LEARNING THE GUITAR: THE BASICS AND FINGERING

LEARNING THE GUITAR: THE BASICS AND FINGERING

Guitar nowadays has been booming to its
popularity since it is widely used by so many people
even from different countries around the globe. It has
been a great sensation for music-lovers since it could
also be used for accompaniments (e.g. singing) or even
to those who just play with it right away. A six-stringed
instrument, guitar is the best instrument to learn (Hub
Guitar.com, 2018) because of its popularity, firstly, and
of course, because it is portable, flexible, polyphonic,
wide range, approachable, popular, and could be seen
by so many resources (Hub Guitar.com, 2018).

Learning Objectives:
 The learner understood the basic parts of a guitar and its
functions;
 The learner knows how to hold a guitar properly;
 The learner knows the basic chord fingering;
 The learner knows the basic strumming techniques;
 The learner knows how to read guitar chord charts;
 The learner masters the chord progression skill;
 The learner knows how to play a song with a guitar; and
 The learner take cares the guitar before, during and after using.

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LEARNING THE GUITAR: THE BASICS AND FINGERING

1
THE ANATOMY OF A GUITAR

The first section of the guitar is called a headstock, on which you will
find tuners and tuning pegs. The tuning pegs allow you tune the guitar by
tightening or loosening the wires.
The middle, narrow section of the guitar is called the neck. The nut is the
white strip closest to the headstock. The front side of the neck is called
the fretboard. And the metal wires on the fretboard are called the frets, which
help your fingers find the right spots.The biggest part of the guitar is called

1
https://www.libertyparkmusic.com/the-anatomy-of-guitar/

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the body, which has a hole in the middle called the soundhole. On the body,
the bridge, the saddle, and the bridge pinshold the wires in place.
2
HOW TO HOLD A GUITAR PROPERLY
Whether you sit or stand while playing the guitar won’t affect
your tone or technique. What can make a difference is if you’re not
holding the guitar properly. Most people prefer to practice while sitting
but perform publicly while standing. If you know how to properly hold
the guitar while sitting, you’ll be able to pick up the techniques more
quickly because you’ll be more comfortable.
Although you can usually choose to either sit or stand while
performing, the one exception is classical guitar, which is normally
played in a sitting position even in public performances. That doesn’t
mean that you can’t practice or play a classical-style guitar while
standing, but you do need to learn how to play seated if you want to
seriously pursue classical guitar.

2 https://www.dummies.com/art-center/music/guitar/how-to-properly-hold-a-guitar/

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Don’t use the left hand to support the neck. You should be able
to take your left hand completely off the fretboard without the guitar
dipping toward the floor.

3
BASIC CHORD FINGERING
Before you go on to learn your first chords, there are some guitar chord basics to
cover first.

This lesson covers the physical aspects of using your fingers on the guitar
fretboard to create chords, often referred to as fingering. It's important to
position your hand and fingers correctly so the chords ring cleanly and vibrantly.

Unfortunately, too many beginners struggle with chords simply because they're
not positioning their fingers correctly. That won't be you!

What is a chord?

3 http://www.fretjam.com/guitar-chord-basics.html

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A chord is 3 or more notes played together. On guitar, each string adds a new
note to the chord.

Your fingers press strings at particular fret spaces to create the notes needed for
the chord you're playing. Guitarists often think of this formation of fingers on the
fretboard as chord shapes. Soon, you'll know several chord shapes and the type
of sound they create.

And that's really all there is to it! Of course, you can create both simple or
complex chords on the fretboard. Some chords use just 3 strings, others use all 6
strings. As time goes on, you'll learn which chords best fit the sound you're trying
to get across in your music.

For now though, let's learn how to apply our fingers on the fretboard correctly.

Fingering guitar chord basics

As we're learning how to apply our fingers on the fretboard correctly, I'll show you
two simple chords to start with, but bear in mind there's a separate series of
lessons where you can learn many more chords, which I'll link to at the end of
this lesson.

Take a look at this first chord...

E major guitar chord basics

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The E major chord uses 3 of your fingers, but uses all 6 strings. The strings that
aren't fingered are played as they are - open. The open string notes are part of
the chord, in other words.

Some key points to note:

 Use the finger tips to apply the strings.

 Position the finger tips snug against the fret wire (or as close as you can),
but not actually on the fret wire itself.

 Ensure your finger tips are angled vertically down (again, as much as you
can) on the strings. This ensures you don't accidentally touch any adjacent
strings.

 Don't press the strings too hard (known as over-fretting). The lower (fatter)
strings will need a little more pressure than the higher (thinner) strings.
You only need to fret the strings with enough pressure that the notes
sound cleanly and resonantly.

Once you're comfortable, try picking each string from low to high E. Does each
string sound cleanly? Is there any buzzing or obstruction in the sound? It's likely
there will be at first, so all you need to do is adjust and try again until every string
sounds cleanly.

This requires some patience at first, but stick with it, you will get there!
Repeatedly lifting off and re-fretting the chord is a good initial exercise.

Pain and Calluses

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At first, fingering chords may be painful, as you're exerting pressure on your

finger tips. After a short time, you'll develop a hard skin on your finger tips known
as calluses which is your body's natural way of dealing with this consistent
pressure. Just be patient, persevere and practice the chords you learn in the
coming lessons daily if you can. Any pain will soon vanish!

Muscle Memory
Muscle memory is when your fingers get used to being in a certain position. The
idea is, if you practice the E major chord above with enough regularity, the
muscle memory will set in and you'll be able to form your fingers to that shape
almost instantly, without thinking or adjusting. In the later chord lessons, there'll
be jam tracks to help you practice changing between chords, which really helps
develop this muscle memory.

