Posts Tagged ‘Learning Guitar’

The virtual world is really evolving. Anything you need is now available through your internet. Whether you are an income seeker, online game player or just searching for information, your internet will never fail you. The online world is truly an easy access especially for those who do not have enough time to spare. So if you want to be a guitarist but lacks time, why not use your virtual buddy in learning online guitar lessons?

There are so many sites offering tips on how to play guitar. The strategies and techniques are quite confusing. So to help our fellow guitarist players, here is a list of online guitar lessons and tips accumulated over time and hopefully will help on your guitar needs.

Tip #1: Learn to correct wrong habits. It is necessary to correct yourself as soon as you discover something wrong. Developing habits will affect you in the long run. It is better to change your habits now rather than later when it is harder.

Tip#2: Being able to play a wide variety of music is a sign of a great guitarist. Listen and try to learn some genre aside from your preferred one. Try to explore because you can not be sure of what suits you best unless you try, right?

Tip#3: Experiment on music. You can use your guitar to change a tempo, note or make your own music. Guitar is a very versatile instrument so make it as productive as possible.

Tip#4: Learn slowly but surely. Do not rush your lessons or you might end up developing unnecessary playing habits. A lot of perseverance and patience are needed to be a successful guitarist.

Tip#5: It is better to know how to play one whole song rather than playing a bunch of songs with only a few lines.

Tip#6: Learn from experts. Watch other people play their guitar and ask questions about their techniques. Most people are willing to share their expertise.

Tip#7: Record yourself while playing your guitar. Taping yourself will make you see more of what needs to be developed. Also, it is really nice to have a copy of your playing acts because it will serve as a good memory or inspiration to share with your future family or friends.

Tip#8: Welcome both criticisms and praises. Both are useful. Praises means you are doing well but still be humble while criticisms make way for improvements.

Hopefully, this bunch of online guitar lessons will help you in your musical quest. These are tips given and used by your fellow guitarists. So learn and enjoy!

The fastest way to learn guitar is to learn the basic hand positions and chords and then practice zealously. When you first start to practice chords and songs, your fingertips will likely get sore. You have to develop calluses on the tips of your fingers, so playing through the soreness is necessary. Using a pick will help with the soreness, but if you want to get there faster, build on those calluses. You will also need to develop strength in the hand you use to fret. The best way to do that is to practice as often as you can.

Practicing often means practicing daily. If you have the time, try to practice for an hour a day. The least you should practice is for half an hour of your day. Take every other opportunity you have to work on your guitar skills. If you can fit in more practice, then do so. It is the best way to learn guitar fast.

Do not skimp on learning guitar chords. If you really want to learn quickly, you have to learn barre chords as well as open chords. Chords must become second nature. For this to happen, your mind and fingers have to get accustomed to it. “Play” the guitar silently when watching television or sitting at stoplights. Here is where it is okay to play the “air guitar”.

Challenge yourself as you learn. Do not settle for learning one or two songs and then playing them all the time. Not only will that bother the people around you, it will not take you where you want to go. Practice the easy songs, of course, but move on to the intermediate and then advanced songs, too.

You cannot skimp on any part of learning to play the guitar if you want to become an expert guitarist quickly. Treat your guitar lessons like a job. In order to advance, you have to learn and apply on a consistent basis.

Guitar Chord Shapes

There are thousands of different kinds of chords and chord shapes that guitarists use, but nearly all of them can be traced back to just five basic forms. In the open position, the five basic forms are C, A, G, E, and D. This spells “Caged” and creates the so-called CAGED System. With the proper Theory, each one of the CAGED forms can be turned into a barre chord and moved up the neck. Each barre can be played as an arpeggio pattern which includes even more notes. These arpeggio patterns can then be broken up into all sorts of unique shapes, voicings and inversions.

Guitar Arpeggios

Each major chord in the CAGED system is made up of three notes. With each chord, notes can be repeated, stacked in any order, and played anywhere on the fretboard. Just like learning guitar scales, guitarists must learn how to map out chord-tones on the neck. These patterns of chord-tones are called “arpeggios.” Arpeggios are an important piece to the theory puzzle, specifically learning the guitar caged system.

Chord Inversions and Voicings

Guitar arpeggio patterns show you where all the chord notes are located in each position on the neck. By visualizing all the notes of a chord in a position, a guitar player can then can grab the notes in a variety of ways creating unique shapes and fingerings, inversions and voicings. An inversion, in practical music theory terms, is simply a re-arrangement of the notes from one shape to another. For example, a C major includes the notes C-E-G. These notes are available in this order but only in some spots. In other areas you might find them stacked E-G-C or G-C-E. Each combination produces a slightly different sound or “voicing.”

CAGED Guitar System

When players map out all the notes of a chord across the entire fretboard they end up with a big pattern of notes that covers five positions. This giant pattern runs the whole length of the guitar neck and is very hard to follow. But when this pattern is played one position at a time, practical arpeggio patterns emerge. Reduced to a fundamental chord shape, each arpeggio pattern becomes a common open form. One position resembles an open C chord, the next an open A chord, followed by G, E and D. Hence, the CAGED Template Chord System. So, a little bit of good theory really helps to unravel the mystery to building and playing chords on the guitar neck.

Rhythm Guitar Techniques

Great rhythm guitar players don’t necessarily use strange chords, they just spice up common progressions with unique shapes and voicings. Consider the song “Jack and Diane” by John Mellencamp for example. Each section of this tune sounds different but all sections are variations of the same three chords (A, D and E). By applying a little theory, changing up the inversions and progression, each section has a fresh sound. Understanding this theory and the guitar caged system enables players to learn chords across the whole neck and squeeze new life out of old shapes.