That’s why you need to tune your guitar strings according to their notes so that they have their perfect pitch. And learning how to tune a guitar properly is one of the most important things you will ever learn. Imagine if your strings aren’t tune well, you will be playing out of tunes and sounds like a complete mess! People will raise eyebrows on you and say “Does this guy know how to play guitar? He doesn’t even know how to tune it!”

So how do we do it? How do we tune our guitar?

Well, there are some ways to do it. I’ll let you pick what’s best for you:

• You can check out this simple online guitar tuner video. This video is quick and easy to follow that will allow you to tune your strings under two minutes. This is an easy choice if you want clear example on how to tune your guitar.
• Or you can learn how to tune your guitar by your own ears. I’ll give you two main techniques to follow. They both use what so called relative pitch. Don’t worry it’s not as scary as it heard, in fact it’s kinda fun how you can tune your guitar using relative pitch.
• Or… and this is the easiest; you can always get yourself a guitar tuner. This small yet handy tool will guide and gives you the perfect pitch according to its natural note. You should have one. It’s not too expensive though.

Well that’s all you need to know about tuning your guitar I guess. Remember whenever you want to play your guitar, make sure that you had your guitar strings tuned; or you’ll know the consequences. Tune your guitar up and let’s get going to next lesson.

But it all changed when I try to learn a song over some musical score and I couldn’t do it. Not because I wasn’t good enough, but simply I didn’t know how to read it. It just froze me on my track to see something like this:

It’s a “tuplet” as I learned later, and it makes me realize that if I didn’t want to learn how to handle such basic musical notation you can imagine what kinda player I would be. I have to study this to reach my full potential. I have to do it and solve this basic issue, learning some music theory.

And you should do it too. If you can’t play a guitar solo run because it’s too friggin’ hard that’s one thing. But if you can’t play it because you don’t know how to read and understand to play it, that’s another thing. You need to solve that. You won’t let this technical boundaries stops you to reach your full potential don’t you? And I’m gonna help you with that.

In this page you will find important things you need to know about music theory related to guitar playing. If you want to learn about just intonation or any other obscure concept then I’m afraid that you will be disappointed. But if you want to learn how to play anything you see in tab or music sheet, then you’re in the right place.

And these basic topics that you should address to solve:

• Tempo – describe how fast or slow a song should be played. Simple stuff.
• Basic Note Values – every notes has a values, it describe how long a note should be played or hold.
• Tuplets – a group of notes with same values played in a time.
• Time Signatures – describe how many of which notes get put in each measure.

I know this may sound difficult for any beginner like you, but don’t get caught up with difficult terms you are having. These are just aspects of guitar music theory just yet. There are tons more, and it’s all worth learning. As always the more you know the better you’ll be. I say you should work on this and going all from here.

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When I first got guitar in hand and try to learn basic guitar chords on my own, I didn’t really know how to do it. The whole weird chord forms are just killing me. So I made up my own. Sometimes I got lucky, some of them sound cool, but for most part well I made up my own chords what do you think it would like?

But after bit guidance from more experienced players, I managed to finally know how to play chords properly. Chords that sound pleasant and inviting people to come over rather than ran and cover their ears.
And the same goes to you. When it comes to chords learning you simply needs some directions. That’s all.

And you don’t need:

• Your Natural Talent
• Luck
• Private Lesson with Steve Vai
• Broke you out expensive guitar
• 18 years practice a day
• Bigger and stronger hands

You don’t need all of that just to play chords. So if you don’t need such things then what do you need? It’s simple; you just have to want to learn and some time. That’s all. In fact I would say if you capable to read this, you will be able to learning that. You will be able to play some song in no time. Try run through the sample progressions, practice your fingers changing between chords, take your time and make sure it sounds clean. Take as long as your time to make sure that you’re comfortable holding and switching between basic chords that you learning.

Take it easy. There’s no rush. No one demanding that you have to be great guitar player over night. Do it for fun and keep practicing and repair some mistakes, then before you realize you’ll start getting better. Rapidly.

