Learning how to play acoustic guitar can be a great hobby. But unless learning the instrument is approached thoughtfully and carefully, the new guitarist can run into problems which might affect how enjoyable playing acoustic guitar can be. Without an understanding of how to develop good playing technique, and a basic knowledge of acoustic guitars, the new guitarist can run into snags very quickly.

This article offers some very basic tips for new acoustic guitar players. But even people who have been playing acoustic guitar for some time can find this information useful. Keep reading for some helpful tips and information that will make learning the acoustic guitar a smoother and more enjoyable activity.

Picking a good acoustic guitar can be a confusing thing for new guitarists. The range in price and quality of acoustic guitars is enormous. New acoustic guitarists usually don’t want to pay huge sums of money for a guitar, especially if they’re not sure that they’ll stick with the instrument. This can lead to people buying very cheap guitars. Unfortunately, cheap guitars come at a great price, as inexpensive guitars are typically poor quality. Besides not sounding good, they can also be quite difficult to play. If the action (string distance to fret) is too high, which is often the case with cheap acoustics, it can invite the new guitarist into forming bad playing habits. See our article on how to buy a guitar.

New guitarists should make a compromise when buying acoustic guitars. The trick is to buy something relatively cheap, but that can still be played happily. A great option is to buy a second hand guitar. Second hand doesn’t necessarily mean worn-out, and it is very possible to buy great pre-loved guitars at low prices.

Another option is to buy a low-range model from a good acoustic guitar manufacturer. For example, Martin and Taylor guitar companies are renowned for making great acoustic guitars. The good news for new guitarists is that these companies also make affordable models that still sound great. Guitars from the Martin X series and the Taylor 100 and 200 series are both relatively inexpensive and high quality.

Learning how to use a guitar pick is one the most essential skills for acoustic guitar players. The pick should be placed between the knuckle and the finger-tip of your index finger. The thumb is then pressed down onto the pick to create an “X” shape with your index finger and thumb. It’s best to make sure there is not too much pick hanging out from your thumb and finger. In order to have more control of the pick, it should be held quite deep, with only a small part of the pick hanging out.

Training your fingers to be strong is important for being able to play guitar comfortably and with stamina. The more you play, the stronger your fingers become, but it’s still a good idea to do some basic finger strengthening exercises every time you practice.

Learning good hand posture is something a lot of guitarists fail to do. Good posture means greater ease when playing the guitar. More often than not, guitarists have bad left-hand posture, but training the left-hand to maintain good posture is not a difficult thing. The left-hand knuckles should run parallel to the bottom of the fretboard. The thumb should not come over the top of the back of the fretboard unless it is absolutely necessary, such as when forming particular chords or performing some other technique such as bending strings.

Keeping the above hints in mind will help new guitarists learn how to play acoustic guitar well. Being able to hold a pick properly, performing finger strengthening exercises, learning good hand posture, and knowing how to find good beginner guitars puts new guitarists at a great advantage. Even seasoned guitarists suffer from not following these simple guidelines, so they should be learned as early as possible.

- Axel

The guitar has come a long way since its evolution from the archaic guitar-like instruments of Europe, Egypt, and Mesopotamia over the past centuries. Even since the development of the modern classical guitar in the 19th century, guitar technique and technology has undergone huge changes and revolutions. Perhaps most exciting are the developments the guitar has made in rock music, particularly between the 1950s and 1970s.

The rock and roll genre of the 1950s drew its influences from blues, country music, and gospel, among other American styles of music. While people may disagree about which of these musical styles had a greater influence on the development of rock, each played an important role in developing rock and roll, from basic song structures to instrument techniques.

The way the guitar was used in early rock and roll music made its roots very obvious. The guitar tone Chuck Berry got out of his archtop electric guitar on his 1958 single “Johnny B. Goode” has a warmth and jazzy tone which clearly references early guitar playing and music genres. Yet, while Chuck Berry’s guitar sound lacked later rock guitar elements such as overdrive, his unique style revolutionized guitar playing and forever changed the direction of rock music.

It was Link Wray who pioneered the overdriven electric guitar sound with his 1958 instrumental, “Rumble”, which once again revolutionized the electric guitar sound and opened a world of possibilities for future guitar greats. Yet, even Wray’s distorted guitar was a comparatively soft and polite thing; it didn’t have the aggression, dominance, or volume that came to typify later guitar music.

