Starting To Play

O.K. You've bought yourself a guitar, or borrowed one from a friend. How do you make it sound like your guitar hero. Simple... Just take one step at a time, working through this tutorial SLOWLY and methodically. If there's something you don't understand look up the glossary, or ask me. I'd be glad to help.

Holding the Acoustic Guitar

Firstly, you'll need to find yourself a comfortable chair with no armrests, in which you can sit as upright as possible. (Beanbags or edge of beds are not recommended). For most styles (excluding classical), sit so the waist of the guitar rests comfortably in your lap on top of your right leg. For left hand guitars just do the mirror image. (your left leg.)

Your right hand should be positioned over the sound hole so that the crook in your arm rests on the front edge of the guitar. For the moment, just use your left hand to support the neck of the instrument.

Holding the Electric Guitar

The sitting position for electric is almost the same as acoustic except instead of positioning your right hand over the sound hole (there is none on an electric guitar), put it over the pickups.

The crook in your right arm might not sit comfortably on the front edge like it will on an acoustic guitar, so just rest your forearm against the body of the guitar without slouching. (Try to sit upright).

If you want to stand up with your guitar I'd suggest setting the strap so the guitar hangs at the same height as it would when you are sitting down.

This might not look as cool as your guitar heroes, but it's much easier to play.

Making a Sound

Your right hand is used to strike the strings of the guitar (which makes a noise), while your left hand selects what notes to play on the fret board. Depending on the style of song, you might hold a plectrum (or pick) with your right hand to strike the strings or you might use your fingers.

I would suggest using a plectrum for now as this makes the guitar louder and clearer. I'll cover right hand finger styles later in the tutorial. See the photo which shows the correct way to hold a plectrum.

Exercise 1 Now try strumming (striking the strings from top to bottom smoothly) with your plectrum in you right hand over the sound hole (or pickups if you're using an electric guitar). Make sure your left hand isn't touching against any of the strings. Listen to Exercise 1 sound file *. If your strum doesn't sound like mine don't worry. I haven't told you how to tune up your guitar yet.

You can also pick individual strings with your plectrum one at a time. First we'll clarify a few things. Your left hand fingers are numbered 1 to 4 starting from your index finger, the strings are numbered 1 to 6 from bottom to top, and the frets are numbered from 1 to about 19 or so, depending on what type of guitar you have. Have a look at the diagram.

Excercise 2 Your left hand is used to change the pitch of the strings by fretting (putting your finger next to a fret) the strings. Put the tip of your 1st finger left hand next to the 1st fret on the 1st string. Now pick the 1st string with the plectrum in your right hand. Listen to Exercise 2 sound file * to get an idea of the sound. If you get a horrible buzzing sound look at your left hand 1st finger. Make sure it's right next to the fret on the side closest to the machine heads, and standing upright bent at the first joint, then try again. It still may not sound identical because your guitar isn't tuned up yet, so don't worry, we'll do that on the next page.

Now take your first finger off the fret board and experiment with your other left hand fingers. Try fretting your 2nd finger on one of the strings on another part of the fret board and listen to what it sounds like. Do the same thing with all your left hand fingers until you can get a clear sound with no buzzing. Once again make sure your finger is next to the fret on the side closest the machine heads and standing upright bent at the first joint.

Now that you can get a sound out of your guitar and know how to fret a note go to the next page and I'll show you how to tune your guitar.

 
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Copyright ©1997 Kim Wainwright.