Now if you’re ready, I’ll write a tutorial “Learn Guitar Chord #3 Learn Guitar Chords: Barre Chords“.

Now I’m not gonna make this as an “800,000 guitar chords diagram” and throw it at you. There you go, and expect you to figure it out on your own. That would be wrong. You’ll never know how these chords developed then. Instead I’m gonna give you what chords are all about, what you can do with chords, and avoid playing the same thing over and over again. In fact you will be able to figure it out on your own your chords form. So you don’t have to remember it the whole time. If you understand the concept you don’t have to remember anything. Here I’m using guitar tab and chords diagrams to cover this.

Let get going then!

1. Learn Guitar Chords: The Basic
2. Learn Guitar Chords: Barre Chords
3. Learn Guitar Chords: Blues Chords
4. Learn Guitar Chords: Strumming

But why we need to know all about guitar setup? Couldn’t we just take them to shop if anything happened? Why an average guitar player should needs to learn how to maintain their instruments? There are shops for that rite?!

Well I would give answer with analogy:
Let’s say that you’re a one hell of a mechanic who took your car to repairing shop for an oil change. Not because you’re too tired to do it yourself, but simply because you don’t know how to do it. The shop keeper would raise eyebrows on you and say “you’re a mechanic, you were saying?”

Now was that any different with some guitar players taking his/her guitar to the music shop for something routine-do it yourself stuff like a string change? Why would you pay anyone else to do something that you should be able to do it on yourself? Like I said, I didn’t mean that you have to build your guitar all the way from the scratch; it’s just that you should be able to work on your own stuff for at least the basic stuff like string change.

You might consider this as your guide to the basic stuff that you should mastered. I’ll give the electric guitar section in its own section, because there are more a bit to it. While the rest is pretty much applicable for both electric and acoustic setup.

General Guitar Setup

Here is equally applicable well for both electric and acoustic, so it won’t be any difference whether you’re play heavy metal or traditional folk songs. You can find more specific stuff further down the page.

• Changing Strings – you should at least know how to do this.
• To make sure that you choose the right type, please check out this information about the basic types of guitar strings.
• Guitar Supplies – every activity needs its stuffs. And here is the top ten “things” you need as a guitarist.

Of course that’s not all when it comes to guitar setup, there are many more. But I guess it’s a start.

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But if you buy mass production guitars you have the chance to play the market and see what’s available there. Well let’s say you already decided to buy a Fender Stratocaster with Lightning Strike Burst finishing, there are several ways to get one:

1. You can simply go to your local music shop and buy it.

The advantage of this method is that you will have the chance to see the products live and real. You will be able to touch it and try it to see if it fits your hands. Now about the price. Always remember that local music shop rarely sell anything “at cost”. So if you say something like, “I think I could get a cheaper price on this one somewhere (which is usually true), can you get me a cut price on this?”

Very frequently they will be able to take something off from price; or at least give you some free picks or free set of strings or at discount. You never know, but remember that it never, ever, hurt to ask. Also check out a lower advertised price on same item at a local competitor. Many of them will beat the price to get your deal.

2. Check out online retailers like ZZounds or Musician’s Friend.
Compared to local music shop, usually you will find better prices and better selections when you browse through these online retailers. Plus, you get the chance of reading the user reviews that we talked about earlier.

Pros:

• Better Price, Better Selection
• Many accessories available. You need picks, strings, cases, or fretboard cleaner, or perhaps an instructional video? You can have them here also.
• Free shipping, although you may have to spend on certain amount to meet the requirements or purchase a case to qualify.

Cons:

• Shipping charge applied if you don’t reach the minimum or buy any certain items as required.
• You can’t see the products until it arrives at home. If possible, I suggest that you played it before to get the feel of how it handles.

3. Check Craigslist and Ebay for Second-hand deals

In case you don’t know yet, Craigslist is a worldwide classifieds list from which you can find almost any merchandise imaginable (such as guitars!) for sale by individuals.

