Introduction to Guitar For Beginners

Introduction to GUITAR for Beginners

Do you want to be a Guitarist? Of course, almost everybody does. This is because Guitar is one of the sweetest musical instruments to play and have fun with. But, unfortunately, it is one of the hardest musical instruments to Learn (Do not be threatened by the latter statement). This wonderful Guitar piece contains an introduction to Guitar and the facts you need to know about the Guitar. 

The guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments. It is one of the sexiest musical instruments with amazing Curves (Figure 8). Some popular Guitar Companies are Fender, Gibson, and Les Paul among others. A person who plays The Guitar is officially addressed as a Guitarist.

The Guitar is one the best Musical Instrument for professional songs; this entails that the Guitar is almost the only Musical Instrument that could be used ONLY in the production of Professional Songs without the use of other musical instruments.

Every Guitar has a ‘Standard’ method of tuning. The Standard method differs according to the types (Bass and Lead) of Guitar (see the standard guitar tuning below); 

Every Guitar has a ‘Nut’ that is popularly called ‘Guitar Nut’ from where the Standard Guitar Tune is determined. (No finger should be placed on the frets while tuning from the nut).

The guitar is of two kinds and types;

Two Kinds of Guitar are;

1. Acoustic Guitar
2. Electric Guitar

Acoustic Guitar

Acoustic Guitar is a kind of guitar that is made of wood or rubber, with outstanding and admirable shape. While Electric Guitar uses Power supply and amplifiers to function, Acoustic Guitar needs not any Electricity to sound.

An acoustic guitar produces sound acoustically by transmitting the sound vibration of the strings to the air instead of employing electronic amplifiers. The Sound (sound waves) from the Acoustic guitar strings resonate through the guitar’s body and then create a sound in return.

The Acoustic Guitar is very portable, light-weighted and mainly used in learning guitar, having fun, displaying on the Music Stage, and mesmerizing friends; In other words, when there a Guitar and a Guitarist, there is no boring or dulling moment.

The Nature of Acoustic Guitar

The Acoustic Guitar can assume the nature of the two types of Guitar (Bass or Lead); this entails that the Acoustic Guitar can either be a Bass-Acoustic-Guitar or a Lead-Acoustic-Guitar (See Guitar Types below for Clarification). The Base-Acoustic-Guitar shares if not all but some of the major characteristics of a Bass Guitar while the Lead-Acoustic-Guitar shares if not all but some of the major characteristics of the Lead Guitar. (See the Characteristic of Both Bass and Lead Guitar down below).

Characteristics of Acoustic Guitar

• The Acoustic Guitar has a Box which is popularly called ‘Guitar Box or Guitar Body’ where the sound forms and comes out through a round hole called ‘Guitar Hole’.
• The Acoustic Guitar has 6 Strings for the Lead and 4 Strings for the Bass.
• Acoustic Guitar has a hole called ‘Guitar Hole’ from where the sounds strummed or picked will sound out from.
• Most Acoustic Guitars have a ‘Black Pad’ patched directly beside the ‘Guitar Hole’ which helps the Guitarist to Slap the Guitar when he or she wishes to. The Black pad is known as ‘PickGuard’.
• Acoustic Guitar, just like Electric Guitar, has Frets, Strings, and dots. The Frets are crossed horizontally while the Strings Cross vertically when the Guitar is standing.
• Acoustic Guitar does not make use of Electric unless with Guitar Pickup.
• The Acoustic Guitar could be slapped while playing.
• An Acoustic Guitar can be played everywhere.

Electric Guitar

The Electric Guitar is one of the kinds of Guitar that uses Electricity to sound. It has different amazing shapes and is used mainly in the midst of other Musical Instruments such as the Keyboard, the Drums, and the Violin, among others.

The Electric Guitar, just like the Acoustic Guitar, can assume two types of Guitar (the bass and the lead).

The Electric Guitar, unlike the Acoustic Guitar, is not portable and thus majorly used in events with other musical instruments or also in a Music Studio.

Characteristics of Electric Guitar

• Electric Guitar uses Electricity to Sound.
• Electric Guitar, unlike Acoustic Guitar, is not portable; it is not played everywhere as it needs some gadgets like Amplifier to sound.
• It is heavy-weighted to compare with Acoustic Guitar.
• Made of Steel, stainless, and metal most times.
• Sounds clearer and higher with the aid of the Electrical Gadgets.

Types of Guitar

1. LEAD GUITAR
2. BASS GUITAR

Lead Guitar

The Lead Guitar is one of the types of Guitar. It could be an Acoustic-Lead-Guitar or an Electric-Lead-Guitar. Standard Lead Guitar has 6 Strings (some have more than 6; some have 7, 8, and even more than that)

The Lead Guitar Strings range from 1^st String to 6^th Strings. The first String is the tiniest string and the 6^th string is the boldest string. There are other lead guitars that have more than six strings. Most lead guitarists use Guitar Pick to play the lead in order to play faster while others use their fingers.

Characteristics of the Lead Guitar

• Lead Guitar has 6 strings (some have more than 6 strings);
• Its standard open string numbering or tuning is EADGBE (from 6^th to 1^st String);
• It can be strummed or picked;
• It could be Acoustic lead or Electric Lead;
• A player is called a Lead-Guitarist;

Bass Guitar

Bass Guitar is another type of Guitar that normally has 4 Strings (some have 5 Strings). It is used to play the bass part of any music. The Bass guitar player is called a Bassist.

Bass guitar plays a major role in harmonizing and beautifying music; it helps to bring out the beauty of the music.

Standard Guitar Tuning;

The standard guitar tuning is the professional tuning for every lead and bass guitar. The Lead guitar has its standard tuning for a 6 stringed lead as EADGBE when tuning from the 6th string to the 1st string.

The Bass guitar standard tuning for a four-string Bass Guitar is EADG when tuning from the 4th String to the 1st String.

Guitar Capo or Guitar Divider;

A Guitar Capo is a device that is used to bridge any fret within the fret-board and then it serves as the nut. This means that the capo can serve as the nut and thus wherever it is placed, the fret becomes the nut and when playing without fingering, it becomes open strings.

Simply put, a guitar capo is a device that is used on the neck of a string instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, therefore raising the pitch of the guitar when playing.

Guitar capo could be referred to as ‘guitar divider’. It aids a player to play full chords at any fret on the fretboard without the use of a bar chord. So, most guitarists prefer guitar capo to bar chord because the bar chord is a lot stressful.

Guitar Pick;

A guitar pick is a little plectrum used for guitars (especially Lead Guitars). The Guitar pick is mostly made of one unique uniform material which could be plastic.

The Guitar pick helps to speed up while playing the guitar. Guitar sounds raw with Guitar pick.

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