All right, guitars, guitars, guitars.
It seems like everybody in the world is a guitar player.
My name is Keith Wyatt, and I'm a guitar player, and have been for longer than I care to remember.
And if you're watching this video, you're a guitar player too.
I'd like to welcome you to the Ultimate Beginner Series.
If you play guitar, the most important thing is to get started right.
And so with this video, we're going to show you how to tune up, how to change strings,
and of course, the important part, which is how to get started playing.
So we'll start out by taking a little stroll around the music store here.
It's mind boggling, wallet busting array of gear that you can spend a lifetime fooling around with.
So let's get down to it.
There are basically three kinds of guitars to choose from.
What I'm holding right now is a nylon string acoustic, also called a classical guitar.
And it has a nice, mellow tone.
It has two other advantages for a beginner.
One is that the strings are much easier on your fingers.
They don't cut into your fingers as much as a steel string.
And secondly, since the neck is a little wider, it makes the cords a little bit easier to grab onto.
Now most people will start off with a steel string acoustic, like this one here.
And even though it might take a little longer to get used to it and build up your calluses,
it projects a lot better.
It sounds better when you're backing somebody up.
It just works in a crowd, like this.
Now there's one other kind of guitar that you might have heard about.
Electric guitar.
That's what it's all about, right?
But any kind of guitar that you play, nylon string, steel string, electric,
you've got to know one thing first, and that's how to tune up.
Welcome to our guitar fantasy world.
You probably recognize most of these guys.
They all play completely differently, but one thing that they have in common is they all have to know how to tune up.
Now the joke is that guitars are tuned at the factory, but what's no joke is that you're probably going to
spend as much time tuning as you do playing.
So we're going to show you a few techniques for tuning up.
But the first thing we're going to do is show you the parts of the guitar so you know what we're talking about.
Welcome to our magic little world here where we can practically walk inside a guitar and see what it's made of.
Now every style of guitar is different.
Certainly acoustic and electric guitars look different, but the essential parts that make a guitar work are pretty much all the same.
So by seeing what we've got over here, you're going to get a pretty good idea of how your guitar works, too.
Let's start at the top, taking a little stroll up to the neck here.
You notice this part here where the strings are attached.
This is called the headstock and attached to the headstock are the tuning machines.
These are the things that you use to tune up.
You turn the tuning pegs and then these are the pegs themselves to which the strings are attached.
And that's what we're going to use a lot when we tune up and when we change strings.
Now below the headstock is this little piece right here.
This is called the nut, and this is where the strings cross from the neck onto the headstock.
And this is the part that actually makes the strings resonate between the nut and the bridge, which we're going to see later.
Now, the nut has six slots in it, one slot for each of the six strings, and the strings are numbered in a particular way, which is very important.
The skinny string is called string number one, then two, three, four, five, and six.
Just remember the skinniest one is the lowest number and the thickest one has the highest number.
There's one thing you got to know about guitar players and guitar teachers when they talk about low and high.
It's not quite the same as you're used to.
You think of high as being the ceiling and low as being the floor.
Well, on guitar, it's different.
When you hold the guitar in your lap, this is considered the high string.
Why?
Because it's the highest in pitch.
It makes the highest sound.
And this is the low string, even though it's the closest to the ceiling.
That's very important.
So remember that because you'll hear those terms now and again.
Now, once the strings cross the nut, you're going to be onto the neck.
And as we move down the neck here, we see these metal pieces and these are called frets and the frets are numbered as well.
This is the first fret, second fret, third fret, fourth fret, and so on.
Now, most guitars have at least 15 or 16 frets.
There's the 12th fret and that's got two dots.
That's the octave of the open string.
We'll come back to that in a second.
And we continue to where the neck joins the body.
This is a cutaway here.
Most electric electric guitars have a cutaway.
It allows your hand to get up high more easily.
If you have an acoustic right around in here, you're going to see a sound hole.
But on electric, you find pickups one, two, three, even more pickups than that.
And then the strings finally cross the pickups and wind up at the bridge.
