Learning to play the electric guitar is easy, fun, and who knows: if you're talented and train hard, you could become the next rock star! This article will show you how to get started!
Step
Method 1 of 2: Self-study
Step 1. Tune your guitar properly
Tuning the guitar properly is one of the main keys in learning to play the guitar. You can enlist the help of a guitar coach at a music store, a professional musician, or the owner of a guitar repair shop in your area. There are several key advantages to tuning the guitar properly:
- Good intonation. Perhaps this is the most important. If every element of your guitar is properly tuned, once it's tuned it will sound good and you'll be able to play the right notes. A guitar with a bad intonation can sound good on the low strings, but will fall short on the high notes. This can make it difficult for you to learn to play the guitar.
- Ease of pressing. Guitar pickups set too high can be difficult to play because you will need a lot of force to press the strings to the frets. Besides causing pitch problems, setting it too high can hurt your fingers and slow down your playing! While your fingers will calluse themselves so they don't hurt when playing, the high settings will make it difficult for you to play fast or change keys easily.
Step 2. Listen and repeat
Any song you like has a recognizable melodic pattern, some sort of memorable pitch change. Don't limit yourself to guitar solos-though that's also a good thing to learn-but also listen to the singers, bass sounds, and minor notes and variations of the guitarist. Anything your ear can catch will come in handy-the simpler, the better, as long as you learn.
- For example, the melody for Bruno Mars' song "Locked Out of Heaven" is fairly straightforward, and has vocal links and phrases you can try to follow on guitar.
- Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen not only has a catchy melody, but also a distinctive and challenging string soundtrack for you to imitate.
- Gangnam Style by Psy has a charming synth from the beginning of the song and continues throughout the song. While you can't get all the synth notes, you can get the basic licks and have fun!
- The key here is not to become a legendary guitarist by learning to play solos-but to become a legendary guitarist by learning to listen and being able to play what you hear.
- If you're having trouble capturing some of the notes, try watching the videos on YouTube: you'll usually see the band playing those parts.
Step 3. Mix the hard parts with the easy ones in your practice session
Give yourself a "mental" break after learning something difficult, by playing something easy, which you are comfortable playing. This will keep your fingers moving, allow you to progress slowly, and prevent you from getting discouraged.
- Make sure you always have material that is difficult for you to study! This is how you develop as a guitarist.
- Work on difficult materials more often than easy ones. For example, if you're good at soloing single notes, that's great! Keep up the practice. If you find it difficult to play chords, make sure you practice chords in at least the same portion as solo notes.
Step 4. Avoid wearing the stomp box effect when you practice
Granted, the stomp box effect can provide jarring sounds and long reverberations, but you'll have a hard time hearing mistakes in your playing technique.
The pure and clean guitar sound will show you all your mistakes when playing. Save the distortion sound for later when you're improvising with your friends, or when you want to play for fun alone outside of practice
Step 5. Learn music
As you progress as a guitarist, you will learn to appreciate the “shortcuts” that music theory can provide.
- For example, instead of trying to figure out the notes of a song one by one, knowledge of music theory will allow you to know the displacements of notes based on the key scale.
- This knowledge will also equip you to communicate with other players using musical terms-especially if you play in a band. For example, a keyboard player will have a hard time interpreting the position of your fingers if you say, "Play keys like this." Keyboards and guitars have nothing in common in pressing notes on their instruments. However, if you say, “Play A7 then B7 then back to E,” the keyboard player will understand what you mean.
Method 2 of 2: Taking Lessons from the Professionals
Step 1. Find a good guitar teacher
Whether or not a guitar teacher will be different for everyone. Some people learn by seeing, while others learn by hearing. You may want to learn from someone who specializes in the music you want, or someone who knows how to get the best results regardless of the type of music the student is into. Find the best learning style for you.
The style of music you like is just one consideration. For example, a guitarist who loves the blues might learn flamenco-style guitar. Although flamenco and blues are not the same in style and content, flamenco guitar techniques are more difficult than blues, and can produce blues guitarists with more complex styles
Step 2. Learn to read music
Whatever teaching style you choose, make sure you are taught how to read music. Given that there are six strings used, and the many notes that can be played on each string, playing the guitar by reading music is not easy. Practicing this technique is very helpful.
Step 3. Take care of your fun
No matter what style of music you're studying, learning music always involves stresses: repetition, difficulty, more repetition, and more practice to get your fingers right than to make your music "interesting." You can be stressed out if you don't keep the workout fun!
- Practice the lessons that have been prepared for you, and when you're done, close the book and play the way you like, either way.
- When practicing a scale or pattern and you feel like your mind is going numb from boredom, spice up the scale you're practicing with improv. Make sure you practice "real" notation so that you learn your assigned technique too, but try bending instead of just pressing the frets for closed notes; add pressure variations for vibration; turn on distortion, reverb, and delay effects; play the same musical scale upside down. The point is to break the routine and make it interesting.
Step 4. Practice
Whether you study alone or with a teacher, the only way to become proficient is with regular practice, or "woodshedding." This means practicing and playing as often as you can, for as long as you can.
- Learning to play the guitar involves many things: building the strength and endurance of your fingers, learning where to place notes on your guitar, building “muscle memory,” playing clean, and playing with taste. All of these will take time to develop, and some parts will develop faster than others. Keep practicing and you'll get the point.
- Every guitarist you've ever heard or watched on the radio or have admired has gone through the same stage as you. They all have one thing in common: they never stop playing and practicing!
Tips
- Having a good amplifier will make you enjoy the sound you produce more. Low wattage tube amplifiers can be a good start.
- Make sure you have a suitable guitar. Some guitars, such as the Les Paul style guitar, are very heavy. While others, such as the Strat style guitar, are lighter.
- Stomp box effects can hinder technique, but they can also provide a very comfortable space when practicing with headphones. If it's the middle of the night but you want to smack your guitar, it's best not to wake the whole house!
