For raw beginners part 1 | Poal: Say what you want.

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The first thing you need to do every time you pick your guitar up is to tune it. Small variations in temperature and humidity will wreak havoc with tuning, and while it might sound "good enough", it'll keep you from sounding great, even if you're playing flawlessly. You won't sound great all the time, but on a good day it's a terrific motivator. If you've been playing for a half hour or so, you might want to check the tuning again anyway. You can buy different kinds of tuners at your music store, or you can download some quite acceptable software tuners for free off the internet for your phone or desktop.

Sounding great? Yes, you'll have off days, average days and good days. Sometimes you'll have off days for a week or two in a row, don't give up, you're going to improve via practice even on an off day (even if you can't tell at the time), and it's such a thrill when you pick up your guitar and you can smoke that passage that's been giving you so much trouble! Don't worry about this sort of thing, maybe record yourself playing something, then ignore the recording for three or four months and see how much better you've gotten by then. Also, take one or two days off per week, but not several days off in a row.

Probably you'll just want to learn to strum some chords to play some simple songs at first. I would recommend learning to play "Row, row, row your boat" first, yes, it's lame but you can play all the way through it with only one major chord. Sing it at a comfortable pitch, then experiment with different major chords until you find one that fits your voice. This will let you practice strumming evenly and consistantly without worrying about changing chords at the same time. After a day or two, search for some songs on the internet that only require two or three chords, there are literally thousands and thousands of these online. When you get to changing chords while playing a song, it's going to be tough building up the muscle memory to apply the entire chord at once to enable playing without pauses because you're laborously putting down one finger at a time. You'd probably benefit from just applying your fingers to one chord, then taking your hand off and putting it in your lap (just pulling away a couple inches isn't good enough) then apply the chord again and again for, say, five minutes. A trick that helps if you can't strum steadily is to get a salt shaker, put a few pebbles into it and hold it in your strumming hand so you can hear the pebbles rattle like a maraca. Also, a metronome is a great help! You can get them at your music store or download them for your phone or computer. You won't like it at first, because it'll let you know when you suck, so start off real simple and work your way up.

Music theory: Yes, you really should spend some time learning music theory. The theory that a guitarist has to know isn't rocket science, and it really will help you learn faster. Even if you ignore learning music theory, you will pick some up just by virtue of playing the guitar, but you won't know how to communicate it with other players. Learning that the standard guitar tuning is E A D G B E (I remember it by mumbling "eee yad guh bee" to myself) is music theory. Knowing that the diatonic scale has the notes A through G, then repeats is music theory.

Aw, crap, I didn't mean to write such a wall of text for a first go, but I'm not going to change it now. Next time.

The first tip is that during the first two weeks or so, your fingertips are going to get sore. Pressing the strings down onto the frets hard enough to prevent buzzing requires building up calluses on your fingertips. There is no way to avoid this, just accept it'll hurt some for awhile. Do NOT try to play through pain (not slight discomfort), it's demotivating and could require you stop practicing for an extended period, be satisfied with five minutes at a time the first few days. If you want to try three or four five-minute sessions in one day, that's fine. BTW, use the TIPS of your fingers, with your thumb on the back of the neck opposite your second finger for best ergonomic results for moving your fingers rapidly (it'll come with time, trust me) unless you're doing bends or vibrato, but those come later. The first thing you need to do every time you pick your guitar up is to *tune it*. Small variations in temperature and humidity will wreak havoc with tuning, and while it might sound "good enough", it'll keep you from sounding great, even if you're playing flawlessly. You won't sound great all the time, but on a good day it's a terrific motivator. If you've been playing for a half hour or so, you might want to check the tuning again anyway. You can buy different kinds of tuners at your music store, or you can download some quite acceptable software tuners for free off the internet for your phone or desktop. Sounding great? Yes, you'll have off days, average days and good days. Sometimes you'll have off days for a week or two in a row, don't give up, you're going to improve via practice even on an off day (even if you can't tell at the time), and it's such a thrill when you pick up your guitar and you can *smoke* that passage that's been giving you so much trouble! Don't worry about this sort of thing, maybe record yourself playing something, then ignore the recording for three or four months and see how much better you've gotten by then. Also, take one or two days off per week, but not several days off in a row. Probably you'll just want to learn to strum some chords to play some simple songs at first. I would recommend learning to play "Row, row, row your boat" first, yes, it's lame but you can play all the way through it with only one major chord. Sing it at a comfortable pitch, then experiment with different major chords until you find one that fits your voice. This will let you practice strumming evenly and consistantly without worrying about changing chords at the same time. After a day or two, search for some songs on the internet that only require two or three chords, there are literally thousands and thousands of these online. When you get to changing chords while playing a song, it's going to be tough building up the muscle memory to apply the entire chord at once to enable playing without pauses because you're laborously putting down one finger at a time. You'd probably benefit from just applying your fingers to one chord, then taking your hand off and putting it in your lap (just pulling away a couple inches isn't good enough) then apply the chord again and again for, say, five minutes. A trick that helps if you can't strum steadily is to get a salt shaker, put a few pebbles into it and hold it in your strumming hand so you can hear the pebbles rattle like a maraca. Also, a metronome is a great help! You can get them at your music store or download them for your phone or computer. You won't like it at first, because it'll let you know when you suck, so start off real simple and work your way up. Music theory: Yes, you really should spend some time learning music theory. The theory that a guitarist has to know isn't rocket science, and it really will help you learn faster. Even if you ignore learning music theory, you will pick some up just by virtue of playing the guitar, but you won't know how to communicate it with other players. Learning that the standard guitar tuning is E A D G B E (I remember it by mumbling "eee yad guh bee" to myself) is music theory. Knowing that the diatonic scale has the notes A through G, then repeats is music theory. Aw, crap, I didn't mean to write such a wall of text for a first go, but I'm not going to change it now. Next time.

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