Learn Electric Guitar

So you’ve made the decision to take up the guitar but you can’t decide whether to learn electric or acoustic. Some swear by electric, while others swear by acoustic. It can be a tough decision but with a few pointers you’ll be able to make an educated decision. The truth is that this is a highly personal matter and there are a few factors that you should take into consideration when making your choice.

Stick to Your Style and Tastes

Some people are inspired to learn guitar because they love rock music. Rock music fans would most likely learn electric to start so they can play the style of music that brought them to learn guitar in the first place. Other novices might have gotten the urge to play guitar from listening to folk or classical styles of music and naturally they would start off learning acoustic. Keep your tastes in mind when deciding whether to learn electric or acoustic.

Decide Which Learning Curve is for you

Acoustic guitar strings are harder to press down and bend, therefore the first few weeks of learning can be painful. If you look at the fingers of anyone new to the acoustic guitar, you will see calluses on the tips of their fingers. For that reason the learning curve is considered steeper to learn acoustic. The upside to starting with acoustic is that it will be much easier to learn electric afterwards because of your calluses and know-how. If you learn electric first, you may find that it is harder to transition to acoustic.

Further, it may be easier to press the strings down on an electric guitar but there are also a lot more bells and whistles on an electric. An electric guitar lesson does not solely consist of learning chords and scales. You also have to deal with amps and pedals. If you decide to learn electric to start with, on top of learning how to play in general you will have to learn how to adjust tone and sound effects on the amp and pedal.

Elect What is More Convenient for You

Another reason why some people prefer acoustic guitars is because they are portable and convenient. An acoustic guitar doesn’t require an electrical outlet, amp, or pedal and simply strumming it sounds beautiful. You can take an acoustic guitar just about anywhere with you and if you want to whip it out quickly and practice you don’t have to worry about plugging it in and making all of the sound adjustments.

Choosing whether to learn electric or acoustic depends on a variety of factors and all of them have to do with personal taste. Rather than letting an ‘expert’ decide for you, think about what aligns with your needs and interests. Your goal should be to explore your options and settle for what suits you best!

So you’ve bought an electric guitar and are ready for your first lesson. Don’t expect to practice for a couple hours and come out of your first electric guitar lesson sounding like Jimi Hendrix. Jimi was a natural but unfortunately for the rest of us, we won’t even sound like that with months of practice. However, don’t let that discourage you. Assuming you are learning from scratch, your first electric guitar lesson will deal with the rudiments of guitar playing. If you get the fundamentals down from the start, you will have a stronger foundation to build upon and thus your progression will be steady. Here are some things you should expect to learn in your first electric guitar lesson.

Learning the Anatomy of your Guitar

That’s right. You have to know the difference from your nuts and frets in order to truly call yourself a guitar player. This information should be covered in your first electric guitar lesson. Electric guitars have more bells and whistles than their acoustic counterparts so you will have a little more to learn. In addition to the basic parts like the body, neck, and tuning keys, there are switches for volume and tone, among other fancy features.

Memorizing Fretboard Lingo and Positions

Don’t expect to leap from learning the parts of your guitar to strumming Smells Like Teen Spirit in the period of an hour. Although new learners are excited to jump from one thing to the next, you have to take it one small step at a time. Your neighbors will thank you for it later. The next part of your electric guitar lesson should focus on learning fretboard terminology like fret numbers and fingers. You will eventually have to learn where each note falls on the fretboard. This will take a while but during your first electric guitar lesson you can learn the names of the open strings, which will then assist you in learning the location of the notes on the fretboard. It sounds tedious but you will eventually get the hang of it.

Pick Up that Guitar and Start Strumming!

This is the moment that most beginners are waiting for; to actually pick up their guitars and learn how to play! Learning how to play electric guitar is a little easier than learning to play acoustic because the strings are easier to press down on and you can move your fingers around the fretboard with ease. Just because it is easier doesn’t mean you’ll be a maestro right away, however. In your first electric guitar lesson, you will start by learning where to place your hand and keep it relaxed so you can pick accurately. Then in order to practice stretching your fingers and strengthening the muscles in your hand you’ll learn the chromatic scale. After that you will move onto basic chords like G major, D major, and C major. After you get comfortable with those chords and can quickly switch from one to the other, you will be on your way to playing your first song!

