subject: 10 Of The Best Skills Required To Play The Guitar Correctly [print this page] 10 Of The Best Skills Required To Play The Guitar Correctly
During the first stages of learning, the primary goal is to build technical ability and to create a foundation of useful fundamental musical skills, both physical and conceptual.
Learning how all of the common and essential techniques are performed and notated is typically covered during the first 12 months. Here's a complete list of techniques and skills you should cover during that period:
1. Learning to name all the notes on the guitar - understanding the order of notes, sharp and flat names, finding equivalent notes, and octaves.
2. Becoming familiar with common alternate tunings (especially power chords in dropped D tuning, and recognizing slack tuning).
3. Alternate picking with the pick and fingers in the right hand (the use of up and down strokes with the pick, and alternate fingers when playing fingerstyle).
4. Using each of the fingers in the left hand individually to play melodies, and getting used to "1 fingerper fret" fingerings - stretching the fingers so they can reach between adjacent frets.
5. Playing notes simultaneously - forming chord shapes and double stop shapes in the left hand (3rds,6ths, 10ths, etc.), plucking two or more strings with the pick and right hand fingers (double stops,chords, and melody/bass techniques).
6. Playing power chords (movable E, A, and D shapes and open E, A, D, G, and C shapes), and memorizing all of the common open chord shapes (G, C, D, A, E, F, Am, Em, Dm, A7, E7, D7, G7).
7. Learning to perform common strumming patterns with a beat.
8. Playing arpeggio patterns and performing cross string picking with the right hand (knowing common repetitive fingerpicking and cross string picking patterns, and recognizing/using "inside" picking with the pick).
9. Performing hammer-ons and pull-offs
10.Understanding how bar chords work, and how they're notated. Developing the strength and coordination to perform bars, and understanding the concepts required to use movable shapes.
By the time the core skills are learned, a student is able to recognize and perform all the most important and commonly used materials in songs and pieces, and should be able to play a variety of songs. The above skills are those which are most used by guitarists, regardless of musical style. When students have learned to do the above things with facility and fluency, they can effectively "play guitar".
