Guitar Lessons Article 2 : Learn Guitar Basics

Any expert guitar player will tell you that one of the most important things to do before actually picking up the guitar and playing is to warm up your hands, fingers and forearms. I'm sure you are probably already thinking what a drag warming up must be, but the same way a runner needs to warm up his legs before a race or marathon and the same way a boxer warms up before a sparring match or an event fight, a serious guitarist undergoes a session of warmups as well. Those that prefer to skip this important basic guitar ritual will suffer long term stresses of arthritis and carpal tunner syndrome later in life. For those that want to play guitar well and without strains in their tendons, keep reading. I have recommended 2 great guitar basics warm up drills.

The first of the guitar basics warmups are the Extensions. It is a really simple exercise which requires you to hold your fretting hand straight out and while keeping your fingers together, use your picking hand to push down your fretting hand until it is pointing down. You should feel a warm stretch on the top of your wrist. Hold it for a few seconds then shake out the tension by wiggling your hands gently. Next, using your picking hand, push your fretting hand up. This time your fingers should be pointing up towards the ceiling. You should feel the stretch in the bottom of your wrist now. Again, hold this position for a few seconds, then shake off the tension. Although this warmup is only for the fretting hand, feel free to try it on your picking hand as well to get a solid stretch on both your guitar playing hands. Repeat this technique 3 times, then move on to the next guitar basics drill.

The second guitar basics warmup drill are the Rolls. This exercise is a lot simpler than the extensions. In doing these, you should be aware not to strain yourself. The point of this exercise is to loosen up your hands, not tense them up. Go ahead and make a tight fist with your hands and rotate them from the wrist in the form of a small circle. Rotate them back and forth a few times, relaxed and slowly. Use this exercise on both your fretting hand and your picking hand. After a few solid wrist rolls, we are done with the warms ups.

Now on to the most basic guitar lesson you can find. I'm talking about how to hold the guitar correctly. Many new guitar players never learn how to properly hold the guitar and hence develop a bad habit from the very beginning, a habit that becomes too difficult to break later in their guitar playing years.

The first thing you need to keep in mind is that slouching down while playing guitar will hurt your spine and strain your back muscles, plus it will not let you properly progress in your guitar playing. Make sure to keep your back as straight as possible when playing guitar.

Next thing you want to do or should I say, NOT do is looking down. I understand that as a new guitar player, it is difficult not looking down at your fingers while you are playing but it is a bad habit that will hurt your neck and back and will not let your fingers and hands develop a sense of the guitar without using your eyes for assistance. Professional guitarists never look down at their guitar, instead they keep a straight back and focus more on the crowd they are performing for while trusting their hands and fingers to do the playing.

Last but not least, do not arch your wrists while fretting or holding the neck of the guitar. This will cause long term negative effects and you may develop carpal tunner syndrome. If you have to start playing slow at first do so, but do not engage in arching of the wrists or any other sorts of bad posture that will end up hurting you instead of helping your guitar playing.

Many professional guitarists will agree that holding the guitar is perhaps one of the most fundamental aspects of guitar playing. Everytime you play the guitar you have to use good posture and practice at a comfortable level or the amount of stress and harm that you will inflict on your body will be irreversible. Learn and practice the warmups that I explained above and try to keep a good posture at all times and you will be well on your way to becoming a great guitar player.