How to hold your guitar
* The method described below assumes that you play the guitar as a 'Right Handed' player (with guitar neck pointing to the left). 'Left Handed' player can treat this as the opposite.
1.Pick up the guitar and place the back of the guitar against your stomach.
2.Rest the curve part of the guitar body on your right upper thigh.
3.Place your right arm around the upper body (near the edge of the guitar body) so that your right hand is lying by the strings just above the sound hole.
4.Now place your left hand around the guitar neck and notice that the back of the guitar neck is round, so make sure that your hand molds into the shape of the neck. Also make sure that your thumb is arching over the top of the neck (a common thumb position for playing chords) and that your fingers are free to press down on the strings.
* You might find that you need to re-adjust your thumb positioning in order to play certain chords fingerings such as the ‘Barre’ chords and when playing lead lines.
Note: Try not to purposely let the guitar slide down your stomach just so that you can see better at what you're doing. Most beginners are tempted to do this, but it will only make it harder to position the fingers on the fretboard.
Strum/Pick/Pluck
The two basic ways to produce a sound on your guitar are:
*Strum = When you brush the strings either with your fingers or with a guitar pick.
*Pick or Pluck = When you play individual string with a guitar pick or with just the finger.
Guitar pick and how to hold it
This is what a guitar pick or a 'Plectrum' looks like:
And you should hold it between the thumb and your index finger:
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Back to Beginners Lessons
* The method described below assumes that you play the guitar as a 'Right Handed' player (with guitar neck pointing to the left). 'Left Handed' player can treat this as the opposite.
1.Pick up the guitar and place the back of the guitar against your stomach.
2.Rest the curve part of the guitar body on your right upper thigh.
3.Place your right arm around the upper body (near the edge of the guitar body) so that your right hand is lying by the strings just above the sound hole.
4.Now place your left hand around the guitar neck and notice that the back of the guitar neck is round, so make sure that your hand molds into the shape of the neck. Also make sure that your thumb is arching over the top of the neck (a common thumb position for playing chords) and that your fingers are free to press down on the strings.
* You might find that you need to re-adjust your thumb positioning in order to play certain chords fingerings such as the ‘Barre’ chords and when playing lead lines.
Note: Try not to purposely let the guitar slide down your stomach just so that you can see better at what you're doing. Most beginners are tempted to do this, but it will only make it harder to position the fingers on the fretboard.
Strum/Pick/Pluck
The two basic ways to produce a sound on your guitar are:
*Strum = When you brush the strings either with your fingers or with a guitar pick.
*Pick or Pluck = When you play individual string with a guitar pick or with just the finger.
Guitar pick and how to hold it
This is what a guitar pick or a 'Plectrum' looks like:
And you should hold it between the thumb and your index finger:
____________________________________________________________________________________
Back to Beginners Lessons
