Learning Guitar For Beginners
There is more to learning guitar for beginners than knowing how to strum along to some tunes. When you learn guitar from scratch you first have to learn the basics of your chosen instrument. A beginner would normally learn how to play guitar before moving on to any specific genre, but many people want to be a jazz guitarist before they have even picked up an instrument. In such cases it is important not to jump right into jazz or rock, but to learn the basics first.
Here are some of the things a beginner to guitar playing should focus on, and what you should expect to learn in a guitar beginner's course. Many courses will not include all of these, and with some you will end the course not really being able to play and with just a basic idea of what a guitar is about as an instrument.
Learning guitar for beginners is a logical process, and if followed correctly you should be ready to make a decision at the end of it as to the guitar genre in which you want to specialize: rock, jazz, classical, heavy metal and so on. Exponents of every one of these different styles of play should start off with the same series of lessons for guitar beginners.
If you learn what a guitar is first, and how each of the components of the instrument contribute to the sound, you will find it much easier to use your guitar to get the sound you are looking for. Having done that, and finding out why the stiffness of the neck is so important, and how the difference between nylon and steel strings changes the sound of a note, you will be ready to learn how to play.
Even strumming has to be learned, since your strumming technique can make a huge difference to your sound. You will learn the difference between upstrokes, when the highest pitched string of the chord is played first and the downstroke where it is the lowest string. While you are learning how to strum properly you will learn your first chords: generally C, G and D7, and also perhaps F. It's not just knowing how to play chords that's important, but how they are constructed, and what chords go together to make a nice sound.
"I don't want to play chords - I want to play solo!" How often have I heard that! If you want to be a great solo guitarist, playing all these fast riffs and licks, then you must learn chords and scales. Many licks are no more than the notes of specific chords played individually, or simple scales played up and down the frets. The only way to play really fast is to practice chords and scales, and even the Eric Claptons and Peter Greens had to start somewhere.
Another aspect of basic guitar playing is fingerpicking. You might think that to be pretty advanced, but with a little practice anybody can do it. Learning guitar for beginners includes learning how to properly use both hands to play, not just with a pick in your right hand. Just a little fingerpicking and chord practice and you will amaze yourself at what you can do when you combine them together.
Then you should be taught tuning, keys, and how each chord fits into each key. Specific genres use some keys more than others, and some even focus on tuning their guitar so that most tunes can be played predominantly with open strings (unfretted). Hawaiian slack key is a good example of that.
Once you can play the guitar with an open tuning, you will be ready to practice barring. A barre is where you change the key by pressing down all the strings across the fret with one finger and use the other three to complete the chord or play the melody. Barring is a very basic technique, yet one of the most important you will learn.
Once you have mastered all of that, then you will be ready to think about playing lead, or solo guitar. You will have to learn various scales, particularly the pentatonic scales that consist of 5 notes, and that are the basis behind most of the great lead guitar solos such as in Free Bird and Hotel California. These were not just composed, but are combinations of scales played repeatedly up and down the neck of the guitar, with the odd individual note and lick thrown in to make it sound unique. Hotel California is a B minor pentatonic with some harmonics and other off-scale notes thrown in. Learn your scales and you will be able to play anything. Not only that, but you will be able to put them together in your own way to compose your own guitar solos.
I mentioned harmonics there, and these are slightly too advanced for a beginner, but you will never properly learn the more advanced techniques until you have mastered the basics. Learning guitar for beginners is more than just learning to strum along to a few songs, but is a progression that will end with you being an accomplished guitarist and a master of your instrument.
The best courses are those that teach you the basics as above, and then go on to provide lessons in the various guitar genres, so offering a complete course, from guitar learning for beginners right through to master's courses in each style or genre.
If you are interested in learning guitar, the acclaimed online subscription site http://www.jamplaynow.com offers a guitar beginners course that includes all of the above components, and then allows you to continue your lessons in the guitar genre of your choice.
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