Archive for 'Learn to Play Guitar'
Learn Guitar by Playing Guitar Games Online!
Posted on 05. Jul, 2009 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
It’s not easy to learn playing guitar, especially when you are a grown adult without any music background. I’ve always wanted to learn to play guitar but never had time to take lessons. However, recently I found a new way that allows me to learn guitar in an easy and interesting way: Video games that teach guitar skills including finding notes on the guitar, learning scales, ear training, and music theory!
Quite different from Rockband or Guitarhero, these guitar games actually aim to help you master the fretboard, guitar scales, theory, and how to read real music. The games are not only unique but are also interactive, which makes learning guitar effortless.
At first I thought that the games were too kiddish for me, but after trying it out for myself, I found out that the whole point of the games wasn’t really the way it looked or played, but rather the way they engaged you and made you actively recall and practice guitar skills in different areas (across different games). To me, this was a very refreshing method to complement my guitar learning online.
Pretty interesting!
Basics of Guitar
Posted on 23. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
Learning something for the first time can be really exciting. But you should know the basics of any trade before you become a master of it. So, is the case with learning how to play the guitar too. You will have to learn the basic of guitar before you can start playing it in public.
Playing the guitar has its own set of rules and you need to follow them to become an expert player. Playing guitar is not hard and you will have to put some interest and learn it. While learning guitar you may feel that sensation of being a popular guitarist one day but you should remember that even the masters of guitar started with basics one day.
Before starting to play guitar you should know how the guitar is constructed. You should have the idea of various body parts of an average guitar. All of these parts of the guitar form to make a excellent device that help your create magical tunes. Chords, scales, fingering, etc. are the few terms that you will come across while learning the guitar. But first let’s see how Guitar is made:
Basically, guitar is a long wooden piece with a string attached to it. It follows a simple science by creating music when the chords are stretched in harmony. But a guitar is much more than a simple piece of wood.
A normal guitar’s body is made up of a large wooden piece. The thinned part of the guitar that is joined with the body is called the neck. A bridge is located on the body of the guitar where a hole is created. A single string of guitar is binded at the bridge and the pegs which is located at the head of the guitar. The head of the guitar is present at the end of the neck and is not connected with the body. Besides these, small pieces of metal are inscribed on the long neck on different intervals.
These metal pieces are called frets and when a player presses the strings into the frets, then the guitar creates different pitches and music at different places. All of the frets make a different pitch and sound differently. These frets are the most important part of the guitar as they are creating the whole music which made using a guitar.
The way you hold a guitar also depends on the type and melody of the song you choose. For a right handed person, you can hold your guitar on right hand making your right hand the strumming one. You have to hold the guitar in a way that your hand rests on the string above the hole. In this way, your left hand will be holding the neck of the guitar. But if you are a left handed then you should just reverse the order.
Holding the guitar and knowing its body parts are simply the basic. A guitar has much more things to be learned which you will find in following series. Learning guitar is not just a time pass or to matter of interest, it will make you relationship with this amazing device that creates harmonic music too.
How To Develop a Guitar Practice Routine
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
 Establish a guitar routine |
Have you thought about what kind of guitar player you want to be? A clear vision of what you want to become, and understanding what you really want, does help you to know what kind of guitar lessons you should focus on. Once you have figured that out, then you can come out with a solid plan on what to play and practice, and for how long.
The duration of your lesson or practice is important and does depend on your character. Some of my guitar playing friends stuck to an exercise, practicing it until they master it. But I know that there are others as well, who are more restless and practice a lot of exercises at the same time. So what’s the correct way to practise?
Well, the honest truth is that there is no one correct method. However, it does depend on your goal, and how much of a timeframe you give yourself. If you are short of time, it may be more advisable to prioritise some of the areas in order to give yourself more time and attention to commit the material to your long-term memory.
In any case, you should focus on the material that will be of use for you in the future and also be a foundation for further more advanced guitar exercises, because ultimately, your goal is to be a better guitar player.
Again, the key is to understand what you want to be, so that you can come up with a plan, and fill it up with the most appropriate and helpful guitar exercises. Once you have such a plan, I would even suggest that you develop a daily guitar practice routine that you can stick to and get used to and feel comfortable with that include guitar technique ingredients that you really need, and will bring you closer to your guitar-playing goal.
What type of things should be included in this daily practice routine?
What you practise daily depends on what you want to become. For example, if you want to become the fastest guitar shredder in the world, then you’ll put in more exercises that will improve your guitar shredding skills.
However, while you will definitely benefit from deciding this for yourself right now, you do need to know that this can change as you get new insight and experiences. So don’t be afraid to change your goals and exercises as you go along. This is of course comforting to know, as it does hint that you don’t need to know 100% what you want to accomplish before you produce your goal.
