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Basic Guitar Techniques and Tips

This document provides a basic introduction to guitar technique. It explains the parts of the instrument, the correct positions for playing sitting or standing, and how to place the hands. It also covers fundamental technical concepts such as finger positioning and basic exercises to develop technical skill, such as playing chords in quarters and eighths. The document offers useful tips for studying and technical routines that guitarists should practice daily.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
8 views23 pages

Basic Guitar Techniques and Tips

This document provides a basic introduction to guitar technique. It explains the parts of the instrument, the correct positions for playing sitting or standing, and how to place the hands. It also covers fundamental technical concepts such as finger positioning and basic exercises to develop technical skill, such as playing chords in quarters and eighths. The document offers useful tips for studying and technical routines that guitarists should practice daily.

Translated by

ScribdTranslations
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

BASIC GUITAR TECHNIQUE

PARTS OF THE INSTRUMENT

The guitar is a 6-string instrument. Below appears a


diagram of the guitar and the name of each of its parts.

Fig.1 The guitar and its parts

The strings are numbered from highest to lowest as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th.
notes that are produced are:
E (Mi)
B
3rd string = G (Sol)
D
5th string = A (La)
6th string = E (Mi)

1
CORRECT WAY TO HOLD THE INSTRUMENT

There are two ways to play the guitar: standing up or sitting down. When playing standing up, the
It is more advisable to have a strap, whose ends are attached to the guitar.
With the talí, you can hang the guitar on your body. The talí must go through your
left shoulder towards your back, with the other end coming out below your
right arm. See fig.2.

Fig.2 Standing Touching

When playing seated, the use of a thumb pick is not as necessary, although many guitarists
they prefer to use it always. There are two positions to play sitting: with the
guitar between the legs (classical position) or resting the guitar on the
right thigh, which is the position currently used in music
popular. Observe figure 3

Fig.3 Sitting Touching

Whether standing or sitting, your left hand will press the strings in different positions.
frets of the arm to obtain different notes or pitches, while your hand
right will press the strings to make them sound.

Fig.4 What hands do

2
The plucking of the strings is done in two ways: with the fingers that in
In this case, it is the 5 fingers of the right hand except for the little finger.
the little finger is used only in Flamenco music, it is hardly used
to play the guitar in general) or by means of a pick with which, one
they strum the strings with two movements: upwards or downwards.

Fig.5 Plucking the strings with the fingers

Fig.6 Strumming the strings with the pick

HAND POSITION AND FINGERING


Left Hand: the index, middle, ring, and little fingers are placed on the
front part of the arm and the thumb is placed behind the arm of the
guitar.

Fig.7 Fingers on the front part of the arm and the thumb behind.

3
Right Hand: the fingers are placed close to the strings to be able to
to press them. In case of using a nib, it is held with the thumb and index fingers.
index to pluck the strings.

Note: in practically all contemporary styles of popular music,


The pick is used to play the guitar. Guitarists use their fingers.
only when they want to play some type of more classic accompaniment, or
certain types of chords. In Latin American folk music, they are used.
mainly the fingers although in certain cases the pick or plectrum is used.

DIGITATION OR NUMBERING OF THE FINGERS:


In the case of playing with a pick, only the fingers of the hand are numbered.
left, except for the thumb, which is placed behind the
arm. Left Hand:

Thumb = does not touch


Índice = 1
Medio = 2
Anular = 3
Meñique = 4

When you see a zero '0' it means that the string is played 'open', that is, it is
press the string with your right hand but the left hand does not press anything
traste

Fig.8 Finger positioning of the left hand playing with a plectrum.

4
In the case of touching with the fingers, the fingers of the left hand are numbered.
likewise, the fingers of the right hand are identified by a letter that
corresponds to your name:
p = thumb
i = index
m = medium
to annul

Fig.9 Finger positioning of the left and right hand touching


with fingers.

There are nibs of different sizes, shapes, and colors. There are also
hard and soft nibs. The best nib is the one that suits you best. Visit
a musical instrument store, takes a guitar and tries different ones
pens for you to see which one suits you.

