Complete Guide to Learning the Electric Guitar

Learning the play the guitar is one of the most rewarding things you can do, but it is not without its difficulties. Here we provide a complete beginners guide to getting started with the guitar, helping you from the very start. We will offer advice on these topics:

• Choosing your guitar
• Where to buy
  
• Getting additional tools
• Putting together a practice routine
• Taking it to the next level

We aim to keep this article less than 1000 words making it a quick guide and future reference piece you can print out and use again.

Choosing your guitar

Undoubtedly, the electric guitar is the best beginner option for a variety of reasons. Its body is smaller than that of an acoustic, thus making it easier to handle, and most importantly its strings are easier to press down which causes less pain when playing.

You will discover that some pain and soreness of the fingertips is inevitable however, so you should prepare for this.

When the time comes to choose your guitar, the best thing you can do is visit your local music store. It is fine to look at guitars online but you will not get the same pleasure from this as you would seeing your new axe on a stand in a shop. Another benefit to shopping in store is that you can actually question the salesperson and have them assist you in finding the right instrument.

You should look for:

• Quality
• Looks
• Sound
• Price

For many beginners the quality does not really matter as they are new to the instrument and so any sound produced is not expected to be brilliant! Looks are very important - owning a guitar that inspires you to continue learning is great for keeping morale up. Sound, again, is not hugely important at this stage and price is often the kicker. Generally you can pick up a guitar on its own, or in a package, for much less than £150.

Where to buy

Guitars are available online or in store. We would recommend that you always start in store and if you find a guitar that you like the look of, comparison shop online. There is a distinct possibility that you will find it cheap online. Make sure that you write down the name and model number so you can perform an accurate search.

Additional tools

If you decide to buy a guitar in a starter package you can skip this section because you will not need to buy any extras - they will already be in the box. However if you have bought the guitar alone you should consider purchasing:

• Guitar tuner
• Guitar stand
• Guitar strap
  
• Spare strings and plectrums

These are all really necessities to getting started, which is why we always advise you choose a starter package where possible. These are often cheaper than buying the guitar alone as well!

Practice, practice, practice!

Once you have your shiny new axe, its time to learn how to play it. Many packages contain a tutorial DVD or book, but if you do have this luxury you should look online for basic lessons.

You should begin by learning chords used in popular songs, like G, C and D. Once you have mastered these you can play a huge variety of songs and begin to form your own compositions. You should put aside a couple of hours each day to practice what you have learnt and only when you master a skill should you move onto the next.

The best way is to form a routine, but this will need to be tailored to your lifestyle. Remember if you need to practice in the evenings and do not want to disturb your neighbours, simply plug some headphones into your amp and you can practice in silence!

The "next level"

Once you can stumble your way through a few songs, it's time to jam with others. If you have friends that play instruments you should arrange a jam session where you can play along with each other. If you have a drummer, this will aid your timing, if not simply get a metronome (look it up in Google) to help practice your timing and rhythm.

Playing with others will see your skills progress very quickly as you try to keep up with each other. This is a fantastic way to enhance your skillset and learn new techniques.

This post was written by Matt Saunders, a reviewer of electric guitar packages. For more information see Electric Guitar Pack