Acoustic guitar lessons online are not difficult to come by. There are many sites offering free tips and lessons for the beginner, but it can be rather difficult sifting through pages of content to find direct answers to some of the most basic questions beginners have. I researched many of the frequently asked questions that beginners have and created this list of quick acoustic guitar lessons and tips to make life a bit easier for you. I do hope this helps.

1 – Learn how to play the acoustic guitar with both your fingers and your pick. Practice using both. This will make you a more versatile player.

2 – Learn how to use a capo. A capo is a clamp that you can apply to different frets of your guitar to change the pitch. You will definitely need to become familiar with this wonderful tool. If you do not already own one, head out to your local music store and buy one today.

3 – Make sure you choose the right guitar for your size. Guitars come in different sizes from classic to jumbo. It is very important that you find a guitar size that you are comfortable playing.

4 – Learn how to change your acoustic guitar strings .  The dirt and oil on your fingers and hands builds up on your strings over time and will ruin their sound. It is therefore extremely important that you learn how to change your strings.  How often you change them, really depends on how often you play.

5 – Wash your hands before you play and clean your strings after you play. Dirt and oils from your fingers and hands can wear down your strings.

6 – Build up those calluses. Many beginners complain of pain in their fingertips when first starting out. This is normal and will go away after you have been playing for a little while and start to form calluses. The more often you practice your acoustic guitar the faster you will build up calluses.

7 – Learn how to tune your acoustic guitar. Make sure your guitar is in tune before you start every practice session. Tuning your guitar is really quite easy. You can either purchase one of those small battery powered guitar tuners, or you can use an online guitar tuner here.

8 – Use YouTube to find free acoustic guitar lessons.  They have a huge variety of free lessons. Two providers of free lessons that I recommend you check out are: “Next Level Guitar” (goes by the user name “rockongoodpeople“) and “Justinguitar.com” (goes by the username “JustinSandercoeSongs“). They offer some of the best free online acoustic guitar lessons. Highly recommended.

9 – Find a good guitar teacher. While it is possible to learn at your own pace at home using free guitar lessons online, books and guitar home study courses, nothing can really replace a guitar teacher. A guitar teacher will help keep you from forming bad guitar playing habits and praise you when you are making progress.

10 – Stretch and warm up your hands and fingers before each playing session. This is important. Proper warm up and stretching exercises are essential in helping you avoid injury and improving your guitar playing. For more information on stretching and warm up exercises, do a search on Google using the key phrase: “guitar warm up”. You will find plenty of tutorials on this subject.

11 – Learn guitar music theory. I know music theory can be boring and difficult, but it is essential learning if you want to become a good guitar player.

12 – Learn about the parts of your guitar. Spend as much time as possible familiarizing yourself with all the various parts of your guitar and how it is constructed.

13 – Learn how to practice your acoustic guitar. This may seem obvious, but you would be surprised how many guitarists are not practicing correctly. There is definitely a right and a wrong way to practice. Make sure you understand how to make the best out of your practice sessions.

14 – Keep your finger nails on your fretting hand trimmed. Your fingernails on your fretting hand must be kept short. If not, they will  make playing more difficult as they will prevent your fingers from pushing down the strings properly.

15 – Don’t over do it. If you are experiencing any pain or discomfort during your playing or practice session, then stop and take a break.

16 – Try and learn something new. If you continually do the same thing, day after day, then your guitar playing will become stagnant and you will not progress.

17 – Join discussion forums online. Search for guitar discussion forums online and begin discussions with experienced and professional guitarists.

18 – Listen to a variety of different music. Not just your favorite styles either. You would be surprised at how much this can influence your guitar playing.

19 – Learn alternate guitar tunings. Not every song is played in standard tuning.

20 – Go to live performances. This will give you a chance to get up close and personal with the musicians enabling you to see first hand how a professional plays.

By Mike Hayes

First, define your objectives and determine your approach. These objectives may change as you progress, but a goal is important before starting to play the guitar.

Begin by forming good study habits. Part of your study will be physical performance and part will be mentally engaged in the study of theory, listening to recordings, tapes and the radio, watching television, Internet and watching live performances. You will be talking to other guitarists, students and professionals, studying in classes and with private teachers and of course via online guitar courses, guitar training software etc. You will also be improvising. All of these activities will give you valuable information and experience, increase your skill, broaden your scope and develop your insights. Keep an open mind and learn something from everyone you meet …even if it is not what to do!

