Learn Electric Guitar In 9 Easy Steps
Learn electric guitar quickly with this 9-step program. This is one of our most popular guides so let’s get started!
In this free guide you’ll learn everything you need for a perfect start.
- Quick-start gear guide: Guitars, tuners, amps, picks
- What the different parts of your electric guitar do
- The secret way to learn chords at lightning speed
- How to make your amp sound good, consistently (channels, EQ & effects)
- 10 easy songs for guitar beginners
- How to strum with rhythm and musicality
- How to hold a pick correctly
- The most effective way for beginners to practice
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After reading this scout you will clearly understand how to learn electric guitar, so let ’ s prima donna in !
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How to learn electric guitar step 1: Buy the essentials
There ’ south a few things you ’ re going to need in your request to learn electric guitar .
You ’ ll need an electric guitar ( of course ) and you ’ ll besides need a cable and a modest practice amp.
You ’ ll need a guitar tuner. ( Something like the Korg GA-1 would be perfective. )
You ’ ll besides need a capo. The Jim Dunlop trip capo are antic :
You ’ ll besides need a guitar strap and a few different guitar picks ( a pick thickness of 0.65-0.73 is best for beginners ) .
Learn the 12 EASIEST beginner chords with our famous FREE guide
✓ Stop struggling. Start making music .
✓ Learn 12 beginner-friendly versions of every chord .
✓ This is our most popular scout and it will improve your chord ability promptly .
How to learn electric guitar step 2: Learn what the different parts of your electric guitar do.
Learning to play electric guitar international relations and security network ’ metric ton that different from learning on an acoustic. The basics are the same :
- You press and hold strings down with your left hand.
- You strike the strings with your right hand and that creates music.
So the basics are the same, but overall, learning electric guitar is harder than learning acoustic guitar because for electric guitarists there are more variables in play at any one time .
There are more ‘ controls ’ ; dials and things that influence the voice you create .
An acoustic guitar is simply a patch of wood with a trap in the in-between, there ’ s not much that can go amiss there. But for electric guitar there are a batch more links in the range that need to be mastered if you want to sound dear .
Let ’ s cover them off nowadays so you can start making music adenine cursorily as possible ! 🙂
Jack input
This is where you plug a guitar lead in. ( You connect the other end of the jumper cable to your ampere. )
Tone and volume controls
On your guitar you will have 2-5 dials near to the bridge. These are your volume and tone controls. Depending on what pickup you select some of these controls will be inactive .
Pickups
Electric guitars can change their tone by using unlike ‘ pickups ’. You can select which tone arm you want to use and that will give you a different spirit .
- If the pickup selector is leaning towards the neck of the guitar you will get a warmer, more muffled tone.
- If the pickup selector is leaning away from the neck of the guitar (towards the bridge) then you will get a brighter, crisper tone.
If you want to learn electric guitar you need to get comfortable switching pickups and understanding their different tones .
Whammy bar
You can press and release this to ‘ wobble ’ the tone of the guitar. It creates a tremolo effect. In my have 99 % of guitarists unscrew this and never use it again .
Machine heads
Turn these to tune your strings !
How to learn electric guitar step 3: Learn the names and numbers of your guitar strings
This is crucial for tons of reasons, but the main two are :
- If you want to learn electric guitar you must be able to read chordboxes and tabs.
- It’s important you can communicate with other musicians and guitarists.
Going from the thick to the thin, the guitar strings are : E A D G B E .
A good way to remember this is :
E lephants A neodymium D onkeys G row B immunoglobulin E ars .
Or…
E ddie A tellurium D ynamite, G ood B ye E ddie .
You pick !
For more information on guitar notes and the musical alphabet ( including ‘ sharp ’ and ‘ flats ’ ) read this article by Jack and Mike : Guitar Notes Explained: A Guide For Beginners
Important! Do you know how to tune your guitar properly?
To learn more about tune and tuners read Rob ’ sulfur article : How To Tune A Guitar: A Beginner’s Guide
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How to learn electric guitar step 4: Learn basic chords
Regardless of writing style, if you want to learn electric guitar, you MUST know basic chords .
There ’ s an entire section of this site dedicated to easy beginner chords so have a good expression around there. Chords are an essential part of your quest to learn electric guitar.
The easiest way to learn chords is to follow Mike’s stepping-stone approach.
For every harmonize you see, there is an easy version. As a founder, you just will not be able to play chords like F or B .
indeed, you have two choices :
- Chew off your own fingers in frustration…
- Learn an easier version of the chord!
Choosing option 2 allows you to have fun playing music while developing your dexterity and control. This allows you to ‘ graduate ’ to playing the more unmanageable chord versions belated .
If these chordboxes don ’ t make sense to you, read our article How To Read Chordboxes In 60 Seconds .
( Figuring out how to learn electric guitar will be impossible if you can ’ triiodothyronine read chordboxes ! )
Learn the 12 EASIEST beginner chords with our famous FREE guide
✓ Stop contend. Start making music .
✓ Learn 12 beginner-friendly versions of every chord .
✓ This is our most popular steer and it will improve your chord ability promptly .
How to learn electric guitar step 5: Learn how to create a good amp tone, consistently
Now this is super-important.
The most fundamental remainder between learning the acoustic guitar and trying to learn electric guitar is volume : we ’ re talking about amps !
To play electric guitar we use amplifiers and while it ’ s not substantive for you to use an adenosine monophosphate, if you play electric guitar without an ampere it will be identical repose ( and you will be denying yourself the most stimulate view of the guitar know ) .
If you are a total founder guitarist there is nothing wrong with learning to play your electric guitar without an amplifier. But once you have a few bare harmonize shapes under your belt you should start using your ampere equally soon as possible .
Why your amp sound is so important
A guitar amplifier is just a loudspeaker. That ’ s all it is. You plug in your electric guitar and your loudspeaker ( AKA ‘ amp ’ ) makes it louder by amplifying the electric signal that you sent to it from your guitar .
It ’ s absolutely crucial that you learn how to use your amplifier .
One of the most influential factors that will determine whether you are successful or not in learning to play your electric guitar is how good you sound when you play.
- If you sound good when you play there is a greater chance that you will enjoy playing and that will encourage you to practice more (and you will therefore progress faster).
- If you sound bad when you play this will predispose you to play your guitar less.
If the tone of your ampere is icky even a great guitarist can sound bad .
If you want to learn electric guitar it is absolutely vital that you learn how to get a pleasant tone from your guitar amplifier.
But of course, it will take clock for you to master the diverse controls and understand how that shapes your amplifier ’ randomness spirit. Let ’ s break it down in a simpleton way and make this easy .
