I don’t really understand how to play guitar or even how to approach learning.
Do you just memorize chords? When do you play individual strings instead of a full strum? Are certain notes and chords assigned to different keys?
It seems way above my head lol.
Help.
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It’s not inherently above your head, but it *is* a long series of things to learn – both physical skills and mental knowledge
There’s a bit of an initial hump to get over where everything is difficult and you don’t understand – but persevere until you can play something simple from a song you like and from then on it’s fun – and there’s pretty much an infinity of stuff to discover in music, it can keep you going for a lifetime 😄
Every time you use more than one string, that’s a chord (on-or-off key). The positioning of your fingers on the frets determines which chord you’re positioned to play. If you only pluck one string, that’s a note.
Yeah, you memorize the finger placings for the chords. Memorize them by name if you want to read sheet music, or just by rote if you’re winging it/only learning certain songs you like.
BGFalcon listed good progression to learning and gave good resources.
Mostly you memorize four or five finger positions, then adapt them out. E major is the same position as A minor, but one string down, for instance.
Really though, my breakthrough on guitar was sitting there plinking the strings one fret at a time. You memorize how the first and last string (Both E) sound, then you plink one of the strings next to it to see how they sound together. That gives you the first, second, fifth and sixth strings. Repeat for the other two, just kinda feeling out which things sound good together. You’ll quickly realize that there’s a few chains that just seem to work well together, and then you look at the charts to see what they are, and usually it’s a chord or a key. Bam, memorization finished, but from the ground up instead of trying to learn it from a book.
It took me a surprising while to figure out that strumming all six strings is the exception, not the rule. My tip: Find a song that you just LOVE and learn that. The little blasts of dopamine you get with each little victory will help keep you at it. It’s supposed to be fun,above all else!
you approaching it from the wrong way
all you need to know is that there is only 12 notes and you can find same note on multiple places on guitar neck
if you had really long neck and 1 string and if you could play/access all positions in splitsecond, you would not need 6 strings, all 5 are just shortcuts to accomodate human anatomy
so 1st of all learn names and order of those 12 notes and then you can just learn shapes for your left hand. Once you get it then you will realize how you play with your right hand affect sound and maybe even in time you will hear diffrence between upstroke and downstroke
rest of guitar is just fighting to get strong fingers and to make them to actually listen to what you want them to do ( because they kinda were not evolved to play stringed instruments, fingers are for grabbling) and math.
Also later you will get some psychology lessons of what emotion your culture assigned to those specific sound/chords
Tip; Fire up a netflix show and just do 1234 (f f# g g#) to train fingers and picking
I’M FIVE EXPLANATION
1. You memorize chords, learn how to fret those chords (do different poses with your left hand that go over the strings in different ways) and learn how to strum (actually make those fretted strings make a sound by hitting the strings with your right hand). You can pick any song and check out Tabs Ultimate Guitar and load up some chord diagrams to know what to do.
2. Strumming will produce a chord. Playing an individual string or “plucking” will produce a single note. A guitar chord is just a collection of six or less notes that play at the same time because you strummed all the strings at the same time.
3. If you wanna be basic, you strum chords and sing the lyrics. You just learn 4 or more poses with your left hand and pick up a few strumming patterns (arrangements or sequences of your right hand going up or down). This is fun if you’re a beginner but it gets boring.
4. Another way of playing the guitar at this point would be by plucking individual strings in a certain pattern while holding the chords. This patterned plucking is called an “arpeggio”. There are many kinds of arpeggio patterns just like there are many kinds of strumming patterns, but it makes playing the guitar sound more fun, makes it feel different, and you get the hang of it.
5. Later on, you learn to play single notes that form melodies so the guitar plays the part of your voice. Now, it’s not so boring and it’s like the guitar has a voice of its own.
6. Then, you learn to combine strumming, plucking, and arpeggios in such a way that the guitar can “sing” on its own without your voice, so to speak. But for now, you should focus on 1-3.
So this doesn’t really answer your specific questions, but I taught myself how to play guitar with Tabs (short for tablatures). It tells you exactly where to put your fingers and when for specific songs. It’s a great way to get the feel of the guitar and the motions/movements needed for playing without stressing you out with music theory and chords. They help you build memorization skills while being fun, because you get to play your favorite songs and see the skills they take to make happen. Sites like UltimateGuitar and Songsterr are super useful for learning tabs.
Once you get more used to the guitar and are enjoying the sounds you make, then you can study and practice more traditional chords. And *spoiler alert* you’ll find that you had been playing some chords all along, you just didn’t know that’s what they were.
P.S. I still don’t know the chords by name. But I bet I still can play them if you showed me the sound that you meant
Get lessons. Don’t watch youtube. You need a real-life person to understand where you’re struggling and to focus on fixing your understanding.
You’ll need to learn some music theory, too. Cleffs, time signatures, and note sub-divisions are the biggest things. A good teacher will teach you to read music.
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