Starting Learn To Play Guitar in 2024 – What Should You Know?

If your dad loved to listen to Jimi Hendrix, George Harrison, or adores David Bowie in his teens, then you know the reason for their popularity by now! These are legends we all admire and every time, and we listen to the strumming by Presley on ‘Jailhouse Rock’ or Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze’, we get goosebumps. The music industry has evolved since then for sure, but the compositions are eternal.

Many musical compositions amplified further because of the way the guitarist created the charm. You can check out the Neighbour Note music school in Canada for learning everything about this beautiful musical instrument. Every year, scores of people have expressed a resolution to learn the guitar and to play it. Nevertheless, it would be best if you had a real passion for getting the notes right and for enjoying playing it for a lifetime.

Things to Know Before Starting the Guitar Classes

Is it challenging to learn to play guitar? The answer is no. However, the speed at which you can master it depends on your experience and exposure to guitarists playing this instrument. You can take the guitar lessons online or from Neighbour Note music school in Canada. You will need to learn a lot about guitars and playing it before actually starting the classes. Let’s check these pointers:

• The Numbering Systems

An ideal guitar will have the frets that are the metal strips on the neck of the guitar. Another thing is how to know that each of your fingers has a number dedicated to it too. For instance, the index finger is the first finger, and your little pinky finger is the fourth one. The next among the numbering system is the strings. The first string is the thinnest. The thickest string is the sixth string. Just remember these when you go for the guitar lessons.

• Hold the guitar Properly

Yeah, you have seen plenty of guitarists hold their guitars in one stylish position or the other. However, as a beginner, make sure to hold it right. As a right-handed person, keep the guitar close to your body on your right leg. This is a casual method, and there is no better way than this.

• All about the Pick and Strumming

The pick in a guitar is a small standard sized piece to strum. Many guitarists use this while many others don’t. It is something of a choice, and you will need to get an excellent grip on this rather small pick.

• Know the Basic Chord Shapes

There are the E-Minor, and D2 chord shapes your teacher will train you on at first. They will explain the ways to create clean chords and how to change the chords from one to another. This movement will be tricky at first, but with practice, nothing is too complicated.

• Chord Progressions

Though you will not learn this on the first day or the first week of your class as you go to start with a first guitar lesson for free, this will come up soon. This is the first step signaling that you are ready to make music properly.

• Know about the Strumming Techniques

In the music class, you will get to learn about the strumming techniques. There are Upstrokes and other such strokes that you will learn.
Thumb Rule: You will find that the index and the thumb finger, along with the other knuckles, play a vital role in playing guitar. Observe the trainer as he teaches you the art. Agility on one side, you cannot ignore the significance of these fingers on the guitar.

• Chord Charts

Just like music without notes is impossible, even guitar lessons without these chord charts is unthinkable. When you head out to Neighbour Note music school in Canada, you find that there are elaborate charts for the chords you play. The teacher will familiarize you with this graph, where notes will be mentioned. Focus on getting these chords right and make music.

• Get Guitar Tabs

The teacher will give you the guitar tabs, where the numbering will display on which number of the finger should be at which fret or string. This kind of tab or chart will be ideal for you to look and practice at home. Though these are practically not that difficult with practice, it is time-consuming.

A Little about a few Popular Guitarists and their Tracks

We all have, at some point in our life or the other, listening to a track like Pink Floyd’s ‘Comfortably numb,’ Metallica’s ‘One,’ or the ‘Unforgiven’ where the guitars pulled our heartstrings. Our road trips are incomplete without the tracks playing in the car. This said, not all the guitars are the same, and we are not just talking about the styles, but also the brand. There are top brands like Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar that Bryan Adams uses. Then there is the ‘Fender Stratocaster’ guitar played by Eric Clapton, or the 1957 Supro Ozark 1560s or the 1961 Epiphone Wilshire guitars, among others by Jimi Hendrix. These guitarists have etched a profound impact on our lives and been through our growing years, and the wild teenage years that we cannot turn a blind eye now.

Talking of even a few great tracks of these legends is going to be difficult. Yet, we cannot but get misty-eyed when we crumble down to tracks like ‘Sweet Child o Mine’ by Slash or Joe Satriani’s tracks like ‘Always with Me, Always’ and others. These may be inspiring us to start with the first guitar lesson for free to try our ability to learn the art form.

Music is like any other art form, time-consuming and yet, soothing to the soul. You cannot rush it, and however, you might want to see yourself as the next pop singer on a stage. That might take time, and for that, developing an ear for listening to these artists and identifying their charts and guitar tabs will be essential.