Now, on an acoustic guitar, the bridge is usually a straight piece of wood or metal of some sort, bone, plastic.
But on this guitar and most electrics, it's made up of six separate pieces called saddles that are adjustable back and forth to help keep the guitar in tune and to adjust the height of the strings as well.
And then the strings go through the bridge and around the back of the guitar generally.
And that's where they're attached to the body.
Over here, you have the knobs.
You can turn it up, turn it down and you can switch the pickups.
And that's pretty much how a guitar is put together.
The first common tuning method is to tune each string of the guitar to the same note played on a keyboard.
Now, if you don't have a keyboard, you can even buy a little pitch pipe, which has all six strings of the guitar on it.
And you tune up to each note separately.
Now, keep in mind, we're saying tune up.
That's very important.
Instead of tuning the string down to pitch like that, you tune up.
And the reason for that is that then you're stretching the string into place and it's going to make the guitar stay in tune better in the long run.
So let's tune to the keyboard right now.
The next tuning method I'm going to show you is one that's handy if you don't have a piano or any other source of pitch around.
You just want to tune the guitar to itself.
It doesn't matter necessarily if you're tuned perfectly to a piano.
And what you do is pick one of the strings on the guitar that sounds like it's pretty close and then tune the rest of the strings to that one.
Now, many people start with the lowest string.
And so if that sounds like it's about right, and it does, I think to me, then here's the trick.
This is called the fifth fret method.
And here's why you're going to play the low string, which is the one that's that's in tune already, and put your finger at the fifth fret and then compare the sound of the fifth fret to the
open fifth string.
Does the fifth string sound lower or higher?
Oh, sounds a little lower.
Now I can tune it up and I'm listening to see if they match.
That sounds pretty good.
OK, let's try the next one.
Using the fifth fret method again, I play the fifth fret of the fifth string, which is now in tune, and I compare it to the fourth string.
Does that sound lower or higher?
That sounds a little bit too high, I think.
Now, remember, we tuned up, so I'm going to tune down and come back up.
Might take a couple of tries.
Sounds pretty good.
Now we'll go to the next string, fifth fret on the fourth string compared to the third string, lower or higher.
Third string is too low.
As you get more practice, you can kind of tune it right into pitch.
Now, here's the only variation on the third string, go to the fourth fret because the third and second strings are tuned different in relation to each other.
So we go to the fourth fret here and compare the second string.
Does that sound lower or higher?
Sounds pretty close, actually.
We'll leave that one alone.
Now we go from the second string.
We're back to the fifth fret and compare that to the open, whoa, first string.
That's a little bit low, I think.
Tune that up.
Now, once you've been through all the strings, check it again.
I'm not satisfied with that.
This is fine tuning.
You do that a couple of times and then hold your breath and play a chord and see if it works.
Hey, close enough for rock and roll.
The third tuning method, which comes to us courtesy of the computer chip, is the electronic guitar tuner.
And like everything else electronic, these are getting smaller, cheaper and easier to use.
In this particular case, it automatically reads the name of the string that I'm playing and tells me, courtesy of the little needle, whether I'm sharp or flat, when the two red arrows light up, I'm in tune.
It takes all the guesswork out of tuning.
And finally, let's check it with a chord.
Beautiful.
Now, sometimes the guitar just won't seem to stay in tune no matter what you do.
And there are a couple of common causes for that.
One is the strings have not stretched into shape yet.
When you put a new string on the guitar, you buy the guitar and it's got new strings on it.
Often the strings are still finding their way into their proper pitch.
And what you can do to help along is to pull the string up and down a little bit like this and bend it a little bit like that.
And that stretches it into position so it'll be consistent.
Secondly, every time you play, you build up oil and grease on the strings.
And if you don't wipe it off, the strings will go out of tune and they'll stay out of tune.
So every time you play, wipe the strings off when you're done with a rag before you put it back in the case.
Now, sooner or later, the longer you play, the more you play, the strings are going to get old.
They're going to get worn out.
One of them is going to break.
Then what do you do?
Let's go back to the music store and find out.
