Learn to Play Acoustic Guitar

Archive for October, 2009

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If you think learning to play a musical instrument is difficult,
then you haven’t learned how to play the guitar. You may not become a
musical genius overnight, but in just a few short lessons you can learn
how to play the guitar and be well on your way to a consummate professional.

There are essentially two elements of learning to play the guitar: positioning
and chords. Once you learn these elements you will be equipped with all you need
to begin playing the guitar.

While you are anxious to play the guitar, you must first learn how to hold the guitar.
Many people think they only need to place the guitar in their lap and they’re ready to
play. Holding your guitar incorrectly can actually affect the sound your instrument
generates. When you play your guitar you will either play it sitting or standing.
When you play your guitar sitting down, you want to be sure the guitar rests comfortably
in your lap. The main thing to remember is that you don’t want your body to support the guitar.
Standing and playing the guitar is more of a presentation style.

You will hold the guitar
like you would if you were sitting, but you place one foot in front of you to prevent stress
on your back. When you first learn how to play the guitar, holding the guitar may seem awkward.
Just give it some time and it will eventually seem natural to you.

Once you feel comfortable holding your guitar, it’s time to focus on positioning. Positioning
refers to what you do with your hand to play music using the guitar. Let’s start with the left
hand. The longest part of the guitar, the neck, is the area of the guitar where you will
position your fingers and thumb so that you can create the great music afforded to the guitar.
You should not place too much force against the fretboard when you play a note.

Your right hand is responsible for picking, plucking, or strumming the strings.
You can decide for yourself how to play the guitar using either method. The proper
way to hold your hand when you play the guitar with a pick is to make a fist with your
thumb on the outside of your hand.

The pick slides between your thumb and index finger.

You then pick the strings in an upward motion. To play the guitar with your fingers, or
pluck the strings, you use your thumb and index finger. Like when you use a pick, you pluck
the strings in an upward motion. Strumming involves playing all the strings all at once.
If you’re wondering how to play the guitar if you use a left-handed guitar, you will
position your fingers in mirror image of the instructions presented here.

Although you are just starting out, you are probably anxious to start actually learning
how to play the guitar. There is one more important element to learn before you can actually
playing music. It doesn’t matter what genre of music you are interested in playing, you will
need to be able to recognize chords to play music. A chord chart represents the neck of the
guitar and indicates by using “X” marks, hollow circles, and numbered circled how to play a
particular chord.

The fretboard consists of six strings and five frets. The hollow circles in a chord chart
indicate strings that you play.

The numbered circles indicate which finger to use to play
the chord. Neglecting to include your thumb, associate each finger with a number beginning
with the number one (for example, the index finger would be 1, the middle finger would be 2,
and so on). The “X” on the chord chart indicates that you should not play that string. Once
you learn how to play the guitar and learn the five major chords (C, A, G, E, D) it will be
easier to learn how to play just about any song.

Peter Lenkefi
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/how-to-play-the-guitar-3037.html

Washburn Guitars has its beginnings near Maxwell Street, Chicagos famed home of the Delta Blues. They have been making various instruments since 1883 and their success had been closely tied with the wide spread popularity of both jazz and blues. The fact that the shop was located so near to this famed area is sort of by accident. At the time, the street had not been recognized yet.

Delta Blues is a form of Blues started by African-Americans who moved there form the Mississippi Delta. They congregated here and started creating music. They would jam and create this rich and cultural style of music together. When the style of blues was first forming, Maxwell Street was simply a convenient place for them all to meet. And, most of the musicians were not concerned with popular music.

As the popularity of Maxwell Street started to spread, so did the Washburn Guitars. Others would see that these talented musicians who were pioneering their own style of music had one of these guitars. So, Washburn became associated with Delta Blues by people all over the United States.

But, they are no only known for their association with this style of blues, the also made some lasting innovations. These include their specific tuning system and their Extended Cutaway which has a modification of the standard bold neck guitar construction.

Washburn creates both acoustic and electric guitar models that appeal to a wide variety of players. Jazz, blues, country, and rock musicians alike embrace these instruments. Acoustic guitar styles include the USA Acoustics, the Paul Stanley Acoustics, the Dreadnoughts, the Jumbos, Folk Style, their Classical Guitars, and their travel guitars. For more information on the types of acoustic guitars available, check out the Washburn Guitars website at washburn.com.