Don’t forget to incorporate some of your guitar practice time to warm up guitar exercises. These are easy guitar exercises – maybe you could use some chord progressions. You don’t need to create specific guitar exercises for doing this, you can create your very own routine and exercises, or model your routine from someone else’s. Just remember to play slowly and with complete accuracy. This is a time to warm up, relax, and get into the right frame of mind to start practicing your guitar skills!
Guitar Camps
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
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Jamming at a guitar camp |
In my personal opinion, I feel that one of the best ways for a teen, child or kid to learn the guitar is by attending guitar camp – where they are totally immersed in guitar playing and guitar learning with other guitar players and guitar students everyday!
A good guitar camp will have very dedicated, patient and professional guitar instructors, who will act as a friend, teacher, and mentor for your stay at the guitar camp. Usually, the friendly guitar camp instructors will more often than not put up a fantastic performance for the guitar camp as well!
At guitar camps, you can look forward to jamming sessions, mini-concerts that you attend as a spectator or even participate in yourself, one-to-one or small group lessons, and great camp food!
Imagine learning and playing the guitar in an environment so fresh and peaceful, with friendly people all around you. Now that’s what I call conducive guitar-ing!
Guitar Camps Typical Schedule
Depending on which guitar camp you attend, the schedule may vary, but here’s a typical example of a weekend schedule for a guitar camp.
A typical guitar camp weekend schedule runs as follows:
Friday
Arrival 9:00 – 12:00
Orientation 12:00
Lunch 1:00
Workshop 2:30 – 5:30
Dinner 6:00
Workshop 7:30 – 8:30
Campfire / Jam 9:30
Saturday
Breakfast 8:00 – 10:00
Workshop 10:30 – 12:30
Lunch 1:00
Workshop 3:00 – 4:30
Dinner 6:00
Concert 8:00
Sunday
Breakfast 8:30 – 10:00
Workshop 10:30 – 12:30
Lunch 1:00
Student/Instructor performance 3:00 – 5:00
Dinner 6:00
Campfire / Jam 9:30
Monday
Breakfast 8:00 – 10:00
Workshop 10:30 – 11:30
Recommended Guitar Books & Videos
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
Learning how to play the guitar can be made easier with the help of good instructional books and videos. You can read or watch whenever you have time, and as many times as you like. Here I’ll showcase just a few of the better books and videos, and even some CD-ROMS.
Free Guitar Lessons and Free Guitar Tabs
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
Welcome to the Internet where the resources for the guitar player are many and free! With the plethora of guitar sites out there though, you will need to focus on the sites that give you the best guitar lessons for your time and effort. I’ve made a list of the better free guitar lessons and free guitar tabs sites below. Remember, put in effort and you’ll play the guitar like a pro before you know it. Have fun!
Free Guitar Lessons
Free Guitar Tabs
If you’re not progressing in your guitar learning as well as you hoped, you can check out paid guitar lessons. A great one I’m using is Jamorama, which is IMHO, one of the best value for money packages around. Check out my review on Jamorama, which includes my personal experience and screenshots.
The web can be your best resource in finding free lessons on how to play the guitar. It’s easily available, convenient, and best of all, some lessons are free! Here are some great free guitar lessons:
| A free series of progressive guitar lessons created with the beginner in mind. Very useful! http://guitar.about.com/library/blguitarlessonarchive.htm |
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| A very simple article on learning how to play the guitar targeted at kids. Contains various helpful links on how to play the guitar. http://www.kidsturncentral.com/topics/music/guitar.htm |
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| A large set of original, categorized guitar lessons. After reading and completing a lesson, you may choose to rate the lesson, post a question pertaining to the lesson or answer others’ questions. http://www.guitarseek.com/lessons.php3 |
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| A humongous directory of guitar related resources and links. http://www.guitarnoise.com/index.php |
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| Online guitar lessons everything you need to be a monster guitar player. http://www.zentao.com/guitar/guitar-lessons.html |
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| Guitar Lessons, theory, and instruction. Chord diagrams, charts, and fingerings. Reviewed in Rolling Stone and Yahoo! Internet Life Magazines. http://www.guitarlessonworld.com/ |
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| Another site that offers lessons in guitars free! Learn How to Play Guitar | Free Guitar Lessons Online – GuitarPlayerWorld.com |
What are guitar tabs (or guitar tablature), and why are they so important in learning how to play the guitar?
Guitar tabs are actually musical notation that use letters and symbols that represent the musical direction. Guitar tabs are unique because they make use of musical direction instead of the usual musical notes. Guitar tabs are actually a very ancient system, dating back many, many years.
