I?m on a mission. To convert.

To convert guitar players and aspiring guitar players to open-D. It?s the tuning so important to guitar in the last number of decades, but too often, so overlooked by the mainstream. Standard tuning has a stranglehold on the business of learning guitar. The reason, to me, remains unclear.

As a starting point, an open tuning is clearly the logical choice. What easier way to begin to play guitar, but with an open, major chord? How much more confidence could an aspiring guitarist (of any age, but more on that later) need than to be able to play a nice sounding chord without putting finger to fret? That?s what you get when you start with an open tuning.

My personal story went like this. Frustrated novice guitar player (?novice? for years on end!). Gets nowhere with guitar for years. Does research (i.e. reads guitar magazines). Realizes many of the greats played in alternate tunings (K. Richard, J. Mitchell, E. James, R. Johnson, R. Cooder, J. Page, etc, etc.). Re-tunes guitar until he finds one that works ? open-D. Presto! Light bulb comes on, a better guitar player is hatched.

Open tunings are mentioned, frequently enough, in magazines articles, transcriptions, books and the like. But very seldom or never have I seen an outright promotion of their use as a stand-alone approach to guitar (my god, even Keith switches to standard tuning every now and again!). And open-D, the most logical of all starting points, is rarely mentioned at all. I have yet, in 20 years of public performance, have anyone come up to me and say ? ?How about that ? you play just like I do, in open-D?. People do come up, but the comments are almost always, ?You sure use some funny chord positions? or ?Are you playing in a different tuning?. Amazingly, many guitar players associate ?open tuning? with ?more difficult?. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, to make the transition from standard tuning is a bit of a learning curve, but once you?re there, POW! You?ll never want to play any other way (although just adding proficiency on an open tuning to your standard tuning is a giant leap).

Which brings us back to beginners. No matter what the age, a beginner, whether 6 or 60 years old will find open-D an easier way to start playing guitar. It is so obvious. Focus on the strum without any fingers on the fretboard, and then work your way up to one finger on the fretboard (the basic major chord in open-D is just one finger). What a way to develop early confidence. The truth is, and I am living proof, you would never have to make the flip to standard tuning. But if you wanted to, it?s just small tweak up to standard ? sort of drop-D tuning with three other minor adjustments back and forth, to and from standard E A D G B E, to D A D F# D.

One question that arises ? why open-D, then, of all the potential starting points? The absolute simplest choice may be, for easier understanding of theory, keys and harmony might be open-C C G C E G C, but that gets a tad floppy sounding, as the guitar strings are so slackened. Going the other way to open-E E B E G# B E might be going too far the other way, though it?s used. Open-D seems the perfect choice! For singers wanting to accompany themselves, of course, it becomes an issue of vocal range tied to the guitar tuning. A capo may be in order.

Frank Foxx is a semi-professional guitar player who plays exclusively in the tuning of open-D. He has written a guitar method book, extolling the virtues of what he considers to be the most versatile and easiest of all guitar tunings, entitled Guitar-eze A Simpler Approach to Playing the Guitar. His website is http://www.easierguitar.com. He keeps a blog at http://open-d.blogspot.com dedicated to helping guitarists and aspiring guitarists see the light.

Have you ever played a melody on a guitar? Well, if not let this be the first time! I will show you how to play Mary Had A Little Lamb on one string with one finger on your left hand and one finger on your right.

What string you use on your or somebody elses guitar doesn’t matter. It’s a matter of personal choice.

As you know Mary Had A Little Lamb is a popular nursery rhyme. Here is the first verse:

Mary had a little lamb
little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow

Thomas Edison used this poem in testing his invention of the phonograph in 1877. It became the first audio recording to be successfully made and played back.

Let’s start by playing on a string of your choice. Play the string with the thumb. If you play the string three times with your right hand thumb we can write it down like this:

0-0-0

If you press down the string on the second fret with your left hand first finger and play it three times and then lift your finger and play on the open string three times like you did before it will look like this:

2-2-2-0-0-0

Got the idea? Well, to play Mary Had A Little Lamb you need two more notes. Press down your first finger on the fourth fret and then on your seventh fret and you have all the necessary notes. The song looks like this:

4-2-0-2-4-4-4–2-2-2–4-7-7

4-2-0-2-4-4-4-4-2-2-4-2-0

If you still have questions you can ask a guitar playing friend to help you. She or he will probably be proud to help you.

