If you’re a beginner and picking up a guitar for the first time, this guitar starter guide should help you get started for the first time.
Guitar Sitting Positions
There are 2 common sitting positions when playing guitar: regular and classical.
I’ll be discussing the regular position since a lot of country music is played using this position.
Simply rest the guitar on your leg so that your picking hand comfortably rests near the open area on the body. Your other hand should be able to reach all the way down the neck comfortably.
Sit at an edge of a chair and keep your back straight. Do not get in the habit of slouching over the guitar. This is bad posture and is a bad habit that you don’t want to start.
You can always sir on the bed and play when you’ve got a special someone over…
Standing Position
Eventually you’re going to want to get used to standing and playing the guitar. I always had difficulty doing this when I first started so I’d rarely do it.
Don’t make the same mistake as I did. I would actually recommend that you always practice playing while standing at least for 5-10 minutes per day.
You will need a guitar strap in order to do this. If you don’t have one then buy one when you can. Perhaps a friend has one that you can borrow?
Don’t try to let the guitar hang down to your knees like those rock stars. It’s hard to do at first unless you’ve got long arms.
Just let the guitar hang comfortably for you. Eventually you can slowly lower it over time if you want to get that “rock star” look…
Hand Positioning
I’ll refer to the hand that holds the pick as the “picking hand”.
I like to call the other hand the “fretting hand” because this hand plays notes on the frets.
A guitar fret is the space between the metal lines you see on the neck. Your fretting hand holds down the strings in these spaces to create music.
It’s important to note the rear view.
Notice where the thumb is. Do try hard to keep your thumb around the middle of the neck.
Don’t press down too hard with the thumb and don’t drop it lower than the midway point. This creates strain on your hand which is not good.
Improper form on the guitar can lead to hand problems down the road. I know a guitar player who had to quit playing after 5 years due to improper form with his fretting hand.
Don’t let this bad habit become one of yours.
Keep your fretting hand relaxed as often as possible and stop playing for the day when your hand gets tired and/or feels pain.
You’re working out new muscles. They need time to rest just the rest of the muscles in your body after a workout.
Fretting on the Guitar
The music the guitar makes is due to your fretting hand holding down strings at proper locations. Chords are formed by holding down certain strings at certain spots (frets) on the neck.
As a beginner you need to focus on building strength and speed as well as working on chords.
I know you probably want to jump into playing your favorite songs, but like with anything you must walk before you can run. By spending 10 minutes or so per day doing guitar warm up exercises, you will be better off in the long run.
I’ll be releasing a new volume as part of my free Country Guitar Mastery course that will cover warm up exercises for beginners.
I recommend you enter your email into the form to the right so I can notify you when I’m finished with the short report.
You’ll also get the volume I “3 Awful Guitar Mistakes to Avoid”. Moving on…
For fretting:
- Keep your finger nails short.
- Use the tips of your fingers – not the “pad”.
- The easiest spot to hold a string is directly behind the metal fret. Practice your chords holding down the strings in this area.
- Go slow as you practice. Speed up over time as you improve. Use a metronome every time you practice.
- Try to not let the string buzz at all. Spend time making sure all of your fingers are holding down the strings correctly.
- Take a break when your fingers hurt. You will build calluses over the next couple of weeks.
Strumming
Learning to strum with your picking hand is absolutely essential and a key component to rhythm. I recommend that you practice your rhythm playing every single day that you can.
I go over rhythm in volume I that I told you about earlier so get it if you haven’t yet.
Spend time every day practicing your strumming.
Here’s a simple but widely used strumming pattern:
Down-Down-Up-Up-Down. Down-Down-Up-Up-Down.
Over and over again. Practice this with a metronome and you’ll see how it works soon enough.
Another popular strumming pattern I like to use is:
Down-Down-Up-Up-Down-Up. Down-Down-Up-Up-Down-Up.
Simple enough right? Just adding an extra Up at the end which you’ll be able to do when you practice the first pattern a few times.
There’s a lot of beginner strumming patterns and exercises that you can learn at this website. Take a look around and join that site if you think it’s something you’d like to be a part of.
More lessons on chords will be coming soon. Continue to leave comments and email me for requests and I’ll write them up for you.
To your success,
Jeff
