Learn Guitar Chords, Blues Music and How to Play Acoustic Guitar

by Randy Hough

Few things are as enjoyable as picking up an acoustic guitar and playing some blues guitar or when you learn new guitar chords that connect with your soul. There is something about the creative process that is restoring and regenerating.

It is remarkable just how many guitar chords there are, and I am only able to play a fraction of them. The fact that there are six strings and some 20 frets to choose from makes for an almost infinite variety of sound and tone.

Not only that, but playing blues guitar has it's own subtle notes that are apart from the conventional scale. Theses blue notes are usually notes that come from bending the strings to adjust the pitch until it gets to the right sound, which is totally up to the player and listener.

To play acoustic guitar you don't need to know all of those chords that are art of the infinite variety, you only need to start with a few. If you can play 3 chords, you can play probably a thousand different songs.

Of course, after a while, you will grow tired of this simple sound, and want to expand you abilities to include some of those so-called fancy chords up the neck. In reality, these are not that complicated, but some people seem to have a kind of mental block about anything beyond the first 3 frets.

It is quite a feeling to discover that the entire fretboard makes perfect sense and is, in fact, mathematical and logical. Once you learn some simple patterns it all begins to make sense. Then you can become confident and experiment with your playing.

The old blues players from the South had very limited means, in fact some had homemade guitars. These instruments were made of cigar boxes and wire for strings. When you see one it becomes apparent why people like Chuck Berry developed the style they are known by.

Many of these old time players had no musical training at all, and they just tuned the guitar in whatever way sounded good. This is why many old blues songs are in open tunings, sometimes very odd tunings. To them it made no difference, it just sounded good, so they went with it.

On the other hand, if you have a good acoustic or electric guitar, it really makes a difference to use good accessories. Your choice of guitar string, for example, makes a big difference. If you use heavy strings it will be hard to play and your fingers will hurt after a short time. Heavy strings have their place, for sure, but for most people it is better to use light gage guitar strings. Even medium strings can be hard to press down and will hurt your fingers.

Electric guitar strings are different though because they do not require much tension to work and sound great. It it much easier to play an electric, but it does not have the sound of an acoustic. An acoustic electric is a sort of hybrid of the two and works quite well, especially when performing.

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How to Play the Acoustic Guitar

by Mick Waterfall

With easy guitar lessons it is a good chance that most of us can learn to play the instrument reasonably well. But a lot of times learners quit too early. Frequently, beginners giving up will blame it on their lack of time to rehearse and that working the strings causes pain on their fingers. The trouble is that they just don't practice a sufficient amount of time. This article will not give you additional time to practice, but it will guide you into effectively turn into an all right guitar player.

Here are some propositions on your learning approach to play the guitar. Get a tool to train your hand. A GripMaster with some callus builder caps are available on Amazon.com. Another way to increase callous growth is to rub on surgical spirit to the fingertips.

The next step is to have your own guitar. You can make a good deal on a guitar on EBay or other auction sites. However, if you are already fairly sincere about learning to play guitar it is probably a good idea to buy a good quality guitar. An appropriate guitar will cost you from $100 to $250. A very fine guitar will cost you upward of $300.

Start with learning the names and functions of the guitar parts, and the way sound is produced. Find an excellent home study course. The internet has numerous sites offering teaching. But there are a small number that is superior to the rest and is offering the maximum value. Below you will find links to some pages reviewing the best guitar study courses available on how to play the acoustic guitar.

Learn basic "open chords." These are chords like open C, G, A, and D. Once you learn how to master a small selection of basic chords you will be able to kick out a reasonable rendition of countless numbers of tunes. Become skilled at as many different ways to play a chord as you can. The more flexibility you have in shifting from one chord to another.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice makes perfect isn't just some old saying. It's possible to practice periods focusing on diverse parts - tone, smoothness, speed, accuracy. By engaging in separate practice sides of the music independently, you can improve your skills. Practice 5 out 7 days as a minimum for at least half an hour. If you want to learn fast, you must forcefully feed your mind with guitar training.

Practice the chords and hand positions without a sound while watching TV or during conversation with a friend. Over time, look at your fingers less often, however, you still check that you have found the correct position. Press down on the strings just as hard as you would if actually playing, to cultivate calluses on your fingertips. This will hurt in the beginning, and will make your fingers hurt. Once you develop calluses though, the pain you once felt will eventually fade away.

Allow yourself to become frustrated. It's inevitable. It's normal. That chord you've been struggling to voice perfectly for the past week, will in due course, sound clear and distinct.

The greatest way to learn how to play the acoustic guitar is to play tunes, because with a recorded tune you have a frame of reference to compare your playing. And it will help you more and more if you learn how to play the hole song, not just parts of the song. Learn to finger pick. Some songs are fully made for finger picking. The fact is that once you learn it, it feels like clock-work and your fingers will more or less pick automatically.

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