If this melody is a little bit to easy for you, you can show it to a not guitar playing friend. Many people start to smile when they can play something on the guitar for the first time!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

What does it take to learn to play guitar?

Playing the guitar is a great way to express yourself through music. If you feel a strong urge to learn to play the guitar, here’s a quick self-test to determine if you’re ready to take this giant step.

Test Mind and Body

Before signing on for guitar lessons, test your mind and body. Your mind should be clear to learn. Learning to play the guitar is like learning any other skill. You must have some free time to dedicate solely to learning – even if it’s only 15 minutes per day. This should be a time of total concentration when you can block out the cares of work and life to work on your lessons and practice.

Physical Health and Playing the Guitar

Your body’s physical health is also important. Playing the guitar requires holding a guitar in an upright position, either resting on your legs or held upright by a shoulder strap. Consider the strength of your back, shoulders, arms and legs. A person who suffers from severe lower back pain may find it difficult to hold a guitar for any length of time. If you know someone who owns a guitar, you can practice holding theirs to test your strengths and weaknesses.

Also, consider the physical condition of your hands, fingers and wrists. Some conditions that could hinder your playing ability include arthritis, carpal tunnel or frequent swelling of the wrists or fingers.

It’s Still Possible

Even if you have a condition that makes it difficult to play a guitar, this doesn’t mean you will never play. You can research online or talk with a professional instructor to find out if there are ways to work around your disability or physical weakness. For example, if you have back pain, you might find a lightweight guitar that’s easy to hold. Or, if you have swelling or pain in the hands, there may be exercises to help relieve the tension. Don’t give up until you’ve done the research.

The Relevance of Musical Talent

If you have natural musical talent, that’s great. However, if you don’t feel that you are naturally talented, don’t worry. You only need the desire to learn and the ability to listen, read and practice. You learn to play the guitar by taking one step at a time – or one note at a time. Without musical talent, you might have to concentrate just a little harder at the beginning, but soon you’ll find it to be similar to learning any skill.

Questions to Ask

After considering the above, answer these questions to determine your readiness to learn playing the guitar.

1) Do you have a strong desire to play the guitar?
2) Why do you want to learn to play the guitar?
3) Do you want to learn to read music or play the guitar by ear?
4) Is a guitar instructor available where you live?
5) If an instructor is not available, are you willing to learn using an online guitar course?
6) Once your guitar lessons begin, are you willing to practice at least fifteen to thirty minutes per day, five to six days a week?
7) Do you have the money to invest in a guitar?

Your answers to these questions should help you determine if you’re ready to learn how to play the guitar.

You’re only lessons away from playing great guitar music!

Bob Pardue is owner of the site for reading music called Music Playground. You can view his other music articles by going to http://www.largemart.com/read-music/.

Music isnt just learning notes and playing them, you learn notes to play to the music of your soul Katie Greenwood.

Why are you learning music anyway? Is it to pick up chicks? Is it to fulfill a void in your mundane life? Is it an indescribable calling?

I always wanted to learn the drums. I dont know why, maybe its the aggressive nature of the things. You sit there and bash the crap out of them.

As fate would have it I shared a house with Dave, a guitar player, so I decided to learn the guitar as I had my very own teacher living in the next room. Or so I thought.

I went out and bought a nylon string classical guitar for $70. I didnt have a clue what I was doing but that never stopped me before.

So I went back home with my new guitar in its cardboard box. And with anything new, you want to play with it straight away, as soon as you get it home.

I also bought one of those guitar case chord dictionaries. You know the ones, they have a thousand chords in them and they are designed to confuse rather than actually help you.

So I waited for Dave to get home from work and as soon as he was in the door I was at him. I bought this new guitar and I was wondering if you could show me how to play it I said.

He just laughed at me but eventually agreed to show me which chords to learn first. He told me to learn the open chords A, D, E, G, and C. So I did. I spent every spare moment learning these chords.

