First Acoustic Guitar Lesson for the Absolute Beginner

Get a Tuned Guitar

To start the first lesson you will need to have a guitar at hand.
Borrow one if you haven't got one yet. The first acoustic guitar
doesn't have to be the most suitable or the perfect guitar for you.
Like learning to swim, one just can't learn to swim by watching
someone else swim, right? So you can't think that you are having
a lesson without working on a guitar.

I assume that the guitar you have at hand is already tuned by
someone who is more experienced than you. If the guitar is not
tuned, it will be hard for you to get the right sounds out of it.

If you don't have someone to tune it for you right now, you can
download and use a free guitar tuner app on your mobile phone
to help you tune it. An example of such an app is called
GuitarTuna.

Understand Guitar Parts

This diagram below will help you find where the parts of the guitar I'm

referring to later on. As you may be interested in the electric guitar too,

you will find that the electric guitar has a few more parts than the

acoustic one.

As you can see, the anatomy of a guitar composes of the head, the

neck and the body. The head or head stock is where you tune the

guitar. The neck is where you hold the guitar in your left hand if you

are right-handed and vise versa if you are left-handed. It is also

where you press your fingers on the fretboard/fingerboard to create

notes and chords.

The body is where you strum or pick the strings with your right hand

if you are right handed and vise versa if you are left-handed.

Start with Strumming

Strumming is when you play more than one note. Let your fingers play

a few notes together and bring out a group of sounds.

As the strings can be hard on your fingers, as a beginner it is better

to use a guitar pick, preferably a flimsy one, that is, a light and thin

pick, or even an ultralight one. A flimsy pick is much more flexible and

forgiving than a thick pick.

Just go ahead and see what strings make what sounds. You can
pluck each note down. That is also a good exercise for your pick.
When you are using your pick, think of it as using a tiny paintbrush
with the sharp end of the pick on the strings.

Now you aim to play a little chord. And then you are going to strum it.

If you are a right-handed player, you will have your left hand and your

left fingers on the fretboard. When you go down the neck of the guitar

are the metal bars called frets. The frets are the spaces you count

down. Use the very tip of your index finger and the very tip of your

middle finger to strum. Yes, it hurts. So you may want to get some

light guitar picks to make learning easier.

What you do is, you press the strings to create notes and chords.

Along the fretboard are raised metal frets, or fret wires. You press

the string or more than one string down just behind the fret wire to

create a particular sound.

Check your fret board to see if there are inlay markers as there

often are. They are, either dots or more obvious markings positioned

at regular fret intervals.

You can count the frets. You can think of a fret as rectangular space

in between the metal brackets. So you can count with your fingers

the first fret, then the one below is the second fret and so one.

Without a guitar pick, your fingertips will hurt or even bleed but you

have to build up a little calluses because as you are doing so

playing gets easier and your fingers get stronger.

Start With an Easy Chord

Here is an easy to follow Youtube video of an easy and pleasurable

chord to learn. It is important to believe in yourself that you can overcome the first hump of not knowing what to do with the guitar.

Keep Practicing

This goes without saying really. Set aside regular guitar time to
practice. Be patient and believe in yourself! I hope this short video
can help you with your guitar lesson.

Inspiring Solo Acoustic Guitar Performances to Enjoy and Learn

Looking for inspiring solo acoustic guitar performances? I have come across this wonderful article with the video clips embedded. The article is called 12 Spellbinding Solo Acoustic Performances written by Kevin EG Perry and the Youtube Playlist is here.  I would like to draw your attention to the acoustic guitar performances. Of course when it comes to the top lists, I am sure not many can suit everyone's taste. As the word 'solo' suggests, there is no backup band in the performances. I do find this article and the videos very worthy of sharing. Are you a little bit intrigue?

The guitarists' style and techniques are enhanced. I hope you will also enjoy the poignant and touching quality. The selection of artists includes familiar names of course: Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, PJ Harvey, Pete Doherty, Laura Marling and Brian Fallon.

Do you also feel like playing a tune today? I've been thinking Brian Adams' "Everything I do (I do it for you." Here is a free acoustic guitar lesson for you to follow. I think the instructor is amazing and quite easy to follow. Listen to it and see if it interests you. If you have decided to learn to play acoustic guitar along, tell me  how you get on with it!

Acoustic Guitar Course on Amazon with Book, CD and DVD


Do you have any favorite guitar videos to share with us?
There's no way any top list can be accurate lol. Still it's cool to see a list of young guitar players to playing out.

