Teach yourself to play the guitar with these 4 beginner's tips

Teaching yourself to play the guitar is a great way to get familiar with the instrument and also save money on lessons. Use these tips to kick-start the process.

You can start learning to play the guitar instantly and teach yourself a number of helpful tips and tricks. Here are some helpful ideas for you to get started learning how to play the guitar.

Before you even get started playing, teach yourself a little about the names and functions for the guitar itself. What are the different parts called? What is the order of strings? What do the tuning keys do? How does pressing on the strings make them sound differently? How many frets are there? Even just a little research into the basic body and makeup of the guitar will have great benefits over time.

After you've familiarized yourself with the guitar, it's time to learn how to tune it. Each string is tuned to a different note. The progression should be E-A-D-G-B-E. You can buy an electronic tuner to help you adjust the strings until you get to a point where you are able to adjust them yourself. Be careful to turn the keys very slowly at first so that you can get used to how each turn affects the sound of the guitar. Be especially careful with the thinner strings because they can easily snap if you wind the keys too tightly.

When you're learning to play a new instrument, you should be practicing every single day. It's the only way to learn. Practicing for at least a half an hour every day will help you get better much more quickly and you will learn to have a better ear for tuning and pitch. It's not only important to schedule a daily practice, but it's also good to make sure that you set goals for your practice sessions. No matter if they are to practice your scales ten or fifteen times, learn two new chords or play a song three times start to finish. Your goals will help make sure that you stay on track and don't get distracted during your practice sessions.

Scales are intervals of notes that make up the fundamentals of how an instrument works. You can get basic scale charts online or in a music book. Learning them initially will teach you about how the notes of a guitar work and you will be able to much more easily put notes together and craft songs eventually if you know how they work.