How to properly position and place the guitar

Hold it right - Be relaxed
 
It is to your benefit to first get to know the proper positioning of a guitar. Begin by finding an armless chair that has really good support for your back. You need to sit comfortably with your back facing the chair. Slumping over is by no means recommended since you will form bad guitar habits and a sore back.

When sitting in an armless chair, be sure that there is a lot of room so as to allow easy flow and custody of your guitar and arms.

When you are seated, you should rest the guitar on your lap and have the rear of the guitar face your chest. The body of the guitar ought to be on the leg that is farthest from the headstock.

If you are right handed, the guitar needs to lay on your right leg. Many acoustic guitars will have curved indentations that are great for playing the guitar on your leg.
If you are holding the guitar properly, then the sixth string should be close to your chest and the first string should be close to your feet.

Your fret hand will need to be put on the left if you are right handed and on the right if you are left handed.

You ought to hold the fretboard of the guitar gently with your fretting hand. Your thumb must be put behind the guitar's neck. The other fingers must be floating on top of the strings, slightly curled. It is crucial to buckle the fingers by the knuckles except if a teacher tells you not to.

Picking strumming and types of picks
 
When starting to play the guitar, you need to secure a set of guitar picks. A guitar pick is a small flat tool that you use to pluck or strum the guitar. You need to secure a minimum of 10 relatively cheap guitar picks.
There are different varieties of guitar picks but it is best to begin with one that is not too hard or too thin. Picks are made of plastic, wood, rock, plastic, tortoiseshell, and aluminum. They are usually in the design of a triangle but other forms are offered from designers.

When you have a guitar pick and are settled in the adequate position, you can begin picking the guitar. Your picking hand will be closest the bridge of your guitar.
You ought to open up the hand you are going to be picking or "strumming" the guitar with. The palm ought to be facing you. Next, be sure the thumb is next to the forefinger. See to it that you rotate the hand so that the knuckle of the thumb is pointing toward you.
Using your free hand you need to slide in the guitar pick in between your index finger and thumb. That way, the pick is secure. The pick should wind up behind the thumb's knuckle.

You should hold the pick securely and the pointed part of the pick need to be pointing away from your fist and should be sticking out about 1/2 inch. The hand you are strumming with should be over the sound hole in case you are working with an acoustic guitar or over the guitar body if you are using an electric guitar. Your strumming hand should be put above the strings.

Your picking hand should not ride the frame or stings of the guitar. Using your wrist, not your arm, strum the lowest string in descending order. If the string rattles too much, do not use a lot of the pick surface area or simply strum softer.

After that, pick the lowest string upwards. Attempt this a couple of times. Make an effort to lower the motion of your picking hand by carrying out a quick picking motion downwards and a quick pick upwards.

Now go over the process again with the rest of the strings. Bear in mind that gripping the pick will really feel irregular at first. You will need to focus on your picking hand when you begin practicing the guitar. Your down strokes and your upstrokes must sound the same. Also keep in mind you may sound bad at first but this will improve with work. It takes some time to end up being the next guitar idol!

Online Guitar Lessons - Ear-training Tips

“Seek ye first the Kingdom Ear-training (Having an acute and well trained ear) and all things needed to becoming a proficient guitarist will be yours.” 

Do you go around in circles looking for guitar instruction that will take you to the next level and beyond? Why is it so difficult for so many to start let alone continue on their way to becoming really proficient guitarists while others experience little problems in accomplishing this task? Some students would already have books, videos, tapes, CDs, etc., and even talented teachers while still not making progress. Yes….and not to forget the many solo and chord progression techniques learned that would supposedly allow them to play any sound desired, triggering even more frustration when very little improvement is seen. 

My dear fellow guitar students, there is only one simple answer to these questions: Having or not having a well-trained ear. In other words most of us need proper Ear-training.

Many well intentioned students and gifted teachers are not wholly aware of this common yet serious limitation (ear-training deficiencies) facing a great number of musicians. Countless tutorials are designed not fully taking into consideration this setback.

Are you getting the point? Focus on what you need most to improve; and for most guitarists, ear-training is the answer.

Do you crave these aural skills?

·         Musicians are able to recognize and sing pitches heard. They can identify, usually by note name, the various pitches that they hear, and sing those pitches in tune;

·         An individual can not only make out a chord like G#b9sus, but name and recognize its root and other components.

·         Being able to detect whether your instrument, the piano for instance, is tuned a little “sharp” or “flat”.

Some individuals may possess the much desired and talked about perfect pitch or absolute pitch. Upon hearing music, they would be able to point out details pertaining to an F chord and its exact octave range or the many inversions of a D minor chord. Isn’t that just amazing? Certainly it is and many experts believe that this skill can be leant.

Starting your journey to attaining good Ear training (Aural Skills)

It’s widely accepted and illustrated that acquiring relative pitch know-how is highly beneficial and feasible for the majority of musicians. Those who seek to learn the guitar online would be aware of the numerous courses offered in this field. A person with relative pitch skills will be able to name intervals when two notes are played. They are also able to classify chord progressions when a series of chords are played. An illustration of this will be a I-IV-V7-I chord progression. These progressions are to found in many songs and being familiar with them makes remembering tunes easier.

