Music Lessons for the Beginner Guitarist

My first guitar was a Christmas present, two years in the making, to be shared with my twin brother. It was a Yamaha Pacifica, which was cheaper than a Fender Squire, but surprisingly better in quality than the Squire, the most common beginner's guitar. The first song that I taught myself was "The Star-Spangled Banner", which was at best patriotic. Whether your first guitar is some beat up acoustic hand-me-down, or an ultra-glamorous Gibson SG, we all need a desire to learn and time to practice in order to advance as a budding guitarist.

Skip the technicalities and just play the instrument

Even if you have perfect pitch and a degree in music theory, you still need the physical strength and agility to play the guitar. The callouses that one develops on the fingers are notorious but necessary for overcoming the first hurdle as a guitarist. Focus on popular, "open" chords such as E minor and A major to develop left hand strength and chord switching coordination. Use scales to develop finger independence and simple songs like "Mary Had a Little Lamb" to develop an ear for the notes and intervals. Scales may sound completely boring, but it is vital to practice because it builds picking coordination, which allows you to pick different strings without looking. Practice of the open chords and scales will eventually led to the development of a good strumming hand. Don't fuss over the names of the notes and chords, rather, focus on playing them to the best of your ability. The music jargon will become second nature after a while, along with tuning the strings on the guitar. In fact, I encourage the use of a chromatic tuner, because although basic, tuning is a necessity that is very hard to do as a beginning guitarist. Putting new strings on a guitar can be challenging as well, and I recommend that you find someone willing to show you how this is done. Most guitarists understand the complexity in changing strings, so most will be happy to show you the ropes.

Learn to read Guitar Tab

So you've built up a decent chord vocabulary and you can play an octave of the major scale, what's next? Tab. Tab is short for guitar tablature, which is the alternative way to read music for the guitar. Basically, a blank sheet of tab will consist of lines that represent the guitar. It seems to be written upside down, but this actually represents how the player sees the strings of the guitar. The top line in the guitar tablature represents the high E string, which is the thinnest string. The second line represents the B string, which is adjacent to the high E string. The third line represents the G string, etc. Here is a diagram for an E minor chord in standard tuning:

e|---0--------------------------------------
b|---0--------------------------------------
g|---0--------------------------------------
d|---2--------------------------------------
a|---2--------------------------------------
E|---0--------------------------------------

The "0" means that you strum the string without pressing any note down on the string. Since all the lines contain numbers in one row, all the strings in this particular chord will be strummed. The "2" means that you press down with your finger at the second fret on the corresponding string. So in this chord, you would use two fingers to press down the A and D strings (or second and third strings from the top of the guitar) at the second fret on the guitar. I use my pointer and middle finger, but some people use their middle and ring fingers. The hardest part of playing chords is to avoid muting the other strings with the fingers that fret, or press down, the notes. So in this E minor chord, make sure you don't mute the low E string and the G string with your two fingers that are pressing down the A and D strings at the second fret. Pick out each string starting from the low E string to the high E string and make sure each string sounds clear and resonant. If any strings are muted it will be obvious, for it will sound more like a "blip" as opposed to a "blahhhhhhhhhhhhh". Guitar tab is a more intuitive way of reading music than sheet music, for it gives you the exact position of the notes, while sheet music implies that you can memorize the notes on a scale. You will also be able to find tab for popular music online with relative ease, as opposed to buying sheet music in music stores.

Guitar tab link - http://www.guitaretab.com/

Play along with popular music

Although tab is only as accurate as the person that posted the tab, it serves as a short cut to be able to play along with a popular song. If you can memorize the three chords in your favorite Green Day song (or any other easy pop-punk or beginner song) , then you are ready for the next step, which is playing with rhythm. The best way to develop rhythm is to practice with a metronome, but personally I find this monotonous and boring. Playing in the rhythm of a well known song is a more fun and productive way to play in time. Start with a song that has a simple chord progression (one with power chords tend to be easiest). When you've mastered switching back and forth from chord to chord on your own, cue up the song on the stereo and see if you can play along and stay in rhythm with the song. Eventually, it will be less of a chore to try and keep up with the song, for you will have memorized the chords and notes of the song and more of your thoughts can then be directed towards the rhythm and beat.

Easy Beginner Song - Ramones - "I Wanna Be Sedated"

If you are playing along with songs on the radio, or rehearsing simple songs for your friends and family, you are well on your way towards becoming an excellent self-taught guitarist. Since you do not have a teacher to show you the importance of variety, make sure you learn songs that are in different genres of music. Joining a band can be fun, but playing with many musicians in many different genres of music is how you really advance as a musician. If you feel that you aren't learning anything new, reach out and jam with other instruments, for playing along with another guitarist is much different that playing with a drummer, or a jazz flutist...