The following suggestions should help you in your study and practice:

Never practice or study when you are tired or worried. Relax a bit before you begin. If possible study in a quiet place where you can be undisturbed. Have a music stand adjusted to your eye level when you practice, and make sure that you always have good light. Form the habit of studying in a regular place and at a regular time.

Several short study practice periods on successive days are usually better than one lengthy period of study. A little study every day is better than spasmodic, inconsistent study. Use various ways of making yourself think about what you are studying. If you are looking at a printed page of notes, try to imagine them on a guitar finger board and vice versa.

Form the habit of mentally reviewing every page of music you study before going on to the next one. See how much of it you can recall and try to remember it. When you have learned something make use of it as soon as you can. The sooner and more often, the better. If you have learned fingerings for a few new chords so that you can play them even slowly, make up an exercise or song that involves these chords and has you shifting from one chord to another often. It is not enough to learn about something. Unless you utilize this information it does not become a part of you.

When you have completed a reasonable amount of material, take time to summarize what you have covered. You may want to write your summary. Keep a good music dictionary handy, and use it frequently. When you have discovered the meaning of a new word or term, use it yourself.

Self Study

To correct poor study conditions, consider thoughtfully each of the questions below and write specific answers to each one. Then decide what you can do to correct each of the things wrong with your study conditions. Make notes of these and correct them.

1. What can you see on your desk, music stand, or through your window that distracts you?

2. What music, talking or other noises are disturbing your practice and study?

3. What is wrong with your position or posture when you practice or study?

4. Are you sure your lighting is adequate? What is wrong with it?

5. Is your work space large enough and arranged well?

6. What materials do you lack for effect study?

7. What time of day is most difficult to practice or study? Why?

8. What worries or special interests divert you from studying?

Effective methods of practicing or studying, of themselves, will not suffice. Careful planning also is essential. Lay out your work systematically before you begin. Each individual’s time, facilities and desires are personal matters. Just be sure to adopt some plan and stick to it as conscientiously as possible.

Mike Hayes is a guitar teacher, author, performing musician and session guitarist with over 30 years of professional experience. Find out more about how to learn guitar fast with his popular free ecourse, available at:
=> http://www.GuitarCoaching.com

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By Dave Long

Open chords are one of the first things you learn on acoustic guitar.

The open chords consist of most of the very basic chords used in music, and while not every style makes as much use of them, it is still an important fundamental even to those kinds of music.

What differentiates the open chords from other chords is the use of the open strings within the chord shapes. This feature gives a little more play to some of the chords by allowing the guitarist to fret and unfret strings to form the sustained versions of several chords (chords where the third is replaced by a major second or perfect fourth).

Using sustained chords in the middle of progressions can make bars that really are just one basic chord sound much more interesting than just strumming the chord for the entire time. A very good example of this is the Dsus4,D,Dsus2,D chord riff in the chorus lead in of The Beatles ‘You’ve got to hide your love away”.

E and Em Chords

E: 0-2-2-1-0-0
Em: 0-2-2-0-0-0

The above are the notes of the E and Em open chords. The two chords are fairly easy to switch between, only requiring the lifting of the index finger. However, swapping between the major and minor versions of a chord is a pretty infrequent chord change, but it does make learning both the chords fairly easy.

A, Am, and Asus2 Chords
A: X-0-2-2-2-0 or X-0-2-2-2-X

The open A chord has two common ways it is held.

The first shows a variant that leaves the open high e string in the chord, while the second has the first four strings barred (which means that high e is not played in the second version).

Someone having difficulty holding the first chord shape may want to use the second version instead, since the first can be somewhat difficult to hold without bumping into the open A and open high e strings. The second version also can be much easier to get into and out of in some progressions (particularly ones using moveable bar chords), and may be a better choice even for guitarists who can hold the first fingering of the chord.

Am: X-0-2-2-1-0
Asus2: X-0-2-2-0-0
The above shows the Am chord, as well as the Asus2 chord. The Asus2 chord can be moved into by lifting the third finger in the first version of the A chord or by lifting the index finger on the Am chord. It can be used to add a little more interest to progressions using either the A or Am chord.

D, Dm, Dsus2, and Dsus4 Chords

D: X-X-0-2-3-2
Dm: X-X-0-2-3-1
The D and Dm chords do seem very similar, but due to the position on the neck, the fingering is slightly different for the two. It is one of the easier chords to learn because it does not really require the same amount of strength or dexterity to hold as some of the other chords.