Dave wouldnt show me any songs to play so I was forced to make up my own songs. This forced me to really explore every one of these chords as I thought at the time that I had to include them all in every song I wrote.

The songs I wrote were pretty strange to say the least. We were into punk music at that time so just imagine what a dying cat like vocals set to a nylon string out of tune guitar played as fast as a speeding train sounds like and you get the picture.

It sounded good to me at the time and I was very proud of my new found ability. It took about three months to get the hang of changing between the chords, and being able to write a song. (if you could call it that).

I didnt know it at the time but I had the one thing that was needed that would ensure I would become a good guitar player. That one thing was sheer bloody determination. And the more people told me how bad I sounded the more determined I became to improve.

So it doesnt matter how good or bad you are at the moment just play the music of your soul even if it sounds like a cat being tortured. You will improve as long as you keep trying. Here’s a mental exercise for you. Fast forward your mind to 4 years from now. How good a guitar player will you be? The time will pass regardless of what you do. Are you going to keep at it? or are you going to give up? It’s up to you. You will be four years older, but will you be four years wiser?

John Stockwell is a guitar player and the author of the acclaimed Mind Over Music for Guitar http://www.learn-to-play-guitar.net/mindovermusic/, a unique approach to learning to play the guitar by ear for beginners to advanced students.

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Many people are aspiring to learn how to play the guitar. The guitar has risen into a certain level of popularity that it has become a symbol of talent, creativity and coolness.

However, learning how to play the guitar is no joke. Learning to play the instrument requires one to learn how to play the chords. This article tries to give some helpful tips to individuals who would want to learn how to play guitar chords.

1. Get a chord chart

Playing guitar chords is just like playing chords in an organ. If one is learning to play the guitar alone (without a teacher), having a guitar chord book is his best bet. A guitar chord book demonstrates the different finger positions when playing different types of chords. The pressed strings are usually depicted with dots and the strings which are not supposed to be plucked are marked with an x.

A chord book is a beginner’s best friend. Memorizing chords without the help of a guitar teacher will be an impossible task if not for the chord book.

2. One at a time

There are dozens and dozens of different guitar chords which show themselves in different formations. Trying to memorize them in a single blow is close to impossible. Learning how to play guitar chords requires patience and lots of practice. Try practicing three chords that are can be played together (ex. A-E-D) on a single day and try to familiarize oneself with the transition between these chords. Don’t try to take every chord in one sitting, it simply can’t be done.

3. Be aware of the right hand

An important thing to remember when learning how to play guitar chords is that the movement of the right hand is as important as the movement of the left hand. Most beginners would find themselves taking breaks in strumming until the left hand positions itself properly for the next chord. This is normal during the first few day of practice, but at some point, the right hand should dictate the tempo of the movements of both hands. Strumming or plucking shouldnt be delayed.

4. Listen to guitar-intensive songs whenever possible

One should learn how to play the guitar with some inspiration at the back of his head. Listening to good guitar players will give one some idea of where he would want to go in the future.

5. Learn the different forms of chords

As stated earlier, guitar chords present themselves in various forms. One should be familiar with the different forms so as to bring flexibility in to playing. One popular form of chords which is widely used in rock music is the power chords they are simply and heavy-sounding.

Playing guitar chords is not as hard as one would think. Learning to play guitar chords is a basic and essential part of guitar playing, it lays down the foundation of good guitar playing skills. If one has the perseverance and the passion to play the guitar, he will eventually learn how to play the chords and advance into more intricate lessons.

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Do you know why music is so awesome and unique?

Because no one can take it from you. Whats even more awesome is that you can make music your own. Haven’t you ever thought of having a hit song, or releasing an album? I know most of those thoughts are just dreams and kind of far fetched, but the truth is you don’t have to be famous in order to play or write your own music.

One of the most popular instruments these days is the guitar. It seems like everywhere you look there’s another person playing guitar. This is really good, but the problem is that a lot of these guitar players don’t have any guidence, and either end up quitting or just never getting any better.

If you are interested in learning guitar, or perhaps you already play guitar, but are looking for some tips, then please read on. Below are several very helpful tips thats can help a newbie with learning guitar.

