1. Introduction, positioning, Chords D, C, G
You will learn...
- How to position your body while playing
- The proper positioning of your hand on the fretboard
- Suggestions for how to hold the pick
- Three chords - D, G & C
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The guitar course for beginners
Welcome to the first beginner guitar lesson. I hope that you will like my course enough to recommend it to others, and that you will move on to my other future lessons=).
Before moving on, I want to make sure
In case you missed it, there is a section with instructions on how to read tablature, tune the guitar and some other basic things that you should read and understand before you go on with the following lkessons. To make sure you do not miss these pages, here are their links:
Buying a guitar | The guitar parts | How to tune a guitar | How to read tab and chord diagrams
I also want to make you aware of the online Guitar song book, which contains many great guitar songs which you can learn as your playing skills improve. I personally add the chords and make the tabulature to the songs to make sure things are right.
Good guitar books for beginners
The Internet is agreat resource for guitar learning, but having more information is never wrong. I therefore strongly encourage you to get at least a chord book and a songbook, maybe even a separate learning book (any book will nicely complement my website, however my website suffices more than enough for the beginner guitarist). Below are some examples with good deals from Amazon.
To view more great guitar books for beginners, click here
Tune the guitar!
First you have to tune your guitar, otherwise it will sound horrible. =)Tune with a computerized guitar, Click here
Positioning your body and the guitar
When you play guitar, the position that gives you the best control is actually the classical position (1). This goes both for classical guitarists and heavy metal guitarists - believe it or not=). However you should aim to sit comfortablywhen you play, and this might not be comfortable for you;).
The most common position that a lot of guitarists assume when they play, is having the guitar simply resting on the thigh that is at the same side as your strumming hand (righthanded - right thigh and vice versa) (2). I am right handed, for instance, therefore I let the guitar rest on my right thigh in this position.
Keep in mind that you should not lean on your guitar. It should be fixed in a neutral position, in which you can play comfortably with a straight back. You should keep your guitar in place with your right arm & upper body. A tip is to cross your legs as you play in the second position (3) - this puts the guitar in a higher and more stable position, and makes it easier to play.
And now a little something that is an often recurring topic in guitarforums worldwide...
Positioning your fingers and hand on the neck and fretboard
This may not seem that important for you as a beginner (starting out I was also sceptical), but trust me when I tell you that it is important. Since old habits die hard, ytou need to start out with a good one. The good habit of holding a guitar with the left hand (fretting hand) is the following:
The hand and the fingers should be at a 90 degree (perpendicular) angle in relation to the strings, and your thumb should always be approximately in the middle of the back of the neck. By that I mean not "hooking" your thumb over the edge onto the fretboard.
The position described above i the orange box is the "classical" position, and the baseball bat position is commonly called the "rock guitarist" position. The classical position is the best, since it enables you to fuly stretch out your fingers, allowing you to cover more frets.
A last thing to think about is to simply let the thumb "hang" from the neck, not making it forecfully "stuck". You shold be able to move your hand freely up and down the fretboard, lkeeping your thumb in the middle (the ideal position is about behind your middle finger at all times)
I demonstrate the above points in the video.
Pick or no pick?
If you want to play with or without a pick is a choice only YOU can make. Bear in mind that you do not need a pick in order to play "fast" (For example, listen to Paco de Lucia) - anyway playing fast should never be your goal in guitar playing - then you have entirely missed the point in making music!
A good guitarplayer knows his music, and can play it well - it does not matter how fast or slow he can play it. Of course, though, some speed is required in the long run to play some really good pieces (according to me), but you don't need to worry about that just yet.
Anyway I encourage you to try and play a little bit with a pick, and a litte bit without. I play both with and without, as you may or may not notice in my videos. It largely depends on the music that I want to play, style and so on.
Also playing without a pick, I believe, is great for getting to know your new guitar friend. Besides it is never good for a guitarist to feel handicapped and that he/she cannot play just because there is no pick around!
Holding the pick
How do you hold the pick? Well, these are the two most common ways.
Like this...
