Guitar Garage

Tutorial

Guitar can be a tricky instrument to start with, especially if you have no prior experience with similar instruments, such as the ukulele or bass guitar. Luckily, it is totally possible to teach yourself how to play guitar very quickly, as long as you put in effort and practice frequently. This page will have some resources and a small guide on how to get started on the guitar!

Step 1 - Holding the guitar

When sitting with a guitar, rest the body of the instrument on your right leg (if you're right-handed), keeping your back straight and shoulders relaxed. For acoustic guitars, you may want to tilt the neck slightly upward for better hand positioning. Electric guitars are usually smaller and can sit flatter across your lap. When standing, use a strap adjusted so the guitar sits at about waist level. You want it low enough to look cool, but high enough that your fretting hand doesn't strain. Whether acoustic or electric, keep the neck angled slightly up and avoid hunching over to prevent long-term discomfort.

Step 2 - Tuning the guitar

Before you play anything, your guitar has to be in tune. Otherwise, even fretting the right notes will sound wrong. The standard tuning from low to high string is E A D G B E. You can use a clip-on tuner, a tuning app, or an online tuner like this one from Fender. Pluck each string one at a time and adjust the tuning peg until the tuner shows you're in pitch. If you’re using an electric guitar, plug it into a tuner for more accurate results.

Step 2 - Chord Diagrams and your first chords!

The first chords you usually learn on guitar are called open chords. Specifically, we'll be looking at C major, D major, and G major. Probably the most beginner-friendly way to learn and communicate how to play these chords are chord diagrams.

I think the diagrams should be mostly self-explanitory. You could imagine the chord diagram as being a view of the guitar standing up straight, with the low E string on the left and the high E string on the right.

The black dots tell you which string and fret to put your finger on. The number below the string represents which finger to use, with 1 corresponding to your index finger, 2 corresponding to your middle finger, and so on. So for example, in the C major chord, you would put your index finger on first fret of the 5th string, your middle finger on the second fret of the 3rd string, and your middle finger on the third fret of the 2nd string.

You may also notice there is either an X or an O above the strings with no black dots. The O means "open", meaning you simply just let it ring out without putting your finger on it. On the other hand, an X means you have to either carefully avoid playing the string or mute it by resting some part of your hand on it without fretting. For example, in the C major chord, you can either just avoid hitting that first string or use your left thumb to lightly press (without fully fretting) the string to mute it.

IMPORTANT: When fretting, try to put your finger right above the metal fret. Generally, the closer you are, the clearer and less buzzy your note will sound. Try putting your finger really far away from it and really close and hear the difference. It makes a bigger difference in the first 7ish frets, so try it there.

Alright, well now that you are fretting a chord, go ahead and play it! Fret the chord shape with your left hand and then strum/pick all of the strings with your right hand. It will be pretty difficult at first. I especially found C major really hard at first, but with practice, it becomes a lot easier.

Step 3 - Reading tablature

Tablature, more often simply just called "tab", is a simple way of reading/writing writing music for guitar. There are 6 lines, each representing a string. You can think of it like a timeline read left to right. The numbers on the line represent what you should be fretting at each time.

The tab above is just a simple chord progression: C, D, G, C. It's just those chords in those diagrams above, but written as tab. I personally find that can be a little difficult to read as fast for open chords compared to simple diagrams, but tab is much easier for riffs and power chords. But first, you need to...

Step 4 - Practice, practice, practice

Reading chords and basic tabs are foundational skills to becoming a guitar player. I'd reccomend practicing your open chords and getting really good at switching between them. When you start, your finger dexterity and coordination between your two hands will likely not be so great, but will get better if you just keep practicing.

A common thing that beginners feel at this stage is a lot of finger pain. Obviously, pressing tight metal strings will hurt if you do it enough. I remember when I started, I physically couldn't hold chords for more than 5 seconds having to let go from the pain (although my guitar was set up really poorly and had very tight strings, so...). This is totally normal! Over time, you'll slowly begin to press lighter as you realize the appropriate amount of pressure you need to press the strings with and you'll develop calluses and stronger skin. Just keep going!

However, finger pain is usually not as bad on an electric guitar because they usually have much looser strings, so if you really can't handle an acoustic, try an electric guitar!

Next Steps

After you master the open chords, you can take this any direction you'd like. What you learn next heavily depends on what you types of music you want to play, but I can give you a few pointers!

Two of my favorite websites for finding tabs and chords are Ultimate Guitar and Songsterr. They are a goldmine of free tabs and chords. I personally find Ultimate Guitar better for chords/acoustic guitar songs. They provide multiple ways to play each of the chords in your song and strumming patterns. However, if you're looking for tabs (usually for anything more than just basic strumming chords), I'd go with Songsterr. They have an enormous library of time synced tabs, meaning you can play the real song along with the tab. You can choose to hear the original song or a synth version. The synth version lets you mute any individual track, but it doesn't usually sound too true to the real song. However, you have to pay to use the original version for more than 10 bars at a time. Anyways, both websites are great resources to learn new songs.

Also, don't forget about YouTube! There are many, many videos of guitar covers and lessons that are INCREDIBLY helpful, especially to visual learners who find it hard to learn a song just by staring at a tab.

I'm going to let you run loose now! Make sure to practice often, learn new things, and above all, have fun!