Beginning Guitar Lessons - My Experience

Sitting Positions
The beginning guitar lesson started with me finding out that there are two sitting positions when holding the guitar. The classical and the casual.

Here are the exact instructions given to me:

1. Pick up the guitar and make sure that the guitar body is supported by your leg.
2. Position yourself at the edge of your chair.
3. Ensure that your back is relaxed but straight.
4. Lean the guitar back towards you slightly.

Standing Positions
Here are the instructions for the standing position:

1. Pick up the guitar and place the strap over your shoulder. Adjust the strap so that the guitar is positioned mid-body.
2. Use your left hand to support the neck of the guitar.
3. Rest your right hand over the bridge of the guitar.

Hand Positions
Then came the hand positions. Still no music yet ... but I kept imagining the attention I will get from the gals and patiently stuck to learning.



It is important that you relax your wrists and hands. Straining them can cause injury.

This position below is a No! No!.

Fretting
Thought fretting meant worrying about something or other...He! He! He!

Apparently, it has a completely different meaning here. I actually checked dictionary.com.
- Fret means "One of several ridges set across the fingerboard of a stringed instrument, such as a guitar. "
- Fretting is "To press (the strings of an instrument) against the frets."

Fret also means a headdress, worn by women of the Middle Ages, consisting of interlaced wire and in this case fretting is to provide with such a design or headdress.

But enough of this sidetracking...

Here are the instructions given:

When you play the guitar, you use your left hand fingers to press down the strings on the fret board of the guitar and use your right hand to pluck or strum the stings at the bridge end of the guitar. Using your left hand to press the strings on the fret board is called fretting. Here are some tips you will need to know:
1. Short fingernails are essential.
2. Use only the tips of your fingers to press the strings.
3. When making a chord, be sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret.
We will cover chords in lesson one.
4. Check each string that it rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing.
As a beginner guitarist, it may hurt your fingers to play. This is normal. Every guitarist starts this way for the first couple of weeks. With practice, you will develop guitar fingers (hard skin on your fingertips).

Holding the Pick
Position the pick between thumb and index fingers like in the diagram below:

Luckily I have a friend who lend me his guitar. I got to work with the free beginning guitar lessons and was really beginning to like it.

Man! I was really excited about this. I could actually get some music out of the guitar. And I could do this all at home. To think that I would have paid for each session that I attended with an instructor. This was just so cool.

The progress is really great and I am enjoying this guitar playing so much that I practice daily. My parents are just stunned at my dedication.

Well! To cut the long story short, I actually bought the Jamorama package. Not to say that it is the most prefect in the world. I did have some slight hitches here and there but nothing that stopped me from achieving what I want.

Still haven't forgotten that I want to be the center of attraction with my cool guitar playing.

If you are looking at beginning guitar lessons online, I would recommend this package.

Click here to check it out.


My friends who have heard me play are quite impressed... and these are guys who will tell you to your face what they think. So, getting compliments from them does mean a lot to me.

This first lesson is about A and D major chords and introduction to reading guitar tablature. Another word I didn't know...anyway guess they will explain.

First I had to learn about the guitar neck as shown in the picture. The guitar neck is divided into what we call frets, making a fret board. Most guitars have around 20 frets. Notice that each fret is numbered starting at 1 at the head of the guitar.

Note: Each string on the guitar is numbered. When you hold your guitar as you would when using the casual playing position, the 1st string is at the bottom and the 6th string is at the top.

Notice also the term, 'Tuning' at the bottom of the above diagram. Tuning refers to the notes that the guitar strings are tuned to. In the above diagram, I have given a very common tuning called standard E tuning that consists of the notes E, A, D, G and B. Strings 1 and 6 are both tuned to the note E. The open 6th string is called low E. The open 1st string is called high E as it is two octaves higher than the 6th string open E. I will explain notes and octaves to you in a later newsletter, but for now, you only need to know the names of the notes in standard open E tuning.

Introduction to Chords

Then we looked at guitar chords. A chord is defined as a combination of 3 or more notes played together. We then looked at chord diagrams, which are used to illustrate how a chord is played.

These guys made this very easy to easy by making it look like the neck of the guitar. This made it easy to make the connection between strings and fingering. Finger placing symbols are added to the chord diagram so we know which notes to play.

Now, some important stuff about your fingers.

Then, finally we started with the A chord..(thought we will never get here...)

Chord Diagram - A Major Chord

In the chord diagram you can see that the A major chord uses fingers 1, 2, and 3.

Note that there is a red dot marking the 6th string on the above chord diagram. The red dot tells you that you are not to play that string. The sixth string of the A major chord is not played, but you play the rest.
Pictured below is the A major chord being played.

Exercise: Playing the A Major Chord

Position each finger with care, according to the above diagram. Make sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret. Firstly, pluck across the strings one by one with your right hand, checking that each string rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing.

Play the first Audio or video example to hear how the chord should sound.

Then we moved on to strumming.

Introduction to Strumming
In a strum there are two types of guitar stroke. They are up stroke and down stroke.
When you play a stroke, you strum across the strings just in front of the bridge of the guitar with the pick in your left hand. When strumming a chord, make sure that you play all of the necessary strings in the chord. The stroke direction will depend on which stroke is indicated; up or down as shown above.

Exercise: Strumming the A Major Chord
Position each finger with care, according to the A Major chord diagram (above). Make sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret. Firstly, pluck across the strings one by one with your right hand, checking that each string rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing. Once you are sure that you are holding the A major chord correctly, practice strumming the chord in single downward strokes as indicated below:



Try your best to start your strum from the fifth string each time you strum. A major, doesn't sound bad if you accidentally hit the top string, although if you want your music to sound professional, you'll want to play this chord properly. Remember to stay relaxed. Your fingers may hurt a little but they will get stronger.