How did I learn to play the guitar? Personal experience and advice of a self-taught musician ...

1. What are guitars?
2. What kind of guitar to buy?
3. How to tune your guitar?
4. Start learning to play the guitar

Once I had the idea to learn how to play the guitar. I sat down to look for information on this topic on the Internet. Having found a lot of things on the topic, I could not understand which information is important and which is irrelevant.

In this article I will tell you about what a beginning guitarist needs to know: how to choose a guitar, on which strings it is better to start playing, how to tune a guitar, what chords are and how they are put, etc.

What are guitars?

There are many different types of guitar. Two main types today are an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar. Guitars also differ in the number of strings. In this article we will discuss only six-string, acoustic guitars. Although some of the tips are also suitable for electric guitars with the same set of strings.

What kind of guitar to buy?

When buying a guitar it is worth learning one simple truth: guitars have almost no objective parameters. The objective parameters of the guitar can be attributed, perhaps, only the wood from which the instrument body is made, and the material from which the strings are made.

Guitars are made from almost all existing types of wood or wood "rolled". I do not recommend buying guitars made of plywood, as they can fall apart in a couple of months, and they don't sound very much.

The strings are divided into two types: nylon and metal. I recommend to take a guitar with nylon strings, since they are easier to clamp on the fretboard when setting up chords.

One more thing. If you are left-handed, then you may be better to take a guitar for left-handers (for such a neck is directed the other way). Everything else is purely subjective things. It is best to just come to the music store, pick up a guitar and play, if you like, how it sounds, buy without hesitation.

How to tune your guitar?

Each of the six guitar strings tuned to one particular note. The numbering of the strings goes from bottom to top, from the thinnest string to the thickest:

1 - mi (the thinnest lower string)
2 - si
3 - salt
4 - re
5 - la
6 - mi (the thickest upper string)

There are many ways to tune a guitar. The easiest for you will be guitar tuning with the help of a tuner. The tuner is sold in most music stores. You can also use a digital tuner, that is, a program that will perform the same functions as an analog tuner. To use such programs requires a microphone (only for acoustic guitars).

The essence of the tuner tuning is that when the instrument is on, you turn the pegs for each of the six strings and pull the string (make a test). For each sample, the tuner responds with its own indicator. So, you need the tuner to react to the six strings of your guitar with the following indicators: E4, B3, G3, D3, A2, E2 (written in order of strings from first to last).

Start learning to play the guitar

Here you have two ways. This is either going to any courses, classes with a teacher and so on. Or you can become self-taught.

Regarding the first way, it is worth saying that the prices per hour due to the popularity of the service are quite serious, on average 500 rubles in 60 minutes. At least for normal results you will need 30 lessons, that is, you will spend about 15 thousand rubles. An alternative could be a digital course, which, with the same efficiency, will cost 5-8 times cheaper. For example, a good guitar course (click on the banner):

On the second path is now a little more detailed. To begin with, when setting the first chords, you will have a little pain on the fingers of your left hand, and also, if you do everything right, then your forearm, and even a little bit of your back. This is normal! You just get used to new movements. Unpleasant sensations will leave in a couple of days, help yourself with a simple physical workout, which will release all muscles.

Regarding the setting of hands and generally holding a guitar, we can say the following. The guitar should be put on the right leg (not very close to the knee), the guitar should be tipped with the left hand (the neck is the left side of the guitar, at the end of which is a hammer mechanism). The thumb of the left hand should be just behind the fingerboard and nowhere else. We put our right hand on the strings.

Chord battles and busting on the internet in bulk. Chord patterns are called fingerings (these fingerings show which finger to put). One chord can be put in several different fingering. So you can start the game and learn how to take your first guitar chords , you can still read the material about tablature to see how you can play the guitar without knowing the notes.

It's enough for today! There are already enough tasks in front of you: to find a guitar, tune it and sit down for the first chords, or maybe purchase a training course. Thank you for your attention and good luck!

See what you will learn! This is cool!

The author is Alexey Khristolyubov.