How To Play Guitar

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This instructible is based at complete beginners if you have played the guitar before then some of this may seem very obvious but if you haven't its not!

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Step 1: Getting A Guitar

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Guitars can cost anything from about Â£5 (~$10) for a second hand acoustic in a charity shop to thousands of pounds. When you are a beginner just about anything you can get will do as long as it is not too damaged and has 6 strings, you can always upgrade it later.

If you have an electric guitar you will need an amp and lead (see pictures) but whatever you have you have I would recommend buying a plectrum (A.K.A pick) choose a medium or light type as they are most suited to beginners.

You could also get a tuner but they are not totally necessary (see next step)

Gamerboy4life says: Oct 25, 2011. 7:19 PM

Overall, it is not bad. But it is not the best guide I have ever seen.

BEWARE: THIS WILL NOT TEACH YOU EVERYTHING ABOUT THE BASICS OF GUITAR PLAYING. NEITHER WILL ANY OTHER GUIDE ON THE INTERNET.

THE BEST WAY TO LEARN GUITAR IS THROUGH MENTORING.

But that out of the way, It was informative, relatively accurate, although you need to stop referring to the strings as 1-2-3 etc etc. Refer to them as EADGBE and so on.

Remember this:

Eat
All
Day
Get
Big
Easy.

Also, I feel you butchered the chord and song parts of your guide. You need to provide tab PICTURES. I have been playing guitar for a long, LONG while, and even for me it is hard to read "internet tabs"

Take a picture, or show them to Ultimate Guitar or something.

Score IMHO: 3/5. Decent. But not terrible. It had several butchered qualities, but also some redeeming ones.

Jamez Britton says: Sep 23, 2011. 10:56 PM

I tune my acoustic guitar to itself.

Merugop says: Aug 13, 2011. 8:47 AM

Hey dude long time since i was on Instructables. (stupid school <.<) i've bought my first guitar a green fender squier strat hss affinity (stratocoaster) 125 euro (got an guitar bag, amplifier and cables for free) andi learned a few songs Hey there Delilah Stairway to heaven except the solo. Fireflies (ith had barrés 0.o) and WIth Me (Sum 41) and i tried some tabs but they confuse me when they say like ----P5-S3 etc. Can you make an advnced tab guide?

yaly says: Jul 5, 2011. 6:33 AM

Isn't there C and F like in piano?

Derpancakes says: Jan 20, 2011. 3:10 PM

Hey.... what Pacifica is that?? I have a 112J

dannyo013 says: Jan 4, 2011. 12:41 AM

If youve played long enough, you can tune a guitar almost perfectly with just an amp, a pick, and your bare hands. Just pick a single string and pick it, then tune as needed.

nfk11 says: Dec 18, 2010. 8:03 AM

me know 3 song.iron man,eye of the tiger andsilent night.

jugglingninja33 says: Nov 13, 2010. 8:36 AM

If you have an acoustic guitar, you will need a tuner with an external mic. If your acoustic can plug in though, it's not necessary.

backyardpyro217 says: Jun 12, 2008. 5:54 AM

how can u tell wat note it is when u tune it without a tuner???

Merugop in reply to backyardpyro217Sep 5, 2010. 12:59 AM

you only need to tune the E string then just hold down the frets, but easiest way is a tune.

peach_fart in reply to backyardpyro217Dec 30, 2008. 9:16 PM

oh, sorry, i thought you were asking what order the strings go in. you could tune it to a tuned piano. low e is 12th white note below c, a is 9th white below middle c, d is 6th white below middle c, g is 3rd below middle c, b is 1st below middle c and high e is 2nd above middle c.middle c is 15th note from the low side.or you could use relative tuning. if low e is in tune, hold that string down on the 5th fret and tune a to it. do the rest the same way(tuning to string just tuned) except for b. tune b witth g on 4th fret.

cd41 in reply to peach_fartJan 9, 2009. 1:43 PM

what if i don't have a piano?

josh92176 (author) in reply to cd41Jan 10, 2009. 12:22 PM

Look at step 2! -josh

peach_fart in reply to backyardpyro217Dec 30, 2008. 9:06 PM

the notes he said go in the order the strings are if your right handed. top string is low e, under that is a, then d then g then b then high e.

pindalanderz says: May 3, 2008. 2:30 PM

always remember:" The Easter Bunny Gets Drunk At Easter"--thats the tuning from bottom to top, or at least how i remember it.

pyro man in reply to pindalanderzJan 17, 2009. 7:59 PM

i do "every average dude gets busted eventually"

Merugop in reply to pyro manSep 5, 2010. 12:58 AM

Lol epic.

bowmaster in reply to pindalanderzJul 11, 2008. 9:27 AM

Heres is top to bottom:Ed Ate Dung Good Bye Ed

pindalanderz in reply to bowmasterJul 12, 2008. 7:26 AM

haha. thats a good one. my friend uses that except instead of dung he uses dynamite

bowmaster in reply to pindalanderzJul 12, 2008. 6:22 PM

I was in a hurry and did not know how to spell dynamite.

MegaMaker in reply to bowmasterJun 22, 2009. 6:39 AM

Elephants and dogs grow big ears. Kinda depends on the dog.

cloggy01 in reply to MegaMakerNov 10, 2010. 2:21 PM

aha thats funny i use "Elephants and Donkeys grow big ears" :D

bowmaster in reply to MegaMakerJun 22, 2009. 11:41 AM

Even ants do giant butt earrings.

backyardpyro217 in reply to pindalanderzJun 12, 2008. 6:01 AM

thats smart but how do u remember if its drop d,f,e,a,or b???

pindalanderz in reply to backyardpyro217Jun 12, 2008. 11:17 AM

usually you don't remember for those tunings but if you know how to tune your guitar to that tuning then you should be able to remember fairly well.

thebair says: May 22, 2010. 12:16 PM

Does anybody know where you can buy guitar strings?Or know how to make any?Please answer soon!

Merugop in reply to thebairSep 5, 2010. 12:57 AM

Go to your local guitar shop, i've got 3 e xtra sets of strings free

Lhtrf says: Aug 6, 2010. 9:16 AM

I don't quite get it, (of course, i can blame being new to guitars on that) how does tuning to drop D work? you tune only the 6th string? because sometimes in tabs i see eb ab gb and things like that, so what does that mean? tune those to d too?

teslafan100 says: Jan 2, 2010. 8:17 PM

Is that the Epiphone PR101?Because i have one just like it.

Hackrtanman says: Nov 25, 2009. 4:46 PM

awsom i have a fender strat...sounds AWSOME!got it with an amp, for mah bday, first thing i see when i open it up, nothing there.evidentally they forgot to put the guitar back in!!!you could hardly tell it wasnt there because the amp was so darn heavY!!

haxman2 says: Aug 2, 2009. 2:59 PM

I have the same blue guitar:) how much did your costs: ?