Guitar: The Basics: An Open Learning Guide

The guitar is, and has always been, a social instrument. In all its forms, it has always been a portable, multi-stringed instrument made for public hearing. Even today, there's nothing better than hanging out with some friends and being able to strum a few songs on the guitar. And if you've just bought your first guitar, then you're in luck: you can play literally hundreds of popular songs by learning just a handful of chords. But playing the guitar is more than just struggling through a half-recognizable version of some song, it also requires good technique. In this section, you will learn the basics of how to hold the guitar, use a pick, and other important fundamental techniques.

Never forget that instruction books are not a replacement for playing with other guitarists, or learning from a teacher, who are excellent sources of information and inspiration.

Also, this section, as with most guitar manuals, is written with right handed players in mind. Left-handed players may simply reverse the instructions as appropriate.

The guitar can be played in many positions, but some positions are clearly more efficient than others. The choice of position is personal, but clear guidelines exist. Some basic considerations in determining a chosen playing position include:

elimination of general muscular tension in the assumed body position. While it is natural for a beginner to experience fatigue in the muscles of his hands and arms, you must be careful to sit straight and not cause damage to your spine and waist. If you do experience pain in those regions it is possible that the position is harmful and must be changed to prevent damage.

Many beginners try and turn the guitar towards themselves, so they can look down at the frets and soundhole. Curling the guitar towards yourself in such a way actually makes it more difficult to fret the strings efficiently, because you have to curl your wrist more. This tension can be harmful. Beginners are also often inclined to put their elbow too high or low, which leads to cramping. Ideally your arm and shoulder should be relaxed.

It may take a beginner several weeks until holding the guitar feels comfortable and natural. By using efficient hand positions and not straining, the muscles in the arm and hands will get stronger. If you ever feel pain you should immediately stop and ascertain the cause of pain before continuing. Sometimes discomfort is due merely to fatigue and a period of rest will be all that is required.

Sit up straight on a chair or stool, with your left foot on a footrest approximately 10-20 cm in height. Place the waist of your guitar on your left thigh. Rest your right forearm on the top front edge of the guitar's lower bout so that it is comfortable and allows you to easily strum the strings over the soundhole. The guitar headstock should approximately be at head level, which corresponds to an inclination of the guitar neck of about 45 degrees. Your left hand should be presented to the guitar neck and fretboard such that the thumb is behind the neck and all three segments of the fingers are forward of the edge of the fingerboard. Shoulders should be level and relaxed, and it helps to be leaning forward slightly. Most people should feel comfortable and able to stay in this position with little effort. If you cannot, something may not be right. As an alternative to using a footstool, you can use some sort of guitar support between your left leg and guitar. This also allows for good alignment of the spine and an efficient playing posture.

With your left hand, put your thumb so that it is behind the second fret. This is the most comfortable area for playing open chords. Your thumb should not extend over the edge of the fretboard and touch the E string.

Many rock performers hold the electric guitar lower than the classical position. The neck is held horizontally, rather than at a 45 degree angle. This allows bends to be more easily achieved and also allow the same hand angle to be maintained when moving up the neck through box positions. playing in extremely high fret positions is also facilitated by this angle as the left hand twist to accommodate playing in the cutaway in a way that would be straining and more difficult in the classical position.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Guitar/The Basics by Wikibooks contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. This adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.