First, wow – I’m sorry. I hadn’t realize that it had been 5 day since my last post. That is horrible.
For this addition, I’ve decided to write a bit about the gear that a beginner will need. In the following list, my intention was to cover what a beginner would need, keeping in mind two main things. The effectiveness versus the price of the product.
First, I think it is important to note that the only things you absolutely need to begin learning to play the guitar properly is an acoustic guitar, metronome (yes, I think that it is that important) and the Internet or a good book.
Additional items that would be extremely helpful include (in my opinion):
- Electronic Tuner
- Music Stand
- Guitar Stand
- Guitar Case
- Various Gauge Picks
- Any additional educational resources {Good Books, UnderstandingGuitar.org}
- Stool or armless chair
- Foot Stool
- Good Guitar Teacher
Note: the list above is presented in no particular order.
Why do I feel that each of these items are important:
Electronic Tuner
A beginner has enough to worry about, without having to worry about whether the guitar is in tune or not. If the guitar is not in tune, it will be impossible to learn how the different chords or notes are suppose to sounds as you are playing them.
Music Stand
This is one item that I personally resisted buying. Not because I thought the music store was charging too much for them – but because I thought that I truly didn’t need it. Just before I started taking lessons from an actual instructor, I found one on “clearance” at a local Sam Ash and decided to purchase it. Ever since then, I wish I had purchased one straight away!!
Having the music stand hold the music (with little arms that swing out to hold your book open to the exact page) allows you to read while playing. This might not seem important when first learning because most of the things you are learning can easily be memorized. But, here is one trick – what if you accidentally memorize the wrong thing because you only looked at the chord chart once?! Additionally, as you get in to more complex pieces, you won’t be able to continue to memorize them. There are other reasons I could list, but I believe these will suffice for my purposes for now.
Guitar Stand
This is one of those things I’ve had since I got my first guitar – the salesmen tossed a stand in when I bought the guitar. I used to store my guitar (it was a cheapo guitar) on the stand. Now, I strictly use the stand to hold the guitar when doing various things while practicing. Things like reading a paragraph in a lesson book or when getting a different book.
Guitar Case
If you’ve dropped a decent amount of coin on your guitar (especially if it is acoustic), then a hard case is important to store it. A soft case simply can not protect a guitar like a hard case. You may feel that you do not need one – especially if you aren’t taking the guitar out of your home (if you are a beginner why would you – lessons, thats why!) However, why take the risk. You can get a hard guitar case for for around $69. If you spent $250 or more on your guitar, then I think that you’d want to protect it… Consider the possibility of some one bumping in to your un-protected guitar, or a pet some how knocks it over…
Various Gauge Picks
This is another one that didn’t really make sense to me. “My Guitar came with three (same gauge) picks; why do I need more?!” At first, it may or may not be noticeable. However, different gauge picks allows you to “feel” the strings/guitar differently.
I think that you should try a variety of different picks (as well as have them on hand) and maybe even use different picks as you practice. Really see what works for you.
So far, what I’ve found is that I tend to like really, really thin, flexible picks for playing rhythm. The thin picks allow me to strum freely without “over attacking” the strings. When I play lead (usually playing a note or two) or scales I like “medium-heavy”picks. They allow me to feel which string I’ve just plucked which allows me to know where I am among the six different strings.
Any Additional Educational Resources
If you are on UnderstandingGuitar.org then you’ve found one! In all seriousness, additional resource give you different perspective on the same topic. Some times it is easier to understand one resource over another – I’ve always found that I need to read different books or websites to understand certain topics. And sometimes it just helps to ingrain the concept deeper in to my brain.
Stool or armless chair
I find that a stool allows me to sit properly, but you want at least an armless chair (I prefer a stool though). You probably have one around your home. You don’t need anything special. It is just important to not have arms on the chair to allow you to learn to hold and fret the guitar properly.
Foot Stool
This is the latest thing I’ve purchase and I did so because I noticed that my right ankle had started to hurt as I practiced. I believe that this happened because I was propping my foot up on the tips of my toes in order to get the guitar to be just a little higher. It was probably necessary to help with certain chords – I’ve been working on barred chords!
Anyway, I ended up reading (somewhere, I’m sorry I’m not sure where) that you do want to raise the guitar a little higher. It is proper form. Again, this isn’t a necessity however to learn to play with proper form is important.
Good Guitar Teacher
I have done most of my learning for books – Professionally, I’m a software developer and though I did go to college to get my career started, I first learned to program from books. Hours and hours with a book and I created my first piece of software. Granted, it wasn’t very good but it kicked started what has become my career and inherently my life.
I had approached guitar the same way. I purchased a guitar and my wife had a book (from when she was trying learn). I started going through the book and though I learned things, I never could “feel” the music. Nothing seemed right but I could not, no matter what, figure out what it was. Eventually, I decided to start taking lessons from an actual teacher. I’ve seen and heard such vast improvement that this must go on this list.