... or like this.
I personally adapt the second pick-holding method when I play (sometimes with a clenched fist)- it works for me. Anyway if you find that holding your pick with your teeth is the best way for you to play, then go for it =)! These pictures are just guidelines.
Playing with the pick
When strumming it is important that you use both up and down movements. It is very important to get used to in the beginning, simply because (as I said) old habits die hard. There are several advantages to this - an obvious one is that you can strum everything twice as fast.
Having that said you also need to know that some songs or situations require you to play in only down or only up movements - this depends on that you get different sounds for each way! But as a general rule, think "down - up - down - up" - all the time
Your first chords
Allright - now you must be really sick of all my yapping - it's time to actually play the guitar, right?
Below you will find your first chords, that i have chosen to be D, C & G. You should already know how to the read the chord diagrams. If you do not, learn about it here: How to read tabulature & chord diagrams.
First try to fret the chord correctly on the neck, then try to play it. Do not move on to the next chord until you achieve a clean sound on all strings of the chord. If you do not get a clean sound, one of your fingers is probably in the way - look, correct, and play it again. You will get it right eventually, don't worry!
I will show some common trouble-shooting int he video below the chords.
Note: this is very difficult in the beginning. You probably never held a guitar before, therefore your fingers are going to feel very lost on the fretboard. It may also be painful - not only on your fingertips but also in your muscles. Don't worry about it - your body adapts very quickly to new exercises & stress, and this will be over soon (approximately a week or two, with the right amount of training). The speed of changing chords also comes with time - it's just a matter of habit.
Try to always maintain your fingers positioned in between the frets, otherwise this might contribute to a sitar-like buzzing sound. By that I mean : "Fret the string between the metal pins, not on top of them"
The chords that you will learn first are called open chords - because they use unfretted (open) strings, as you will see!
X32010
or
X32013
D
G
320033
or
320003
In the second way you fret the 3rd string on the high e string with your ring finger.
Both versions are correct for fretting this chord in, although the first version gives the best sound. It's also a good way to get your little finger playing as well - we don't want to start out neglecting this guy ;).
In this video i demonstrate how to grip the chords, and some important guidelines. The goal with this lesson is for you to learn the proper way to grip the chords, and bit by bit learn how to make transitions between them.
Pep-talk
If you never played guitar before, this is going to be really difficult. I'm just going to lay out the facts for you:
1. It will feel very strange, trying to grip the chords
2. Your fingers are going to hurt
3. You might be thinking: "How am i ever going to learn this stuff!?"
Unfortunately, there is no easy way around these points, however I can assure you that they are all temporary! You will quite soon (within a week or so, depending on how much you play) get used to the fretboard, the skin on your fingers will thicken, and the nervous connections concerning your finger coordination will improve. It's just how the body works - for instance it takes your body about 2 weeks to heal any simple wound that you have, under normal circumstances. Even the smallest scratch!
When you think about it like that, it might be easier to accept that it will take at least the same amount of time for your fingers (and your brain) to get used to these new and unfamiliar motions.
It's about, so to speak, getting over the "beginner's threshold". It will become more and more easier for you to learn new things as you keep learning, trust me.
I still remember the first time I tried to play a few chords - I went through the exact same problems. Pain in fingers, weird gripping feelings, doubtfulness etc. But I managed to get over it pretty quickly, and then it became much easier to learn.
So to sum it all up - if it feels weird, and if it hurts, but you still want to be able to play guitar -don't worry about it, because it will pass. I promise=)
Allright
That's it for the first lesson - bBefore you move on I would like you to:
- Watch out for you thumb!
- make sure that you can grip every chord nice and clean
- Try piece by piece to make chord transitions - for instance try to grip a C-chord, then G, then D, then G, C, and so on and so forth!
- Try to grip the chords with your eyes closed (or in a dark room) this will help you to get the feel for the fretboard
- Keep in mind that you shouldn't stress through the learning process. You have all the time in the world to learn how to play guitar. If you start skipping through important basic things now, you will waste a lot of time going back at it again. =)