5
ELEMENTARY CONCEPTS OF TECHNIQUE AND EXECUTION

Technical skill is an important aspect of a musician, no matter what


music style to play. The development of a solid technique on the guitar
requires patience, persistence, and attention to detail.
In the guitar, the initial focus is on developing technique in the hand.
right, that is, the hand that presses the strings with the pick. The hand
the right is the one that presses the strings, so good technique in the
Guitar largely depends on the technical development of this hand.
The right hand presses the strings with the pick, making use of the whole
forearm when we want to play more than two strings simultaneously, or
pulsing while keeping the forearm and wrist fixed, when we want to touch
one or two simultaneous strings.

Fig. 10 Strumming the strings with the forearm.

Fig. 11 Pulsing while keeping the wrist fixed.

6
As we saw earlier, the strings are plucked with the pick in two
directions: a) downwards and b) upwards. For pedagogical purposes, in this
In this course, we will distinguish the direction of the brushwork with the following symbols:

Feather down
In Plumilleo upwards

The first principle of technique on the guitar is to make the picking towards
below sounds identical to the fluttering upwards

The reason for this principle lies in the fact that the downward movement is in favor
against gravity, while upward movement is against the
gravity. This causes the execution in both directions to not be equal and
requires a certain amount of work to match it.
To achieve this, we started the technical work with what's called alternate picking.
which consists of plucking the strings alternating with the pick on both
directions.

EXERCISE 1: Playing a Chord with Quarters and Eighths.


Note: observe that when touching the quarters you must necessarily perform a
feathering upward in silence without touching the strings, to prepare the attack
from the following chord.

EXERCISE 2: Combining Quarters With Eighths.

The purpose of these first two exercises is for you to maintain the feeling
by alternately playing eighth notes, raising and lowering the pick,
considering also that some of these blows do not sound and are useful
exclusively for the movement of your right hand.

7
WHAT NOT TO DO
Have your fingers tense or clenched. Release your hands and shake them as if
You would like to get rid of the excess water. This will relax your fingers.
Tighten the wrists or squeeze them. Use the solution from the previous point. If
If you feel pain in your wrists, it means you are exerting force and tension.
unnecessary in them.
Lift the shoulders. This creates unnecessary tension in the arms. Check
constantly that this does not happen.
Sit comfortably or if you are standing, adjust the heel comfortably.
Studying when you are tired. This not only takes away attention from what
You are doing, reduce your performance and your results.
In general, using any unnatural position of any part of the body
involved in your execution.
Never touch to the point where you feel pain, as this is a sign that
You are doing something wrong. Your fingers, wrists, your body, and your arms must
to be completely relaxed in order to achieve good technique.

SOME USEFUL TIPS FOR STUDYING


I. When you have problems with a passage or exercise we recommend:
a. Lower the speed
b. Review your fingerings in detail, try new options.
II. When you study exercises, study them with a metronome.
III. Memorize what you are playing to eliminate the sheet music and
focus your attention on the instrument and on what your hands are doing.
IV. Once you learn the exercise or passage, try playing without looking at the music.
instrument; this will strengthen your muscle memory and you will feel more confident
when you see the instrument again.
Remember that the most important thing to make progress is consistency. Practice.
keep a diary and respect your study schedule. Organize your study sessions, to
we give you an idea:
Pre-practice time, where you set the objectives of the session
study that you will study
Practice Time, where you work: technique, exercises, pieces, analysis,
reading, etc.
Time to freely explore the instrument, just play,
experiment, create, take the path you want.
Post-practice time, where you observe if you met the objective of the
study session.

8
TECHNIQUE ROUTINES

Previously, we studied the aspects of position and relaxation of the


fingers, hands, arms, and body, which will allow you to start working on your
technique. In this lesson we will begin to study certain exercises that
You should practice daily to develop and balance your performance.

In general, what does it mean to have a good technique?

Achieving absolute control over your fingers to be able to play with


uniformity, precision, speed, strength, subtlety, and that these elements in
control, favor your musical execution and expression.

In this lesson, we will continue studying some exercises to practice your


execution. We will study 2 types of exercises: a) rhythmic, which consist of
apply the stippling with certain specific values and b) applying this concept
in the scale of C major.

