It is not necessary to study at a music school to learn how to play the guitar. It is enough to know a couple of chords and you can already play a simple melody for your friends. But if you want to learn how to perform more serious compositions, you can take lessons on playing this amazing instrument at home.
How to choose a guitar
Before learning how to play the guitar, you need to find the right instrument. But having visited the store, the novice musician begins to involuntarily get lost in the entire assortment and variety of models. Therefore, when choosing a guitar, you need to adhere to certain actions.
Initially, you should pay attention to the strings, which are iron and nylon. For training, nylon strings are better, since iron strings will cut unused fingers.
Next, you should inspect the guitar visually for the integrity of the body, the absence of dents or cracks. The top and bottom decks should be made from a single piece of plywood, and all joints should be well taped. You need to ask the seller about the material from which the tool is made. It is better to buy a guitar made of pine.
The neck must be perfectly flat, without distortion, otherwise the beginner will not be able to tune the instrument correctly. It is better to give preference to a guitar with a neck that is bolted, rather than glued. This will allow, due to the bolted connection, to change the distance between the neck and the strings and to align it slightly in case of bending.
The state of the tuners is important in the sound of the guitar, since with their help it is tuned. They should fit snugly, without gaps, spin well and not creak. It remains to check the acoustics and sound of the instrument. In general, the strings should "sound" and not "rattle". Considering all the features, it is better to entrust the choice of a guitar to a professional in order to be able to purchase a quality instrument.
How to learn to play the guitar
To play the guitar, in addition to the acquired skills, you need an ear for music. If not, it will be quite difficult to learn the game. The main steps that you need to go through in learning are reading tablatures, learning how to build chords, possible ways to perform accompaniments, as well as going through practical exercises. Choosing the right way to learn to play the guitar at home is also important.
One of them is the printed tutorials, a free guide that collects basic beginner lessons. They describe in detail the tuning of the guitar, frets, notes, chords, and more. A potential student decides for himself when to study, but this method is more suitable for patient, diligent people. If a person does not have self-discipline, do not study self-taught, as this can last forever.
Video tutorials on the Internet are also a free option. The guitarist chooses the lessons himself and learns from them. However, an inexperienced user unknowingly may miss useful information or rush from one lesson to another in a hurry. There is also the possibility of constant distraction by other videos, which will interfere with learning.
The best option for providing an individual approach is a private tutor. Using this method, there is a chance to get a quick result, practice at a convenient time and not be distracted by household trifles. But not everyone can afford to pay a tutor for lessons.
Recently, paid video courses, which are compiled by teachers, and include only the necessary information, have become popular. The lessons are designed "from simple to difficult", while the sequence of acquiring knowledge is observed. You just need to insert a disc and repeat the necessary chords and fingering after the teacher, and then fix what you have learned in free mode. The lesson can be viewed as many times as necessary to master the material. The cost of such lessons is much cheaper compared to a tutor, and the result is not worse.
By choosing the appropriate teaching method and showing perseverance, patience and dedication, you can learn the basic basics of playing the guitar in a short period of time, and then polish the knowledge gained over time.
How to play chords
Learning to play the guitar begins with the main stage - the study of chords. Each chord has a combination of several notes, which are designated in the form of letters of the Latin alphabet from A to G, which makes them easy to remember: the first note is "A" (letter A), and the last is "G" (letter G).
Chords are different in character due to the minor and major scales. Major means cheerful, joyful, minor means sad, calm. In the designation of a minor chord, the letter "m" is always present, while in a major everything remains unchanged. Also, you cannot do without alteration signs in music - sharp (#) and flat (b), which raise or lower the chord by semitone, respectively. For example, G # m stands for G sharp in the minor scale.
To study chords, you need fingerings - this is a chord diagram on the guitar fretboard, in which the strings are shown horizontally, and frets are indicated by numbers on the vertical. Each chart corresponds to one chord. On it, the dots mark the places on the fretboard where you need to press the strings in order to get a particular chord.
For convenience and ease of play, you can find a songbook on the Internet, where a large number of chords are presented with words above them. In this case, fingerings are needed. According to the proposed scheme, you need to put your fingers on the necessary frets and play a chord once.
It is better to practice on simple chords, for example, Em (E minor), Am (A minor), C (C), since most of the others require knowledge of the special barre technique, in which one finger must hold several strings of the same fret at the same time. With a large barre, all strings are clamped at once, but this will require lengthy training.
There are many ways to play the guitar, but the most common is brute force, where the guitarist alternately plays the strings and parses the chord into sounds, and the fight is taking a chord with one hit on the strings. The following symbols are present in the combat game:
1) P - blow from the upper string to the lower one;
2) V - strike from the lower string to the upper one;
3) + - mute the strings with your thumb;
4) x - the same with the edge of the palm.
For a beginner guitarist, in order to get a clear sound when playing with a strike, it is better to strike with the tips of your nails, rather than with the whole hand. If when playing simple chords you get a melody, and not just a set of consonances, then you can start studying songs and further delight your friends with good music.
