Guitar Universe

You've decided to take up the guitar, so now you have to decide how to get one. Maybe you have a friend or a relative who plays, and they showed you a few guitar licks. Maybe that friend will loan or sell you a guitar, and even provide some lessons. Many guitar greats began to learn their craft just by watching others around them. Start with who you know.

Next, if you don't know anyone with a guitar, and you're not ready to buy, you can easily rent one. Music vendors rent out to students on a monthly basis. This is a practical choice to start with. If you find that learning the guitar is not right for you, then at least you won't be stuck! You can return the instrument after a trial rental period without having committed to a purchase.

When you rent an instrument you should ask about the rental and return policy. Make sure you can change the instrument if the first one doesn't feel right. Ask about a repair policy, in case you damage your rental. Try out several of the guitars in the shop. You should look for a guitar that isn't clumsy to hold, that you can hold comfortably in your lap with enough room for the strumming arm to play the strings. Your elbow should hang down from the side of the guitar in a relaxed fashion.

Comfort is important! You will spend many hours practicing, so make sure you feel comfortable holding and playing the guitar. If you fall in love with a particular guitar, practice will be fun and not a chore, which will make a huge difference in your eventual guitar-playing mastery.

Comfortable action is next. When you press the strings with the fingertips of your playing hand make sure there isn't a lot of space between the strings and the fingerboard. The space between the upper fingerboard and the strings is called the action. A small distance between the strings and fingerboard makes for efficient, speedy playing. A large distance makes for very difficult playing. Smooth action is especially important for a beginning guitarist who needs to develop hand strength and agility. A difficult action will make for difficult, and discouraging, playing for the beginner.
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Does this sound familiar? A guitar case lying around in your house doing nothing but gather dust. Chances are that despite your best intentions, you have one and probably never learned how to play, or started taking beginner guitar lessons and soon lost your enthusiasm, or something else got in the way. Taking beginner guitar lessons in the traditional manner sometimes just doesn't work all that well when you're busy with little things like life. However, if you have a computer, and who doesn't these days, you can easily find many online sites that offer beginner guitar lessons gratis, for free, or you can buy guitar lesson packages with DVDs and instructional manuals that can be sent to your home if you would prefer. Have no fear if you can't read music; beginners are also taught how to read tablature, which is easier to learn to read than music. Trust me, it really is.

No matter if you choose to start your beginner guitar lessons on the computer or with the traditional educational material, you start out with the raw basics about guitars and accessories, like picks and tuners, strings, bridges, etc. Students are taught how to correctly hold a guitar and pick, and how to tune it so that it sounds good! Sure this may sound really simple, but there are people who feel really awkward at first, and are helped a great deal from a few pointers. Another great bonus to taking beginner guitar lessons in the comfort of your own home, is that the embarrassment factor is almost completely eliminated! Lessons are usually rather easy to understand and are available to you to play over and over until you have mastered that level. You know the saying, practice makes perfect. Beginner guitar lessons include basic scales and chord formations also; it is kind of important to have some basic music theory behind you because you will always benefit by looking back to it for basic guidance, even after you are an accomplished musician!
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In 1960s there was an R&B wave. Little Richard and Isley Brothers were the most popular musicians. Jimi did not feat in their company and couldn't fully realize his potential.

Hendrix moved to New York in the mid-'60s, making waves in various clubs while hooking up with blues rocker John Hammond, Jr.'s band. While playing in a club one night, Animals bassist Chas Chandler approached Hendrix. Convincing Hendrix to move to London, Chandler became his manager and worked with him on his first solo gig. Bringing drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding on board, the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born.

The Experience incorporated R&B and soul and melded those sounds into an eclectic pop variation of psychedelia just coming onto the scene. The London music scene in 1967 was exploding and so did Hendrix with his debut album, Are You Experienced? Hendrix took guitar playing to another level with songs like "Purple Haze," "Hey Joe" and "The Wind Cries Mary." Hendrix quickly jumped to the forefront of music. While each of those songs put Hendrix into the UK Top 10, they indirectly earned him a top spot at the Monterey Pop Festival in the United States later that year. Hendrix commanded everyone's attention while he played his guitar behind his back and over his head. His guitar wanderings incited a degree of spiritual hysteria, especially for the musician himself. He'd finger his guitar and then set it on fire, praying to the guitar gods who blessed him with his unbelievable craft.

