Learning Guitar Ch. 1:The Basics
Introduction:
This guide will go over everything to teach you guitar up to an intermediate level. Before playing intense licks and riffs by guitar legends, you’re going to have to start somewhere a bit simpler. A good place to start is getting familiar with your guitar. Typically, you would rest the guitar on your right leg on the arch of the guitar, and tilt it so that the neck is able to come in line with your left hand so you can play as comfortably as possible. This handling will be inverted if you’re a lefty. If you find something more comfortable then this though, go for it! You have to be in a good starting place before you play.
A guitar usually has six strings. There are also seven and twelve string guitars, but for now we’ll stick with six. The top string is the thickest and the one closest to you. This string is the E string as it plays the note E when you play it openly (openly meaning without holding down a fret.) After this comes the A string, the D string, the G string, and the B string. As you could have figured out by now, these are all named the same way the E string was named. The 1st string on the guitar is the farthest one down and is also an E string. Don’t worry though; they’re easy to tell apart.
e |---------------------5-8----------------------------
B |---------------------5-8------5-8-----------------------
G |----------------5-7----------------5-7------------------
D |-----------5-7--------------------------5-7-------------
A |------5-7-------------------------------------5-7-------
E |-5-8------------------------------------------------5-8-
Figure 1: A simple tab.
Shown above is what is known as tablature. Tablature, or tabs for short, is a simple and efficient way to teach a musical piece without using specific notes and other means such as guitar theory. Even so, there are some things you want to know pertaining to tabs so you understand what you’re doing. Some tabs can be complicated. Take the figure below for example. It’s has several things that you probably don’t know yet, but don’t worry; you’ll know soon enough.
e |----12-------------------12-------------------12-15b17-
B |-15b17---15p12--------------15p12-------12------------
G |----------------------14b16--------------14---------------
D |-------------------------------------------------------------
A |-------------------------------------------------------------
E |--------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 2: A difficult tab, excerpt from “Sweet Child ‘O’ Mine
Tabs are read from left to right and are displayed as the song is on the guitar neck.
The highest E string, a.k.a. the first string is noted by a lowercase E, while the 6th and lowest string is capitalized and closer to the bottom of the page. It is written this way so that you can read it more easily as it is better aligned with your guitar. The number, which appears on the string, is the note that you should play on that string. For instance, the first note is a 15 on the line noted as B, which means that you would play the 15th note of the B string. Afterward you would go in order from left to right and play each note. Right away however, we notice that there is a b on the string, but no B fret. This is where you need to know the terms of a tab. You may see some more things in your practice, but these are the most universal things you’ll see in tabs:
b – Stands for bend, often times the tab will indicate what note you’re getting to on it.
/ - Stands for a slide on the fret board. The direction notes whether you slide up or down.
x – This means a note is palm muted.
h – an h is noting what is called a hammer on.
p – a p notes a pull off.
A large part of playing guitar is knowing how to play chords. Chords are named by what the root note is in said chord. There are several different types of chords that can be played. Some go together better with others, and some can set great moods in a song. In tabs, chords are shown with notes being placed one on top of the next.
e |---0--------3--------2---------------------------------------
B |---0--------3--------3---------------------------------------
G |---1--------0--------2---------------------------------------
D |---2--------0--------0---------------------------------------
A |---2--------2--------0---------------------------------------
E |---0--------3--------0---------------------------------------
Figure 3: An E chord, a G chord, and a D chord
For your first exercise, I highly suggest you get acquainted with the chords E, A and C. not only will these help you with the basics of chords and switching fingers, but you will also be able to get creative with them and maybe even make a song out of it if you get creative!
e |---0--------0--------0---------------------------------------
B |---0--------2--------1---------------------------------------
G |---1--------2--------0---------------------------------------
D |---2--------2--------2---------------------------------------
A |---2--------0--------3---------------------------------------
E |---0--------0--------0---------------------------------------
Figure 4: An E chord, A chord, and C D chord.