It is necessary for you to observe the instructions of the lesson at all times.
no.1, regarding the position and relaxation of your body, hands, and fingers.

The following exercises can be played on one or two strings, or on


the six strings of the guitar muted with the left hand.

Fig.1-Silenced strings with the left hand.

The goal of these exercises is for you to gain fluency in stylization and
rhythmic precision in your right hand.
Repeat each exercise with its variations nonstop for a period of time.
considerable until you feel comfortable doing it.
Always start at a slow speed: 60 bpm and gradually increase.
gradually up to 90 bpm.

9
EXERCISE 1 Syncope Of Eighth Notes With Alternate Picking.
This exercise requires a lot of precision since you must mute the flickering.
downwards from times 2 and 4 in the upper variant, and from times 2, 3 and
4 in the lower variant.

EXERCISE 2 Preparation to Play Sixteenths


For this exercise, it is necessary that each of the eighths be executed with
the downward scribbling. Once you master it and feel comfortable doing
Eighths in this way, you will be able to play the sixteenths alternating flourishes.
The practice of the sixteenths is fundamental for playing Funk, Fusion and
some styles of
Rock

EXERCISE 3 Combining Eighths-16ths


Next you have two combinations: eighth (long note) and two
sixteenths (two short notes) and vice versa

EXERCISE 4 Sixteenth Note Syncopations With Alternate Picking


This exercise is equivalent to exercise 1 but using values from
sixteenth notes. Take the necessary time to execute it with
precision. This is the most complicated exercise in this series.

EXERCISE 5 C MAJOR SCALE IN OCTAVES (1ST POSITION) AND


EXERCISE 6 C MAJOR SCALE IN SIXTEENTHS (1ST POSITION).

10
Starting from this exercise, we will begin to work on the left hand, as it will be
it is necessary to press on different frets to play the C major scale. Start
the scale on the 5th string, 3rd fret and ends on the 2nd string, 1st fret. See the
animation clicking on the blue button.

YOUR DAILY STUDY ROUTINE OF TECHNIQUE FOR A MONTH OF


WORK WILL BE AS FOLLOWS:

1st week (minimum 6 days)


30 minutes Exercises 1 to 4 at 60 bpm
30 minutes Exercises 5-10 at 60 bpm

2nd week (minimum 6 days)


30 minutes Exercises 1 to 4 at 70 bpm
30 minutes Exercises 5-10 at 70 bpm

3rd week (minimum 6 days)


30 minutes Exercises 1 to 4 at 80 bpm
30 minutes Exercises 5-10 at 80 bpm

4th week (minimum 6 days)


30 minutes Exercises 1 to 4 at 90 bpm
30 minutes Exercises 5-10 at 90 bpm

Always remember to practice with a metronome!

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS.

11
Always start your study sessions in the best conditions.
possible, physical and mental.

Do not study tired because your attention will not be at 100% and it is undoubtedly,
100% necessary.

Study motivated by the fact of knowing that practicing consistently and


Discipline is the correct path to achieve good technique.

•Be patient: certain aspects of the technique manifest immediately and


Others only manifest over time. Nothing is easy and immediate.
Developing technique is not the most entertaining thing in music, without
Embargo, the technique is what will make the music much more entertaining.
for you. The results are seen after a period of detailed work and
constant.

Make your goal weigh much more on you than the difficulties do.
that are encountered along the way. It surpasses boredom, distraction, and lack of
the desire to study surpasses anything that may seem more attractive than it.
practice. Invest time in your technique, and you will see the results before
what you expect; this is the best time invested, believe firmly in this
truth. Ask any musician you admire if this is a lie.
When the time comes, someone who starts studying will ask you, the
what you ask today. This is a proven law.

12
BASIC MUSIC
RHYTHM
MELODY
HARMONY

Let's define rhythm (only 3 videos on YouTube)


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2)[Link]

3)Unable to translate URL content.

Let's define Melody


Invalid input. Please provide a text for translation.

