So you want to learn how to play guitar huh, but not sure where to begin?

Most people will tell you that you should learn to play acoustic first, which is a fairly big misconception to bestow upon those interested in learning guitar. Learning guitar should be a fun process, and never feel like work or a job.

Honestly, a fair amount of self-research needs to be done prior to even purchasing a guitar. You should analyze your favorite genres of music and bands you tend to listen to. This will assist you in your purchasing decisions. For example, if you like country, folk, or jazz music, and wish to learn how to play in these styles, you would most likely be best suited in buying a Stratocaster or Hollowbody style guitar. If you were into rock, heavy metal, or punk, a Les Paul style or any solid body guitar with dual humbuckers (two magnet pickups) would work well. Reasonably priced, of course. More on that later. Beginners should avoid though, any guitars with what is called a Floyd Rose (or FR style) tremolo. They look like this:

The reason I say to buy the instrument that would suit your play/listening tastes is this: learning to play should be fun. You shouldn’t get caught up being frustrated trying to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a guitar you don’t really like. If it’s not enjoyable to play on, you won’t last very long. Just because you are a beginner doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to have a well oiled machine. If you feel the action (string height off the guitar neck) is too high, or the guitar just won’t stay in tune (bad intonation) take it down to your local music shop for a tech to look over. After all, you do want to be sure what you’re playing and how you’re playing it is as correct as possible. You don’t want to train your ears to hear bad pitch and think to yourself that it is correct. This is a very key fundamental in learning how to play; to train your ears to hear and identify notes.

If you decide that you would want an acoustic guitar, you should also know that electric guitars are capable of reproducing acoustic tones. This can be done two ways. Some guitars have what are called piezo magnets in the bridge. When the strings are strummed, the vibrations travel down the neck and into the bridge, where these tiny pickups translate it to soundwaves. What will come out of your speaker will sound like a very loud acoustic guitar! The advantage of this is that an acoustic guitar is harder to fret (more string tension) and the bronze strings used on them may cause callouses faster than electric. If you’re guitar does not have piezo pickups in the bridge, you can also buy an effects pedal. Boss makes a great acoustic simulator called the AC-2 and AC-3 (pictured left). You simply plug your guitar into this pedal, and then plug the pedal into the amplifier and adjust the settings to your liking for the same result you would achieve with piezo pickups. It’s quite ingenious.

Amplifiers comes in all shapes, sizes, volumes and configurations. There are solid state amps (transistor based), tube amps (vaccuum tube based), and amp modelers (digital signal processing or DSP, such as Line 6 products). As a beginner, you only need to start small and purchase an amp that will get you an ok sound. Usually, a good starting amp will cost you between $200 and $400 respectively, depending on brand and what it has onboard. Peavey, Line 6, Crate, and Fender all make decent enough solid state amps in this price range. Check to make sure the amp you are buying is at least two channel (clean and distortion)- otherwise you will have to purchase additional effects pedals to get the sound you want like a blues drive, overdrive, or rock tone.

Ok, so you have acquired all of the things you need to begin learning the instrument. Now what? First you should ensure your connections are setup right. You should have your guitar go directly into the Input of your amp. If you have any effects pedals, those should be setup as guitar - pedals - amp. You should also have a quartz chromatic tuner, which can be purchased for as little as $15 online or at a store. Tuning up is the first thing to do before playing, as it obviously ensures you are in the correct key and pitch. Simply tune your strings, starting with the topmost string (E for right handers) tune each string to E A D G B e respectively. This is called standard tuning, or standard E tuning, and is the most common tuning used in all styles of playing.

Check back later for the continuation of this article..

March 23rd, 2007    posted by: Kevin Quillen of Inclind, Inc

This entry was posted on Friday, March 23rd, 2007 at 2:59 pm and is filed under Blurbs, How To's, Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.