Crazy Easy Guitar Lessons

Guitar and music in general is personally one of the most fulfilling hobbies you can pick up. Music is blind to color, culture and deaf to language. Any person can simply take pleasure in any style and truly sense it. It’s extremely stimulating when you blast out a power chord through an amp at a rocking decibel. Or singing out songs over your acoustic for family and friends. Releasing your feelings and emotions through sound is a truly mind-blowing moment. So lets jump right into some easy guitar lessons.

One more thing to the newbies before we start. This does take time and patience, do not give up. I will never forget grabbing my first guitar for the first time knowing I would be jamming to my favorite CDs immediately. Well needless to say I was in for a shock. My fingers couldn’t even get one tone perfect and a chord, not even close. But I stuck to it and after a couple of months I was getting there.

Your fingers are most likely confused and in pain and it maybe just plain uncomfortable when you first pick up the guitar. Elasticity and agility are keys here and you do this through exercising those fingers. There is no trickery here, repetition is the only way to reach your objective. I know you’ve heard it before, practice makes perfect. When I was just beginning I liked to sit in front of the Tube and just repeat exercises kind of unconsciously just to get my fingers strong.

Getting both hands to play nicely as one is also going to take some practice so don’t get dispirited. Your fingers are going to hurt at first so play through it as long as possible and then take a breather. Calluses will build up on your finger tips and the soreness will go away. Trust me the worst part about beginning guitar is beginning guitar. Please just stick with it and battle through it, the rewards will be immeasurable.

So let’s start with your strumming hand. This is your picking hand and your rhythm hand. You can use a pick or your fingers. Practice picking slowly and steady, alternating down and up. Start slow and play along as you tap your foot to keep in time. Down, up, down, up, down, etc. alternating slowly. Don’t rush this, build up speed as you get comfortable. Practice this on 1 string then move on to 2 strings, then 3 strings and so on as if you were practicing chords. When beginning or practicing in front of the TV you can mute the strings with your other hand to really pay attention to the rhythm.

Ok how about that fretting hand. Your fretting hand picks the notes that you want your strumming hand to play. This also tends to be the hand that is really perplexed starting out where your fingers don’t want to work. Be patient, take your time, and go slow and steady. It is key here to get all four fingers relaxed and in sync with each other. Just because the little finger seems the hardest does not mean you should ignore him. When playing guitar if you find something difficult then you need to practice it more.

So here is my favorite exercise to help you play like grease. On your top string, the thick string, your E string, press your index finger on fret 1. While still pressing use your middle finger on fret two. While holding both down press your ring finger on fret three. Last but not least press your pinkie on fret four. As you are doing this you should be picking, always alternating, down and up, down and up. Now you reverse lifting the little finger, then ring, then middle, etc. Fret one, two, three, four and then back down 4, 3, 2, 1 all while you are alternating your picking down, up, down, up.

Start this exercise slow and get it precise, do it until your fingers are bleeding. Then as it gets simpler build up your speed. Practice this on all strings, all over the fretboard. This will unlock your fingers and really get them going. Get this down pat and exact then build up. Guitar is my obsession and hopefully this can help you on your way. It truly is an amazing instrument. Videos and photos will really help burn these concepts in your brain. Check out these easy guitar lessons.

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