How to Play a Guitar

How to Play a Guitar - Tip #3 - Practice on Acoustics

nobody@vox.com(Tony Veneto) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:43:43 -0700

When I was first learning how to play a guitar, I noticed this right away. Whenever I picked up an electric guitar (I normally play acoustic) I would be amazed at how easy it was to play things. In fact, I pressed on the frets so hard that the guitar sounded out of tune! You have to be gentle with these things!

"'Whenever, I work on new lead riffs for songs we’ve written, I like to practice those riffs first on an acoustic guitar. The reason is it’s much harder to play on an acoustic so you build up hand strength and dexterity. Once you can play the riff smoothly on an acoustic, move to an electric, and watch how easy it is to play.'

Following Eric’s advice, it’s really good if you have slightly heavier gauge strings on your acoustic. For me, I play with '10’s' on my electric and '13’s' on my acoustic. Plus the action on my acoustic is higher than on my electric.

Lately, I’ve been doing this in my practice time, and am impressed by how well it works." - Worship Guitar Guy*

Who would'a thunk it? Playing acoustic helps you play electric!

A good idea is to start with something like a blues scale or some arpeggios and feel how easy they are on the electric after you've mastered it on your acoustic.

What? You don't know any scales or arpeggios? You should check out Ben Edward's stuff. I used it to get started and it really helped fight the monotony of "normal" practice.

*Worship Guitar Guy

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How to Play a Guitar - Tip #2 - Capo

nobody@vox.com(Tony Veneto) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:22:00 -0700

While learning how to play a guitar, you finally got your first 3 chords down: G, C, and D. You can play some small songs in G... hooray!

How about playing in A? (A, D, and E)
How about playing in C? (C, F, and G)
How about playing in E? (E, A, and B)

Yes, it can be a little overwhelming at first when you've only got 3 chords under your belt. But there is a God in Heaven and Has delivered you out from this suffering. From vast riches of His Kingdom descended a small tool:

The Capo

This is one little tool that no guitar player should be without. It is basically a clamp that allows you to change the key of your guitar while allowing you to use fingerings for keys your already know. It also changes the sound of the guitar a bit which can be really great too.

It is very common to see guitar players playing in Bb by place their capo on the third fret of their guitar and using the fingerings for playing in G. See, you know how to play Bb and didn't even know it!

In all seriousness though, the capo is probably the best investment you can make as far as guitar accessories go. Just don't let it keep you from learning new chords!

Here's the Capo I use.

Now don't be a show-off :).

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How to Play a Guitar - Tip #1 - How to Sing

nobody@vox.com(Tony Veneto) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 09:48:17 -0700

This may sound a bit strange to you (especially guys), but while learning how to play a guitar, the single most motivating thing for me was:

Singing

I know, I know... you don't think you WANT to sing. Or you don't think you can. But you CAN. I don't even have to tell you that there are plenty of professional musicians that sing terrible *cough*James Blunt*cough*, and people actually like to listen to them anyways!

Literally, you can become a one man (woman) band. You're guitar carries the rhythm/beat and you sing the melody. It can be greatly satisfying while you are alone and, once you get good at it, you bring a WHOLE lot more to the table when playing together with others than the average guitar player (and there are a lot of them).

Just practice somewhere you can experiment and focus on singing loud. That may sound counter-intuitive when you are first starting out, but you will learn to control your voice far faster by singing "out" and "loud". Sing "at" a wall. Pushing the voice out of your head. If you start to feel your lips or teeth vibrate just a speck, you've scored! Once you can sing a song at that volume you will be well on your way to being valuable to others for your added vocal abilities.

Do take it easy though, your voice is just as much an instrument as your guitar and shouldn't be abused or taken for granted. Have fun with it but show it respect!

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How to Play a Guitar - Tune and String - Electric

nobody@vox.com(Tony Veneto) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:58:29 -0700

Hey electric guitarists! I didn't for get about you :). The "How to Play a Guitar - Changing Strings - Acoustic" applies to you too! But here are two videos, from the same guy, specific to your axe:

How To Change Electric Guitar Strings - Part 1

How To Change Electric Guitar Strings - Part 2

That should keep the peace around here ;).

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How to Play a Guitar - Changing Strings - Acoustic

nobody@vox.com(Tony Veneto) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:49:26 -0700

When learning how to play a guitar, one of the most trying processes may be learning to string and tune it properly. Here's a good video showing the basics for stringing up an acoustic guitar safely and tuning it. It's not me, but he's alright :).

How To Change Acoustic Guitar Strings - Part 1

How To Change Acoustic Guitar Strings - Part 2

And if for some reason you do not have a tuner, that's ok! Although you really should consider purchasing a decent tuner, for the time being you can tune your guitar by ear using this online tuner. It's only as accurate as you are so make sure you are in a quiet room.

If you are in a hurry, you can tune quickly to your top string (low-pitch E) as follows*:

Steps to Tuning Your Guitar

Make sure your sixth string is in tune (use reference pitch)
Play the sixth string, fifth fret (A), then tune your open fifth string (A) until it they sound the same.
Play the fifth string, fifth fret (D), then tune your open fourth string (D) until they sound the same.
Play the fourth string, fifth fret (G), then tune your open third string (G) until they sound the same.
Play the third string, fourth fret (B), then tune your open second string (B) until they sound the same.
Play the second string, fifth fret (E), then tune your open first string (E) until they sound the same.

Remember to try and change your strings before they break. If a string breaks on your guitar it cause a sudden difference in tension that is not good for the neck of your guitar.

Although this is a very basic part of learning how to play a guitar, it is, perhaps, the most important because it will affect how well your guitar sounds. And if it doesn't sound good, you won't enjoy it :).

*Chart and steps from About.com

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Well, here we go!

nobody@vox.com(Tony Veneto) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:30:33 -0700

My name is Antonio Veneto (Tony from now on) and I have been playing the guitar for nearly 3 years now.

When I first picked up the guitar, I did not think that I would enjoy it. Honestly, it just seemed a bit complicated and unemotional. Since I was used to wind instruments, it took me a while to get used to the idea of "plucking" something rather that "blowing" into it.

But after a couple of weeks, it clicked!

I will tell you now, that there is nothing better than playing the guitar with a group of people, whether you are performing, jamming, or sitting around a campfire.

From rhythm to melody to ambiance, you can do practically anything with the guitar. And once I began singing, it was game over. I'm hooked for good now.

So here I am, online, looking for an outlet to share the love. I hope you will find my haphazard journal here to be useful. Vox seems pretty cool, so I think I should be able to keep up with it.

Good luck in the future!

Ciao,

Tony

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