When using guitar tabs, the vertical lines represent the actual strings of the instrument, the horizontal lines of guitar tabs represent the frets, and the dots on a guitar tab represent the position that the fingers should be in.
Check out some of the better sites that offer free guitar tabs here:
| Your #1 source for guitar tabs, bass tabs & chords. Comprehensive tabs archive with over 70000+ of tabs! http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ |
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| Thousands of guitar tab, bass tab, drum tab, keyboard tab (piano tab), power tab, and lyrics for thousands of bands. New tabs daily. http://www.taborama.com/ |
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| Extensive 100000+ guitar tabs archive, bass tabs, drum tabs, keyboard & guitar lessons. http://www.tabcrawler.com/ |
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| A complete guitar tabs site with Olga search, chords,lessons,utilites, and scales. http://www.worldguitar.com/ |
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| #1 source for guitar tablature online. They have guitar tabs for songs by your favorite bands. http://www.guitartabs.com/ |
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| Search over 60000 songs. Find guitar and bass tabs tablature tab. Search by song title or artist. Submit and Request files. http://www.guitartabs.cc/ |
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| Over 200 video songs lessons and tabs. Video-tabs.com combines quality video lessons served up by YouTube with accurate easy-to-print tabs so that you can more easily learn your favorite songs. http://www.video-tabs.com/ |
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All this may be overwhelming for the beginner though. I know, because I’ve been through the exact same process. What I discovered was that a well-structured guitar course that shows you what to do step-by-step is essential to helping you learn how to play the guitar and take advantage of all these online guitar resources.
I’m using a guitar lesson packaged called Jamorama, which is IMHO, one of the best value for money packages around. Check out my review on Jamorama, which includes my personal experience and screenshots.
Jamorama Review – Learn Guitar Fast!
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
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When I stumbled upon Jamorama one day, I was beginning to feel really frustrated, and quickly decided that I should spend some money to see if this program would get me anywhere. In the end, I was surprised that I felt rather impressed with everything. The price was really damn reasonable. It even came with an ear-training game!
That’s the picture of Ben Edwards – he’s the creator of Jamorama. Ben is a respected guitar teacher, with a Bachelor of Education. Ben was also the former lead guitarist for the popular down-under band “DegreesK”, and toured with them internationally.
After you made the purchase, you’ll be given immediate access to the Jamorama site, where you can download all their software, articles, tabs, and videos. As of now, membership is permanent, and any upgrades and new offers are provided free-of-charge to existing Jamorama members.
What’s In The Package
Jamorama Screenshots (Click to enlarge)   
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The main learning package consists of a few separate downloads. There are different installers (current supports Windows and Mac) for the eBooks, audio, and video. There are 3 books to read, namely: Beginner (95 pages), Intermediate (51 pages), and Advanced (29 pages).
For each lesson, there are audio and video files too. To check out the video for the pictured lesson, click here:
There are large, medium, and small videos for every lesson, in both Windows Media and Quicktime (the sample videos linked here are small). Ben also includes fun random bits in the pages, such as tips, encouragements, and trivia.
The pictures in the Jamorama eBooks are very clear and easy to understand. The Beginner lessons start with an explanation on the different types of guitars, how to hold them in different positions, and how to position your hands. Again, clear pictures are included to illustrate each of these topics.
Everything necessary for you to start learning how to play the guitar is included. The Beginner book has 15 lessons. Each lesson has audio and video files to help you along, and the lessons are very comprehensive. The book moves into chords and playing basic songs quite quickly, and give you enough instruction so that you are assured to do it well. The lessons are progressive and very well structured, so by the end of the Beginner lessons, you can be sure that you are well-prepared to take on the Intermediate lessons.
Jamorama also comes with “Jam Tracks”, which are sound files in MP3 format that help you learn to adjust to rhythms and play along. There are very clean beats in the background of each track, to make it easy to follow along with, and almost any style imaginable is available. They’re in the eBooks as part of the lessons, so you can read to follow along while you listen to them.
Jamorama is professionally put together, and I was really impressed by how helpful the instructions were. I used to go to the search engines and try to find scattered bits of guitar lessons and guides, but ever since I tried out Jamorama, it saved me a load of time and effort. In addition to the excellent lessons, the Jamorama package also gives you access to bonus games, software, articles, and tablature. If you want to find out more information or are thinking of starting your Jamorama lessons, you can check out the Jamorama website here.
Tips For Beginner Guitar Lessons
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
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Do you have a guitar lying around in your house doing nothing but gathering dust?
