Guitar Playing Lessons

If you are right-handed, your right hand is used to pluck the strings, and your left hand frets the notes and makes the chord shapes.

If you are just starting out with the guitar, most people will tell you to buy a good nylon string acoustic guitar to learn on. The electric guitar has steel strings which will cut into your left hand fingers. If you start your practice with a nylon string guitar, you will get callouses on the tips of your left fingers, which will protect you from those nasty old electric guitar strings. Another disadvantage with starting on an electric guitar is that the amplified electric guitar is more forgiving in the sense that it may not require you to use much pressure to make the chords, and the amplification helps to cover up the shortcomings of a newbie's left hand technique.

A good acoustic guitar will sound just as good in years to come if you look after it. The sound of the guitar depends on the echoing of the wood. As the wood matures, the quality of the sound will improve.

Once you've had a few months spent squeezing the music from a nylon string guitar, then move onto an electric model.

THE HEAD is at the top of the neck, just like yours, except the guitar's head contains the MACHINE HEADS for tuning the instrument.The guitar strings are stretched between the head and the BRIDGE and are kept tight by the machine heads. The strings go from the machine heads to the nut which serves as a guide for the strings. The nut is a small strip of hard plastic, bone or metal which keeps the strings in place on the fret board.The FRET BOARD is flat at the top and curved at the back. When a string is held by the fingers against a FRET the string's vibrating length is made shorter to make a higher sound. The Frets are strips of metal set along the fret board to divide into the necessary lengths to create musical notes.In an acoustic guitar, like the one in the picture, the sound is made by the body. In an electric guitar the sound of the strings is picked up by a one, two or three microphones known as pickups which carry the sound to the guitar's amplifier.The BRIDGE anchors the guitar strings and, in an acoustic guitar, transfers the sound to the body of the guitar.

The main element in the maintenance of a guitar is relative humidity - the ability of the air to steal water from material such as the wood of your guitar. The humidity at the time the guitar was made sets up the primary dimensions of your instrument. This configuration is sealed forever into the structure of the guitar. So when the humidity changes, each part of the guitar will tend to stay constant.

High quality guitars are made from solid wood which is vulnerable to changes in humidity due to its facility for expanding and shrinking. High humidity produces a dead tone from your guitar.

The back of the guitar is made of very hard wood such as rosewood. This can bloat which makes the glue on the edge of the brace to give way.

Low humidity can result in a very thin tone and cracks in your guitar's body.

So basically when your guitar takes in too much moisture from the air, the back will develop an arch. If it loses too much moisture, a dip in the back will appear. To minimize the risk of either of these things happening, keep your guitar in its case and away from extreme temperatures. Oh, I know it looks so cool hanging on the wall, but you need to decide whether you want a musical instrument or a wall plaque.

The video is a guitar lesson with Dave MacKenzie.

Dave has mostly played in top 40 rock, country, and pop bands. He is most recently playing guitar and keyboards in a 80's metal band called Open Fire. They have opened for Warrant, Firehouse, Winger, and LA Guns within the 3 and a half years they have been together, and are now jumping into original music.

Dave believes you should have internal motivation, and passion to play guitar, and most definitely, it should be fun!

As with his playing, Dave will find new ways to show you how to get the most out of your time learning guitar!

Check out this page for more free guitar lessons on video

Start your guitar practice on the basis that you do about one hour a day. But you really must start by asking yourself about the depth of your commitment to guitar playing. If you decide on three hours a day, then other stuff in your life shouldn't interfere with that. If you find that you've been a bit over ambitious in your estimation of how much time you have available, then make a new plan. Don't just let your guitar playing sink through a half-hearted effort at the beginning

This is a good place to mention listening to the great guitar players that you enjoy, reading magazines and books, exploring Youtube and similar sites all help to keep your interest alive and your backside on the practice stool.

One thing about practice is a lot of people think it's boring. If it's boring you're not doing it right. There's going to be things you naturally gravitate to that you tend to practice a little too much. And there'll be stuff you have to drag yourself to. All of this makes things interesting. The work of keeping a balance between what you want to do and what you need to do keeps your practice alive.

Make sure your guitar is in tune.

Don't stress about playing using a metronome to begin with. Get the music flowing comfortably before using a metronome on a SLOW speed.

