Beginners Advice to Guitar Playing by: Michiel Van Kets

Everyone dreams of being able to master a musical instrument and the most popular choice is often an electric or acoustic guitar. Learning to play isn’t simply a matter of learning a few chords however, it take a lot of time and persistence. Online you will find lots of useful sites with suggestions to help you along.

If you have never played before it is not necessary to rush out and buy the most expensive guitar you can find. Purchase a reasonably priced model whilst you are learning and once you become adept and know it is for you then go ahead and treat yourself.


Drive and enthusiasm is central to acquiring any new skill, you will need to learn how to hold the instrument in the correct fashion, replace strings and to learn the chords. Practice regularly and you will soon pick it up. Once you have acquired a few basic chords you can start to play some popular songs making the whole experience much more rewarding.

Finding the right method to learning the guitar will depend on your budget, time and situation. The local paper may list lessons or a teacher might put a card up offering their services in a music shop on your high street. You could always buy yourself a book and teach yourself, or look online for fretting chords, strum patterns and some simple to play songs. http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/strum-patterns.php

The first step is to learn how to play the basic chords. Once you know them it is easy to practice and there are many popular songs that only use these basic chords. As your fingers form the shape of the chord ensure you press down hard enough on the strings otherwise the note will sound off. These are called your fret fingers and they will get sore at first until they get calluses on them. Good practice is to play chords in a variety of ways and alternate until it becomes quite natural.

If you are serious about learning the guitar you really need to set an hour or so aside every day and practice. Practice makes perfect as they say!

Once you are adept at some of the basic chords use them to play songs as this will make the experience much more fun and exciting than just practicing chords every day. Sheet music can be bought quite cheaply from your local music shop or go online and get it for free.

There are a number of good websites who provide music and song sheets. Free guitar chords and free guitar tabs are not hard to find. Advice on how to string your guitar and tune it or advice on how to build a pedalboard is other valuable information to be found online. http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/?p=199

It takes a lot of motivation and patience to become adept at playing the guitar, if you enjoy it and find yourself improving then don’t give up as it will get easier the more you practice. There are very experienced and professional music teachers available who can provide lessons on acoustic or electric guitar. They will often design a course of study specifically for you, or you could even join a local class and meet some new friends who are interested in the same kind of music.