There are also quite a few guitar players who love Washburn guitars. These include Paul Stanley of KISS, who also has his signature acoustic series, Sonny Mayo of Sevendust, Ryan Pierce of Neal McCoy, and Aaron Fink of Breaking Benjamin. There are a lot more, however, so you should visit the website to view the complete list.

Here is what people have to say about their Washburn Acoustic Guitars:

About the Washburn D10 Acoustic

The guitar has an ornate quilted maple top. I like the cutaway. It provides access to the upper frets. The tone is Sweet. The action is low and the fretboard is flat. It is easy to play. I have used this guitar on recordings and in performance settings. It always gets comments on the tone, and the finish. I like this guitar.

About the Washburn D10-S

Bang for the buck! This guitar sounds great and costs only a few dollar more than most spruce plywood top guitars. The quality of materials and workmanship is surprisingly good. The tuners are good. It has inlay on the back and around the sound hole. I ca not over emphasize how good this guitar sounds. The solid spruce top makes this $199 guitar a steal. I can see why it has been rated the best guitar under $500.

William McRea
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/a-brief-history-of-washburn-acoustic-guitars-55437.html

A minor blues progression.
Tab downloads available at http://www.thestringery.com/ Check out “The Sringery” site. Very cool.

Duration : 0:4:33

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Technorati Tags: beginner, Blues, chords, guitar, lesson, lessons, licks, progressions, riffs, Sawlon

The Internet is expanding at such a fast pace and it is truly amazing that there are so many services and products available. People can essentially discover any item or information they want by simply entering a search with a search engine. From research to shopping, the world of the Internet has stretched our abilities to get things done from the comfort of our own homes.

One great option available is Internet learning. This opportunity allows people to obtain education on a variety of subjects without ever leaving the house. One option for this style of learning is musical education programs. In many cases these classes are actually better than lessons with live instructors. There are many great reasons why you should consider signing up for a online guitar lesson series.

By downloading a program right onto your computer you will be able to control the pace at which you learn. We are starting to understand that not everyone learns in the same manner or at the same rate. That is why self directed learning is becoming a popular option. This style of learning allows the student to tailor their lessons to specifically meet their own unique needs. An online guitar lesson provides the flexibility to do exactly that.

Learning from home also allows the student to pick and choose the lessons they would like to complete. This means that these courses can be tailored to any skill level and can accommodate students who have had an unbalanced education in the past. It also means that these courses can be altered to fit every musician’s unique set of goals. Whether you are taking an online guitar lesson for fun or to become a pro, you will be able to find what you need when you need it.

Another benefit of home based learning is that the student is able to take their lessons whenever and wherever they choose. Unlike teaching studios that offer lessons only during set hours, Internet courses can be accessed at any time of the day or night. This means that people who have irregular schedules, such as those who do shift work or have children, will be able to take an online guitar lesson whenever it is convenient for them.

Learning over the Internet creates an opportunity for people to access programs that would otherwise not be available to them. By enabling students to learn at their own pace and at their own convenience, these programs truly provide great advantages that cannot be found offline.

A perfect place to look when searching for an instructional program is at http://www.guitarcoaching.com. This site offers Mike Hayes’ Express Guitar program. This program provides professional advice and strategies for all levels of musicians. While visiting the site, also be sure to take advantage of the comprehensive FAQ webpage that offers in-depth answers to some of the industry’s most pressing questions.

Iprwire Staff Writer
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/the-benefits-of-taking-an-online-guitar-lesson-135682.html

There are bedroom guitar players and there are live performers. There doesn’t seem to be anything in between. The minute you walk on to a stage (whether you get paid or not) you are a professional. You are in the business of entertaining and displaying your wares, so to speak. And if you really want to seriously get your guitar playing together it is the latter you need to strive for in my opinion. I am not suggesting you ‘turn pro’, you know attempt to do this thing full time, that is a whole other set of issues itself, but in order for your guitar playing to really get to where it needs to get to, you simply have to play in a live performance setting, preferably in a public forum. Ideally with other musicians you can interact with.