Learn How to Play the Guitar If Have Small Hands and Are Left Handed

First, if you want to play the guitar and you have small hands, don't let that stop you. Be assured that there are guitars designed to suit small hands. 

Yamaha FG JR1 3/4 Size Acoustic Guitar for Small Hands

If you are left-handed, it won't be a problem if you are determined and can spend the time learning. These famous left-handed guitarists, to name just a few, will inspire you. Jimmy Hendrix, famous for his blues and jazz styles, Paul McCartney, for his melodic bass style, Kurt Cobain, of Nirvana for pop music and punk rock and Graham Russell of Air Supply. They used re-strung guitars and left handed guitars. As a beginner, you may not need to re-string the guitar but simply learn to play the guitar upside down. 

Find out which left-handed players' styles inspire you the most. You may be interested in their stories. If you find it difficult to learn this way with the guitar upside down, you can always get a re-strung acoustic guitar.

If you plan to play an electric guitar, it is not easy to play the guitar upside down when it comes to using the tone and volume controls. Then it would be best to get the left handed guitar as no re-stringing will be needed.

Be inspired! You can achieve your dreams if you have small hands and are left-handed. If you have made up your mind, you can do it!

Stagg SW201 3/4 LHBLS Dreadnought 3/4 Model Left Handed Acoustic Guitar - Blueburst

What are the benefits of learning to play the guitar?

Benefits of Learning to Play the Acoustic Guitar

What Are the Many Benefits of Learning to Play the Acoustic Guitar?

1. Playing the guitar attracts positive attention

Are you half thinking of learning to play the guitar and wondering if your time and effort will pay off? Guitarists, male or female, always seem to attract more attention than those who are not playing. Playing the guitar is really an eye-catching and never going-out-of-fashion thing to do and enjoy. So, would you like to get more attention or not?

Unless a guitarists play really badly, it is joy to see the performance and enjoy the mood created. Strapping on a guitar and being able to play can put you in the spotlight so you can be the center of admiration, or attention at least. It also seems to be a way of attracting the opposite sex.

2. Playing the guitar brings you joy and satisfaction

Playing the guitar and listening to the tunes you are playing make you feel good about yourself. How can anyone not enjoy it? It reduces stress and brings joy at the same time. It also helps you boost your confidence. It takes your mind off things that you don't want to think about.

3. The guitar challenges and sharpens your mind

As with taking up any new learning, such as taking up any musical instrument, learning to play the guitar sharpens your mind. You will need to sharpen your mind especially if you have no musical background at all, as you will have to learn to read musical notations. You will need to place your fingers on the right chords and strings to pick. All this will be fun and challenging at the same time. This stimulates and enhances your brain power.

4. Learning and playing the guitar are great ways to socialize

It is a great way to socialize and make friends too. Whether you are taking lessons with a guitar teacher or learning from your friends, you will get to meet musical people who are probably interested in what you are learning and your progress. 

I hope that you are making up your mind to take the challenge. The guitar has so many benefits to offer. You will get positive attention, boost self-confidence, feel good about yourself. You will have a sharper mind and more dexterity with your hands. It never fails as a way to make more like-minded friends too.

5. You won't have to look back, sigh and regret that you have not done it

Am I fair to say that we all have interests that we regret we haven't developed and would probably enjoy. We might not have had the money or the opportunity to. If you wanted to sing, you might be regretting that you had not made time and effort to train your voice. If you can't swim, you might feel that you regret not learning to swim. If you had learned to swim, you would be able to enjoy water sports and more fun. With the acoustic guitar, you can start any time. I'm sure it is the same with singing and swimming if you are fit enough and if you have set your mind to it. 

Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar Bundle Deal

6.  It is a hobby or skill that you can teach yourself

You can teach yourself beginner guitar and it is easier than you think. For absolute beginners of music and guitar, this book makes learning the guitar simple and easy. This book, paper back or kindle book explains every part of a guitar, which string does what and which fingers play what keys. The book also tells you how to tune your guitar and how you can play a chord. It covers all major and minor chords so that you will know enough to play the simple songs that complete the book.

If you can't read music, it isn't a problem. This book uses tab, which is a way of recording music that can be played on guitar. It is user-friendly for those who don't know music notes as it uses ordinary characters and numbers. It is much easier and also quicker than reading traditional music notations. The musical styles it covers include rock, folk, classical and country. What I like about this book is that it is easy to follow and not overwhelming. However, the learner must follow and take time to practice the exercises.

