How to Play Guitar - Useful Tips and Steps for Beginners

One of the most popular instruments that music lovers usually first laid their fingers on would be the guitar. Learning how to play guitar would then be very popular especially for beginners who aspire to learn on playing a music instrument. The following useful tips for newbies that will be discussed on this articles are then of great importance.

1. Let us start by knowing your instrument first. Guitar belongs to the family of string instruments that consist of a body and a neck where the strings are attached. These strings, generally six in numbers, are being played by means of the fingers or a pick. Traditionally, guitars are made up of wood and nylon or steel strings. On the other hand, the modern ones are composed of polycarbonate materials. Basically, guitars are classified into acoustic and electric families.

Acoustic guitars are usually hollow with six strings producing a loud sound and they are often associated with all styles of music such as folk music, country, R&B and heavy metal. Electric guitars on the other hand, have more electronic parts than that of the acoustic guitar such as more bells and whistles. This type of guitar is not hollow, thus an amplifier is needed in order to project the sound. The edge of electric guitar over acoustic guitar is that it is generally lighter and easier to play. Another difference between the two is on their roles to music; electric guitar is for "guitar leads" as well as chords while acoustic guitar is used to strum chords.

2. Once you have decided on which type of guitar would you have, you must identify and understand its mechanisms and parts.

a. Headstock – is the top of the guitar when it is standing on its body. The tuning knobs are found in the headstock.

b. Neck – is the long piece of wood having metal vertical bars that are segregated into segments called fret. The location of each fret will determine your finger placing on the strings. The first fret is established in the first part from the headstock and is also the outermost fret from your body. The fret gets closer to the guitar body as you advance counting.

3. Playing the guitar notes will require time, memory and patience. First thing to do is to assign the corresponding number to your fingers. This will enable you to read chords, tables and diagrams. For example, your thumb is assigned as “T.” Your pointing finger, middle finger and small finger are assigned to 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively.

4. After assigning numbers to your fingers, take note of string – number assignment. The thinnest string is the first string and will be numbered 1. On top of it is string number 2 and so on up to the sixth string.

5. Once you mastered the number assignment, learn how to read the chord diagram on order for you to proceed on learning how to play guitar. There are two types of chord, major and minor chords. There are a lot of steps online on how to read them.

Now you are ready to play a guitar with these useful tips on how to play guitar. Just remember, it takes numerous attempts towards perfection; have determination and discipline to create a perfect music.