Learn to Play Guitar Notes

When it comes down to mastering anything you need to start with the basics and learning to play a guitar is no different. You must first have a guitar that you can practice on. It makes life much easier if you can have hands on practice. Once you have the guitar, you must learn to play guitar notes. Along the neck of the guitar are frets and strings. Each of these strings, when pressed down in certain areas of the guitar makes different sounds. These sounds are called notes, and each note has a different letter to represent the sound.

Although it seems like a lot to learn, once you are more familiar with where the notes are and the sound they make, it becomes much easier. Don’t let the daunting look of the guitar discourage you in any way. All you have to do is start simple.

Playing any song on the guitar is simplified if you know the notes that are involved in the song. But first you must know how to actually figure out those notes. So the best place to start is the basics. Each string has a note. E,A,D,G,B,E are the open string notes (meaning you don’t have your finger on any of the strings) starting at the top string going down to the bottom string.

Starting on the bottom string (E) there are 3 easy notes you can learn to begin with. The open string is E. F is when you press your finger on the first string on the first fret, and G is pressing on the third fret. The next string up is the B string. Open string is B, pressing the second string on the second fret makes a C and the third fret is a D. And here is where you can start. Learn these notes and their placements well and you can start doing some finger exercises using them.

Knowing the notes and what they are called is a great foundation for learning the guitar. At first, maybe saying them out loud, to help you get more familiar with them will benefit you, but once you have learnt them confidently, you should play them without saying them. This will help you then know the sound that each note makes. Once you have these down, you will be able to start to play simple songs, such as nursery rhymes.

Once you are confident with the first two strings, move on to the next which is the G string. G is the open string and A is on the first fret. Adding these notes to the ones you already know and you are well on your way! Make sure you start out with simple songs. You don’t want to jump right in and get discouraged by trying to tackle a complicated one. Nursery Rhymes are the best place to start. No matter what age, we all know a nursery rhyme or two right?

Learning to play the guitar is not as hard as it looks as long as you have the determination and time to dedicate to it. You don’t have to pay an instructor to teach you if you have the knowledge to find the resources available to you. There are multiple DVD’s, books and online courses out there. No matter how you learn or who teaches you, the degree of your success is up to you. If you don’t want to learn, you won’t. Motivation starts with you.