Learn Acoustic Guitar
If you want to learn how to play guitar, then you should first learn acoustic guitar. Acoustic guitars require more finger pressure and better technique to play smoothly and that is why you need to learn acoustic guitar before learning to play electric. Once you have your acoustic guitar, there are some activities you can do that will help you learn acoustic guitar faster.
- Finger strength. You cannot learn acoustic guitar without first developing the proper finger strength. Before you play a single note, spend an hour or so a day for a few weeks just pressing your fingers down on the strings until you touch the fretboard. Make sure the string goes across the middle of your fingertips, and that your fingers are pressing down completely before you move on to the next note. It sounds easy until you start to do it. Once you feel comfortable using your fingers on the fretboard, you can move on to the next step in how to learn acoustic guitar.
- Playing your first notes. People who have been playing acoustic guitar for years make it look easy. But when you start to learn acoustic guitar, you realize how difficult it is. Once you feel like you have your finger strength, the next step is to play your first note. Place your finger anywhere on the fretboard, and try to make a clean note. Once you have made one note, move on to a second and create a progression. It does not matter if it is in key, it only matters that you make clean notes.
- A chord. The reason you learn to play individual notes first when you learn acoustic guitar is because a chord is a collection of notes. You need to know how to make one note sound clean before you can make a whole chord sound good. Download a chord chart from the Internet and start playing basic chords until you get them to sound clean.
- Strumming. The great thing about an acoustic guitar is that there are many different ways to strum the guitar that make it rhythmic as well as melodic. Playing styles such as flamenco or folk create a different mood with the same guitar. Once you have mastered making a chord sound clean, start experimenting with different ways to strum that chord that will give you different sounds and tempos.
- Chord changes. One of the most difficult things for a new guitar player to do is learn how to cleanly make the change from chord to the next. Try a basic chord progression of C-G-D until it sounds smooth. Try strumming it in different ways to get a different sound and tempo. Be patient with this step because it will take a while to get right. But once you get this down, you have learned how to play the acoustic guitar.
Posted on: Apr. 01, 2011















