How to learn to play the guitar?

You can learn to play almost any musical instrument even without visiting teachers - on your own. For this, there are printed tutorials, schools, videos on digital media and on the Internet. There are especially great opportunities for guitar lovers. The main thing is to properly organize this training for yourself.

For beginners in learning to play the guitar from scratch, it is important to know how quickly you can learn to play at least simple melodies or to accompany the chords to singing.... Learning with a teacher is not as difficult as learning with oneself, but this is not the only point.

The following factors influence the duration of training:

• the intended goals of the student;
• his age;
• employment;
• the quality of the teaching material;
• tool quality;
• physical and anatomical features (hand length, finger length and thickness);
• the presence or absence of hearing and a sense of rhythm.

The guitar is an instrument, mastering the playing of which cannot be called an easy matter.as many imagine. Even the basics of sound production on it are not easy for anyone. To play an unpretentious melody, you must first learn how to correctly and alternately produce sounds on open strings with different fingers of your right hand, and then press the strings at the frets with your left fingers. In this case, the actions of the fingers of both hands to extract each sound must be synchronous. And this is also worked out separately with various exercises. In comparison, on the piano, the sound is obtained by pressing a key with just one finger of either hand.

When placing the fingers on the bar, the wrist of this hand becomes in an uncomfortable (unnatural) position, since it has to be forcibly turned with an open palm upward and "towards oneself". And this position is quite tedious for beginners. With experience of this inconvenience, the guitarist simply does not notice.

One of the big problems for beginners is the soreness in the pads of the fingers of the left hand when pressing the strings at the frets.... Children suffer the most from this, and some even quit. Adult learners endure this period with understanding. True, their pain is not as sharp as that of young guitarists (the skin on an adult's fingers is rougher).

The only thing that can be done in this case - reduce the time of classes, but at the same time increase their number per day... After the formation of subcutaneous calluses on the tips of the fingers of the left hand, the pain will stop.

The more difficult the chosen direction (learning goal), the longer it will take to complete the task of mastering the guitar. The simplest thing is to learn simple accompaniment to singing or a solo instrument. But even here it is difficult to say how long the training will last for a particular person, given the many factors listed above that affect the process.

First of all, you need to decide on the direction of playing the guitar, and then choose an instrument from this... The most popular is the 6-string guitar, but there are also other types of this instrument, based on the number of strings: seven-string, four-string (ukulele), bass, 12-string. And among the "six-strings" there are many varieties: classical, flamenco, acoustic (with metal strings), semi-acoustic, electric.

Kids need a nylon string guitar - classic... And even if a child wants to play an acoustic guitar, which is fashionable today under the foreign name "fingerstyle", it is better to start learning with the classical one. Learning will be much easier, and later you can switch to "acoustics" with metal strings. On an already existing acoustic instrument, both adults and children are advised to replace the strings with a softer set - "nine" or "ten" in thickness.

It also needs to be purchased from a music store to tune the instrument. tuner... Or use special programs on your PC or smartphone, which you will need to download.

In case of self-study, you should acquire a self-instruction manual in the appropriate direction (for playing the classical guitar, electric guitar, and so on). They are available not only in bookstores, but also on the Internet.

There are also more serious textbooks ("Schools of playing the six-string guitar" by E. Puhol, F. Sora, M. Karkassi, A. Ivanov-Kramskoy, "Self-instruction manual of playing the plectrum" by L. Panayotov), ​​but they are designed for lessons with a teacher ...

A lot of educational material is also produced for bass guitar, including on various video hosting sites. The same can be said for the 6-string electric guitar in general and rock guitar in particular. There are good accompaniment textbooks in print.

Now let's touch on some of the basics of learning to play the guitar. This information will be useful primarily to fans of classical and conventional acoustic guitars.

For people who have chosen a classical guitar, you can hardly imagine better than the typical fit that has existed for musicians of this style for at least 170 years.... In the classic fit, the main emphasis is on ensuring maximum freedom and convenience of the guitarist's hands, accessibility of all frets on the instrument's neck, while maintaining a natural posture that eliminates any tension during playing.