Chances are that despite your best intentions, you probably never learned how to play, or you did start taking beginner guitar lessons but soon lost your enthusiasm, or something else got in the way.
Well, taking beginner guitar lessons in the traditional manner sometimes just doesn’t work all that well, especially in today’s REALLY busy society. We’re so busy with the other things in life to go for scheduled classes!
New Age Beginner Guitar Lessons
However, if you have a computer (who doesn’t these days!), you can easily find many online sites that offer beginner guitar lessons, or you can buy guitar lesson packages with DVDs and instructional manuals. These can be sent to your home if you would prefer, or read entirely online.
No matter if you choose to start your beginner guitar lessons on the computer or with traditional educational material, you will always start out with the raw basics. You’ll learn about guitars and accessories, like picks and tuners, strings, bridges, etc.
All kinds of lessons from ANYWHERE teach guitar students how to correctly hold a guitar and pick, and how to tune it so that it sounds good. Sure this may sound really simple, but there are people who feel really awkward at first, and are helped a great deal from just a few pointers.
Can’t Read Music?
Have no fear if you can’t read music sheets; one of the greatest inventions in guitar learning/playing is tablature, or tabs. Beginners are very commonly taught how to read guitar tablature, which is much easier to learn to read than music sheets. Trust me, it really is.
No Need To Feel Embarrassed
Another great bonus of taking beginner guitar lessons in the comfort of your own home, is that the embarrassment factor is almost completely eliminated! Lessons are usually rather easy to understand and are available to you to play over and over until you have mastered that level. You know the saying: practice makes perfect!
Beginner guitar lessons include basic scales and chord formations also; it is rather important to have some basic music theory behind you, because you will always benefit by looking back to it for basic guidance, especially after you become an accomplished guitar player!
A great one I’m using is Jamorama, which is IMHO, one of the best value for money packages around. Check out my review on Jamorama, which includes my personal experience and screenshots.
So What Do You Do Now?
A fantastic method to get started again, or brush up on the basics, is to take up beginner guitar lessons. They let you begin where you feel comfortable, and move along at a pace that is okay to you.
Beginner guitar lessons are readily available to you online and there are many quality sites to choose from. Some can be downloaded, or you can have beginner guitar lessons delivered to your doorstep, whichever you decide.
The whole idea behind it is to get you playing, whether it’s your first time, or to get you back in the saddle again! The guitar is actually one of the easiest instruments to learn how to play, contrary to what you may have heard, and fits in real well with just about all types of music.
You certainly don’t have to run out and buy a brand new guitar, unless of course you want to, or don’t have one! For beginner guitar lessons, you just need anything with six strings and that can be tuned and strummed. After just a few lessons you’ll be amazing your family and friends with your incredible talent!
If you intend to get a guitar, I’ve got some recommendations on good beginner guitars, both acoustic beginner guitars and electric beginner guitars.
Learn Classical Guitar Music
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
 A Classical Guitar |
Interested in learning how to play the classical guitar? Well, this is the kind of guitar that most people start off learning with!
So, what is your level of understanding about classical guitar music? Don’t know much about it? Well, then you can always learn – that’s the beauty of it!
You might even already own a classical guitar, but it doesn’t matter. You’ve seen how others play the classical guitar masterfully and with such grace, and you just want to learn how to play this wonderful instrument too. It’s understandable, I have these feelings too!
How To Start Playing The Guitar
The guitar has a glorious history, dating back to the 16th century, and can seem almost intimidating when you see a master playing it. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn classical guitar music and play it at your own pace while enjoying the challenge.
If you surf the net, you will find quite a few websites devoted to the guitar. The serious and better ones charge for their guitar instruction, and each vendor has its own peculiar way of teaching the guitar. You can probably find companies giving instructional manuals on how to play classical guitar music, in-depth classes on how to play like a professional, short classes on the correct posture, the proper playing position and where to begin, etc.
When you first start out, reading classical music of any kind can be a challenge. Unlike regular sheet music, there are a lot of special notations and marks around the notes that can be very confusing to the beginner. Do some searching online – some free websites will actually list what all these notes and symbols mean and how to play them on your classical guitar.
In classical guitar playing, your fingernails are essential tools to you! Your fingernails are so important in the playing of this instrument. In classical guitar music, it is even suggested that you grow your fingernails out just a little bit on your strumming hand!
Classical Guitar Sheet Music
Music has been with us for so long that it’s really easy if you’re looking for sheet music too. In many cases, after a certain number of years have passed from the original composer’s death, his music then becomes public domain, and copyright laws no longer apply. So that simply means that you can probably find a lot of classical guitar sheet music for free.
