How to Play Guitar
First of all, you need a guitar that you can play all day, everyday of the week. When you have that you'll need internet access and a printer (optional). The computer your going to be using needs to be somewhere you can access easily and play your guitar at (so you cant use the Library unless your going to be printing off your guitar tabs, which is not only a waste in the long run, but also not environmentally friendly). Next, you need to know the parts of your guitar, this is very important because it can actually spell the difference between being a Rockstar and making a fool of yourself. Then you need a very basic understanding of music theory (it's not like rocket science, trust me) and what Guitar Tablature is and how to read it.
So lets get Rockin'! First, your guitar, the extension of every player's mind and body. Best thing to do, at first, is borrow one from someone you know, a music teacher, a friend, your old man, whoever. And then once you know your serious about doing it, go and buy your own. Buying you first guitar is something we'll cover later. For now, we concentrate on the parts of the guitar and how to learn your favorite songs.
Parts of the Guitar:
Ok take your guitar and hold it up. Here is a list of the parts of your guitar (for electric)
Now your probably wondering, " What the heck does all this stuff do?!" Well, here's a list:
The Head Stock: This is the "head" of your guitar. You'll normall find the Tuning Pegs or Tuning "Machines" here.
The Tuning Pegs: This is where you wind your strings and get them tight enough to be in tune with the notes you wanting (a popular tuning is the "standard" tuning, where the notes ar EADGBe from your lowest string, the fattest, to you highest e string, the thinnest)
The Nut: This keeps your strings in-line so you can play them.
Fretboard (aka The Finger Board):This is where your hand goes to make the sound and form the chords that you want.
The Frets: These little peices of metal are VERY important. Without them all you would get is a muted sounded. The frets are what tightens the strings when you press down on them and therefore produce that great thing we call music.
The Neck: Quite simply, the neck of your guitar.
Truss Rod (inside the neck): This metal rod is what prevents your strings from bending the neck. Your strings are being held at a very high tension. With out the Truss Rod in place the bend or possibly break.
Position Markers: These are simply guidelines for your fingers. So that you will know just by looking down at the guitar which fret is your 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th and so on and so forth.
Body: The Body of your guitar, the largest part of your guitar.
Bridge: This is where your strings start at and, in most cases, enter your guitar.
Sound Hole#: This is where your sound comes out at.
Saddle#: this is where your bridge is seated at.
Bridge Pins#: This helps keep your strings in place while you tighten them up (you should ONLY remove these if you ar changing out your strings).
Pick Gaurd: This stops your pick from daming the wood on your guitar, and in electrics it is what houses all the electronics.
Note the # sign in the above list refers only to parts found on the Acoustic Guitar. The rest are on all guitars.
I'm not going to lie to you. Play guitar for the first 50 times is going to hurt. But if you keep at it and don't give up. You'll get to where you won't feel the pain anymore. Best thing to do is find something to motivate you and keep you going.
Ok so you know the parts your guitar like you know the parts of your own body. Now it's time to learn your favorite songs!
This is basically how all guitar tabs are arranged on the internet
el----0-------5-------4--2----4-------5---------4---2p0h4h5/7~~------------------l
Bl-------------------------------------------------------------------------------l
Gl----------0-------0-----0----------0--------0-----0----------------------------l
Dl-0-----0-------0----------------0--------0------------------------------------l
Al-------------------------------------------------------------------------------l
El-------------------------------------------------------------------------------l Now, I know it's confusing, but you'll understand it so much in just a few minutes. You read Guitar Tab the same way as you do a book. You start at the right and go left.Now then, nearlly every guitar tab you will find is written for right handed guitarists, but fortunately there is hope for you lefty people out there. Notice that there are six lines and each one has a letter beside it. These letters correspond to the notes given off by each string when it is played "open" ... in other words not touching the strings and just plucking the guitar string. Its best if you have your friend or whoever your borrowing the guitar from to show you how to use their guitar tuner because with as many different tuners as there are I cannot explain how to use every single one of them. So you got that? The letters on the side is what your guitar needs to be tuned in to, and each one is related to that specific string. Now what are these numbers all about? Some weird form of math? I hear you ask. Well your in luck! Cause thankfully it isn't math! These numbers correspond to the frets on your fret board. The number 0 is a string played by itself with nothing press down on the string a.k.a. Open.
el---7---8---I this little section is telling you to put your finger on (pressing down until the string touches to finger board) the seventh fret on your thinnest string (high e) and then with your other hand over the body you pluck that string. and then move your finger down, after gently pulling your fingeer away from the string, to the eighth fret and pluck that one. A note on plucking, when you play "finger style" (using your fingers to pick the strings) you use your thumb to play the first 3 strings (the fat round ones with the coiling wrapped around it) and you use your index, middle, and ring finger to stroke the remaining 3. DO NOT pull the strings away from the guitar when playing. Doing this can cause the strings to break rendering the string useless. When you use a pick be sure to start off using a thin or light pick. These are far less likely to break since you may not be use to using them. When you play be sure to hold your pick at a slight angle with the tip pointing up when your strumming or plucking towards the floor, and then you angle the point down towards the floor when you come back up.
This first example is a G chord and the other is something I just through in. When you see tabs lined up like this, up and down in a line, it means that they are played at the same time.
G
el----3-----8---l
Bl----3---------l
Gl----0---------l
Dl----0-----5---l
Al----2---------l
El----3---------l
Now then, finding guitar tabs online. That is a very simple proccess. simply use your favorite search engine, such as Google or Yahoo, type in the name of the song and band that you want tabs for. Esample "Arms Wide Open Creed guitar tabs" without the quotations or you can go here http://911tabs.com to search through various tab websites at once. Now, on to guitar techniques. See next blog post.
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