You can spend a lifetime reading books, studying your musical heroes, playing along to music minus one records, but none of this will ultimately give you the full picture. In order to be a true well rounded musician, you have to have real world experience. I’ll try to explain why…

When I was just starting out in the profession as a fresh untainted fish in the vast sea of the London music business, I had to get myself known in order to find work. So I set about to answer ads in music papers. Now, after studying classical guitar at the London College of Music, I came out of a 3 year course with a facility to sight-read. Or should I say the beginnings of sight-reading ability, as jazz and pop music written on paper is a whole other world, as I was about to find out. I remember having to sight-read a piece of jazz music with a dance band at an audition. There were about 10 guitar players going for this gig. I must have been about 23 years old. The musical director said “I kind of like what you did Chris but you didn’t really cut it mate! There are other guys here that have what I need”. Ouch!!! That hurt. But I was young. It was actually good to hear. So I went back to my music library, pulled out a ton of violin music and practiced reading in different positions on the fretboard. Not to mention learning how to grab chords on sight in different fret positions.

Another time, I went down to audition for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, a band known to be extremely taxing musically, and a training ground for London session players. I sat in the guitar chair with my Gibson 335 on my lap, ready to play. The director called a chart, I placed it on the stand and he counted it off. He counted it off around 250 BPM. Frighteningly fast! Well, it was all I could do to get my eyes to follow the music, measure by measure, much less play the music that was written within those bars! I didn’t even touch my guitar that rehearsal. I simply placed it back in its case and went home. Ouch again! That was a hard knock! I gave myself exactly a year to get it together. I went back to my practicing with a vengeance. A year later I joined the band for about a year and a half.

Another for instance; about 13 years ago I was playing with a jazz singer in a trio situation with an eminent LA drummer and acoustic bassist. I hadn’t done much trio playing, if any at the time, but I was looking forward to playing. At the end of one of the songs I completely messed up the ending. In fact I would go further, I hadn’t really worked on any song endings. Didn’t really have that together at all. The drummer scowled at me, particularly because I threw him off, as I was not definite in how I wanted to end the song (because I didn’t know myself!). He was furious when I made him look bad. He said to me “Dude, you’ve got to dictate these endings, you’re the one playing the chords!”. He was right. I was crushed! I went home, sulked for a week (maybe two). Then I went back to my practice room. I was not to be defeated…..

These are the hard knocks you simply have to get in your music life to dictate what you need to work on to get your total musicianship together! You just cannot expect to perfect your instrument without real world experience. You can’t get that experience any other way. I can recount tons of times that this sort of thing has happened, and there are still things today that I learn on a weekly basis at live gigs, telling me what I need to work on. The difference today of course is that it’s me who is being critical of myself, rather than other bandmates and musical directors telling me I suck!

And the neccessity of performing live is true of any musical genre you choose. Interacting with other musicians is an art in itself. I know technically great players who can’t play with others. Does this make them great musicians? I’m not so sure. But they sure can get round the instrument. But if they were to do any amount of live ensemble playing they would have one or two knocks coming, and if they are smart they would work on those issues. Otherwise it’s back to solo guitar playing in the back of their local restaurant. (A noble and valid thing to do, let me also say).

There are many issues that come up in a real live playing situation that just don’t come up in a bedroom practice session. Time, time-feel, supportive ensemble playing, projection of sound and tone, and most of all a sense of energy and commitment within a performance that is extremely different, and is very difficult to even put into words frankly. You just need to experience it, and that experience will improve your playing tenfold.

So get out there and do some gigs. I know it is hard to make that happen sometimes, but if you cannot make it happen then start a rehearsal band with a few others and play through repertoire. Get together with other guitarists and play through tunes, take solos and take turns being supportive. As you improve, take the plunge and take yourself to the next level.

And by recommending you do all this I am by no means suggesting you put away your books, records and Jamie Abersold play alongs. Absolutely not. This is something of course you should continue to do. But it is only 50% of your musical makeup. I promise you, by performing live you will improve yourself as a guitar player, but most of all as a musician, and at the end of the day this is what we all need to aspire to.

Go to it and have fun!

Chris Standring
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/how-to-seriously-improve-your-guitar-playing-132877.html