Introduction:
This guide will go over everything to teach you guitar up to an intermediate level. Before playing intense licks and riffs by guitar legends, you’re going to have to start somewhere a bit simpler. A good place to start is getting familiar with your guitar. Typically, you would rest the guitar on your right leg on the arch of the guitar, and tilt it so that the neck is able to come in line with your left hand so you can play as comfortably as possible. This handling will be inverted if you’re a lefty. If you find something more comfortable then this though, go for it! You have to be in a good starting place before you play.
A guitar usually has six strings. There are also seven and twelve string guitars, but for now we’ll stick with six. The top string is the thickest and the one closest to you. This string is the E string as it plays the note E when you play it openly (openly meaning without holding down a fret.) After this comes the A string, the D string, the G string, and the B string. As you could have figured out by now, these are all named the same way the E string was named. The 1st string on the guitar is the farthest one down and is also an E string. Don’t worry though; they’re easy to tell apart.
e |---------------------5-8----------------------------
B |---------------------5-8------5-8-----------------------
G |----------------5-7----------------5-7------------------
D |-----------5-7--------------------------5-7-------------
A |------5-7-------------------------------------5-7-------
E |-5-8------------------------------------------------5-8-
Figure 1: A simple tab.
Shown above is what is known as tablature. Tablature, or tabs for short, is a simple and efficient way to teach a musical piece without using specific notes and other means such as guitar theory. Even so, there are some things you want to know pertaining to tabs so you understand what you’re doing. Some tabs can be complicated. Take the figure below for example. It’s has several things that you probably don’t know yet, but don’t worry; you’ll know soon enough.
e |----12-------------------12-------------------12-15b17-
B |-15b17---15p12--------------15p12-------12------------
G |----------------------14b16--------------14---------------
D |-------------------------------------------------------------
A |-------------------------------------------------------------
E |--------------------------------------------------------------
Figure 2: A difficult tab, excerpt from “Sweet Child ‘O’ Mine
Tabs are read from left to right and are displayed as the song is on the guitar neck.
The highest E string, a.k.a. the first string is noted by a lowercase E, while the 6th and lowest string is capitalized and closer to the bottom of the page. It is written this way so that you can read it more easily as it is better aligned with your guitar. The number, which appears on the string, is the note that you should play on that string. For instance, the first note is a 15 on the line noted as B, which means that you would play the 15th note of the B string. Afterward you would go in order from left to right and play each note. Right away however, we notice that there is a b on the string, but no B fret. This is where you need to know the terms of a tab. You may see some more things in your practice, but these are the most universal things you’ll see in tabs:
b – Stands for bend, often times the tab will indicate what note you’re getting to on it.
/ - Stands for a slide on the fret board. The direction notes whether you slide up or down.
x – This means a note is palm muted.
h – an h is noting what is called a hammer on.
p – a p notes a pull off.
A large part of playing guitar is knowing how to play chords. Chords are named by what the root note is in said chord. There are several different types of chords that can be played. Some go together better with others, and some can set great moods in a song. In tabs, chords are shown with notes being placed one on top of the next.
e |---0--------3--------2---------------------------------------
B |---0--------3--------3---------------------------------------
G |---1--------0--------2---------------------------------------
D |---2--------0--------0---------------------------------------
A |---2--------2--------0---------------------------------------
E |---0--------3--------0---------------------------------------
Figure 3: An E chord, a G chord, and a D chord
For your first exercise, I highly suggest you get acquainted with the chords E, A and C. not only will these help you with the basics of chords and switching fingers, but you will also be able to get creative with them and maybe even make a song out of it if you get creative!
e |---0--------0--------0---------------------------------------
B |---0--------2--------1---------------------------------------
G |---1--------2--------0---------------------------------------
D |---2--------2--------2---------------------------------------
A |---2--------0--------3---------------------------------------
E |---0--------0--------0---------------------------------------
Figure 4: An E chord, A chord, and C D chord.