Harmony...how to create chords


1)[Link]

ADVICE: Search the Internet for the theoretical definition of each concept. Any
encyclopedia or dictionary is useful to you.
Second advice: write down any questions you have and ask. You can help yourself.
with the Internet.

Since what you want is to learn guitar, there are several websites that you
they can help a lot.

The given text is a URL and does not require translation.


This website provides a basic guitar course, but it has many other features.
most important, and it serves as a chord dictionary. (that is, it tells you
how all the chords are made on the guitar).

2) The provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable content.
I think that the best help this website can give you is the transcription.
of the songs with their chords or notes, it also tells you where they come from
chord changes from chord to chord.

3)Unable to translate the provided link as it does not contain text.


You just have to search by artist or by song.

There are other pages that give you more song lyrics. I will give you some:
1)[Link]
2)[Link]

13
On this other page, you also find a basic guitar course and they give you
the chords for you to play.
The provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable text.

Something very important that you must know is that you must listen a lot.
music... that's how you acquire musical perception and develop a good ear,
in addition to learning how to tune yourself and also to sing.

There are pages on the Internet that talk about guitar topics, about guitarists, about
sound effects, equipment that is used, and other important things.

I can recommend a forum where you can be a participant and ask until
the bare minimum. In this forum, there are many resolved exercises and concerns.
it is called
[Link]

Another one would be:

[Link]

In these forums, they teach you productive things like how to maintain the
guitar and they even teach you how to buy a guitar.
They also recommend brands and prices.
It is a community that thinks about the guitarist and not so much about commerce.
...gives you everything you need to learn.

There are several programs that are installed on the computer and are very useful.
I recommend one

[Link]

This helps you learn sheet music and reads them to you. With this, you can study.
many songs. There are people who make transcriptions of the songs in
Guitar pro and you can download them for free from the Internet. With this, it's very easy to get.
songs.

14
A SIMPLE EXPLANATION OF HARMONY AND SCALES.

MELODY is a sound at the same time

2) HARMONY is several sounds at the same time, which together sound like a
sound. Something particular about harmony is that it sounds good, nice, or simply
harmonious.
Harmony is the art of working with sounds and silences and making them beautiful.

We know the musical notes as: do - re - mi - fa - sol - la - si


What we have done is the natural scale of C major.

NOTE: There are many others and scales.

We will assign a number or degree to the do scale that we made with


precedence...that is to say:

I II III IV V VI VII
C D E F G A B

If you notice, the first degree is C


The fourth grade is FA
The Fifth grade is Sun
...and subsequently everything else.

Now I will give you all the natural major scales.

I II III IV V VI VII VIII


DO RE MI FA SOL THE YES DO
RE MI FA# SOL THE YES DO# RE
MI FA# SOL# THE YES DO# MI
FA SOL THE Sib DO RE MI FA
SOL LA YES DO RE MI SOL
THE YES DO# RE MI FA# SOL# THE
YES DO# RE# MI FA# SOL# LA# YES

THERE IS A SUPER SIMPLE RULE FOR THIS AND IT IS THE FOLLOWING:

1 tone 1 tone 1/2 tone 1 tone


1 tone 1 tone 1/2 tone

15
That is,
from first grade to second grade 1 tone
from second grade to third grade 1 tone
from third grade to fourth grade 1/2 tone
from fourth grade to fifth grade 1 tone
from fifth grade to sixth grade 1 tone
from sixth grade to seventh grade 1 tone
from seventh grade to eighth grade half tone

NOTE: Between MI and FA there is a 1/2 tone and SI - DO also has a 1/2 tone

Now let's make the chords.

16
MAJOR CHORDS ARE FORMED LIKE THIS:

I III V
C chord DO MI SOL
RE Re FA# THE
MI MI SOL# YES
FA FA The DO
SOL SOL YES RE
LA LA DO# MI
YES YES RE# FA#

MINOR CHORDS ARE FORMED LIKE THIS:

I IIIb V
C major chord DO Mib SOL
RE RE FA The
MI MI SOL YES
FA FA Lab DO
SOL SOL Sib RE
THE The DO MI
YES YES RE FA#

SHARPS AND FLATS

The sharp is 1/2 tone forward and the flat is the opposite of the sharp.
tone back
The sharp adds and the flat subtracts half of everything.