Dsus2: X-X-0-2-3-0
Dsus4: X-X-0-2-3-3
D and Dm are probably the two nicest open chords for swapping to the sustained versions of the chords. Despite the different fingering, both work pretty much exactly the same for these chord shifts. To reach Dsus4, both chords simply require placing the pinky onto the fretboard. Dsus2 is reached by lifting the finger on the high e string to let the open string ring. There are quite a number of songs based fairly heavily around these types of switches because they sound good and are quite easy to perform.

C, C7M, and Cadd9 Chords

C: X-3-2-0-1-0

C can be a bit awkward at first, but it is still a good chord to get down well.
C7M: X-3-2-0-0-0
Cadd9: X-3-2-0-3-0
C has a few easy variants to move in and out of without too much effort. The index finger is just lifted off the B string. The Cadd9 variant is not quite as easy to do as Dsus4, but can sound quite nice in some progressions. For that variant, the pinky is brought on the B string to fret the third fret.

G Chord
G: 3-2-0-0-0-3 or 3-2-0-0-3-3

G is a useful chord for many songs, but there is not really all that much play to it besides the basic chord. There are two variants, but most guitarists just pick one. The second variant does have the advantage of being easily shifted into Cadd9, but that is about it (X-3-2-0-3-3 is also a valid way to hold Cadd9).

Learn more free acoustic guitar tips: Learn Acoustic Guitar

Dave Long is the owner of http://www.LearningAcousticGuitar.net where he provides acoustic guitar tips and advice.

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By Kevin Sinclair

You may find it frustrating when attempting to play chords and notes for the first time. When you are not accustomed to using your hands and fingers in this way, it will of course, take a while to adjust, and to build up the correct muscles and increase the suppleness in your hands and fingers. It is possible for your hands and fingers to feel a little stiff after your first practice session, especially if your first session was rather lengthy. However, it is imperative that you do not allow this to prevent you from continuing. Your fingers will become strong and agile in no time at all to enable you to tackle the most difficult riffs and licks.

Notes are very different to chords. When striking a note, only one single tone is produced from one string. When playing chords, then three or more notes are generally used in order to produce the tone. When a piano is played, only one key is pressed to produce a note. When a guitar is being played, then you need to push down one string onto the fret. Assuming that your guitar is tuned correctly, you can pick the low E-string without fretting, which will result in your playing the E note.

The frets of your guitar produce different notes, such as:

- Using the first fret with the E-string, will produce an F note,
- An F# (#means sharp) is produced when using the second fret,
- When using the third fret on the E-string, you will produce a G note, and
- By using the fourth fret you will produce a G#.

This is continued right up to the B note. It is important to note that there is no B# or E#.

Each specific note can be produced on a guitar in many different ways. It is always advised to learn how to read the tablature format, or guitar tab. The strings of the guitar are resembled in the tablature format, making it easier to learn and read. The guitar tab will point out to you which fingers should be used on which frets.

It is essential to begin with your thumb in order to hold your fretting hand in the correct position for playing notes. You should place the ball of your thumb flatly on the back of the guitar neck, as if you were attempting to create a thumbprint on it. Your other four fingers should then be curled around up and over the strings, ensuring that you are touching the top string lightly, which is the thickest string. Position them comfortably without allowing them to brush against the bottom string, which is the thinnest string. The position of your thumb can now be changed to make it more comfortable.

It is important that you do not place your fingers directly onto the fret when you are fretting. In order to push the string against the fret, you need to use your fingertip. However, ensure that you keep your finger slightly to the topside of the fret. This can be practiced by holding all four fingers on the topside and above the first four frets on the top string, otherwise known as the sixth string. The sixth string should then be picked, then your index finger should be lowered onto the fret, remembering to keep your finger just above it. Pick the string again and you will notice a clear difference in the sound that is produced. The other fingers should be used in a similar manner. You may find it difficult initially, but remember that with time, it will become easier.

Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of MusicianHome.com, a site that provides information and articles for musicians at all stages of their development. http://www.musicianhome.com

The very first step toward learning to play acoustic guitaris to develop confidence and to destroy that “I can’t do it” mentality. Your biggest obstacle in your acoustic guitar playing is not going to be money, time, or the absence of a good teacher. The biggest obstacle is going to be you. You are your own worst enemy. Once you learn how to tame the negativity inside, you will be that much closer to becoming a good acoustic guitar player.