I have only listed 6 but the list of benefits can go on. Well, do you really need more reasons to take up playing the acoustic guitar? Any time is a good time to start! 

My ending note is: You have to ask yourself, are you the only person who is stopping yourself? You really don't want to look back from a later time and regret that you haven't given yourself the opportunity to learn the guitar, right?

Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar Review

The Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar has been a best seller musical instrument for a few years now. It is one of the best guitars for small hands. I can understand why. 

First, let me talk about the materials. It features a spruce top. As most of the sound of an acoustic guitar comes from the top, not the sides or the back, a good spruce top guarantees good sounds. Its back and sides are of laminated nato.  Nato is a collective name for a tropical wood called nyatoh which is reddish brown in color and is sometimes called eastern mahogany but it is not a true mahogany. It also has decent quality chrome covered tuning machines and a position to fix a strap on the back but not on the headstock. The body has a satin finish. The fretboard is made of rosewood.

It measures 18 x 8 x 48 inches. This length is well liked. It is a little smaller than a full dreadnought and will be comfortable to play especially for smaller hands. 

The neck is a must to mention. It is quite slim which is a benefit for a person with smaller hands and it has a low action fret. The player's fingers can reach the strings easily and the hand can move around the wooden neck smoothly. The 'action' is the distance the strings are from the fret-board and the higher the action the more difficult it is to press down the strings down to play. 

This guitar looks attractive. It has beautiful wood, looks matte and not glossy. The sound is bold and rich. The bass string and treble string sound very clear. As the action of this guitar is quite high, you should not mind it if you will get sore fingers and form finger calluses pretty quickly though. 

Some users find that tuning is difficult to understand. I must point out that part of learning to play the guitar is learning to tune your instrument. Now it has been made easy with a tuner and a screwdriver. It is advisable to order some extra strings and a tuner when you are buying an acoustic guitar.

Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar Bundle Deal

Fantasy Theme Music on the Acoustic Guitar for You

Do you also enjoy fantasy theme music on the acoustic guitar? 

Which are your favorites? The Lord of the Rings, Game of Throne, Heroes of Might and Magic, Dragon Age or other choices? 

Here I would like to share with you fantastic music pieces including The Lord of the Rings of the Two Towers.

Check out this new arrangement of the Rohan theme in the video above. It is only a short video.  When it comes to the question of what makes a good guitar player? Is it more to do with technicalities and skills or with how the player responds to or brings out the music? Has it more to do with originality or influence?

You may want to check out these posts on:

Age, Height and Guitar Sizes for Reference

Learn to Play the Acoustic Guitar

Popular and Affordable Choice for Small Hands

What pieces are you practicing on now? Would you like to share with us your progress here?

Acoustic or Electric Guitar?

Acoustic or electric guitar: Which should you get?

You are interested in learning to play the guitar. You probably have come across the question as to choose the acoustic or electric one? 

Well, ask yourself this, what kind of music do you want to learn? Which sound is more appealing to you? The acoustic or the electric? If you like rock and roll, metal or modern, then the electric will suit you better. But for country, pop or mellow music, the acoustic will be a better choice.There are a few differences:

• The sound of the acoustic one comes from the sound holes in the body of the guitar. You can play it anywhere as it does not require an amplifier or electricity to  be heard.

• The electric counterpart is hollowed-bodied. The person who plays it can  hear it, but not the audience will not be able to hear it without the use of an amplifier.

• There are acoustic-electric guitars which can be played unplugged or on an amplifier. They sound like acoustic guitars one way or the other.

Most people find that the electric guitar is the easier one to start on. Their strings are thinner and more beginner-friendly. As the acoustic requires more precision, it will be a better choice to start with if you are interested in both. It will be easier to switch from the acoustic to the electric once you  have learned the basics. Do you need help on deciding which guitars are suitable for small hands?


Best Acoustic Guitars for Small Hands

Age, Height and Guitar Sizes for Reference

Guitars for beginners?

Practice Tips for Guitar Beginners

Practice Tips for Guitar Beginners

Before you start practicing on the acoustic guitar, it is important that you have your guitar put in a comfortable position for you. You probably will feel quite leisurely but you should also bear in mind that you should sit upright so as to protect your back from straining. 

It is not a good idea to cross your legs as it will put too much stress on one hip as well as your lower back. Overtime, it will cause back pain, hip and leg pain.