The position of sitting on the edge of a chair with an absolutely straight body and the instrument located on the thigh, raised with the help of a low support of the left leg, most fully meets the described requirements. And the neck of the guitar directed towards shoulder level (and even higher) facilitates the already difficult work of the left hand in a rather uncomfortable position.

The guitar is held by two main points of support - the thigh of the left leg and the forearm of the right hand, which is located on the edge of the shell and the top of the body of the instrument in its most convex part. The thigh of the right leg, against which the edge of the shell and the lower soundboard rests, as well as the musician's chest, in contact with the edge of the slightly inclined body of the instrument, can also be considered as conditional points of support.

Decks with their planes should not be strictly vertical, as other musicians believe. The guitar in this case will sound dull due to blocking of some functions of the resonator hole and the soundboard due to the fact that the backboard is pressed against the chest of the performer too much.

The guitarist's right foot is set aside so as not to interfere with raising the neck to the desired level by placing the lower part of the instrument body in free space. She takes a minor part in supporting the guitar, as does the chest.

Many self-taught and even instructed guitarists ignore the classical fit, which seems out of date to them.... However, musical institutions still adhere to strict guidelines for the training of classical guitarists.

Fingerstyle performers or acoustic guitar accompanists place the body of the instrument on the right thigh, while the neck is lowered almost parallel to the floor, thereby breaking the stability of the instrument and losing the relative comfort of the left hand position. That is why they often have to use their left hand as a third support to maintain stability of the guitar while playing, which cannot be considered a comfortable position for the performer.

Watching the fingerstyle musicians, you will notice that for additional support of the instrument, they move their right hand lower, as if grasping the body, when freedom of action in the left hand is required. Here, the convenience of performing some techniques with the right hand is already lost, for example, arpeggio or apoyando in the moments of fast passages.

Flamenco guitarists have two common landings: traditional and modern.

Both of them seem uncomfortable from the side of classical guitarists, and the second also seems unnatural. But they developed under the influence of some of their own - style - features, for example:

• playing right the hand is mainly carried out not in the area of ​​the resonator hole, as in the classical style, but closer to the saddle;
• specificity of techniques rasgeado;
• need to get sharp and clear sound when performing a pikado (apoyando) technique.

Some techniques when playing an acoustic guitar also often require a different position of the performer and the instrument, especially if the sound is produced by a pick. Here you need to hold the guitar in the same way as the electric guitar.

If you have to play in a standing position, then on acoustic guitars and electric guitars for this there are fasteners to which a strap is mounted.... Classic models do not have them, but music stores sell special straps with grips that cling to the deck in the area of ​​the resonator hole: one on top and the other on the bottom.

The strings of a six-string guitar of any direction are tuned to the so-called Spanish tuning:

• №1 (the thinnest) - on the note E (E) of the first octave;
• No. 2 - on the note C (B) of a small octave;
• №3 - to the sound G (small octave);
• No. 4 - to the sound Re (D) of a small octave;
• No. 5 - on A (A) of a large octave;
• No. 6 - on the E (large octave).

This build is standard.... In classical guitar, sometimes it is necessary to tune the sixth string 1 tone lower - into the D sound of a large octave. In this case, the tuning is considered non-standard, and it is called Drop D ("lower in D"). Less often, you can find the need to tune the guitar to the Double Drop D tuning (double Drop D), when two strings are lowered at once by 1 tone into the sounds of D - the sixth and first. This results in the following tuning (starting with the 6th string): D-A-D-G-A-D.

Acoustic and electric guitars are rebuilt in many different tunings, but beginners don't need to know about this yet. The tuning of the instrument is performed either according to another musical instrument, or with the help of electronic tuners, or by ear, tuning the first string along a tuning fork, and then tuning the rest along it.

Notation for guitar an octave higher is adopted in order to avoid too cumbersome recording with many additional lines in the lower voices of the instrument. It is more convenient for musicians to sight-play.

