THE FIRST STEEMIT GUITAR LESSON - Bringing Musicians to Steemit!!!

Hey Steemit,

I'm here to introduce you to the world's most sexy instrument, the Guitar. I've been playing Guitar for 13 years and now teach it to people around my local area. If there's something I'm really passionate on talking about, it's music and guitar. 

Around grade five I started listening to a lot of punk music like Blink 182, NoFx and Offspring. By grade seven I was a blackbelt in music taste so had evolved to listening to the likes of Metallica and Pantera for my fill of stringy goodness. When it came time to face 8th grade, Dad asked me what I'd like as a birthday present. The music I was listening to was heavily guitar driven at the time,  so of-course I said, "A guitar."

I started out learning a few little Blink 182, Pantera and Metallica riffs and 3 months in decided to take guitar lessons. Guitar lessons showed me the theory and techniques behind it and after about 20 half hour lessons with an awesome teacher I decided to start teaching my self. It's been nearly 11 years since then and I still play. I play everyday. 30 minutes, 4 hours, whenever I can. And so that's where most of my focus has been - the guitar, music and music theory.

This is a pic of me chilling out on a couch with my acoustic

 

I think music is the greatest thing for bringing people together and I've had a lot of fun playing in bands wherever I go, jamming with people, busking on the street, writing music and living a 'musical' life. 

I want to share that love with you so I've prepared a guitar lesson to help you get started yourself.  

1. It's best to start on an electric guitar or nylon string guitar because the action (how far apart the strings are from the neck) and flexibility of the strings will most likely make it easier for your fingers to press the strings down onto the guitar neck. I would suggest building your finger strength up by playing these before moving onto something like a steel string guitar if you don't want hardcore callouses. Some people are good with it. The one I had was a steel string so I ended up playing more on the nylon strings we had at my high-school through recesses.

2. People generally use a 'guitar pick' or their fingernails to play the strings, but in the end you can hit the string with whatever you want. Jimi Hendrix is well known for having played guitar with his teeth! Sliding a beer can along the strings creates a pretty cool sound as well.

3. Buy a guitar tuner or download a guitar tuner app on your phone. A phone app that I use is called 'Guitar Tuna' which works really well to quickly get in tune. The standard tuning of a 6 string guitar is EADGBE. With your tuner, tune the fattest string to E2. Tune the second largest to A2. Tune the third largest to D3 and so on for G3, B3 and E4.

4. Take a break between playing every now and then to stretch your fingers, arms, back and body out a bit. Using dumbbells and grip strengtheners can really help your endurance when it comes to playing.

Now you are ready for Lesson 1 

1. Guitar Tabs

Guitar tabs are a common way people write out and share songs they've made on guitar. They're laid out in 6 lines that are relative to the guitar strings and look like this  

E-------------------0-----------------------   1st string

B-------------------0-----------------------   2nd string

G-------------------0-----------------------   3rd string

D------------0--0- 2--2--0--0------------   4th string

A------3-3---------2---------------3--3---   5th string

E--1-1--------------0----------------------  6th string

^^ The bottom E (6th String) is the thickest string on the guitar and is what we guitarists call the 'Low E' in order to distinguish it from the thinnest string on the guitar, the 'High E'. Another reason is because the Low E is a lower pitch and note. 

Guitarists will write numbers along these 6 lines EADGBE to say what 'fret' and string your finger should be pressing down. If someone writes 1 on the bottom E line, you can play that same note by pushing the fat E string down onto the first fret and plucking the same string with your other hand. If someone writes 7 on the B line, it means that you play the 7th fret on the second thinnest string.

You'll notice a part on the tab where a bunch of numbers line up. This is what we call a chord. A chord is when you play a bunch of notes together. The notes come from a mode which is built around a scale. I will get into modes and scales further on down the track. For now, concentrate on this chord. I've made the numbers bold on the guitar tab so you know which ones line up to make a Chord. For this chord your index will be on the 2nd fret of the 5th string and your middle finger will be on the 2nd fret of the 4th string. Now with these fingers down on those frets, strum all of the strings. Congratulations you've just played E minor.

The vertical (metal bars) running along the front of your guitar neck are called 'frets' and can be numbered as follows:

Note that pushing a string down directly onto the top of a fret will make a buzzing sound when you pluck the string. Eliminate this by pushing the string down more so in between the frets. For example if you want to play the 3rd fret on the 5th string (A), push the 5th string down in between the 2nd and 3rd fret. When you pluck that string with your right hand, the string will catch onto the 3rd fret and play that note (which is a C, but we will get into that later)

You may have noticed in my guitar tab example earlier that I'd written a few zero's down as well. The 0's in the guitar tab just mean that you have to play that string open. In other words, don't press any frets down. Just pluck the string the 0 is on, which in the case of the tab example I've provided, is the 4th string, the D.

Remember to count from thinnest to largest with your strings. Thinnest = First string, 2nd thinnest = 2nd, and so on. 

Finger Positioning: 

As for the fingers you should be using to press the frets down - 

1st fret = index,

2nd fret = middle

3rd fret = ring

4th = pinky

You don't have to stay strictly to using those particular fingers for those frets, but this is to give you a basic guideline on utilising the top neck of the guitar. When it comes to playing the 6th fret for example, you could play it with your pinky - then your ring finger will be aligned with the 5th fret, your middle with the 4th fret and your index with the 3rd. Or if you need to, you could play the 6th fret with your middle finger so your index aligns with the 5th, your ring with the 7th and your pinky with the 8th. You catch my drift. As for the thumb, it sits on the back of the neck where it can slide up and down the centre of it all day long, as shown below.

 

How to Hold the Pick:

Pretend you are holding a can of coke. Now slide your thumb over the top of your index so you're doing one of those 'ok' hand signals. Between your thumb and index is where you'll hold the pick with the sharp end hanging a bit past the tip of your index and side of thumb, like so

To be continued..Cheers guys, have a wicked day!

- work in progress by shredlord :)