Many beginning guitarists struggle when it comes to tuning the guitar. It’s a major stumbling block for them. Some end up quitting altogether because every time they start to play what comes out doesn’t sound right. A beginner should understand that guitar tuning is something you get better at with practice. Ear development takes time.

A beginner should practice tuning the guitar so that he can become better and better at it. Your friends won’t be around all the time to tune your guitar for you.

How does one tune the guitar?

Well firstly, here’s the standard tuning of a six string guitar:

6th string: E

5th string: A

4th string: D

3rd string: G

2nd string: B

1st string: E

The first string being the thinnest, and the sixth string the fattest.

Relative tuning: tuning an electric guitar by ear.

Let’s assume that your 6th string is already in tune (an E note). You can tune your 6th string by using another guitar that is in tune, a tuning fork, a piano, an electronic tuner or even a midi file on your computer. Then, all you have to do is match notes on the adjacent strings.

Play the 6th string at the 5th fret. It should match the tone of the 5th string open.

Play the 5th string at the 5th fret. It should match the tone of the 4th string open.

Play the 4th string at the 5th fret. It should match the tone of the 3rd string open.

Play the 3rd string at the 4th fret. It should match the tone of the 2nd string open.

Play the 2nd string at the 5th fret. It should match the tone of the 1st string open.

You can also tune your guitar by octaves.

An octave is the interval between two notes with the same name. In the scale: C D E F G A B C, the two C’s are one octave apart.

Play the 6th string open. It should be one octave apart with the 5th string at the 7th fret.

Play the 5th string open. It should be one octave apart with the 4th string at the 7th fret.

Play the 4th string open. It should be one octave apart with 3rd string at the 7th fret.

Play the 3rd string open. It should be one octave apart with the 2nd string at the 8th fret.

Play the 2nd string open. It should be one octave apart with the 1st string at the 7th fret.

When your ear is sufficiently developed you should be able to tune your guitar by using chords. Just play a chord and tune the strings so the chord sounds right.

Learning to tune the guitar is very important. A must! But it is so much more convenient, faster, and more accurate to make use of a guitar tuner. Particularly in live situations and noisy environments. You will find an electronic tuner for 10-50 bucks online easily. You can order one today.

By: Mantius Cazaubon

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Music is made up of a series of notes. When two or more (usually three) notes are played at the same time you are playing a chord. Learning guitar chords should be a fundamental element of your guitar sessions. Most if not all guitar riffs will contain a chord or two.

There are three basic groups of chords: major, minor, and dominant seventh (7th) . Its hard to believe but these three groups of chords are what make up much of the world’s music you hear on a daily basis.

As a beginner on the guitar, to learn chords is usually a difficult task. Great flexibility in your digits is required and some of the more complex chords will seem impossible….Practice practice practice…theres that word again. Playing chords is easy after a little practice. You might find that your finger tips are hurting because of the pressure you need to put on the strings, this pain will fade as your finger tips become little pads of dead skin. sounds lovely doesn’t it!?

Start by learning the major chords, these require three fingers pressing on the fret board and are reasonably easy to play. Position your fingers and then strum all the strings one after the other, this is your first chord, sounds good? If not then you may not be pressing hard enough. Chord charts are available freely all over the internet so i won’t go into them here. At first glance you might find the charts a little confusing. The basic chord chart is usually made up of horizontal and vertical lines with large dots placed where your fingers are to be. The vertical lines represent the strings and the horizontal represent the frets on your guitar.

Once you have mastered the major chords and can position your fingers in a flash you might be ready to try your hand at switching between chords, this is a skill in itself and when you begin to play full or even parts of guitar songs you will soon realize just how fast and accurate your chord changes must be…practice practice practice.

The guitar takes practice and dedication. To learn the guitar chords is like learning to swim. Its just something you need to do if you are going to make the most of your guitar playing. Guitar chords are the foundations of any great guitar tune and will be a worthwhile addition to your skills as a musician.

By: Zebedee Kay

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Some folks reading this article may be perplexed. When someone says guitar solo, everyone thinks of electric guitars and distortion. But truth be told, there were and are tons of guitarists out there that can shred on an acoustic.

Making a list of the best acoustic guitar solos is an extremely subjective undertaking. Everyone has their own opinions about what makes a guitar solo good or bad and everyone has slightly different tastes. Some people reading this article will think I’m great and others will undoubtedly wonder whether I have ever listened to guitar music.

So, what makes one guitar solo better than another one? Is it the melodic content of the solo? Is it the technical difficulty of the solo? Well, if you have come to this article in search of an answer to this question, I am sad to have to tell you that I do not have one. However, like everyone else, I do have my own opinions and tastes and this is what this list has been generated from.

I do believe that lists like this have use. Many guitarists search online for lists like this, and I am not just talking about beginners. Experienced guitarists seek out lists like this even if only just to criticize them. I think that the ultimate purpose of these lists is to help spread the word about great guitarists and great solos that may have gone unheard of had it not been for the list.