Luckily, relative pitch is a lot easier to acquire and its attainment is more than enough to become a competent guitarist or musician. Some useful exercises that can start you off on your pursuit for a better “ear” are as follows:

1. Attempt to first dominate the major chord, subsequently adding the minor, pentatonic and blues scales and so on.

2. Interval mastery is a must…so you must begin practicing in this area right away.

3. Play arpeggios: Start with major triads and move over to minor triads.

4. Improvising over your favorite melodies and chord progressions will create some valuable plus pleasurable interludes.

Don’t believe trainers when they claim that your training is going to be enjoyable. Let’s be frank here; they most likely are just trying to encourage you to proceed with your practice, but the truth is that if your hearing musical ability is significantly challenged, a solution will involve a major sacrifice. Patience and habitual practice are vital in developing aural skills: the benefits are well worth the sacrifice though.

Online Guitar Lessons - Tutorials for Guitar Playing

For beginners who want to learn to play the guitar, there are many ways to learn. There are books on the market that provide guides as well as lessons for a person who wants to learn to play the guitar. The internet also offers an online lessons for people who do not have time to attend tutorial lessons.

Going to tutorial lessons, whether live or online, would be the best way for a person to learn more and in a shorter period of time. Tutorials are a good way to learn because they have very good trainers and online instructors who can assist with the guitar playing lessons.

It is more fun since a person can simply follow instructions with the help of the instructor. It is far more difficult to learn on your own because of the absence of someone to guide and teach the proper ways of learning the chords and gitar strumming.

Here are some reasons why tutorial classes are recommended:

1.Tutorial lessons are interactive. A beginner will realize that learning the guitar is a lot of much fun. There are instances where there will be group sessions. Students are able to meet other new students whether in online classes or traditional classes. Playing the guitar with some new friends can be fun and enjoyable.

2.Although there is an instructor assisting the person, it is important not to forget that the student should be the one in control of his learning. Once he realizes that he is interested in the class, he will be more focused and determined to learn.

3.Tutorial lessons will help a person to be more organized. The proper way to learn to play the guitar is by starting with the basics before tackling the more complicated chords. Master all of the subtle things that the instructor will teach before going to a higher level.

4.Tutorials will teach you to give importance to the whole aspect of the guitar and its music as well as the other benefits the instrument provides.

5.A student should develop his talents by creating his own soloing techniques on the guitar. By learning the right executions he will be taught how to incorporate them into his own knowledge of the guitar.

Tutorials can help a person but he or she must have the capacity to pay for the lessons in addition to the sessions. We believe this to be the best approach in learning more about the guitar, apart from just strumming and picking the basic patterns.

Online Guitar Lessons - 10 Reasons Why You Should Have Them

Do you want to play the guitar but find it difficult to get a qualified teacher that would do no harm to your pocket?....Well there is a fabulous solution awaiting you; and it's all right there on the internet. In the advent of new technologies and faster computers, aspiring guitarists can gain access to some very effective and sophisticated learning programs online. Some software, I must admit are just amazing when considering the amount of learning strategies that can be obtained. Books and magazines just cannot compare to these learning devices acquired online. Imagine loading your Blackberry with a metronome and ear training exercises to practice on the fly. While at the same time being able to visualize the chords and notes.

We are now able to access the internet to obtain fast and effective methods and techniques along with sophisticated tools and guidelines.
Check out these 10 reasons why you should learn how to play the guitar online:

1.It has become unnecessary for a beginner to worry about incomplete, expensive textbooks and magazines since online learning can easily replace them providing audio, video and text facilities to speed up the learning process.

2.Take for instance tablature. You will be able to learn how to read TAB. This is faster than learning from textbooks or magazines. Many songs can be learned very quickly with this device.

3.What if you can hire a personal instructor who you can contact 24 hours a day if you like? Well this is possible with the internet.

4.And concerning the guitar lessons themselves, a person will choose the time of gaining access to his lessons.

5.You will be able to hone your skills while developing your own technique. There are also hundreds of top guitarists who possess their own web page with free and interesting workshops, tips and exercises.

6.Do you have a lot of money to spend? If the answer is no, then get lots of free access to online guitar training from classical and jazz to country, rock and blues - and more.

7.One useful online guitar training application is the tracking of progress while learning. There is this program that has a very detail system for tracking your speed picking progress.

8.When learning to play guitar online, you will be able to link with other related sites that may offer even more content to further the learning process.

9.Upon gaining experience, you will then be able to create your own lessons and courses thus enabling you to provide useful information and techniques to other online seekers of guitar training.

10.Another benefit of this whole experience would be the opportunity to recommend and sell courses online as an affiliate, making you money in the process.

The boost in computer technology where faster and better computers are constantly being created, has truly contributed to the quality and availability of online guitar training for people of all ages throughout the world. So my advise is: go ahead and learn to play the guitar online