Pros:

• Wide selection of guitars and gears.
• Lower asking prices. Let me give you illustration on this. Supposed I want to sell my guitar on some local music shop, which then re-sell it to you as a consumer, I will get some money on it, but would be not as much as if I sell it directly to you. So as long as the guitar offered on craigslist is cheaper than you can get from your local music shop, then it’s a great deal for you (and the seller).
• You may don’t have to pay anything for it. No I’m not saying that it would be free at all, but sometimes people on craigslist are willing to accept trade for gears. A barter as you can say. I found a guy on my area who wanted to trade his 76 Chevy truck for original BB King series Les Paul guitar. Well you never know what people may be willing to trade for.

Cons:

• Beware! Especially if you play the buyer part. Since you don’t know the people you are buying from, so I suggest that you exercise due diligence before making any purchase. This is an online transaction, you won’t be able to see the products offered until it arrives, and you probably won’t be able to return it if later on you finds out that it wasn’t what you expected. If you have any doubts or something that seems too good to be true, don’t do it!

While ebay of course; is probably the world’s no 1 online auctioneer. Looking items in here will expand your search range to anywhere in the world. Supposed if you can’t find the one you’re looking for in here it may not be for sale. Buying a guitar here would probably doesn’t put you in your comfort zone but the deals you get here can be well worth it.

Pros:

• Selection is Unprecedented
• If you use Paypal for payment, there will be protection if there was some misrepresented, etc.

Cons:

• Since this is an auction, there is possibility that you would be outbid on the last second.
• Until the guitar falls in your hands after you’ve pay it, you will never know what’s the seller means with “a few small scratches”. Sure there are pics when you make the bid, but pics are definitely not the substitute for guitar you are holding and stare at it directly.
• Is there any savings if you buying from here? Well you have to at least pay for the shipping price, unless if it happens that you live near the seller location and they allow local pick up.

Buying a guitar especially if this is your first time, can be tricky, just take your time, ask a lot to your guitar player friends, and follow this simple guide, then you have a good chance everything’s went right. Good luck on finding your special one, and when you do be sure to browse back the lesson section to get you started.

My advice is if that you’re actively involved in “buying guitar” process and assuming that you haven’t grabbed best and killer price from family or friends, then I suggest that you’re find a good reason to buy a guitar that does not solely depend on its looks or because it’s extremely cheap. Too cheap for you to resist.

I understand that if this is your first time, you probably wouldn’t drop tons of money until you know that you’re going to like it. Just remember, just like anything else, there are cheap guitars that are good deals and there are cheap guitar that is just cheap over all. I mean they are just cheap and not worth to buy. And your job is to find the first one, they’re out there somewhere, you just have to know where to find them.

And everyone can do this research in their own different ways. As for me when I’m buying a guitar I’ll check out one of the online music retailer such as zzounds.com and browse through the list until I found something that interest me.

There two valuable functions doing this:

• Let you to see a view array of guitar selections; some that are not available in your local shop along with information about the specs and prices.
• You can read the reviews written by people who actually have played the instrument. By doing this you will have valuable information that you can give as consideration when you walk on into a shop.

You can also do the reverse, for example you may choose the visit the local shop first, and find guitars that seems to be a great choice based on your desire and goals; then you can find reviews from online source written by actual users. I would suggest you to go to Harmony Central. I found this so far as the best.

Whatever it is, make sure that you always read up information about any guitar before you decide to buy it. That way you will at least minimize the chances of regretting the purchase later.

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You should really-seriously thinking about it. Is there any particular guitar or style of guitar you would like to have? Asking some guitar players to point you to the right direction would be useful.

In General
In general, for most beginners taking formal guitar lessons, a standard steel-string acoustic guitar seems like a smart choice, since they usually require the smallest investment. You’re not required to buy an amp, cable etc just to make it works. For simple basic chords learning and simple picking patterns, these would do just fine.

In my experience, when I first started, I was learning from lesson series books my instructor using which consist of classic song such as “Happy Birthday”. I went through acoustic route and I was doing fine.

In fact by beginning with acoustic guitar you’ll be benefit in gaining strength and endurance at your fingers, rather than straight jumping to electric. Your fingers would develop incredible endurance and strength when using the acoustic guitar. You need to press a little harder than on electric.

