![]() ![]() Change your environment - Go study / spend most of your time in a different room than the room you used to game in at least for a start. Get a Calendar up and fill in your obligations. Understand how much ‘free time’ you now have. (Okay, I’ll admit I may be a little biased.) With the recent release of the URBAN Guitar by Yamaha and its companion lesson app (featuring instruction from Keith Urban himself), lots of folks are getting excited about learning to play steel-string acoustic guitar … to which I say, great! In my opinion, it’s one of the most enjoyable things you can do in your life. The URBAN Guitar lesson app (available for both iOS and Android™) covers all the basics you need to get started, but here are eight tips of my own that beginning acoustic guitar players might find helpful. Find the Right Body Positionīy the “right” body position, I mean what’s right for you. If you already feel comfortable with how you’re holding the guitar, that’s a great start. One piece of advice: Even though the URBAN Guitar comes with a strap that allows you to play standing up right away, I recommend that, at least in the beginning, you practice while sitting, not standing. (Feel free to attach the strap to the guitar as soon as you want, of course, and don’t worry - you’ll be standing soon enough!) That’s because it’s easier to focus on what your hands are doing when you’re seated. Once you’re seated comfortably, hold the guitar so that the narrowest point of the inside curve on its bottom half is balanced around the middle of your thigh, as shown in the photo below. Be careful not to place the guitar too close to your knee or it might slip off while you’re playing. Then cradle the guitar with the arm of your picking hand, and bend that arm so that the crook of your elbow is right against the top edge of the body and your forearm makes a diagonal angle across the instrument: 2. That said, your picking hand should more or less follow the line of your forearm, making a diagonal angle to the guitar strings when laid across them, like this: Establish Good Hand PlacementĪgain, keep in mind that “good” hand placement for you may not necessarily be the same as it is for other people. Your fretting hand should wrap around the guitar’s neck so your fingers naturally form an arch over the fretboard, like this:īy the way, the neck on the URBAN Guitar by Yamaha is thinner than the average acoustic, so wrapping your fingers around it is a lot easier than on many other guitars. The thumb of your fretting hand is there to provide support for the rest of your hand as you play, so make sure it’s actually touching the back of the guitar neck. Where it touches the neck really doesn’t matter too much. Some guitarists like to keep their thumb anchored at the back all the time others like to move it around, depending on what their other fingers are doing. I suggest you try both approaches and see which one feels best to you. One of the hardest parts of learning guitar is building finger dexterity and strength. Take it easy at first your fingers (and especially your fingertips) are probably going to be a little sore after practice sessions of half an hour or more. But don’t get discouraged: Your fingertips will quickly adjust with regular practice and the muscles in your fingers will get stronger. In fact, you’ll be shocked at how quickly you progress simply by setting aside fifteen minutes to a half hour every day just to play. It’s also worth noting that the string tension on the URBAN Guitar by Yamaha is lower than on many other beginner instruments, so your hands have a lot less to fight against right from the start. In the URBAN Guitar lesson app, Keith and his co-pilot JUNOtake you through several of the basics and guide you through 14 fantastic songs that are easy to learn. ![]() However, if you’d like to go a little bit further with your lessons, try scales.
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