2 strings, then 3 strings and so on as if you were practicing chords. When beginning or practicing in front of the TV you can mute the strings with your other hand to really pay attention to the rhythm.
Ok how about that fretting hand. This is the hand that is going to pick out the notes to be played. This is the hand that also may start to hurt and the hand that doesn't seem to know what it is doing when first beginning. Again take it slow, take it steady, and please be patient. We need to get all four fingers working with each other. Now it is easy to skip out on the pinkie training because they are the hardest, do Not do this. If something feels uncomfortable when playing guitar it just means you need to practice more.
So here is the nitty gritty exercise to get you smoking on that fret board. On fret one of your low E string press down strongly with your index finger. While still pressing use your middle finger on fret 2. While holding both down press your ring finger on fret 3. And of course the pinkie on fret four . As you are doing this you should be picking, always alternating, down and up, down and up. You then simply back up this process by lifting your pinkie first, then ring, etc So press 1, 2, 3, 4 and then reverse 4,3,2,1 while alternating your picking down and up.
Start this exercise slow and get it precise, do it until your fingers are bleeding. Then as it gets simpler build up your speed. Practice this on all strings, all over the fretboard. This will unlock your fingers and really get them going. Get this down pat and exact then build up. Guitar is my obsession and hopefully this can help you on your way. It truly is an amazing instrument. Videos and photos will really help burn these concepts in your brain. Check out these easy guitar lessons.
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