Of all the musical instruments you can purchase, the acoustic guitar is one of the most popular these days. Why is that? Well, a number of reasons: an acoustic guitar is not only popular in mainstream and alternative music, but it is easy to carry, relatively cheap, and doesn’t require a whole lot of skill to begin to play. Sure, if you want to become a master of the guitar, you’ll have to practice intensely over long periods of time like anyone else. But the acoustic guitar is a remarkably accessible instrument.
Even so, you’re not going to access any acoustic guitars any time soon unless you can, uh, actually afford one. That’s why we’ve put together this “cheater’s” guide to both buying and playing the acoustic guitar. We know that if you’re starting from scratch, you’ll want to learn both. Here’s how.
Finding and Buying the Right Acoustic Guitar
Buying an acoustic guitar often means that you’ll have to put a little research into it: it’s a little like practicing the fundamentals of guitar playing itself. Instead of playing a song, your goal here is to make a wise purchase. If you really need a lot of help in finding a good acoustic guitar to purchase, then you’re definitely going to want to follow along here as we explain best practices for buying one.
Learning to Play the Acoustic Guitar
The acoustic guitar is all about chords: strumming them, picking them, whatever. That’s why you’ll probably want to buy yourself a good “guitar tab” book. If you can learn how to read tabs, you can practice just about any song there is. Purchase a guide to playing guitar tabs and you’ll be able to learn just about any song using a “fake” book.
Fake books are great for learning songs. A Beatles’ “fake book,” for example, will generally give you the melodies, chords, and lyrics to each song. You won’t find precise sheet music that describes all of the instruments used in the songs, but you will be able to “fake” your way through the song – sometimes, with incredible accuracy.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, it will pay to put your attention on the fundamentals of music theory. Learn the basic chord progressions – such as the I-IV-V progression – as well as scales, and the relationships between different notes. Learning these fundamentals will be an interesting experience, like learning how painters are able to make so many images out of mixing primary colors. The more you learn, the more you’ll be able to take those “primary colors” and change them to sound even more advanced and sophisticated.
It’s also important to learn strumming and picking techniques: a good strum or a good pick can really make you sound like a professional.
If you want to learn acoustic guitar, don’t give up: you can find an inexpensive option for yourself and pick it up more quickly than you may have imagined!
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