Congratulations on your decision to start playing the guitar!
Being able to play the guitar has brought a lot of satisfaction and joy to countless people over the years – including myself and the hundreds of people I’ve taught.
Unfortunately, many people don’t get past the point of being a beginning guitar player. Some don’t realize how hard it is starting out and they quit almost immediately.
Others reach a plateau early on and never get proper instruction to help them realize what’s holding them back.
As you start out, it’s mission critical to develop the right habits from the beginning that will allow you to progress rapidly, break through plateaus, avoid frustration, and ultimately reach whatever level of proficiency you want – regardless of your preferred style of playing.
This article covers the most important aspects of guitar playing that beginners need to know in order to succeed. I also discuss problem areas that typically hold up most beginners.
I’ve taught guitar for over a decade and these are all very common issues that most beginners have. A lot of these concepts aren’t noticed, known, or taught by the majority of guitar teachers.
With a little bit of work and some patience, the right habits can be put in place and all potential problem areas can be easily overcome.
If you follow what I lay out, your fingers will be flying over the guitar in no time!
The Anatomy of the Guitar and your Hands
Below, I’ve included a fantastic diagram of the guitar for your reference. I found this online at http://education.davidspencer.ca/wiki/Guitar_String_Names
If you play the electric guitar, most of the diagram and parts of the guitar would be the same but there are a few differences.
On the electric, there’s no soundhole and usually no tailpiece. Electric guitars have pickups which magnetically ‘pick up’ the guitar sound and send the signal to an amplifier. There is a pickup switch which allows you to select which pickup you want to use. And there are also volume and tone controls.
As a beginning electric player, don’t stress too much about what all that means. I encourage you to play around with it but focus more on the physical side of playing for now.
Understanding how to tweak your guitar and amp to get the fun tones will always be there in the future when you have a better idea of how to actually play!
One thing to note is that guitar players also call the 6th string the ‘low E’ string and they call the 1st string the ‘high E’ string. That’s because the pitch of the 6th string is lower than the pitch of the 1st string.
Also, there’s no system as to when we call a string by its name or its number. Be prepared for both!
And, this tuning is known as standard tuning. There are many other tunings out there but it’s called standard tuning for a reason!
Also, there’s a finger numbering system for your fretting hand, which is the hand that goes on the fret board. Your pointer finger is your 1st finger, your middle finger is your 2nd finger, your ring finger is your 3rd finger, and your pinky is your 4th finger. The thumb isn’t typically used in your fretting hand but if it is, it’s abbreviated as T.
Try to memorize these numbers as soon as possible as it’s what guitar players say practically all the time.
If you’ve played piano, you might get confused since the piano has a different numbering system. With time, you’ll be able to keep things straight.
And if you ever play finger style guitar, the number system is completely different for your picking hand. It’s actually letters, not numbers!
I don’t want to confuse you with too much information, so don’t worry about that for now.
How to Hold a Guitar Pick
Check out the pictures below. If you’re left handed, flip everything around. I found this at http://www.rogerkeplinger.com/images/holding%20the%20pick%201.jpg
How to Hold and Start Playing the Guitar
I’m writing these next few sections assuming that you’re right handed and that you’re playing a right handed guitar. If you’re left handed AND if you have a left handed guitar just flip everything around.
To begin, you want to place the so that the guitar body is resting comfortably on your right leg. You don’t want the guitar to be flat across your lap. Hold the guitar so you can strum with your right hand. And hold your left hand over the fretboard.
To actually play notes or chords, you hold one or more of your fingers down on a fret on a string. Now, on the diagram you’ll see that each piece of metal going across the fretboard is called a fret. You don’t actually place your fingers on the metal frets!
What you do is you put your fingers on the area between the frets. So if you want to play something on the 1st fret on a certain string, you put your finger in the area between the nut and the 1st fret. If you want to play the 2nd fret, you put your finger in between the 1st fret and the 2nd fret. If you want to play something on the 3rd fret, put your finger in between the 2nd and 3rd fret.