Playing the electric guitar is a challenging hobby to take up but is also one of the most rewarding. Make no mistake about it. You won’t see yourself transform into the next guitar maestro overnight but if you focus on mastering the basics you learn in your first electric guitar lesson, you will be playing well in no time.

With tightening budgets and rising costs, it’s no surprise that most of us don’t have the luxury to pay for private music lessons. With all the new technology out there, learning how to play electric guitar doesn’t necessarily mean you have to pay for a teacher. In fact, many people are opting to learn how to play electric guitar with a DVD! You might feel like you are missing out on something if you don’t have a real teacher but the truth is that you aren’t going to progress much by taking a few hours of lessons per week. You progress the most by practicing on your own. Besides, doesn’t it sound nice to never have to enter a classroom and instead learn how to play electric guitar in the comfort of your own home?

Of course it is not realistic for people who have never played a musical instrument in their life to be able to pick up a guitar and practice without receiving some kind of introduction. By watching and practicing with a DVD you can learn the fundamentals of guitar playing without taking a single lesson at a music school. Further, DVDs address the needs of all types of learners: audio, visual, and tactile. For this reason learning how to play electric guitar in this way is becoming so popular. If you still aren’t convinced, the following are some common reasons people choose to use DVDs for learning how to play electric guitar.

Easy, Simplified Instructions that Teach Beginners Step-By-Step

Haven’t you ever felt like teachers have their own agenda and don’t really teach at the pace their students learn? Instructional DVDs on the other hand are much simpler. They are sequenced in a way that learners can take things one step at a time. As such, you can feel yourself improving each time and you can go back and review material as necessary. With growing confidence and playing skill, you will find yourself progressing at a steady pace.

Solid Coverage of the Fundamentals of Guitar Playing

There are some people who already took some lessons and know how to play but find that they are not improving. The problem is that in many cases, students aren’t building a strong foundation in the basics before moving onto the more complicated stuff. When you watch a DVD, you constantly review basics such as chords, scales, tuning, and timing. You also get to practice effects so that you learn how to play electric guitar properly without rushing through material. Teachers often respond to their students’ impatience by skipping over the fundamentals and that gap can be filled by instructional DVDs.

So there you have it. Learning how to play electric guitar with a DVD is not only easy on the pocketbook; it can actually help you progress faster! DVDs provide step-by-step introduction to the basics that can be easily followed by beginners. They also cover tips, tricks, and techniques that help learners of all levels improve their playing in the comfort of their own homes. Do yourself a favor and learn how to play electric guitar or improve what you already know by practicing with a DVD.

Ever watch your favorite music videos and feel like you want to learn to play guitar just like your favorite rockstar? You may think you simply cannot fit learning a musical instrument into your already packed schedule but fortunately, there is a way to do it. Nowadays regularly attending guitar class just isn’t an option whether it is due to a busy work schedule, school, or family commitments. Thanks to technology, we can use DVDs to learn to play electric guitar. You may already know how to strum a tune or two want to improve your skills. DVDs meet the needs of learners at all levels.

The beauty of learning with a DVD is that you can do it from the comfort of your own home and you don’t have to buy countless DVDs in order to progress. It also feels like you have a personal coach each time you practice along with the DVD because let’s face it; in a few hours of class you are not going to progress much. The true learning takes place outside of the classroom.

If you take the leap and decide to learn to play electric guitar with a DVD, you may be unsure of what to look for in a DVD. First decide whether you want to play electric or acoustic. To learn to play electric guitar find a DVD that specializes in teaching that specifically. Some DVDs can be used with either an electric or acoustic guitar. Then there are DVDs that are made solely for beginners and cover the fundamentals. If you have zero experience, this is obviously the place to start. If you are trying to learn to play the Blues for example, there are DVDs that are dedicated to teaching you to play specific styles of music.

Read Reviews before Deciding on a DVD

It is popular to learn to play electric guitar with a DVD hence there are many people who have tried and tested the DVDs on the market and their opinions should be important to you. Before deciding on which DVD to purchase, it is best to read reviews on every product. Rather than having to go through disc after disc until you find one that suits you, you can save yourself the trouble and read reviews of products by customers. This is important because for example some DVDs may claim to be for beginners but then the narrator moves too fast to keep up with. Obviously if you can't follow along for longer than a minute you need a DVD that works at a slower pace.

Another common complaint is that some DVDs used to learn to play electric guitar have cheesy, outdated music. To avoid that problem, reading reviews and seeing what previous customers have said about the music and overall quality of the DVD is essential. You may have seen websites that offer online electric guitar lessons. Some of those sites give great advice on DVDs that you can use to learn or improve upon your existing skills.