But To Be Honest!
Still, no matter how good or important acoustic for my learning, I wanted to play the electric from the start.

And I know that it would be a better choice for some people. Let’s say that you’re learning from song to song basis rather than following the standard lesson book, electric will give you extra flexibility and range to deal rather than acoustic can handle. You can go from Happy Birthday song to Smoke on the Water.

Furthermore, as I said earlier that it would be a lot of easier to hold basic chords on electric than on acoustic.

But remember you have gotta have amps, cables, and all that stuffs.

Give it thought to make your decision, but don’t stress it too much, because if you ends up loving guitars as much as I do, then you’ll have both acoustic and electric guitars anyway. So take it easy.

For Non Beginners!
If you’ve been playing for sometimes then I supposed you will be able to determine on what you’re looking for in a guitar. But still, it wouldn’t do any harm if you ask around; who knows others would have better idea, do your research, and make sure you get what’s best for you and your goals.

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If this is to be your first ever guitar purchase, then let me congratulate you for that. Your fun is about to begin. And if you already bought a guitar or two in the past, and you want to add one in your collection, you know that it’s always exciting thing to do.

But still you have to work with the excitement and not get carried away by it during the purchase. All I’m saying, no matter how excited you are on guitar purchase; is that whether you’re new or been playing for thirty years or so, when it comes to guitar shopping you need to be a smart shopper. You don’t wanna regret it later wouldn’t you?

And this guide will help you in buying axe into shape.

1. Buying a Guitar: What Do You Want?

2. Buying a Guitar: Research Tips

3. Buying a Guitar: Purchase Tips

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You need a guitar! Well that’s obvious isn’t it?

But before you do that in case if you haven’t got one, or you considering to get another one, and since this is a beginner guitar lesson, let’s us start with anything you need to know about guitar. I’m sure most of you have already know what a guitar looks like, how it played, and what the sounds like. But for those who haven’t… Well, I really don’t know what to say to you. I mean common people, it’s guitar! How strange can it be? It’s not some short of super weird traditional musical instrument from out of nowhere. It’s a guitar!

Ok now, you know what a guitar is, but I’m sure not all of you know what type of guitar you have. In fact even some guitar players still don’t know the types of guitars! I’m not kidding! They’ve played it but still some don’t know what type of guitar they’re playing. So I think it would be good if as beginner we should know any of these materials:

• Guitar Types
  It’s just something you need to know about the types of guitars, like what its like, what kinda strings they’re have, what are they used for, etcetera, etcetera.
• Guitar Tonewoods
  As you know most guitars are made of woods. We’re going a lil’ physic here, in case you don’t know that a guitar sound is made of strings struck resonate by its wooden body. That’s why you’ll see a hole in its body, to resonance the sound and make it louder. And that’s why any woods materials a guitar made of should be impact on the sound quality that will produce. And you’ll be step ahead of any guitar players if you know about this stuff.
• Buying a Guitar
  Well that’s easy. But not as easy as it looks. You’ll deal with hundreds choices that will blur your mind. But this cover will help you where to buy a good guitar from.

Right, now that you have your guitar, it’s time to do something about it. It’s time you learn how to play it. And the first lesson a guitar player should have is to work on those weak and lame fingers. Remember, you’ll play guitars with your fingers. And there’s nothing better to train those fingers than chords. It’s a great way to practice.

So I would like you to try these particular chords first:

• Guitar Power Chords
  Okay these aren’t technically chords actually, but it showed up in any songs that requires guitar playing. I mean they’re everywhere. And you can’t call yourself a guitar player if you don’t know any of these chords.
• Basic Guitar Chords
  Now here comes the real parts, after learning those now it’s time for you to move on to the real deal. And these basic are the staple of any beginner guitar lesson everywhere.

Let’s move on then, after you’ve done practicing any of those chords, it should makes you familiar to hold your guitar. Next is to practice the movement of your fingers. Go ahead to guitar playing techniques page where you will learn what the different techniques are and how to tie them all together. Just take it easy. Your speed and technical proficiency will come in practice. Just keep on going.

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