How to learn to play electric guitar from scratch

It's hard to imagine a musical instrument that would be more popular than a guitar. Contrary to common misconceptions, playing on it is not so difficult as people are used to thinking. Of course, to understand all the subtleties and nuances will take years, but you can master the most basic techniques in 1-2 months, and in a couple of months you will be able to confidently play the songs of your favorite bands. So how do you learn how to play an electric guitar?

In general, learning to play an ordinary acoustic guitar is not very different from learning an electric guitar, but of course there are a few differences. On acoustics and electric guitar there is a different technique of sound extraction. On an electric guitar they often play with a mediator, and with acoustics with their fingers. And if on acoustics the game is also a mediator, then you can not play with your fingers on the electric guitar, because the fingers are not able to give the same sound as the mediator. This is to the question of whether it is possible to learn how to play an electric guitar, and not on acoustics.

Misconception # 1

In order to learn how to play, it is not necessary to spend money on expensive and good tools. On the contrary, if you study on a poor-quality guitar, when you switch to a more intelligent instrument, it will be much easier to play.

This is a fairly common misconception among beginning guitarists, picking up their instrument. It is dictated either by banal greed, or no less banal ignorance. As you know, the miser pays twice.

The professionalism of the guitarist is never measured by the degree to which he is capable of playing the "kill" of the instrument. Substandard guitars very often have bulging unpolished frets, an uncomfortable neck, which can lead to improper setting of hands and even injuries (it's not easy to scratch on bad frets, but very easily, especially when playing something high-speed).

Such guitars often sound bad, and this is fraught with injuries already for your hearing, and it is more difficult to recover than scratched fingers. You do not need to buy registered brand guitars of famous guitarists, because it's far from the fact that you will definitely decide to realize yourself in this sphere further.

Now a quality tool for a beginner can be purchased for a quite democratic price. For an electric guitar it is in the range of 8 to 15 thousand rubles. On how to learn how to play the electric guitar and choose your instrument, we'll talk more about this article.

Misconception number 2

I can not learn to play the guitar, because I do not have a hearing.

Everybody has a rumor. Just someone it can be better and sharper, but someone is not sufficiently developed. Hearing can always be developed, there is a lot of exercise on the Web for this.

Another similar misconception: it is difficult to learn how to play an electric guitar without hearing. Yes, if for some reason you do not want or can not improve your musical ear, you can not pick the melody by ear or transfer it from the sound, but you can play without it - by notes or tablatures.

Misconception # 3

I need to sing with a guitar, but I do not know how.

Is it difficult to learn how to play an electric guitar without singing? Maybe this misconception also makes sense among non-professional guitarists, but at the heart of it is complete nonsense. If you want to sing and accompany yourself on the instrument - please, if you do not want to - also without problems, focus on technique, on the complexity of the music itself.

Very often one can observe how the execution of complex and beautiful passages and melodies causes a very reserved reaction among people who are ignorant of music, but from three "thieves" chords that can be mastered in three days, if not less, the crowd is delighted.

Try not to pay attention to it, if you are really good at playing, the musicians will respond positively to your work, and their comments are more important for professional growth than feedback from moms, grandmothers, friends, etc. Never let anyone reproach you for unprofessionalism Because you are playing an independent party and do not sing - the opinion of the person who made you such a remark should not have any influence on you.

Tool selection

The price never determines the quality, but the chance to buy a good guitar for 20 thousand is much more than 5. Consult your familiar guitarists. For starters, you can choose an electric guitar for a small price, but a well-known and tested brand.

• Epiphone;
• Ibanez;
• Fender squier;
• Yamaha;
• Jackson.

Take the tuner to the store, set up the instrument, check that all the strings sound and do not mow up or down the sound. Swipe your hand along the side of the neck to see how well the frets are polished, twist the pegs. Make sure that you like the guitar in color and shape, this is a very important psychological moment: a nice looking tool will give motivation for learning.

First steps

You bought your first instrument, brought it home, unpacked, sat down on the sofa and wondered how quickly to learn how to play the electric guitar.

First, configure it, even if the store is already set up. Tuner is used for tuning, it can be purchased at the same music store. Take the guitar in your hand as you like, most importantly, so that you do not experience discomfort in the muscles of the hands and back.

