GUITAR TIPS Part 2

THIS is the second part of our lessons for would-be guitarists (yung beginners) looking for useful tips to start you off on your journey even though a lot of tips are readily available online.
 
Tuning
Using your tuning gadget -- the indicator/arrow should be in the middlemost part. 

Whenever the green light is turned on, that means that you've already tuned your string accordingly. If the arrow exceeds the center, that simply means you have to lower the string tension. If the arrow is way below the center, adjusting the string tension to high is needed. Syempre pa.

Always place the tuner near the sounding board (yung butas) of your guitar while it lies on your lap para malakas ang sagap ng sound. Placing it elsewhere is not advisable. Just be careful not to scratch your guitar with your tuner.

Remembering the corresponding notes for the strings is crucial when tuning. 1st bass string is E; 2nd bass string is A; 3rd bass string is D; 4th one is G; 5th one is B; last string is E.

Plucking or Fingerstyle
The cardinal rule for plucking: your right hand thumb is for the three bass strings, while your pointing, middle and ring fingers should always be positioned in the 4th, 5th and 6th strings respectively.

By playing the E chord (or any other chord you like), start using your thumb by hitting the 1st bass string. Then one by one, hit the 4th, 5th and 6th strings using your three (pointing, middle and ring) fingers.

Start very slow at first. You may also want to add an A chord. Thus, the chord pattern E-A- must be repeated again and again, gradually increasing the speed, whenever you feel the need for it, as you play along. Just remember that the 2nd bass note must be played for the A chord.

Try other chord patterns like G-C- or G-C-D- when you have already mastered the technique for the 1st pattern. This is to avoid boredom by playing repetitive plucking styles over and over again. Pang-alis ng uyam. Remember to always play the corresponding bass notes/strings for the different chords...

Practice songs: "Hallelujah"/Jeff Buckley; "Anak"/Freddie Aguilar; "The Boxer"/Simon & Garfunkel; "The Sound of Silence/Simon & Garfunkel (play these songs continuously before the actual guitar playing for you to memorize the tempo, chord changes, nuances, etc.).

Strumming
This is a very broad topic that requires ample space and time. Another blog entry devoted entirely for this will be needed for further strumming lessons. I hope I'd be able to explain this in a nutshell using very limited space.

Some players use guitar picks for strumming, some don't. It all depends on your personal choice. Me, I have never been accustomed using a pick ever since I started playing for the simple reason that we use classical guitars in our JINGLE office then for work.

I just join my thumb and pointing finger. The pointing finger is used for strumming with the thumb as support. Other players use their thumbs for strumming...to each his own preferred style. 

Photo credit: guitarhabits.com

Picks are usually used for electric or steel stringed guitars and are generally made of one uniform material -- such as some kind of plastic (nylon, Delrin, celluloid), rubber, felt, tortoise-shell, wood, metal, glass, tagua, or stone. They are often shaped in an acute isosceles triangle with the two equal corners rounded and the third corner less rounded (wikipedia.org). They are used to strum chords or to sound individual notes on a guitar. Remember, too that picks have corresponding thickness. Choose one that you are most comfortable with.

Various guitar picks. Clockwise from top: standard nylon pick; imitation tortoise-shell pick; plastic pick with high friction coating (black areas); stainless steel pick; pick approximating a Reuleaux triangle; and Tortex "shark's fin" pick

For your first exercise, try strumming your tuned guitar using no chords yet. Try hitting the open strings using downward motion for all 4 beats. Do that strumming exercise very slow until you notice that you are slowly mastering it. 

By playing the G chord, do the 1st exercise again, adding a C chord with G along the way. Thus, it becomes a G-C- chord pattern. Remember that all of this is done using downward motion.

Try deviating a bit by incorporating an upward motion (yung pabaligtad naman ang pagkalabit ng guitar). Remember to always stay with the beat, never going too early or too late. Always imagining the four beats in your head is crucial. Stay focused, too with the rhythm you are playing. Hindi ka dapat nawawala sa tyempo.

Hope I made myself clear...

Practice songs: "Thinking Out Loud"/Ed Sheeran; "Perfect"/Ed Sheeran; "The One I Love"/R.E.M.; "Losing My Religion"/R.E.M.; "Creep"/Radiohead (play these songs continuously before the actual guitar playing for you to memorize the tempo, chord changes, nuances, etc.).