Most people would prefer to sit rather than to stand. Either way, keeping a good posture will save you from muscle strain especially when you practice for an hour or so at a time. So when you are in the sitting position, rest the base of the guitar on your thigh, your left fingers must support the other end of the strings. The left fingers should be in a comfortable position to tune and change notes. Your posture should allow the he fingers of the right hand to strum and pluck easily. 

Before you play, like an athlete before running, it is sensible to do some warm-up exercise. For guitar playing, the warm-up is finger stretching exercises. It may sound a strange idea to you but once you have started, you will feel the benefit. 

How should you go about it? It is quite simple, really. It is like doing a hand massage yourself and should take about 5 to 10 minutes. You can start with putting your hands together, with the finger tips of both hands pressing against each other. Your fingers should feel some pressure. The finger tips should hold the pressure for about 8 seconds at a time. You can then lock your fingers and do similar pressure exercises. You can also bend each finger upwards, just enough to feel the pressure, for also about 8 seconds at a time for each finger. Then you can massage your palms and wrists and shake your hands and fingers about. Such practice can get your fingers and wrists to be more flexible and to perform better.

Now, we have finally come to the practicing. To start, focus on the easier basic patterns. As each chord has its own fingering, it is better to play slowly to get the hang of it. Then practice again and again until you can memorize it. When your fingers can play the different chords, then you can move on to the more difficult parts like frets.

Most likely your teacher or the online course will give you a few simple tunes to practice on or play with. These are usually tunes that repeat a few, say four or five simple chord sequences. When you can play a few tunes, you will feel a sense of achievement and feel more confident for the next level.

As some teachers or learners hum the beat when practicing on the piano, you may hum or sing along when you are practicing the guitar. It helps you to keep attuned as well as setting the mood for playing. 

You may want to be reassured that finger pains and blisters are inevitable. You should practice until you get finger calluses. You will then be able to play without the pain on the strings. If your fingers are really sore, I would advise you to take a break for a day or two. But you must promise yourself that you will not give up no matter what.

Enjoy practicing! You can only get better and better at it.

Here is some information on guitars for people with small hands: 


The Best Acoutic Guitars for Small Hands

Guitar sizes for people with small hands

What Do You Know about the Acoustic Guitar?

I guess that you are quite interested in acoustic guitars and may be learning to play or planning to take up lessons. 

Here are some basic facts for starters:

Let me start with the guitar body itself.  The body of budget-friendly acoustic guitars is typically made from laminate. Laminate is actually laminated tonewood. Higher-priced guitars are made from higher cuts of strong spruce top wood. On an acoustic guitar, the product which the body is made from really matters, so those searching for a rich sound will wish to pick a guitar with a body made from better wood such as spruce top wood. If you are on a budget or would not like to spend a lot, the most sensible choice would be to go for a guitar with a wood top, as 70% of the sound comes from the top, and not the sides or back.

Now let me talk about the the neck of the acoustic guitar. It is generally made from rosewood, maple, or mahogany. You will need to pay attention to what material the neck is made of as it the better the quality, the better the tone the instrument will give you. 

Some guitar necks are made of different woods. Yet again, the quality of wood does make a difference. Typically speaking, acoustic guitars with necks made from a high quality maple or mahogany and bodies made with strong spruce top are quality guitars with fantastic tone. If you look, you will find good guitars costing around $100 to $150.

The vibration of the strings is intensified by the soundhole of the guitar. Inside the soundhole, there are braces and linings, all vital to keeping the guitar intact and usable. X-bracing, a strong, durable bracing, is usually used on acoustic guitars as it is strong enough to withstand the pressure of steel strings.

On the body of the guitar, you will find the bridge. The bridge takes the end of the strings. The strings are inserted into the little holes where they are held by pegs.

On the neck of the acoustic guitar you will see the fretboard. A lot of fretboards are made from rosewood or ebony. The headstock of the acoustic guitar functions 6 tuning pegs (three on each side of the headstock) and 6 tuners (3 on each side of the headstock). Like their electric guitar, they are tuned in the basic E A D G B E tuning. The majority of acoustic guitars have 6 strings whereas some have 12 or fewer.

How To Choose the Right Guitar Sizes

Learn to Play the Acoustic Guitar

Learning to play the acoustic guitar is so exciting. This musical instrument is one of the most popular choice for eager musicians. You can either play alone or with friends on different instruments like in this photo above. It looks wonderful, doesn't it?

I hope that my first post has given you some ideas on how to choose your first acoustic guitar. You may already have bought one or at least have an idea. Well, then what next? Are you going to get private lessons or online ones?

