Now that you have learned a little bit about the guitar, you are now about to learn about how to position a guitar and tune it. |
First you will learn about positioning a guitar. Begin by finding an armless chair that has good support for your back. You should sit comfortably with your back against the chair. Slouching is not good because you will develop bad guitar habits and a sore back. When sitting in an armless chair, be sure that there is a lot of room on both sides of you so you can hold your guitar properly and move your arms. |
Once you are seated in the chair, you should place the guitar on your lap and have the rear of the guitar facing your chest. The guitar body should be on the leg that is farthest from the headstock. If you are right handed, the guitar should lay on your right leg. The majority of acoustic guitars will have curved indentations that are great for playing the guitar on your leg. If you are holding the guitar properly than the sixth string should be close to your chest and the first string should be close to your feet. |
Your fret hand will have to be placed on the left if you are right handed and on the right if you are left handed. You should grip the neck of the guitar gently with your fretting hand. You thumb should be placed behind the guitar’s neck. The other fingers should be floating on top of the strings, slightly curled. It is ver y important to curl the fingers at the knuckles unless an instructor tells you not too. |
Next we are going to discuss picking. When beginning to play the guitar, you should purchase a set of guitar picks. A guitar pick is a small flat tool that you used to strum the guitar. You should purchase a minimum of ten guitar picks and they are relatively cheap. There are different types of guitar picks but it is best to start with one that is not too hard or too flimsy. Picks are made of rubber, wood, stone, plastic, tortoiseshell, and metal. They are usually in the shape of a triangle but other shapes are available from manufacturers. |
Once you have a guitar pick and are seated in the proper position, you can begin strumming the guitar. Your picking hand will be nearest the bridge of your guitar. You should open up the hand you will be picking or “strumming” the guitar with. The palm should face you. Then make sure the thumb is next to the index finger. Make sure that you rotate the hand so the knuckle of the thumb is facing toward you. With your free hand you should slide in the guitar pick between your index finger and thumb. That way, the pick is secure. The pick should end up behind the thumb’s knuckle. |
You should hold the pick firmly and the pointed portion of the pick should be pointing away from your fist and should be sticking out about ½ inch. The hand you are strumming with should be over the sound hole if you are using an acoustic guitar or over the guitar body if you are using an electric guitar. Your strumming hand should be placed above the strings. |
Your picking hand should not sit on the body or stings of the guitar. Using your wrist, not your arm, strum the lowest string downward. If the string rattles too much, do not use a lot of the pick surface or strum softer. Then pick the lowest string upwards. Try this a few times. Try to lower the motion of your picking hand by doing a short pick downwards and a short pick upwards. Now repeat the process with the rest of the strings.
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