1. Don’t expect to be some kind of amazing guitar player overnight! It just doesn’t happen that way. Like most things, learning guitar takes time and you must be patient. The more you practice the better.

2. Start off slow. Don’t rush yourself, and don’t drive yourself crazy if you don’t get something right the first, second, or third time. It may take you a hundred times to get a riff right. The important thing is that you start off slow. Example: If you found a new riff, or chord progression that you like, start off practicing very slow. It may seem tedious, but it helps tremendously. Once you start adjusting to the riff, start increasing the speed.

3. Practice chord changes. One of the worst things to me is watching someone struggle to change between simple chords. Make sure to get these chord changes down. This will make everything so much easier in the long run.

4. One of my favorite things to do is to practice on an acoustic guitar. This strengthens your fingers greatly, and helps build speed.

5. Listen to lots of music. Any kind of music is ok. Then, just try and figure out whatever you’re listening to on guitar. Even if you only get in a couple of notes or chords, thats ok. This technique will help with your musical ear. Then after enough practice you’ll be able to pick up a song on the radio in no time.

I wish I could help you more, but unfortuneately thats about as good as I can do within an article.

I highly advise taking lessons. I know that taking lessons can cost a lot of money, but with technology these days you can take guitar lessons online for way cheaper. Usually a one time fee around $40 or $50. There are some really great programs out there that I highly recommend. Guitar Tutor Pro is an internet course that teaches guitar lessons online. If you’re looking for a program that covers the basics, scales, chords, reading music, theory, and more then this is the site for you.

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In many articles on the net on learning to play guitar you will find many article authors stressing the importance of setting goals. Well, it would be interesting to find out if you can learn to play guitar without goals. Let us investigate the matter!

I have many memories of my first attemps to play the guitar. Like many boys I had many interests like reading, playing piano, singing, listening to music, athletics, chess, stamp collecting, painting and other things at different times. Playing guitar was just one of them.

I remember that I had my own way of practicing guitar playing. I always had my guitar on my bed waiting for me. I sat down on my bed many times everyday playing for a while and then starting to do other things.

Sometimes I felt inspired to play guitar for an hour or two and other times just for a minute. Did I have goals or not?

I know that I was developing as a guitarist quite fast and I think it must have been something in my way of playing and practicing guitar that was good.

I believe that some of the reasons for my progress during those early days of my learn to play guitar career were:

1. I felt no pressure to become an accomplished guitarist. I just felt the joy of sitting down with my guitar trying to find out the treasuries in the land of music.

2. My father was a guitar teacher giving me lessons at times and I always heard him play guitar in our home. Other guitarists visited our home many times and these visits inspired me a lot.

3. I never felt a pressure to play fast and thereby building tensions by playing too fast. This is one of the big mistakes beginning guitarist and even accomplished guitarists sometimes make.

4. As I mentioned previously I did a lot of other things besides playing guitar and I guess all these things I was involved in kept my mind quite healthy and helped me retain my joy when I learned to play guitar.

I guess in a sense I had goals that was not so apparent to me that directed me towards somewhere even if I was quite content being on the road of progress towards guitar land.

Can you learn something from my early guitar experiences? At least you can learn the following:

1. When learning to play guitar always remember to enjoy the act of playing without thinking too much on what you can or cannot do as a guitarist.

2. Try to associate with good musicians and guitarists that inspire you to play musically and that give you the motivation to learn to play new things on your guitar.

3. Beware of playing too fast on your guitar. There is a risk of building up muscle tensions and thereby actually reducing your ability to play fast. A remedy for this and a way to tame yourself is to use a metronome at a low tempo to reduce your speed to a level where you can play your guitar in a relaxed manner.

4. To become an interesting guitarist and musician you might benefit from being involved in other activities like listening to good music, having another hobby, reading good books, assiciate with other people and more.

Do you have to have goals to become a good guitarist? Well, even if you don’t have learn to play guitar goals in the ordinary sense you can help yourself to play everyday by having easy access to your guitar.

I had my guitar on my bed. Maybe you want to have your guitar in your favorite armchair. I guess you understand the principle….

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play guitar resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

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