First, check out your school or community centers. Generally it is more fun to take part in lessons where you can learn from the teacher face-to-face. However, the time and location are more restrictive than courses that you can get online. If you can learn online, you pretty much can learn any time and anywhere you would prefer. You will also be more flexible with not only time but pace and budget as well. You may want to know that there are also live lessons online you can enroll in. You can also choose from a variety of teachers of different styles such as finger picking or strumming.

Acoustic guitar lessons usually start with the basics such as plucking, fretting, and fingering the chords. Once you have learnt the basic skills, then you can choose whether you would like to learn pop, rock, country or blues etc.

I am sure you know that taking up a new skill is a big commitment. Needless to say, after choosing the right guitar and the right lessons, you will need to be disciplined enough to put in the right amount of time for practice. 

The beginning is the hardest, I know. It is easy to feel discouraged. So it is important to make sure that you leverything being taught.  Don't be shy to ask questions and for clarification and guidance. You should expect yourself to devote half an hour a day each day on practicing. I hope you will find what will suit you best for learning to play the acoustic guitar.

How to Choose a Guitar Size that is Right for You?

Following the last post for beginners to get the first acoustic guitar, I thought a rough guideline on guitar sizes would be useful for you. The age and height are a very general guideline, of course. Nevertheless, I hope this will help you with your shopping.

Age is only a very general guideline. If you have small hands or arms, most likely you will enjoy a 3/4-Size guitar or a 4/4-Size guitar with a slim neck.

3-6 years old 3'3" to 3'9" 1/4-Size
4 to 6 years old 3'10" to 4'5" 1/2-Size- Half Size Acoustic Guitar

6 to 9 years old 4'5" to 4;11" 3/4-Size or Three-Quarter 34" Acoustic Guitar
9 to 12 years old 5' or above- 4/4-Size or Student 36" Acoustic Guitar

12 Years to Adult - 7/8-Size or Classical and Concert Guitar

13 years to Adult - Full Size Acoustic Guitar

Here are for your reference some popular models of 3/4-Size or reduced scale choices with excellent reviews. They are great for finger picking and musicians with small or slim hands as they come with a slim neck and a nut width that are comfortable for smaller fingers.

• Seagull S6 Original Guitar, reduced scale guitar 
• Fender MA-1 3/4-Size Steel String Acoustic Guitar - Natural
• 3/4-Size Baby Taylor with solid spruce top
• Baby Taylor BT2, natural mahogany offering good tonal range with a deep end and with a dreadnought body shape
• Taylor Guitars GS Mini Reduced Grand Symphony Acoustic Guitar
• Oscar Schmidt OG1FYS 3/4 Size with a dreadnought body shape

The Best and Affordable Acoustic Guitars for Small Hands

Value for Money Acoustic Guitar Bundle

Seagull S6 Slim Guitar of Five-Star Reviews

Tips for Guitar Beginners

I hope this information is helpful for you on how to choose the first acoustic guitars especially if your musicians have smaller hands.

Tips for Beginners on Getting the First Acoustic Guitar for Small Hands

Is there such a thing as a beginner acoustic guitar?



First, about the material. You may prefer the fret board and bridge to be made of hardwood like rosewood, or if the price is out of your range, then go for soft wood. You would try to avoid plastic bridge.

Although laminated guitars' sounds are not as good as hardwood guitars, there are advantages as well. They are usually more durable.  Laminated necks are stronger. Unlike wood, they are less sensitive to humidity and temperature changes. Solid wood sounds best but you have to take better care of it. Solid wood is also less durable. The solid wood is well worth the maintenance unless you are playing a lot in extreme weathers or traveling a lot.
Another important thing is the longer the warranty you get the better. When you are making a decision of which guitar to buy, do compare the length of warranty and take this factor into consideration.

As mentioned in another post, it goes without saying that the size should fit you. The weight and shape of the guitar should make you feel comfortable playing.
I hope these tips will help you make a good decision.

Yes, sure. You may not want to spend a lot of money at first when you are not sure if the interest is going to be long-term. Guitars for Beginners are cheaper as the materials used are cheaper. Such guitars are usually made of plywood or laminates. You cannot expect them to be top quality guitars, of course but they will do for beginners. As the wood on the face of the guitar is very important, so when you choose a beginner's guitar, it would be better to choose one with a solid spruce top. This type of top means solid wood. The guitar prices are usually from US$100 up.


Best Acoustic Guitars Costing $100-$150

How to Choose the Right Guitar Size?