For many people, the art of learning a musical instrument is extremely daunting and might seem nearly impossible. The reality though is that there are many tips and tricks that you can learn to not only make your learning of an instrument much easier but also make it fun. After all, when you are learning an instrument what you are looking for is not only to create a fun hobby for yourself but also to be able to partake in an art form that is a lot of fun. So, to get you started let’s jump into some of the most basic things you need to know to learn guitar and get you started on your hopefully very long musical journey.

The Guitar

This might seem like a very obvious thing to mention but before you learn guitar you need to acquire one. Of course, the most important thing about getting a guitar is learning to understand how it works. This means that whether it is an electric or acoustic guitar you should learn to maintain it and take proper care of it since musical instruments can be a little capricious when it comes to how you sound in response to how they have been treated. While you might be used to people manhandling their guitars the reality is that they are very fragile tools that require a lot of care. Whether it is string replacement or tuning these things are at the very top of what you need to learn before you can even play a proper song. You will also learn that depending on the brand some guitars sound different This is why many people decide to learn more about Gibson Les Paul guitars or other very fancy models that they dream of acquiring.

Tuning

When it comes to you tuning your strings to make sure that you have the proper sound for every and each one the reality is that if you are not used to music, it might be very difficult To do by ear. Thankfully nowadays there are many tools that are available for you to learn tuning before you even train your musical ear. The most basic tool available out there is of course the tuning flute which allows you to blow a sound that is on the same note that your string should sound. While this might be still a little advanced for beginners there are thankfully more technological tools available to us nowadays. This is why electric tuners are a great way to learn tuning. Those available for electric guitars are simple all you need to do is plug your guitar into a tuner and play your cord as you tune them until they reach the perfect number on the little gadget. As you grow more accustomed to your instrument you should learn to tune by how it sounds.

Practice Makes Perfect

When you start to learn guitar, you will notice that one of the hardest things to master is of course the fingering. What we mean by this obviously is the actual pressing of the strings with your fingers. Learning how to properly press to get the proper chord is a bit difficult especially if you have soft fingers and no built-up calluses. Yes, you heard that right most guitarists build up calluses on their fingers not only to make the fingering less painful if you play for a long period but also to make the pressure on the chords stronger and more efficient to get a clearer sound. This is why for beginners it is often recommended to do fingering practices where even if you don’t play the strings you get to learn to press the strings and get your chords proper. At the end of the day what you want is to get the clearest sound possible so that it becomes easy for you to focus on more important things than your fingering when you are playing a song.

Reading Sheet Music

When we talk about sheet music and notes the reality is that it is a whole different language that many musical artists have perfected for centuries. The other side of this of course is that many musicians don’t know how to read sheet music. This means that as a guitarist you will need to rely either on your knowledge of sheet music or learn to read guitar chord diagrams. The difference between the two is that sheet music of course is Not telling you how to play the note by itself. Guitar chord diagrams usually show you the fingering required to get the sound you need, and you essentially go from there. The idea is of course that you will learn to read music by learning the sounds of each letter attributed to each diagram. Both of these methods of advantages and disadvantages but learning one or the other is essential to be able to learn songs that you want to play.