The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar - Amazon S3

72 Pages·2015·2.67 MB·English

1 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
By Paul Bright – GuitaristAcademy.com
Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Unleashing The Guitar Hero In You ........................................... 3
Chapter 2: The Basics of The Guitar ............................................................ 5
Chapter 3: How To Hold Your Guitar & Guitar Pick Correctly .....................20
Chapter 4: How To Tune Your Guitar .........................................................23
Chapter 5: How To Play Chords .................................................................26
Chapter 6: How To Improve Your Chord Changes ......................................36
Chapter 7: How To Strum Your Guitar .......................................................41
Chapter 8: C.P + S = S2 ...............................................................................44
Chapter 9: How To Play Barre Chords ........................................................48
Chapter 10: How To Read Tablature ..........................................................52
Chapter 11: Top 10 Lead Guitar Techniques ..............................................55
Chapter 12: The Best Way To Practice Guitar ............................................66
Chapter 13: Let’s Wrap This Up .................................................................69

2 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
By Paul Bright – GuitaristAcademy.com
Chapter 1: Unleashing The Guitar Hero In You

Hi Paul Bright, Founder of the Guitarist Academy
here.

I hope you enjoy your copy of ‘The Ultimate
Guide To Playing Guitar’, where I’ll be teaching
you how to play the guitar from the comfort of
your own home the Fast, Fun & Easy Way.

Please feel free to email this e-book to any of
your friends, family, or co-workers that you think
would enjoy these topics. They will surely be thrilled that you shared all of this information with
them!

I know how frustrating it can be to learn and play the guitar when starting out...

There's so many things you need to be able to know and do like holding your guitar and your
guitar pick, guitar chords, tuning you guitar, barre chords, scales, riffs and licks, reading
tablature, music theory, techniques such as hammer-ons, pull-offs, vibrato etc... That it can all
get frustrating and overwhelming.

I’ve been teaching people how to play the guitar from the comfort of their own homes for the
past few years. I’ve been playing guitar for over 11 years, have built a successful guitar coaching
business, created over a dozen products, have helped thousands of people from around the
world to be successful with the guitar, and have a worldwide following of loyal customers.

I don’t say any of that to brag (those who know me know that I am not a “bighead”) but to
illustrate that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to learning and playing the guitar.
Again, that’s not to be boastful, but to show that I have a reputation as someone who not only
is experienced and knowledgeable, but also trustworthy.

I Used To Be Just Like You…

When I was starting out, I struggled with the guitar.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always dreamed of playing guitar. So a bit over 10 years ago
I reached a point in my life where I was so desperate to learn how to play the guitar that I made
a decision to figure it out for myself.

I went out and read every book, I watched every video I could find, and I went through every
course on playing the guitar. As far as learning to play the guitar goes, I tried everything I could
get my hands on. You name it – I tried it!
3 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
By Paul Bright – GuitaristAcademy.com
And you know what… none of it worked very well for me. It was all hit and miss stuff.

I struggled to get through all the pointless boring theory and repetitive drills the courses
wanted me to do, and couldn’t figure out how to apply the things I was learning to play my
favorite songs on the guitar.

To make matters worse… When playing chords I would get weird buzzing sounds and dead
notes. I had a difficult time changing from chord to chord quick enough. My Strumming was
awkward and felt as if I was trying to rub my stomach in circles while patting my head at the
same time. My fingers would get sore, my wrist would cramp up, and I didn’t have much time
to practice.

I didn’t know where to turn or what else to try. I was about to give up on my dream of playing
the guitar.

But Then It All Changed…

But in a last ditch effort to learn the guitar, and really out of desperation, I spent the next few
years getting to know and really studying people who were experts at the guitar, and I saw
things, and I learned things that I could not have imagined.

I discovered that by making a small adjustment in where I was placing my thumb on the guitar
neck, I could eliminate almost all the dead notes and weird buzzing sounds I was getting when
playing chords.

I discovered a secret from my friend ‘Jason Scheff’ who is the lead singer and bass guitarist from
the Grammy Award winning band ‘Chicago’ that allowed me to play with perfect timing and
rhythm.

I learned a simple ‘hack’ that allowed me to play over 30+ songs with just 4 easy chords. I
discovered that musicians are unconsciously using a simple 3-step system that allows them to
play almost any song on the guitar in half the time, with less frustration. And much, much
more…

Well after I learned these things I created a system... A simple step by step, a to z system that
can teach anyone, regardless of age, musical ability and talent, how to play the guitar from the
comfort of their own homes by using a song based learning approach.

I call it my Guitar KickStarter System, and in the next few minutes, I’ll be sharing with you some
of the essentials from my system that you must know if you’re serious about learning to play.

This is going to be fun, so let’s get started…
4 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
By Paul Bright – GuitaristAcademy.com
Chapter 2: The Basics of The Guitar

What is a Guitar?
According to Wikipedia, “The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or
a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in
number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with
animal gut or, more recently, with either nylon or steel strings. Some modern guitars are made
of polycarbonate materials. Guitars are made and repaired by luthiers. There are two primary
families of guitars: acoustic and electric.”

The Parts of the Guitar
In this section we’ll be learning the essential parts of both an acoustic and electric guitar, which
unfortunately is sometimes taken for granted by some guitarists.