And you continue this exact process no matter how high you go up the guitar neck!
All the notes on the guitar can be called by their letter name (C or A for example) or by their particular string and fret number.
So, for example, play the 1st string on the 1st fret with your 1st finger. Once that sounds good, play the 1st string on the 3rd fret with your 3rd finger.
Guitar Troubleshooting and Shortcuts for Beginners
There are many trouble areas that hold beginners back. In no particular order, here are some of the common ones and some of the best advice on how to get past those problems.
- Keep your left hand fingers on their tip! The ideal place to hold your fingers down is on the bony part of your finger going away from the nail. You don’t want to put your finger down close to the nail or right on the tip. Again, put it a little bit past the tip on the bony part of your finger.
- Keep the pressure up in your left hand! Beginners don’t know how much pressure to use when starting out. Oftentimes they’ll play too softly and they won’t be able to get a good sound. Now, whenever I correct this, people usually strain and play too hard. You’ll eventually find a happy medium so you can play comfortably.
- Don’t accidently mute or play other strings! This is also accomplished by having your fingers on their tips. When beginners start playing chords, they’ll sometimes keep their hands or their fingers flat. This will cause other strings to be muted and it will result in the chord not being properly played. Make sure that you keep your fingers on the tip!
- Keep your fingers close to the guitar! Many beginners have their fingers going way too far off the fretboard when not in use. Keep your fingers about a millimeter off the guitar.
- Watch out for your pinky! The pinky can sometimes develop a mind of its own. I’ve seen beginners whose pinky somehow ends up underneath the fretboard when it’s not being used. Make sure it hovers above the fretboard!
- Arpeggiate the notes in the chords! Once you start playing chords, you want to do two things. The first thing is to arpeggiate or to play all the notes in the chord individually instead of simultaneously when you strum. Doing this will allow you to clearly hear where the problem areas are. Then try strumming all the notes simultaneously!
- Relax your arms and hands! You don’t want to have too much tension in your arms or hands when you play. If you find yourself straining, you’re doing something wrong. Playing guitar should be a relatively effortless task from the physical side of things.
- Play everything slowly! Seriously, play it slowly! While it can be fun to try to play fast, it’s far better to play something slowly and relatively accurately when you start out. Without getting too technical, things will get burned in to your hands and fingers incorrectly if you don’t do it well. That includes bad habits!
- Practice for at least 15 minutes a day! And you want to be consistent with what you work on! Learning an instrument isn’t the kind of thing that can be done once or twice a week. It has to become a daily habit. When I teach beginners, it usually revolves around 3 main areas – how to play chords and chord progressions, how to strum and play rhythm, and how to play their favorite songs. You can get a lot done in 15 minutes per day if you spend 5 laser focused minutes on each area. Obviously the more time you can put in is better but 15 minutes is the minimum I recommend.
- Work on a few things at a time! Again, I teach beginners how to play chords/chord progressions, rhythm and strumming, and songs (usually 1 at a time). That’s 3 things. You don’t want to tackle too many things at one time and never get good at anything. There is a point where you get diminishing returns out of working on one thing too much. But I want to caution you against spending a little bit of time learning many different things and not getting anywhere with anything.
- Don’t worry about learning entire songs for now. Learn some famous riffs or play some chords to your favorite songs. Typically people learn parts of 10-20 songs or even more before they’re ready to tackle an entire song. You don’t want to stress about playing everything perfectly or note for note when starting out.
- Turn off the critical voice in your head. Yes, it won’t sound good in the beginning. Yes, progress might seem slow at times. And you’re probably not used to feeling like a beginner at anything. But your mind can actually work against you if you’re not careful.
- Be patient. While the guitar truly takes a lifetime to master, it usually takes anywhere from 6 to 12 months before things come together you start to be happy with how you sound. I’ve seen people take less time and others take more time. However, I haven’t seen anyone who couldn’t get to that level if they stuck things out and got past the early growing pains! You really don’t need any natural talent to become a competent guitar player.
What do you ultimately want to accomplish as a guitar player? Share your comments and questions below.
