Should You Play with a Plectrum?

For my last post, I decided to figure out whether it was really best for me to play guitar using a plectrum (guitar pick). Up until this point, I had been going back and forth between playing guitar using just my thumb and using a plectrum. "Lead and Rhythm Guitar styles (electric and acoustic) are normally played with a plectrum. So, if you play a steel-strung guitar and want to joining a group or and at some stage, you should learn to use one" (Evans 49). The guitar that I own has a mixture of nylon and steel strings, so I made sure to take this tip into account. I also plan on playing guitar at large family gatherings that my family often has because many of my cousins and I are really interested in music and play various instruments. Currently, I am using a plectrum that I got at the EMP in Seattle way back when I was in elementary school and it seems to be doing the job just fine. "Hold the plectrum fairly firmly between the right thumb and 1st finger, as shown below" (Evans 49). I had never really researched how to properly hold a plectrum, so before reading this part of the book, I realized my grip was kind of wrong.

How to properly hold a plectrum

I have found that from now on, I will most likely use a plectrum because I find it easier to strum all the strings and I also feel that when I strum using my thumb, the sound is not very loud and a bit muffled.

With this being my last blog post, I just wanted to say that I genuinely enjoyed bettering my skills at guitar. I feel as if this book has greatly guided me in how to properly do things like strumming and playing chords. In the future, I will definitely continue to play guitar and be the best I can at it.

If you could play any instrument, what would you play and why?

Thank you all for following along with all of my blog posts!

Changing Chords

Hello again! Now that I have bettered my skills at playing basic chords, I decided to try transitioning from one chord to the other. I have tried to do this before and to be honest, it's a lot harder than it looks.

The chords I am playing while practicing changing between them.

"Try to move all of your fingers at the same time, and change chords in one smooth movement" (Evans 44). This was pretty difficult because all of my fingers could not figure out what string and what fret to go quickly so I ended up having to place my fingers one-by-one at first. This was while I was practicing going from the C chord and D minor chord smoothly. "Change chords slowly at first, counting evenly" (Evans 44). It was important for me to keep this tip in mind because I often found myself rushing from chord to chord, thinking that I would magically be as good as someone like Ed Sheeran. However, going slowly from chord to chord definitely made a difference because it allowed me to take my time to figure out where my fingers needed to go.

C chord

D minor chord

I made sure to take my time on each chord sequence (C chord to F chord, C to D minor chord, etc.) and make sure that I could proficiently transition from chord to chord before moving onto a new chord sequence. I definitely think that I am a lot better at changing chords now because I took the time to slow down and focus on where my fingers needed to go.

Based on the chord chart in the very first picture, which chord do you think would be the most complicated to play for you?

Starting to Play Music and More Chords

Hi everyone! In this post, I'm going to begin actually playing music as well as learning more chords. I have previously played piano for about 4 years so reading music wasn't very new to me, but it was good to refresh my memory.

"Important. The lines do not refer to the strings of the guitar" (Evans 39). This was definitely important to note because it was very easy for me to automatically think that, for example, the low e note was on the second to last string on the guitar simply because the stave (the lines that the notes are written on) looked like guitar strings. When playing certain notes on the guitar, it requires you to place your fingers on the correct fret and string. For example, the low g note is simply just the third string played by itself while the low a requires you to put your second finger (pointer finger) on the third string but on the second fret (Evans 40). Once I familiarized myself with the notes, I attempted to play the song shown below. I had to start of a little slow, but after practicing it a couple times, it was actually pretty easy.

Next, I continued to learn more chords. The first chord I tried to play was the F chord, which is used in many different songs. "Two strings are pressed at the same time by the 1st finger for this chord" (Evans 42). I found that playing this chord was exactly like the F and C notes I had played earlier so it was not very difficult to figure out.

It was important for me to notice that for the F chord, it's better not to play the chord with the fifth and sixth strings, as displayed by the two X's in the diagram. After the F chord, I moved onto playing the C chord, which is commonly found in many different songs as well. The C chord required me to not strum the fifth and sixth chords, similar to the F chord, so it was easy to get the hang of it.

A Minor chord

Do you think it is more difficult to play chords where you don't strum certain strings (such as the F chord) or chords where you strum all six strings?

Starting to Play Chords and Other Helpful Practice Tips

It has definitely been a while since I last posted about improving my guitar playing skills but now that I finally have some time, I'm very excited to continue playing.

I had continued to practice strumming and playing notes every once in a while after my first post, so this time I decided to focus on actually playing chords and also learning useful practice tips. Throughout this whole time, I decided it was easiest to do things in the order they are placed in the book, rather than jumping around and thinking I already knew how to do some of it.

The first chord I attempted to learn was the C Chord. To make the C Chord, it requires three of your fingers to be on three different frets, so it is a bit of a stretch if you have smaller hands.

The book included step-by-step instructions of where to place your fingers for the c chord.

The C chord definitely was a stretch for my hands!