So what is your next step? If you want to learn to play electric guitar with a DVD, find one that suits your level and interests. The DVD descriptions themselves can greatly assist you in finding the right match but customer reviews are also very helpful in making a decision. Now that you are armed with this information, what are you waiting for? Impress your friends and hone your guitar skills or learn to play electric guitar with a DVD!

Websites that offer online electric guitar lessons are all the rage. They claim that they can teach you to play acoustic guitar or electric guitar without ever entering a classroom. Some sites even go as far to offer bluegrass lessons or claim that by watching their videos, you can learn to play electric bass. Do you want to know the truth about these sites? The truth is they are great!

Contrary to popular belief, spending hundreds of dollars to learn to play the electric guitar or another musical instrument is not necessary. If you have the will power to commit yourself to lots of practice and are good at following written instructions, some online electric guitar lessons may be just what you need to start that band you’ve always dreamed about. While free online lessons are very helpful, they are not for everyone. Some students may have a hard time reading through information and being able to apply it to the learning process. If you want to see videos of lessons with professional instructors, there are sites out there that provide it, but not without a price tag.

What Free Sites Provide

Some free online electric guitar lessons are in a blog format and are targeted at an audience of learners who already have the basics down. They are regularly updated and provide videos that teach you to play new songs as well as helpful tips and tricks. Other sites that provide free online electric guitar lessons are full of archives that are helpful to people starting from scratch. They give information as basic as the anatomy of the guitar all the way up to lessons that will help you play scales, chords, and songs. Most of these archives do not include video.

Paid Online Electric Guitar Lessons and Their Services

Free online electric guitar lessons might be right for some kinds of learners but others need lessons that are a little more in-depth and include video. That is where paid sites come in. To get a taste of what the videos are like for paid online electric guitar lessons, browse the web and check out free sample videos. With paid online electric guitar lessons, you are getting the bang for your buck because many of the sites offer unlimited access to the videos for a flat price. Paying $50/hour for private guitar lessons is a thing of the past!

What’s stopping you from getting more information about online electric guitar lessons? Now that you have an idea of what is out there, your first step is to decide whether you want to pay or stick with the freebies. Either way, you are well on your way to learning to play the electric guitar!

Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn an instrument but never had the chance. Perhaps you don’t have time for lessons or don’t want to learn music theory. Regardless, you can’t give up your dreams of playing in a rock band. If you have a sense of rhythm and aren’t severely musically challenged, learn to play electric bass! Electric bass is easier to learn than guitar and many people learn it on their own.

If the thought of diving into it without any instruction whatsoever frightens you, invest in a DVD or browse the web for information on the basics of playing electric bass. If you already know how to play the electric guitar, it will be a breeze for you to learn to play the electric bass. The following are some strategies that will help you get started and progress quickly.

Get Comfortable with the Basics

To get started, decide whether you want to use a pick or not. Using a pick is easier to start off with but if you decide not to use one, make sure you get comfortable playing that way before switching to using a pick. Don’t make the mistake of using a guitar amp with your electric bass. You need to get an amp made specifically for the electric bass or otherwise you could damage your bass guitar.

If you want to learn to play electric bass, it is important to learn how to tune it first and foremost. For those of you who know how to play guitar or have had a few lessons in beginner guitar, the bottom 4 strings of the guitar have the same notes as the strings on the bass.

Start practicing by playing one note over and over and don’t try to switch to other notes until you can maintain a steady, good sound. When you are ready, start plucking different strings but don’t go too fast until you are comfortable.

Learn to Read Tablature

If you want to learn to play electric bass without sitting through hours of music theory lessons, learn to read tablature. Tablature is very easy to understand. First you have to memorize that the top to the bottom strings are G, D, A, and E, respectively. When you look at a bass tablature, the lines represent the strings and they are labeled with the respective letters. The numbers on the lines represent the number of the fret you are supposed to press down on that string. It might sound confusing but if you get a visual you will figure it out in a heartbeat.

While you probably cannot learn to play electric bass half-asleep or blind-folded, it is rather simple to learn in comparison to other instruments. You don’t necessarily have to learn music theory to understand how to play and if you follow some basic guidelines and take your time, you will be able to play well in no time. Now that you know what strategies will help you get a running start, what’s stopping you? Get out there and learn to play electric bass!