Learn new material in small chunks. If you try to take in too much you'll find you won't be able to play well in front of people plus you'll develop all kinds of grunts and grimaces which are never pretty to watch.

A lesson on guitar power chords Power chords are probably called power chords because learning them is an easy way to the feeling of having the power to play guitar. They consist of only two notes, and you learn the basic shapes which you can move up and down the fretboard. Talk about power! Power chords have always been around but their current popularity began with grunge music. The big attraction to power chords for the grunge players is if you are using alot of distortion in your playing many chords sound like two cats and a dog in a small bucket. If you don't believe me, try it. If you want a technical elucidation of the structure and purpose of power chords, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_chord but it's really best to just get the general idea and give it a try. Pete Townshend of The Who was an early (and possibly the most inspirational) exponent of the power chord.

Sounds unbelievable doesn't it! - It's a simply memory technique that once learned you simply can't forget. And it's completely free! Really! Also you can get a free metronome and a fantastic ebook with hundreds of guitar chord diagrams. Also available for free is a definitive guide to learn exactly how to read guitar tablature. For FREE guitar software and lots lots more visit : http://www.tabguitarlessons.com/?10649

You Can Teach Yourself Guitar by Ear By Mike Christiansen. For Guitar (All). Methods. You Can Teach Yourself. All Styles. Level: Beginning. Book+CD+DVD. Size 8.75x11.75. 68 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.

DVD format: Region 1 for use in the USA and Canada. "If someone is singing a song or playing a melody, how can I know what chords I can play with it?" This is a common question asked of guitar teachers and players. If you are the guitarist at a campfire sing, if you want to learn a song from a recording, or if you want to write your own songs - this book will show you the way. An indispensable book for the guitarist who wants to learn to improvise and accompany singers by ear, music reading ability is not required to benefit and learn from this method. Includes a DVD.

Beginner Guitar Lessons Beginner guitar lessons consist of you getting to know your first guitar. This guitar will probably be a nylon string acoustic which will enable you to learn what it takes to get music out of an instrument without relying too much on electronic enhancements and without cutting your fingers up on steel strings. What style of guitar do you want to learn?

Electric Guitar Lessons Electric guitars are established in our universe. There are even classical pieces composed for electric guitar. This is a new kind of musical instrument. Not only is the sound amplified by electronics but the sound itself is MADE by electronics. Soooo . . . is playing electric guitar as easy as it looks?!

The Best Acoustic Guitar Tuner One common obstacle to learning to tune a guitar is a certain natural resistance to learning new things which is present in everybody to some degree. The prospect of learning to tune a guitar by ear can fill some people with a sense of dread.

Guitar Tuning Online This is probably the most important piece of knowledge that you can learn when it comes to tuning your guitar. The process of tuning your guitar to itself is one by which you tune each string to another string on the guitar. Basically, it means that you can tune the guitar without having to use a tuner or pitch tool.

Learning Classical Guitar Music Classical guitar music is seen by alot of people as being somehow inaccesible without years of study. But the term "clasical music" is very broad, and when put together with the guitar, it could refer as much to Latin music or The Beatles as to music from two hundred years ago! If you weren't seduced by the electric guitar during your childhood or teen years, what is it that attracts you to classical guitar music? Is it the delicacy of the Elizabethan dance music? The rich and vibrant sound of a great classical guitar?

Bass Guitar Music The electric bass guitar - you can pluck it, you can slap it, you can strum it - it will always be your friend. It will even get better if you pick it! The electric bass may LOOK like an electric guitar, but you don't usually play melodies on it. Okay, in the sixties Besame Mucho and The Lonely Surfer were hits but who remembers them?

Lead Guitar Secrets Lead Guitar Secrets is a new course by Dan Denley. Dan's course actually lives up to the hype. Let's look at the differences between this course and all the others.

Beginner guitar players who do not know how to read guitar tabs are often worried that it means that they will need to learn some complex system of symbols and codes. To understand what tab really is, it is important to understand the difference between guitar tab and regular music notation. Conventional musical notation, or what we refer to as “sheet music” belongs to music theory. Music theory gives us an overview of what we understand by the term “music” - octaves, keys, scales, modes, note values, and much more. Guitar tabs skip over the whole body of music and go right to the nitty-gritty of telling us where to put our fingers to play notes. 

How To Read Guitar Tabs