The 1960s saw new guitarists build onto the work of these early innovators with the emergence of important rock bands such as The Grateful Dead and The Yardbirds. The Yardbirds were an important 60s band in that they focused on guitar solos, distortion, feedback, and helped make the guitar an even more central element of rock. Members of The Yardbirds went on to form other important 60s guitar bands such as Cream, The Jeff Beck Group, and Led Zeppelin. The Grateful Dead pioneered the “jam band” sound during this period with their emphasis on long musical improvisation.

The late 1960s and early 70s saw the dominance of guitarists Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix. Hendrix in particular developed a unique guitar-centred rock sound, with heavy distortion, feedback, complex solos, and electric guitar virtuosity. But as new and innovative as Hendrix’s guitar playing was, it was also influenced by older music, particularly blues, as is evident in the scales he based his solos on and the chords that made up many of his songs. At the same time, Led Zeppelin, with their focus on complex songs and musical virtuosity, became one of the biggest rock bands of the 1970s.

The 1970s continued its focus on over-driven guitar-centred music, with an emphasis on guitar solos and virtuosity, and a further development of psychedelic effects and techniques. Rock music of the 1970s continues to influence the music of today. Indeed, it can easily be argued that today’s rock music is created in a continuous reference to the benchmark music of the 1960s and 1970s Golden Age of Rock.

- Axel

It’s not what you play, it’s how you play it.

There are lots of ways to make guitar solos. Most guitarists focus on ‘what to play’ versus ‘how to play things’. Fact is, the nuances of phrasing (‘how’ the notes are played) often matter MORE than the notes we actually play. How many times have you heard someone play a solo ‘without’ much emotion? Often there was nothing wrong with their choice of notes. The solo lacked emotion and interest because the ‘phrasing’ was weak.

Guitar Phrasing is the most important aspect to creating great guitar solos, yet very few guitar players learn to develop this key element of their guitar playing.

One of the best things you can do to make better guitar solos is to carefully study your favorite singers. In the late 1990s, I began to study the vocal styles of my favorite singers. I learned to play on guitar every little nuance of their vocal phrasing and vibrato… and most importantly, the ‘musical contexts’ in which they made various phrasing and vibrato choices when singing. Singers cannot do many of things that we can do on the guitar, but they can naturally and effortlessly do things that are not common (but are still possible) to do on the guitar.

Listen to your favorite singers and notice the difference between their vocal phrasing (‘how’ they sing notes and phrases) and your guitar phrasing (‘how’ you play your notes and phrases). Then listen carefully to how these singers construct their phrases and compare that to how you create your guitar solos. When you really pay attention to this, you will probably make some very cool and powerful observations. This can be one of the best guitar solo lessons you can ever have. It can be a real eye (and ear) opening experience that can lead you to discover MANY new ideas that you can use to make your own great guitar solos.

Here are three things you can learn and implement into your playing immediately so that you can consistently make better guitar solos.

Delayed Vibrato: Listen to how many singers sing a note (without vibrato at first) and then begin to apply vibrato to it a few moments later. The vast majority of guitar players don’t do this when soloing; instead they apply the vibrato immediately to the note. Although this can also sound good, it gets old to always immediately apply vibrato when you use it. So play a note on your guitar, let it ring out naturally (without vibrato) for a moment, then apply vibrato to it. In addition to creating a more ‘vocal style of guitar playing’ you may also notice that the note you just played sustains longer. (more on this in the video below).

Movement between notes: As you know, when playing notes on a piano there is no ability to ‘bend’ notes. Singers frequently ‘bend’ notes in both directions (up or down in pitch), although downward ‘bent’ notes are more common in most vocal styles. Guitar players frequently bend notes, but 99% of the time they only bend notes ‘up’ (in pitch).
(more on this in the video below).

Intuitive Emotional Expression: Singers often manipulate tension and dissonance intuitively. They might sing the 9th of a chord because it makes a very specific emotional feeling. Most (non jazz) guitar players would naturally play the root while making a guitar solo (especially at the end of a phrase). This happens because guitar players typically are thinking about patterns and scale positions. And thus the ear is conditioned to find the consonant notes’ when beginning and ending phrases while creating (or improvising) guitar solos. Singers don’t have ‘patterns’ and ‘positions’ to think about. They are only focused on their intuition - the emotion of each note they sing. This results in more natural options for the singer (compared to many ‘inexperienced’ guitar players) particularly at the beginnings and endings of phrases.

Watch the video below to see exactly what I’m talking about and hear a live demonstration of each.

Tom Hess is a professional guitarist and teaches electric guitar lessons online. To get more help with your guitar playing check out my 10 Free Guitar Solo Tips.