One thing can be said about the developmental criteria of this list. The title is “best acoustic guitar solos.” I have tried to choose solos which demonstrate the possibilities of ACOUSTIC guitar. That being said, I have included guitarists who play archtops or hollow-body electrics, but I feel that because they are still producing a clean tone it is similar enough. I have included commentary on some of my choices. One last thing, please don’t email me about which guitarists I have forgotten. I understand that you have your favorites. Just post a comment and let us all know.

Now without further ado… The Five Best Acoustic Guitar Solos:

1. Take Five – George Benson (Check out the Live at Montreux version on youtube. George Benson is natural talent at its finest.)

2. Oleo – Joe Pass (Check out the version where he plays with NHOP on youtube)

3. Tripping Billies – Tim Reynolds (I really like the Live at Luther College Version)

4. Land of the Midnight Sun – Al di Meola (Al has some of the best right hand guitar technique out there. Check him out.)

5. Wes Montgomery – Impressions (If you didn’t already know, Wes played without a pick. Check out this song on youtube for an amazing demonstration of this technique.)

By: Ryan Gloman

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Do you want to learn to play guitar, but are not sure of the optimum way to do that? The greatest way for a variety of individuals is to acquire online guitar lessons; there are several web sites that furnish instruction. There are several benefits to accessing online guitar lessons to guide you to learning the guitar. Appreciating what these benefits will guide you to deciding if accessing the internet to learn the guitar is correct for you or not. Here are some crucial benefits.

One: To learn to play guitar, you have to stumble on to time to do it. With nearly all people, they maintain on the go lives already, so creating time can be hard to do. When you learn to play guitar online, you can learn at any stage of the day or night when it is opportune for you. This way you can squeeze the lessons into your calendar when it’’s right for you; instead, of attempting to alter your day to take instruction.

Two: For a lot of people, practice is a difficult thing to do or catch time for. When you buy guitar lessons online, you will be able to practice on every occasion you have the time. Practice is essential and performing it from home means that there is no regular time to practice, just as long as you generate time when you are able.

Three: Online lessons allow you learn to play guitar from the comfort of your home. Particular people are uncomfortable about learning in front of others and a few people just don’t care to. Now, with lessons on the internet, you can be comfortable learning to play guitar the place you are the generally most comfortable, at home.

Four: For a lot of people, money is an question. When you learn to play guitar by taking online lessons, you will clearly be able to afford it. The internet is making guitar lessons reasonable for everybody that wants to buy them to learn to play guitar. Taking lessons guitar lessons offline can be expensive, but online, you can clearly manage it.

These are the several benefits that you need to know about using the internet guitar lessons. You have to progress to the decision about whether this option is suitable for you to learn to play guitar, or if you should be using another route. No matter what you decide, definitely remember that learning the guitar will take, time, patience and practice. What better environment to do it than at home where you manage when you learn?

By: J. T. Thomas

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Did you know that when you picked up your acoustic guitar, you’re picking up an instrument with 5,000 years of history attached to it? Acoustic guitars are descendants of stringed instruments that were found in a variety of cultures thousands and thousands of years ago. As civilizations merged and the world became smaller, the guitar began taking on a unified shape and style. Since then, there has been a lineal evolution of several hundreds of years of instruments that can be directly compared to today’s acoustic guitars.

The Medieval Period

During the Medieval Period of European history, there were several different forms of guitars. These guitars had between three and five strings and were much smaller than the guitars we know today. There were variations of these instruments which had pairs of strings, known as courses. The popular guitars of this period were commonly separated into two groupings. The first, the Guitarra Latina was likely developed from Spain, while the Guitarra Morisca was brought to Spain by the Moorish culture.

The Renaissance and Beyond

While in the Middle Ages, the guitar instruments were not terribly popular, being overshadowed by other contemporary instruments, in the Renaissance the guitar began to take a real hold. It was in Italy in 1779 that the first six string guitar was created. Gaetano Vinaccia created this instrument in Naples. Following that, the man known as the “Father of Modern Guitar” made his permanent mark on the course of the guitar and how it would be designed and played.

Antonio de Torres Jurado made many key changes that in essence from the creation of what is known today as the modern classical guitar. Among these changes were the design elements that are recognizable as an acoustic or classical guitar today. The body was made larger and wider to help make sound travel farther and be louder, while the construction was also sturdier, more complete and more technically savvy.

The Acoustic Guitar

The instrument that Antonio de Torres created and made popular was the Classical guitar. The acoustic guitar is commonly misinterpreted as being the same as the Classical guitar. This is not true, there are many key differences in the design of these two separate guitars. The most important of which is that the acoustic guitar has steel strings, while the Classical guitar is strung with nylon strings.

The body was also made larger and sturdier still. The acoustic guitar was much better for performing in larger areas as it was increasingly louder than the Classical guitar; the two guitars also produce different ranges and textures of sounds which various styles of music correspond to.

The acoustic guitar was actually developed in America from European immigrants. The last major development of the acoustic guitar is the electrical-acoustic guitar. These acoustic guitars can be plugged into an amplifier for increased volume or can be left unplugged and played as is.

So next time you pick up an acoustic guitar, remember the history you hold in your hands.

By: Jay Villaverde

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