4
The Ultimate Guitar Chord Chart
Learn how to play easy, intermediate, and advanced
chords on the guitar using this simple guitar chord
chart.

4 http://truefire.com/blog/guitar-lessons/the-ultimate-guitar-chord-chart/

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5
STRUMMING TECHNIQUES
Seven Strumming Patterns
In this section we’ll start with some very basic strumming exercises and then introduce
some more challenging strum patterns. I’ll give song examples with every pattern so
you can hear how it’s used in ‘real' music, and maybe learn a couple of those songs.
But to learn effectively, you need to focus on one thing at a time and master it. So with
every pattern, I’d suggest you first simply grab a chord you’re very comfortable, like an
E major open chord and practice the strumming pattern with that. Let’s dive in!

DOWNSTROKES
When strumming a guitar, you’ll use both downstrokes (i.e. where your picking hand
moves down) and upstrokes (where your picking hand moves back up). There’s a
simple logic behind when you should use a downstroke and when up, which we’ll get to
shortly.

All the strum patterns we’ll be looking at in this section are in a 4/4 measure. In short,
that means that every measure consists of four beats. For this first pattern, simply play
a downstroke on every beat.

STRUM PATTERN #1 - DOWNSTROKE ON EVERY BEAT

5
https://www.stringkick.com/blog-lessons/strumming-patterns/

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ADDING UPSTROKES
Now that you’ve gotten a basic feel for this strumming thing, the next step is to start
adding some upstrokes. Here’s a pattern which is similar to the first pattern we saw, but
with two upstrokes added in.

STRUM PATTERN #2 - ADDING TWO UPSTROKES

STRUM PATTERN #3 - ADDING THREE UPSTROKES

Now, you might have noticed a certain logic in when we’re playing downstrokes and
when we’re playing upstrokes: all the downstrokes are on the beat: on the 1, 2, 3 or 4.
All the upstrokes are what we call ‘off the beat’: right between the 1, 2, 3 and 4. They’re
always on the ‘&’. This next pattern shows this basic logic:

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STRUM PATTERN #4 - DOWNSTROKE ON THE BEAT, UPSTROKE OFF

THE BEAT

UPSTROKES FOLLOWING UPSTROKES

Once you’re comfortable playing down and upstrokes, there’s just one more thing you
need to learn to complete your basic strumming technique. So far, you might've noticed
two things:

1. You’re strumming hand keeps moving up and down all the time. 2. You’re playing
downstrokes on the beat (1, 2, 3, 4) and upstrokes off the beat (on the &).

I chose strumming patterns up until now where it feels very natural to do this. But there
are also patterns where you might be tempted to break these ‘rules’. Take a look at this
next strum pattern for example:

STRUM PATTERN #5 - TWO UPSTROKES FOLLOWING EACH OTHER

See how this pattern has two upstrokes that follow each other? This feels a little weird
to play in the beginning, but it’s essential to be able to do. Don’t play a downstroke

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instead of that second upstroke, because you’ll interrupt the down-upstroke logic your
hand is following. Here's an example of a song that uses this rhythm.

STRUM PATTERN #6 - TWO UPSTROKES FOLLOW EACH OTHER

TWICE IN ONE BAR

STRUM PATTERN #7 - AN UPSTROKE FOLLOWS A DOWNSTROKE

AND A PAUSE

What makes this pattern difficult, is that the long pause makes it tempting to stop
moving your hand. But keep your hand moving at all times! Even when you’re not hitting
any strings, your hand needs to keep moving up and down. This is essential to keeping
a steady rhythm. Check out this song to hear the strum pattern in action:

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How To Read Guitar Chord

Diagrams
by ZeCategories Guitar

One of the first skills that all guitarists learn is how to read a chord diagram.
These diagrams are very helpful when it comes to showing chord shapes and
their fingerings. Fortunately for us, it’s also a very easy skill to pick up,
and you’ll be reading chord diagrams like a pro by the end of this article.
What does a chord diagram look like?
Most chord diagrams will look very similar to the following image:

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Before getting into what all those numbers, dots, and letters mean, let’s take a
look at a blank diagram and break that down first:

Beginning at the very top, the thick black bar represents the guitar’s nut (the
white, sometimes cream colored or black, object at the top of the fretboard on
the guitar that elevates the strings over the fretboard):

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The boxes that follow below the nut represent the different frets. The first row
of boxes represent the first fret, second row represents the second fret, and
so on.

The vertical lines that run down the diagram represent the six strings on
the guitar. The leftmost line represents the sixth string: which is the thickest
string, the one that is closest to your head; and the line all the way to the right
represents the first string, which is the thinnest string, furthest away from your
head.

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Now that we have gone through a blank diagram, let’s find out what those
numbers below the diagram mean.
Finger Numbers
The numbers are telling you which finger you are going to use. The fingers
on your left hand are numbered from one through four. Here is what each
number represents:

Occasionally, you will see a “T” symbol instead of numbers. In this case, that
symbol is telling you to use your thumb to fret that particular note.

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THE G, Em, C, D CHORDS

The G, Em, C, D chords are commonly used chords in most songs

either open string or with capo. Try to learn all of these chords and you can
play a lot of songs!

THE GUITAR CHORD PROGRESSION SKILL

Guitar chord progression—or transferring from one chord to another,
is a prominent skill every person who wants to learn guitar should practice.
Practice chord progression could enhance firstly your muscle memory, so
you could form the chord even without looking at it. Use basic chords to
practice this skill, and later on, you can proceed to an intermediate level of
chord progression, until you could master your skill on this area.

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