Connect the guitar to the combo amplifier, if there is not one, for the first time you can download a special program to the PC, replacing it, and connect the guitar to it. You do not need to rush to look for notes of your favorite songs and solos, for now you can play them anyway, but gamuts and simple melodies can be learned to play. On the electric guitar, the learning principle is slightly different from acoustics, but in general there is nothing complicated there.

Removing with your right hand

The left hand clamps the strings in the frets to change the pitch of the sound, and with the right hand this same sound is extracted, so all the guitarists play: both right-handed and left-handed. There are special guitars for lefties, where everything is the other way around, but as practice shows, they play well on right-handed models, besides, left-handed guitars cost a little more.

Place your right hand so that your forearm lies on the bend of the guitar, and the brush itself hangs over the strings like a twig. With your thumb, try to extract the sound from the uppermost sixth string. To do this, just gently pull the string down and away from yourself. The sixth, fifth and fourth strings are considered bass: the sound is extracted from them by the thumb. The index finger "answers" for the third string, the middle finger - for the second, the unnamed - for the first one.

The extraction of sound from the lower strings is as follows: with the finger pad you pull the string from the bottom up and a little at yourself. To secure the extraction with your right hand, you can play overfills. The simplest is played like this: the sixth string, the third, the second, the first, the second, the third. Do not forget that each string is "tied" to a specific finger.

This sort of search is used in the introduction of the composition Nothing else matters of the Metallica group. After two weeks of classes, when you feel more confident with the instrument, you can try to learn the introduction of this song completely. Further entry to beginner to go do not advise, since in this song there is a barre reception, which can cause difficulties for the beginner. Other sorts:

• Bass (sixth, fifth or fourth), third, second, third, first, third, second, third;
• Bass, first, second, third;
• Bass, third, second + first (pull at the same time), third;
• Bass, third + second + first.

Removing with your left hand

The thumb is behind the neck of the guitar and presses against it, as if leaning. Do not press it specially, he will stick to the neck when you start playing. Form a dome from the brush, as if holding an apple. Strings should be pressed with pads of fingers so that when you press the finger it retains its shape, does not blur around the neck, does not turn out.

It is important: not to press the pads that we see when we look at our palm from the opposite side, but those that we see when we look under the nails. All fingers of the left hand should extract sound equally qualitatively.

Exercise for the left hand

• "Snake" - you hold the index finger of the string, remove the right hand sound, then pinch the same string on the same finger with the middle finger, without releasing the index finger, and again extract the sound. As a result, all 4 fingers should stand in line on the string. Then we do the opposite: remove the little finger, extract the sound, remove the anonymous one, extract it, and so on.
• "Spider" - the beginning is the same as in "snake", but after all the fingers we have on the string, we do not remove them, and the index finger is transferred to the string higher, but in the same way, while the other fingers Remain on the same string. So alternately rearrange your fingers "crawl" up, and then just "creep down". Take care that in these exercises all the notes you hear sound cleanly, do not rattled, press the strings tightly. Gradually increase the tempo.

How to read tablature?

Every guitarist who thinks about how to learn how to play electric guitar from scratch, also thinks about what to play. You can do this either by notes or by tablature. In music notation itself there is nothing complicated, but few people can understand it independently, the most successful option will be the teacher's explanation: this is to the question of where to learn to play the electric guitar.

Tablatures are much easier to use. It has six litters, the uppermost is the thinnest string. On these rulers there are numbers indicating frets. Thus, we see from which string and on which fret we need to extract the sound. The only significant drawback of the tablature is that it is almost impossible for them to track the rhythm. Yes, the creators of tablature try to compensate for this in every possible way: they make spaces between the figures where longer notes are located, but you can not follow the rhythm in the same way as in notes, by tablature.

What to play a newbie?

• Pop-rock bands such as Imagine Dragons, Green Day, 30 Seconds to mars, Sum 41 - their songs are very simple and are suitable for filling a hand.
• More classic things, for example, songs Scorpions, AC / DC. It's not necessary to take complex solos, you can just learn some riffs.
• If you want something more complicated, then you can pay attention to Metallica and Megadeth (before the four months of training for these songs to start senselessly). Nothing else matters, Fade to black, a Muster of Puppets (a very beautiful solo, it's uncomplicated, and your listeners will appreciate it), Enter sandman, Trust, Promise (one of the few ballads of Megadeth).