NOTE; each fret of the guitar is worth half a whole and two frets is a tone

17
18
ENCRYPTED.

The notation consists of symbols or letters that are used to recognize the chords.

symbol or
lyrics
C major chord C
RE D
MI E
FA F
SOL G
LA A
YES B
minor m
sustained
Flat b

19
HARMONY

The natural scales we saw earlier will help us start to make


harmony with the chords. Many people claim to know the chords in the
guitar...the majors and the minors, but you don't know how to use them,
they don't know where a major chord enters and where the better chord enters.

OK... In this class we will see the relative chords.

RELATIVE CHORDS:
The relative chords are minor chords, which are located in the
second, third and sixth degree of the natural scale.

In the following table, you will notice the letter m, which means that
it is a minor chord. The rest of the chords are major.

C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major


A minor. B major

I IIm III m IV V VIm VII VIII


DO REm MIm FA SOL I am SIB DO
RE MIm F# minor SOL LA SIm DO RE
MI F# minor SOL#m LA YES DO#m RE MI
FA SOLm I am Sib DO Rem MIb FA
SOL LAm Yes DO RE MIm FA SOL
LA Yes DO#m RE MI F# minor SOL THE
YES DO#m RE#m MI FA# SOL#m LA YES

20
HARMONIC CIRCLES

In this part, I will only take the C scale to show you examples, but you
you can do them with the other scales.

The idea of a circle or circumference is to leave a point and return to the same point.
That is to say, to be repetitive.

Taking the C scale, I can take all these chords to make a


circle

I II II IV V VI VII VIII
DO Rem Mim FA SOL Lam Sib DO

NOTE: You can play with the order you want. That is, reverse the degrees.

Examples:

1)
I VI II V I
DO Lam Rem SOL DO

2)
I IV V I
DO FA SOL DO

3)
I VI IV V I
DO Lam FA SOL DO

4)
I VI IV V II VI II V
DO Lam FA SOL Mim Lam Rem SOL

Make these circles in D, in E, in F, in G, in A, and in B.

21
HERE ARE SOME YOUTUBE VIDEOS THAT TEACH YOU
A LOT ABOUT SCALES AND TECHNIQUES IN GUITAR

1) URL provided does not contain translatable text.

2)[Link]

You can search on YouTube for this: CesarFornesBerlanga, he teaches about


electric guitar and Spanish guitar

You can find electric guitar classes like this:


My electric guitar school

You can find Spanish guitar classes like this:


Spanish guitar clinics

Remember who uploaded the videos is CesarFornesBerlanga

There are other teachers and in other languages....but this one is very good

22
NOW WE WILL KNOW SOME OF THE EFFECTS WITH WHICH
WE PLAYED THE ELECTRIC GUITAR,

Let’s listen to a brief explanation and its respective sound.

Flanger EffectsThe provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable content.

2) Compressor EffectsInvalid input. Please provide text for translation, not a URL.

3) Pitch Shift EffectsThis is a URL and cannot be translated.

4) Auto Wah EffectsUnable to process the request as the input is a URL and not translatable text.

5) Reverb Effects[Link]

6) Delay EffectsInvalid input. Please provide text for translation.

Guitar Effects: Distortion


The provided text is a URL and cannot be translated.

VIDEOS IN SPANISH (EXPLAIN BETTER)


1) Delay Adjustment
Invalid request. Please provide text for translation.
1A521DC&playnext=1&index=2

2) Chorus Adjustment
The provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable text.
3) Adjusting the ReverbThe provided text appears to be a URL and does not contain translatable content.
duhEbQ&feature=related

4) Distortion AdjustmentInvalid input. Please provide text for [Link]

The Wah Wah


Unable to translate the provided URL.

6) Flanger Adjustment
The provided text is a URL and cannot be translated.

7) Phaser Adjustment
No text provided to translate.

8) Adjustment of a Compressor
The provided text is a URL and does not contain translatable content.

9) Equalizer AdjustmentInvalid input


EJRk&feature=related

23

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