A Checklist of Guitar Lessons for Beginners

As a beginning guitar player, the game can be challenging to you as you can't take a lot of advantage of the road map that shows you the complete path of pursuing your career. Beginner guitar lessons are an introductory phase to teach you to master the intermediate and advanced guitar methods when you don't have the fundamentals down, to begin with. Learning guitar is all about attempting mathematics. So, it would be best if you were taught algebra before getting into calculus. Suppose you want to be a guitar player in a professional way; you need to learn to hold the instrument, play the instrument, and the features of your favorite device. Once you achieve the learning as a beginner, you will become a perfect guitarist. But completing the procedure must have an excellent and professional instructor and an academic and foremost thing: your dedication that will lead you to the ultimate success.

Guitar lesson fundamentals: The basic things to be learned

Research on the guitars that suit you

Don't go for random recommendations from anyone! Be it your best friend, your parents, your colleague or maybe your relative. There are different types of guitar in the market, and each is different from another. So, before buying a guitar, you need to justify your guitar according to your shape and size. Do visit the shop by yourself, check and hold the instrument. Ideally, you want a guitar that suits you and offers a profound result in your long-lasting journey. You can also research online on guitar for beginners to get maximum results and recommendations. You need to do a basic anatomy of the instrument before finally choosing it.

Holding the guitar gently and treat like your baby

Being a beginner, you might not be confident enough of holding a guitar. And that's the real challenge! Many people think owning a guitar is a very process, and no mathematics existed. But the truth is, you do need a little guidance from the beginner guitar lessons. You need to know the proper holding before jumping into the music. A wrong holding might end up with negative performance. So, if you're right-handed, you have to grip the neck with your left hand, and if you are left-handed, you need to consider many things before buying a guitar for you.

You should look out for specific guitars made especially for lefties. After buying it, restring your guitar in reverse order and flip the whole thing upside down. And finally, you will feel relaxed to achieve something and start the lesson!

Start playing with the tune.

You don't want to play an out-of-tune guitar. Do you? Of course not. You should be aware that playing an out-of-tune guitar can seriously damage the playing experience. Beginner guitar lessons teach you to play with the perfect tune and how to be mastered with it. Also, the best part is if you buy a tuner, you can quickly get an excellent result each time by using these easy-to-use devices.

Choosing and holding a guitar pick

Guitar for beginners and experts always advise you to start with a standard shaped medium thickness pick, which is about.73mm. from there, you can try thinner picks depending on your choice. If you are not confident enough, you can make the strumming motions with your thumb and index finger.

Also, the pick grip often seems very subjective. You can try it out with a generic pick grip, which will allow you to experiment with your newly bought guitar. Most of the guitarists face the trouble to hold the pick at the time of strumming. In case you are not confident enough, you always try holding on to the selection with your thumb and utilize your first and second fingers. These will ease your process and give you a little more confidence.

The absolute technique of strumming

Strumming has two versatile methods: one is upstroke, and the second is counting.

Creating upstrokes: For a beginner, upstroke might be a difficult task. Most people generally tend to hit the top 3-5 strings with their upstroke. It is advisable that when you do an upstroke, you don't need to strum through all six strings each. Always try to have some relaxed upstrokes.

Counting: Most songs are in four-four time. That means you have four beats at a time. If you try counting 1 2 3 4, then you will be able to strum with downstrokes on the '1' each cycle as you count. Try to remember to have strumming at the time of having downstrokes or upstrokes.

Knowing the basic chord shapes

Before entering into the expert lessons, you need to know the basic chord shapes. The first two easy chord shapes are available: E Minor and D2.

• E Minor Chord

The E Minor Chord has been considered one of the easiest chords to learn for beginners. Classes put stress on learning the minor chords. It is the familiar chord through which you can learn to adjust your fingers. For realizing this chord, you only need two fingers, that's it.

• D2

The second most crucial thing chord learning is to learn the D2. All you have to do is, put your 1st finger on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string and your 3rd finger on the 3rd fret of the 2nd string. And voila! You are all set for this. You need to remember to place your fingertips to not have any problem during the strumming.

• A Major

It will become easy for a learner if they grow their interest in A Major chord. This is also a significant string that efficiently fixes the strings down the line.

• G Chord

You need to work on this string. You have to place your middle finger on the sixth string of the third fret. During placing the finger, you should be aware enough that your finger should be on the third fret of the first string. Placing a perfect G chord delivers a clear sound from each string.

Tuning by Ear

It's hard to realize at this stage that you have to use your ear to listen to the music and melody very carefully. If you want to have a perfect pitch to play, you should be a good listener before becoming a perfectionist. Being capable of tuning by ear can really help you fine-tune your guitar, which will sound a lot better.

You can opt for a good reference note from another source and use relative pitch to tune the remainder of the guitar.

Learning and playing a perfect guitar song

Many learners are not aware of perfect guitar songs. They choose a random one to play. Though guitar doesn't have any hard and fast rule to be played, great things always come by applying proper things. Always pick a good one, because when you are playing a song, that will have to be the most remembered one! Holding a guitar and learning the first song will be super exciting, and it will be engraved into your life experience.

You can set off your journey with two or three cords. Something like Love Me Do, Margaritaville, Horse with no Name, or Three Little Birds. These could be helpful to learn the chords by playing the songs individually. Start practicing transitioning between the chords. It will help you to be confident enough to play with the lyrics further.

You are playing real music! You must be overwhelmed!

There are great things to learn in the beginner guitar lessons. Trying something new can be scary, difficult, complicated.

Learning by yourself is a great thing to achieve an outstanding result but the best way to overcome these obstacles is to work with an experienced teacher or get admission into an academy. These options will assist you to reach your full potential. If you are a dedicated and true violin player, you can make your way through all of the techniques to master yourself towards a better you!

About the Author: Jarrell Koh

Jarrell Koh, instructor of Guitar at Stradivari Strings and has been associated with the institution since 2013. He is a professional guitar player and multi-instrumentalist, proficient in the acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass and piano. He has a great passion for writing blogs on guitar training and features of guitars. Beside this, he loves to teach his students and is well known in the music industry for his in-depth knowledge on music. His several blogs on guitar for beginners are recommended by the readers.

Stradivari Strings was established in response to the need for top quality music education, as well as for superior quality music instruments in Singapore.