Q. I am a 15 year old kid that wants to teach myself guitar. I am going to play mostly contemporary with maybe a little bit of classical. I already play the piano and violin pretty well so I will not have any problem with reading the music nor rhythm. Also, what kind of guitar and method book will be sufficient for a beginner like me?
A. The guitar is one of the easier instruments to learn on your own, which I think accounts for some of its popularity. If you already play an instrument (or several) you can transfer what you've learned of music theory.
Some 'beginner' guitars are really crappy, almost impossible to play. If you didn't know how to play already, you might think it was you. So it's a good idea to bring along someone who plays when you buy your first guitar. There are some really good deals on EBay, and other online sources, and I wonder how people could buy a musical instrument that they never played. I guess the idea is you can return it if you don't like it.
Most guitar players begin with chords. People think of the guitar as being for accompanying singing, so they play chords and sing, or play 'rhythm guitar' behind other instruments. But if you take lessons they teach you notes first, scales and melodies. There are so many books out there today I can't recommend one, but if you look you'll see, and you'll probably buy several.
The hardest thing about getting started with guitar is you have to build up strength in your left hand to push down the strings. At first it just gets really painful after about 10 minutes, so you can't practice longer than that, though you can do that several times a day. Lots of beginner guitarists have told me they thought there must be something wrong with their hands. So you just have to stick with it. If it's a steel string guitar you will also build up callouses on your fingertips.
How to learn to play piano?
Q. I've been trying to teach myself how to play piano. I know the basic chords but it's kind of hard for me to try and play with both hands at one time. Is there a way that can help me get better with just playing piano in general. Maybe like an online tutor or tutorial videos. I don't wanna waste money on lessons i would rather just teach myself so is there anyway? It also has to be free cause I don't wanna spend any money.
A. I know you said you don't want a teacher, but that's really the best, and in my humble opinion, the only way to TRULY learn how to play well. I'm not saying all self-taught pianists are bad players, but you will get so much more out of piano by having a teacher. If you get a good teacher and practice, I guarantee you will not "waste money" on this hobby, which can be enjoyed for a lifetime.
Note: I have some friends who tried to teach themselves the piano and the majority gave up due to frustration, which was mostly caused by lack of progress. One friend took my advice and began taking private lessons. Because she tried (and failed) to teach herself, she learned that she did quite a bit of damage to her technique...of course the damage took a while to reverse, which set her back even farther...anyhow, good luck to you.
How do you play guitar chords?
Q. Im a novice guitar player and haven't found a good website for this yet; i know the basic guitar chords, but i'd like to know how to play these chords in lower positions on the neck.
thanks everybody who answers:)
A. If you want a simple graph that will show you where to put your fingers on the guitar, you can search for one online by typing "Guitar Chord Sheet" on your preferred search engine. It will give you names of chords, and finger positions.
But here is a short explanation of how it all works:
Guitar chords are simply a combination of certain notes played simultaneously.
In order to play a single note on a guitar you only need to hit any of the six strings. in order to change the note on any given string you can use a finger on your left hand (if you are right handed) and apply pressure to the string (against the neck of the guitar) so the string will be pressed against the metal fret immediately adjacent (on the right side) to the finger you are using to press. The string being pressed against the metal will tighten the string slightly, causing it to ring at a slightly higher frequency. This higher frequency is designed (by those calculating the distance between the frets) to be one half step higher then if you were to press on the neck one fret to the left (or down, or lower) .
In music one half step is a one note difference, when you include all of the twelve natural and sharp notes in your count. These notes are as follows: A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#. (These make up the black and white keys on a piano, between any key and it's higher pitch twin that you will find twelve keys away, which will appear the same in it's position in the shape that the black and white keys make).
On a guitar these twelve notes are distinguishable only by knowing the note that a string will make if it is played without any interference from your left hand. These default notes are set when you tune your guitar, they are (from low (fat) string to high (slim) string) E, A, D, G, B, E. Now you know that if you were to press the low or high E string on the first fret you would create a F note (effectively moving the E string up by one half step). and the same for the other strings (A string first fret is an A# etc.)
Now, in order to make a guitar chord you would need to place your fingers in the appropriate positions on the neck of the guitar (pressing each string at the note that you want) and play all the strings together. Assuming that you chose the right notes, the result will be the beautiful sound of your desired chord.
There are two ways to know where to put your fingers. One, is if you know the nature of the notes, and which combinations will give you a desired sound. This is relatively simple if you know two things, the names of the notes on the guitar, and the sequences of the various forms of chord construction. There are many different types of chord combinations. The basic ones that most of us deal with are: Major chords, Minor chords, and Sevenths.
Let's take a Minor chord for a moment and discuss the difference between an A-Minor chord and a G-Minor chord. The notes that make up an Am chord are: A, C, and E, and the notes that make up a Gm chord are: G, A#, and D. Now if you go back to where I listed all twelve notes and you count how many notes I didn't play, between the notes that I chose for my Am chord, you will find that there are two notes passed over (A#, and B which would be two half steps making one full step) and not played between the first two in the chord (A,and C) and you will also see that I skipped three notes (C#, D and D#) between the second two notes in the chord. Now if you were to count the spaces between the notes that I chose for the Gm chord you will see that I started at the G note but I skipped that same number of notes between those that I chose for that chord. So a chord is a set shape started at a chosen point. Any note you start at will be the name of your chord, and the number of notes that you skip between those that you choose to make your chord will determine the nature of the chord (Major or Minor etc.)
Take an A Major chord: A, C# and E; and a G Major chord: G, B and D; and you will find it set up the same way
The difference between a Major chord and a minor chord is the middle note (referred to as the third) which is moved up a half step in any Major chord.
Now, since we know how to play an Am chord on the guitar, and that the only difference between an Am and a A#m is where you start your shape, it simply follows that if you move all six notes of the Am chord one half step up on the neck you will make an A#m chord! Move it a full step up and you have a Bm chord.
These are called Bar Chords and are achieved by using your left index finger to move all six strings up a half step by placing it across all six strings on the first fret and using the rest of your fingers to make an Am shape, only now since it is all moved up a half stem it would be an A#m, A full step or the second fret would be a Bm the third fret would be a Cm the fourth a C#m and then to the Dm and so on.
The same applies to the A Maj
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