While many companies will no doubt still try and charge you for complex pieces, if you’re really determined, you could keep looking. I can almost guarantee that you will find your favorite classical guitar music theme for quick print or download. Along with sheet music there are also MP3’s and Midi files available to listen to so you can get a real good feel of the music as well as the notes.
Learning any musical instrument, regardless of what it is, needs hours of good practice. If you’re planning a metamorphosis, looking for a new hobby or even a new profession, picking up the classical guitar is a great choice. I promise you will have plenty of help available on the Internet and it might not even cost you anything to get you going. Besides buying the classical guitar itself, that is!
Learn To Play The Guitar
Posted on 22. Mar, 2008 by Ben @ Learn To Play The Guitar Free in Learn to Play Guitar
Personally, I tried learning the guitar and gave up twice before I finally got motivated and dedicated enough to stick on.
My first try was a really short thing that lasted only 2 days, when I was much younger. My neighbor’s elder brother had a guitar, and we was entranced by how cool it was to play it. We tried to learn it, but with no real mentor and lessons, we gave up pretty quickly.
My second try happened when I was 21. It was when I met this really cool guy (kudos to you, Jay, wherever you are) in class. We didn’t really talk much to each other initially – until Jay brought a guitar to class one day. His skills are awesome, and I was so darn impressed I asked him to teach me something.
Well, he did, and I tried my best to learn whatever I can. However, assignments came, everything piled up, and before we knew it, we had graduated, and Jay and I lost contact with each other. Bummer. The only thing I took away were two chord progressions, D G A A and C Am F G. But without a guitar, I pretty much forgot about them.
My third successful try was during this year, when I came across this Google ad about guitar learning. That reminded me of my previous efforts, and suddenly, I had the fire to learn how to play the guitar again.
Free Guitar Lessons
I didn’t have anyone who I was comfortable to take side lessons from, and taking a course just didn’t cut it with my work schedule. So I poked around, and I was really glad to find so many sites offering free guitar lessons. I didn’t count on them being so difficult to understand though. While Jay could explain everything to me until I understood, the lessons I found online seemed to be in a totally different language.
Jamorama
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When I stumbled upon Jamorama one day, I was beginning to feel really frustrated, and quickly decided that I should spend some money to see if this program would get me anywhere. In the end, I was surprised that I felt rather impressed with everything. The price was really damn reasonable. It even came with an ear-training game!
In fact, the quote that a teacher gave me for a single music theory lesson was so much higher. And Jamorama doesn’t focus on dry music theory – it teaches you how to get to playing well, fast.
That’s the picture of Ben Edwards – he’s the creator of Jamorama. Ben is a respected guitar teacher, with a Bachelor of Education. Ben was also the former lead guitarist for the popular down-under band “DegreesK”, and toured with them internationally.
While I won’t be able to stage my own sold-out concerts with Jamorama, I was pretty pleased that I was able to learn everything that I needed quickly. It mattered to me that at least I could now play my guitar. Now my playing sounds like music, and it wasn’t hard to get to that level.
What Should You Choose?
There are several ways to learn how to play guitar – so what’s the best way? Well, it depends on how much time and money you’re willing to spend. Basically, you’ve only got 3 main choices:
- You can do traditional lessons. These will cost $20 or more per lesson. Lessons are usually about once every week, and you get hands-on advice, tips and corrections when you need them. But you’ll have a regular schedule, and regular expense. I chose this way initially, but had to give it up in the end because my job didn’t allow a fixed schedule. I had to reschedule or miss lessons so many times that it just wasn’t worth the $100+ I spent each month. If your schedule allows regular lessons, then this is a great way to learn how to play the guitar.
- You can buy instruction books. You can get these at your neighbourhood bookstores, or online through speciality guitar sites like Musician’s Friend
. These generally contain very specific areas of guitar instruction. To learn fully through these, it takes a long time, and you WILL have to get more than one book. Prices per book start from around $10.
- You can learn online. There are scattered free guitar lessons all over the Internet, but to find online guitar lessons that are packed into one convenient package for you is rare. Some are more popular than others, including Jamorama. One big benefit is that you can buy online lessons, no matter where you live.
But how are these online lessons? Are they any good? Can they really teach you how to play guitar? Personally, I would recommended Jamorama to anyone, but you need to know that there are other free guitar lesson websites that are worth taking a look at too. The drawback is that you’ll take a longer time, you won’t have the extra software and exclusive training material, and you won’t have all the information consolidated nicely in one place for you. But it’s great if you’re on a tight budget. If you’re interested, you can take a look at my page on free guitar lessons, or read my review on Jamorama. Or you can directly check out the Jamorama website here.