The basics of classical guitar playing techniques are:

• techniques of sound production with the fingers of the right hand;
• the technique of pressing the strings on the neck of the guitar with the fingers of the left hand;
• chord playing;
• fighting technique;
• brute force game.

There are 2 basic techniques for playing classical guitar, except for chord playing by striking the strings.

• Tyrando... Extracting sound from strings by plucking without leaning on an adjacent string. Sometimes this technique is called a "blow from the bottom up". The tip of a finger or nail pushes the string off and off, causing it to wobble towards the adjacent string, but does not touch the latter. If you mentally continue the line of motion of the finger, then it will rest against the palm. A common way of producing sound when playing chords, plucking and leading the middle voice in polyphonic pieces.

• Apoyando... Extracting sound from a string with your finger and then supporting it on an adjacent string. In another way, the technique is called "blow from top to bottom". The beginning of the movement of the finger is the same as in tirando, but the finger rests on an adjacent string and remains on it, if it does not interfere with further sound production. At the same time, the thumb serves as a support for the entire hand, maintaining the stability of the hand and contributing to the accuracy of the actions of the other fingers.

Each of these methods must be worked on separately. The study of special exercises for the technique of sound production must be included in daily lessons. Only then can you learn how to pull the strings correctly in a variety of pieces.

Gripping the strings is a difficult test for beginners learning the basics of guitar technique at home. There are guidelines to help you cope with it.

1. Clamp the strings at the fret as close as possible to the saddles, to which they, in fact, are pressed. A fret is the distance from one metal nut to another. Pressing down should be done closer to the fret nut, which is on the side of the guitar body. But you can't press on the threshold itself - the sounds are bad.
2. Pressing is done with the tip of the finger perpendicular to the plane of the neck. This position of the finger allows you not to touch the adjacent strings.Touching the nearest strings will lead to their muffling, therefore, for example, a chord will sound poor quality, incomplete sounds, "empty" harmony.
3. The thumb should be able to compensate for the force of the fingers gripping the strings. It is necessary to pay special attention to its setting: it is located on the back side of the neck parallel to the other fingers, and its location is opposite the index and middle fingers (between them).
4. At first, you need to try to relax more often and shake off tension from the left hand, give her a rest, without bringing the whole arm to numbness.

Once you've learned how to grip the strings well, you can start learning chords. Start with chords played in open position (no barre)... These will be primarily 5 consonances: A minor (Am), D minor (Dm), E major (E), C major (C) and G major (G).

And you need to practice taking and changing them in the following sequence: Am-Dm-E-Am-C-Dm-G-Am... It will be enough to first play these chords at a slow tempo, slowly sliding your right thumb from the 6th to the 1st strings (from top to bottom). This way you can control the sound of all chord sounds. Later, switch to playing chords, first with different bruises, and then with simple types of fighting.

Of the types of guitar striking, the simplest is to hit the strings sharply with your thumb or forefinger from top to bottom for every quarter on the count “one, two, three, four”. The rhythm of the march.

The second fight: at the pace of a waltz on the count of "one, two, three", play the bass with the thumb of the right hand on the corresponding string (by the name of the chord), which falls under the count of "one", and 2 times - a chord from the consonance of three thin strings (on " two three"). These strings are twitched simultaneously with three fingers of the right hand - the index, middle and ring. And so it turns out: bass-chord-chord ("one-two-three").

The above chords:

Possible problems for a novice guitarist include the following:

• pain in the fingers of both the right hand and the left, especially in women and children with delicate skin from rubbing against the strings and pressing them;
• joint pain in the fingers of the left hand from stretching exercises and taking a barre;
• difficulties with mastering the reception of barre;
• swelling of the legs and arms during intense and long exercises, as well as in case of improper fit with the instrument;
• difficulties with the study of musical notation, it is especially difficult for self-study;
• general learning problems associated with the wrong choice of instrument and strings.

Almost all difficulties are overcome with the help of several sessions with an experienced teacher, which will not allow at the initial stage the common mistakes that interfere with the full-fledged learning to play the guitar.