Frustration is normal during the learning process. Learning anything new is not meant to be easy. Resistance is what helps us grow. So the next time you are working on a scale, or chord progression, and you find yourself fumbling or messing up, don’t throw down the guitar with frustration, instead welcome the challenge and have patience in it.

YOUR FIRST GUITAR

Buying a first guitar is an important step for the beginner guitarist. You should have a good understanding of the acoustic guitar as a whole as well as a good idea of what your goals are as an acoustic guitar player. By educating yourself in these areas, you will be able to make an intelligent purchase that can provide you with years of enjoyable playing.

There are two kinds of acoustic guitars that you can purchase and they are your classic or nylon string guitar and your steel string guitar. One is not necessarily better than the other as it is really a matter of personal taste, but each guitar does have its own unique feel and sound. The classic or nylon guitars produce a round or dull tone, where as the steel string guitars are much different, producing a bright tinny or metallic sound. You will certainly develop your own preference the longer you play, or like many guitarists, you will enjoy using both. Only time will tell.

Another thing you will have to consider is the body style of your acoustic guitar. Acoustic guitars come in a variety of different body sizes from small to jumbo. Each size has its own distinct sound. Smaller body guitars have more treble and midrange sounds and are much easier to hold. Lead guitarists tend to favor smaller body guitars because they tend to have a more balanced sound to them and are easier to make out when playing with other musicians in a band. Your larger body guitars have more bass and are more difficult to hold. The only way to really know what body style is right for you is to try one out for yourself. Your best bet is to find a guitar that you are comfortable holding and playing. Guitar playing is challenging enough in the beginning and you do not need any added difficulties.

Guitar quality will differ depending on the model and brand. Sometimes two instruments of the same make and model can differ as well. It is therefore important to try out as many guitars as possible within your price range. It is also recommended that you bring along an experienced musician when you go guitar shopping. An experienced guitar player will be able to better judge the quality of a guitar.

Buy the best guitar that you can afford. Many of the guitars that sell for under $100 are poorly made for the most part. If you cannot afford to spend more, then save up and wait until you can. A well made guitar will be easier to play, more appealing to the eye and more responsive. If you enjoy playing your instrument more, you will then be more inspired to play. You can find a fine beginner acoustic guitar for under $500. Some brands to look into are Seagull, Martin, Yamaha, Fender and Ibanez to name a few. You may also want to look into the used acoustic guitar market. You may be able to find some real gems out there at great prices, but you have to be very careful with used guitars. Make sure you take an experienced guitar player with you if you decide to buy a used guitar.

LEARNING & PRACTICE

There is probably no substitution for a good guitar teacher, but it can be rather expensive over time, so many guitar players are left with no other choice then to learn on their own. For those of you who may not be able to afford a professional instructor right now, below are some guidelines for helping you get the most out of your guitar practice time.

Practice as many days out of the week as you can for at least twenty to thirty minutes, more if possible. The more often you play the faster you will learn. Be careful not to overdo it though and take breaks of course. Your brain can only absorb so much information before it needs a break and your hands and the rest of your body need time to recuperate as well. When you practice do not rush through any of your exercises. Twenty minutes of quality focused practice is much more effective than an hour of sloppy practice

Study Your Instrument

Take some time to learn more about the parts of your acoustic guitar. Learn about how it is constructed and how all the parts work together to produce those beautiful sounds that you hear.

Learn How to Tune Your Guitar

You can find free step by step guides online for tuning your acoustic guitar. Make certain that you spend time learning how to do this. Purchase a guitar tuner at any local music store and practice tuning your guitar with the guitar tuner. When you begin to develop a better ear, try tuning it without the guitar tuner. Then use the guitar tuner to check and see how accurate your ear was. This will help you develop a good ear.

Learn the Right Posture

If you are accustomed to just grabbing your guitar and sitting down to play in any old position, then you are at risk of injuring yourself and developing bad playing habits. Make sure you understand the correct way to sit and hold your instrument for optimal performance.

Learn Your Chords & Scales

Learn as many different chords and variations of the same chord that you can and practice your scales. This will give you a well rounded familiarity with the frets on the guitar and it will build up strength in your fingers and hands.

I hope this article has helped with your acoustic guitar learning. Keep a positive attitude and practice! Before you know you will be playing acoustic guitar like a pro. I wish you well. God Bless.