Wednesday, October 24, 2012

How To Play Guitar - Beginners

Here's some cool chord shapes to play if you're just starting out! When you're learning how to play the guitar you have to make sure you learn the basics first and don't learn bad habits that will get you into trouble. A great exercise to start with is the 1234 exercise.
This exercise just uses the corresponding finger with the corresponding fret. Start on the first fret first string using your first finger, then use your second finger for the second fret first string, third finger third fret, and pinky for the fourth fret. Repeat on all strings.



This is a great one to practice as a warm up and to improve finger dexterity. Next try a chord. Chords are a little different from picking single notes as now we are playing multiple notes and multiple strings at once. Try playing this E chord

Notice the proper use of your fingers. Yes, your third finger is on the D string and second finger on the A.  A lot of self taught musicians play those notes backwards and that is a bad habit. The 0's also indicate an open string so you strum all the strings for this chord. A good way to practice is to pick each string individually to you're sure every note is sounding. Try changing to this chord!

Important: This is an A chord but as a beginner I encourage you to leave out the third finger on the second string second fret and just leave the string open! This will still be a beautiful sounding chord and will have you easily changing between E and A.
Learning how to play guitar means you have to develop muscle memory for chord changes it also means developing good habits. The first exercise is something you should sit down and practice whenever you have a chance. No, it's not the most exciting thing to do when it comes to playing the guitar but it does help. It means you'll be able to play more difficult things as you progress and be able to easily learn new concepts. Playing E and A on the other hand will make that guitar sound good and it's an excellent change to master if you're just starting out. Play back and forth as much as possible and soon you'll have that muscle memory down and it will be second nature. Even try switching without strumming at first just get used to the hand movement. Rock On!

No comments:

Post a Comment