5 Essentials for Learning Guitar at Home

We’re still amid a global pandemic and although businesses are returning to normal, a lot of us still have too much time on our hands. Lockdown has been the perfect time for us to pick up new hobbies, but sometimes it’s difficult to know where to begin.  Being a self-taught musician is something to be proud of and will be much cheaper than paying for lessons. I learnt this way myself until I felt I had all necessary skills and a confident ability and then took some lessons to help me brush up on any techniques I’d missed and to help me transition from acoustic to being able to master electric as well. Learning the basics at home allows you to take as much time as you need rather than cramming it into an hour’s lesson and then forgetting it all by the time you get home to practise again. Before you get started, these 5 things will help you master all the basics you need to know when learning guitar and will allow you to start putting chords together to learn songs or create them yourself.

A good tuner or tuning app

Making sure your guitar is in tune is key to making anything you play sound spot on. Battery powered tuners that clip on to the end of your guitar and read the notes through vibrations or a mic are cheap and easy to purchase from any music store or even places like Argos. Tuners that tell you what note you need to get to in order to be in tune instead of just showing the note your closest too are essential as a beginner and allow you to remember which note each string is, a good way to remember is through the phrase ‘Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie’ (EADGBE). Tuning apps are also free on the app store and Google Play, I recommend Fender Tune.

Chord and tab books or cards

Chord shapes are easy to master. You can buy chord cards which you can place under the strings of your guitar and then place your fingers where directed, or a book of chord shapes will be just as easy to follow. Start by learning open easy chords such as A, Am, E, Em, C, and G. Tab is a form of notation for guitar and is especially useful if you want to be the indie, finger-pluck type of guitarist. Learning to read and understand them is a lot easier than reading traditional sheet music notation. Tabs show each string and a number telling you which fret you should place your finger on. The more complicated the song is they may also show symbols for hammer-ons and slides, but you can master these ones later on. Tabs are available on Ultimate Guitar.com and there are books to help you understand them too, here is a good one.

YouTube!

Tutorials for just about any song are available on YouTube so as long as you have internet access your good to go. If you prefer, there are also websites available which provide the chords or notes you need to play a song and will show you the shape for each one, I recommend Ultimate Guitar.com for this.

  A capo

A capo is used to hold down all strings on a fret to change the key of which you play in. They are used in a lot of beginner acoustic songs and are cheap to buy from any music store or online from websites like Amazon.

Spare strings

If your guitar is second hand or on the cheap side, chances are strings may break. Even with a good quality, brand new guitar, it’s important to change strings roughly every three months. Find some from a music store that you like the look of and make sure they’re the right type for your guitar, ask an assistant for help if you’re unsure which is best for you. Ensure you look after your guitar well, keep it clean and keep it away from sources of heat or cold as this will knock it out of tune. Check it’s in tune before each session and be persistent with practises. 

Happy learning!