Everyone from music moguls to teenage kids was taken by Hendrix's experimentation. Not since the likes of Eric Clapton or Pete Townshend had a young musician been able to take off on a stage. He'd use distorted riffs, mind-blowing feedback and heart-thumping wah-wah pedals to make his music speak to the crowd.

Hendrix would go on to record only two other full-length albums before he died of a drug overdose in 1970 at the age of 27; Axis: Bold As Love and the double-LP Electric Ladyland---still just as mind blowing today as it was nearly 30 years ago. In the course of the few years before he died, Hendrix seriously experimented in funk, jazz and Mississippi Delta blues, spending much time in the studio but never releasing an album. From these sessions, producers posthumously culled tracks and released Hendrix albums, both live and studio.

Stevie Ray Vaughan hailed from Dallas Texas, and his name is synonymous with fender electric guitars. Stevie predominantly played a late fifties or early sixties version of the Strat (opinion is divided on its exact date), but there is no doubting that it was a Fender Stratocaster (Strat) guitar. Stevie seemed to favour this guitar over most others, and the sound is distinctly Fender, and Strat in particular, in quality.

The sound produced by Stevie Ray is almost classic Fender. The Strat is very distinctive, and adds a beautiful tone, especially to Stevie Ray's blues playing. There is a lot of recorded music by Stevie Ray, and all of it is great to hear. I certainly recommend that you seek some out and enjoy the Texas blues at its very best.

Stevie's background was steeped in the blues, so it is no surprise that his recordings feature many blues cuts. The video of Stevies' performance of Texas Flood is a great example of his feel for the blues. Stevie didn't stop with the blues though, and he used his Fender Guitar to great effect on many of his own compositions, as well as blues classics. He played a kind of shuffle exquisitely, as demonstrated on brilliant tunes such as 'Pride and Joy' and 'Cold Shot'. SRV also covered many rock classics, and could do anything song he turned his attention to justice.

I had the great privilege of seeing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble at the Hammersmith Odeon (it's now called something else I think) in London, in the late 1980's. Apart from the pleasure of seeing SRV play, the event was doubly memorable for me because Eric Clapton came in, accompanied by Ringo Starr and other halves, and sat down in front of me! How cool was that.
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One of the first challenges faced by the advancing guitar player is learning a core group of basic guitar chords. Why is it so important to learn these basic chords? Chords form the backbone of most rock and pop songs, and provide the harmonic accompaniment to the melody and instrumental solos.

Rhythm guitar based on basic chords provides many of the most memorable rock riffs, think AC/DC's "Back in Black" or The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". What's really amazing is that by learning no more than 10 to 15 basic guitar chords, you will be equipped to play thousands of rock and pop songs!

First let's establish the definition of a chord. A chord is three or more different musical notes played together. In the case of the guitar, this means that at least three strings are strummed or plucked simultaneously to sound three or more notes. Since the guitar has six strings, the maximum numbers of notes in a guitar chord is six. All chords can be placed in one of three groups based on the musical structure of the chord: Major, Minor, or Seventh. Each of these chord groups has its own "sound" or "feel". Major chords sound stable and complete. Minor chords can evoke a more somber or pensive mood, and Seventh chords are jazzy and somewhat incomplete sounding.

There is no standard list of "basic guitar chords" that every one agrees to. However, there is general agreement that there is a list of somewhere between 8 and 18 basic guitar chords (open string) that every guitarist must know cold. These chords are used in all musical styles from rock and pop to country, jazz, and classical. No matter where you are on your guitar-playing path, you should take the time to learn and master the basic chords. Getting these right will ensure you have the basic tools and skills to learn many songs and increase your playing enjoyment.

So what are the basic guitar chords? Our basic stable includes the major and minor chords from four common musical keys, A,G,C, and D. They are played as "open chords", that is at least one string in the chord is not fretted (pressed down with a finger). Open chords are easier to learn and play than more advanced chords such as Barre chords, or complex chords further up the guitar neck. Our list of basic major and minor chords is:

A Major (or A), A Minor (or Am), C, D, Dm, E, Em, F, G
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