The main parts of the guitar are the Head/Headstock, the Neck, and the Body. Here’s a brief
description of the other parts of the guitar:
 Tuning pegs / Tuners – These are wound clockwise or counter – clockwise which either
loosen or tighten the strings in order to change the pitch of the string. Used to basically
tune the guitar.
 Nut – The white plastic or sometimes a bone strip at the top of the neck and right below
the headstock. It is basically the starting point of the string that produces sound.
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 Fretwires – The metal “humps” on the guitar neck parallel to the nut
 Fretboard/fingerboard – The face of the neck where the fret wires are embedded.
 Frets – The spaces between the fret wires
 Inlay/Position Markers – These are dots on the frets to indicate the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th,
15th and 17th frets on the guitar to make it easier to the player
 Soundhole – An opening on the body of the guitar in order to project and produce
sound
 Pickguard – A piece of plastic to protect the guitar from damage from the pick
 Bridge – Anchors the strings to the body of the guitar
Here are the basics for Parts of your Electric Guitar.

6 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
By Paul Bright – GuitaristAcademy.com
Strings
Electric guitars usually have steel strings, whereas acoustics sometimes have Nylon. Strings can
also be made out of other materials such as Bronze. The strings vibrating at different lengths
when they are played is what makes the Guitar produce different notes- but I should that hope
you already know that from High School Physics lessons 
Pick Ups/ Humbuckers
Electric Guitars have “pick-ups” which literally: “pick up” the vibrations of the strings and send
them through your lead and into your amplifier. Some Guitars use a type of pick-up called:
“Humbuckers” which basically use 2 coils instead of 1 to pick up the sound. It’s all very Science-
ey; but essentially it helps to gets rid of unwanted humming noises.
Jack/ Jack Lead
A “Jack” or “Jack Output” is the hole in the guitar where you plug in your “Jack Lead”. The Jack
Lead literally carries the sound signals to the amplifier.
Neck/ Fretboard
The neck/ fretboard is where the strings lie. They can be made out of many different types of
wood.
Frets/ Fret-Markings
Frets are the different sections of the Neck that producer different notes. For example playing
the 3rd fret of the A string in Standard Tuning would produce a C note, whereas playing the 5th
fret instead would produce a D note. “Fret-Markings” or “Fret Inlays” or “Fret Dots” (they have
a lot of names) are there to help to guide the player around the Fretboard. In the diagram they
are at frets 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 15, 17, 19 and 21. This is pretty standard.
Tone/ Volume Dials/ Selector Switches
Electric guitars have dials for controlling the volume and tone; so you might want it quiet and
bass-y, or loud and treble-y. They also have a: “Pick-up selector switch”, so you can select which
pick-up you want to use.
Tremolo/ Whammy Bar
Some electric guitars also have a “Tremolo Arm” or “Whammy Bar”, and if you've ever played
Guitar Hero then you'll know all about these. A Whammy Bar is basically a lever than you quick
push up and down to make your notes/chords “bend” up and down in pitch, creating a
7 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
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“wobbling” note effect. They are also used commonly in guitar solos to make them sound even
more awesome.
Bridge
The Bridge is where the strings join on to the body of the guitar. Some types of Guitar have
“Intonation Adjustments” to fine-tune the strings.
Tuning Pegs/ Headstock
The Tuning Pegs are the Pegs on the Headstock (top/ head) of the Guitar. They are used for
primarily tuning the strings, and the strings usually wrap tightly around them at the top.
Nut
The Nut is the bar-thing (I don’t know how else to describe it) that the strings pass over
between the neck and the headstock of the Guitar. Why it’s called a Nut is beyond me but there
you go!

Guitar Gear & Accessories
Here is a list of guitar accessories to consider (in order of the most popular):
 Guitar bag or case
 Guitar tuner/pitch pipe
 Guitar strings
 Effects pedals/Foot Switches
 Amplifiers
 Guitar stands
 Plectrums (also known as picks)
 Guitar Leads/Cables
 Guitar straps
 Guitar Capo
 Guitar Slide
 Headphones
 Metronome
 Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)
 Footstool
 Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)
 Straplok set
 Power adaptor for effects pedals
8 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
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Guitar Bags and Cases

If you plan on gigging a lot or travelling on planes/trains etc. I recommend buying a guitar case,
otherwise a padded gig bag will do just fine. The Kinsman guitar cases and guitar bags are a very
good quality and are also one of the most popular. The Kinsman guitar bags come in three
grades.
1) Standard – hardly any padding and one small pouch for music books and accessories
2) Deluxe – quite well padded, with two pouches
3) Premium – extremely well padded, with large and small pouches and a shoulder strap.
The Kinsman guitar cases are made for Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Paul shape, electric,
acoustic or bass guitars.
9 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
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Guitar tuner/pitch pipe

Boss Tu-12: The Tuner I Use
There are hundreds of guitar tuners to choose from on the market. The best to consider are:
 Korg
 Stagg
 Yamaha
 Intelli
 Seiko
 Qwik Tune
 Boss
 Ibanez
The two guitar tuners that stand out from the rest are the Stagg Automatic Guitar/Bass Tuner
and the Korg TM-40. These two guitar tuners are sold more than any other guitar tuner on the
market.
10 The Beginners Guide To Playing The Guitar
By Paul Bright – GuitaristAcademy.com