"When your fingers are in place, press the back of the neck with your left thumb, and play the C Chord by brushing your right thumb across the strings with a smooth, quick downward stroke" (Evans, 34). I've been experimenting whether it is better to use a guitar pick or just my thumb to strum and this time, I was using a pick. However, it's definitely necessary to stroke the strings quickly and smoothly no matter which way you strum so that all of the strings come together to create the right chord. The C Chord is a little different than some of the other chords but it was fairly easy to get the hang of it. "The C Chord sounds best if the 6th string is not played, so try to start your thumb stroke with the fifth string" (Evans, 34). I played the chord both ways, with the 6th string (the thickest string) and without and I found that the C chord did in fact sound a little better when you start off with the 5th string. After I got the hang of the C chord, I decided to move onto other chords. Luckily, there was a chart in the back of the book that showed how to play many simple chords so I tried a few of those out. Some chords were easier than others just because some of them didn't require too many fingers and you didn't really have to stretch your hand out too far. For example, the E minor chord only requires two fingers to be placed on the same fret on two strings right next to each other.

Playing the guitar might just seem like you just have to strum a few strings for a while and then you'll be as good as people like Ed Sheeran, but that's not actually very accurate. In the book, they provided a variety of helpful practice tips that are basically essential if you want to properly play the guitar. "If you can, practise every day for at least 20 minutes. Regular daily practice is far better than trying to play for several hours once or twice a week" (Evans, 37). I thought that this tip was really important to remember because before I had purchased this book, I attempted to self-teach myself and I ended up practicing guitar for hours only a few times a week. When doing this, it really just resulted in me getting tired and discouraged of playing anymore. I am definitely going to start practicing almost everyday for smaller periods of time because it will be much more efficient. Another good tip that I learned is to be patient. "Make sure you can play each piece smoothly at the right speed before going on to the next tune. However, try to learn something new every week, even if it is a simple tune or a couple of chords" (Evans, 37). This is a useful tip for anyone trying to play any instrument, because I know I get discouraged and rush through things since I just end up wanting to be really good at guitar right away. However, I've realized that it takes time to really get good at it and it won't happen unless I put in the effort to do so. I feel as if I'm continuing to learn a lot about playing guitar with the help of this great book.

Going back to what I said about experimenting with different methods of strumming, do you think it is best to use a guitar pick or just your thumb to strum? Why?

My First Attempt at Guitar: The Basics- Tuning, Strumming, Playing Notes

Music has always been a huge part of my life. Whether it's listening to music or actually making music, I enjoy it all. Since the age of 8, I've enjoyed playing instruments like the piano and drums. However, it was not until I reached age 13 when I decided I wanted to give guitar a try, partly because of the influence that guitar players like Niall Horan of One Direction or Ed Sheeran had on me. This led to me pitching all the money I had at the time to buy a fairly nice guitar. Two years later, I still have not come close to mastering the guitar. That is why I decided for this project to focus on trying my best at playing guitar, using the book How to Play Guitar: Everything You Need to Know To Play The Guitar by Roger Evans.

My Fender acoustic guitar

First of all, I had to start off by tuning my guitar. I had a bit of an advantage because I own a digital tuner, so it will tell me right away whether I've tuned the strings to the right notes or not. However, tuning proved to be harder than i thought. I would focus on one of the strings and turn the tuning peg back and forth, trying to get the right note but I would have no luck. Luckily, the book had some helpful hints of how to tune correctly. "If the string you are tuning seems to be more and more out of tune, you are going the wrong way. Turn the tuning peg the other way and see if the string gets closer to being in tune. If in doubt, always slacken rather than tighten strings to avoid straining them or the guitar" (Evans, 30). After applying these tips, I found that I could tune the guitar strings with ease if I just took the time to figure out if I was very close to the note or far off. I was then able to tune all six of the guitar strings quickly and easily.

My guitar has six tuning pegs that you twist in order to tune the strings to the correct notes.

The digital tuner I use lets me know if I have tuned a string to the right note by turning green.

Next, I attempted to properly strum the guitar before playing any notes. I had previously thought that to strum a guitar, all you needed to do was to basically just stroke the strings with your fingers. I couldn't have been more wrong, as strumming a guitar requires the right technique. To start off, your thumb needs to be relaxed on the 6th (the very top) string. "The fingers should be slightly curved and hang at right-angles to the strings, just behind the soundhole" (Evans, 20). It may sound unnecessary to make sure your fingers are at the proper angles and position, but I found that it made it one thousand times easier to strum the guitar if I followed what the book explained. Once I had my hand positioned correctly, I practiced strumming each string a few times so that I was comfortable with the guitar.

When strumming, your fingers should be just behind the soundhole (the location of the soundhole is pretty self-explanatory).

My thumb is straight while the rest of my fingers stayed away from the strings.

 To end my first proper attempt at guitar, I decided to try and play a couple notes. It is easier to start of playing basic notes because they only require you to put one finger on a fret at a time, unlike playing chords, where you need multiple fingers on frets at a time. I chose to play a song that I knew so that I could tell if I was playing it correctly. That song ended up being Ode to Joy by Beethoven. In my opinion, I think I did pretty well playing this song, considering this was basically the first time I had actually played a full guitar song.

The basic notes I learned on the first (thinnest) string and second (second thinnest) string.

Overall, I think I did great at my first official try at playing guitar. I'm looking forward to moving on to more complicated things like playing chords and playing more songs. Although this is only the beginning, I'm proud of how much I have learned and mastered so far. Don't expect me to be strumming out Thinking Out Loud for a couple more years though...

Question:
If you were to try out guitar like I am, what do you think would be the most difficult thing to attempt based on the three things I tried (tuning, strumming, or playing notes) and why?
Let me know in the comments below!