Just like a good Boy Scout, a guitar player should be prepared.
Here's a couple of things to keep in your guitar case at all times.
First of all, a set of replacement strings and make sure they match the ones that are on your guitar now.
Second, a pair of wire cutters or a pair of needle nose pliers that have a wire cutter built in.
And third, a string winder.
Now, the reason for this will become obvious in just about one minute.
As I said, you never know when you're going to break a string.
Anything could happen.
For instance, oops.
Now, from this point on, all guitars are a little bit different, especially at the bridge.
Now, I'm going to show you the acoustic guitars in a second.
We'll start off with this electric here.
This has a pretty typical setup.
First thing you have to do is get rid of the old string.
You see a little bit hanging out here.
And so you shove it down through the body and you see it come out the back, grab it, and pull it.
Now, you notice a little ball on the end of the string, and that's very important.
That's what holds it in place.
So your new string will have the same thing.
The other end is still attached to the tuning peg.
So I just take it and start unwinding until it comes free.
Now, you get your replacement string, and make sure you get the right one,
because as you know, each string is a little bit different.
And take it out of the pack.
It's coiled up nice and neat like this, and just unwind it so it's straight.
Get all the knots out.
And then turn the guitar over and feed the new string through the body exactly the same way
that the old string came out.
So you find the hole there, stick it in there, wiggle it around.
It comes through.
You grab it, and just keep pulling.
And check one time to make sure that the ball goes all the way into the hole.
And once that's there, then you're ready to string it up.
Now, here's the trickiest part.
First of all, you feed it through the little hole on the peg.
Try to line the hole up along the neck.
It's easier.
And once you get it through the hole, you go through a certain amount.
Now, how much?
Eh, you just kind of learn how much.
You leave a little bit of slack about like this right here.
And then bend it slightly so it stays snug against the peg, okay?
Now, this is where that little tool comes into play, our string winder.
I take the string winder, and I place it right over the tuning peg, and I start cranking.
Now, remember, to tune up, you turn counterclockwise.
And as I crank, I kind of keep my fingers on the string, and just keep turning and turning
until it starts to tighten up, and try to keep the windings all nice and neat.
You don't want them to get all sloppy in there,
because that'll make it go out of tune quicker.
And eventually, you get to a point where it feels like it's kind of stiff, and you're there.
All right, now, last step, take your wire cutters, and cut the string off.
And I recommend, Harley, that you bend the remaining part down to keep
from stabbing yourself in the finger, and we're done.
Now, if you have a steel string acoustic, it's a little bit different at the bridge.
And here's the difference.
The strings on a steel string are held in place by little plastic buttons.
So, first of all, you get the old string out by reaching down and pulling the button
that covers up the broken string, and it'll reveal the ball end of the string.
You just pull it out, and then you take the new string, put it back
in the hole, make sure that the slot on the peg faces forward, faces the string,
and press the peg back into place, and you're all set to tune it up at the tuning peg.
Now, if you have a classical guitar, it's quite a bit different,
and the reason is that nylon strings do not have a little ball on the end.
Instead, you feed the string through the bridge, wrap it around, and there's a little knot
that you have to learn how to tie.
And the best way to learn how to do that is to have somebody show you how to do it up close
and try it yourself in their presence, and then you'll remember it for the rest of your life.
Like everything else in a music store, there's an incredible variety when it comes to strings,
but they really come down to three different types.
There's light gauge, medium gauge, and heavy gauge.
Now, if you're just starting out, you're probably better off with light
to medium gauge strings.
If you like what's already on your guitar, find out what's there,
and then get another set to have as a replacement.
But if you feel like you want to make a change, just experiment a little bit,
and there's so many choices, you'll have no problem.
Let's talk about picks for a second.
Like strings, there's basically three varieties.
There's light, medium, and heavier.
Now, if you play an acoustic guitar, you're probably best using a light to medium pick.
It brings out the resonance of the guitar more than a heavy pick.
Most people on electric tend to prefer heavier picks
because they have more bite on an electric guitar.
It's going to take some experimentation to find the right weight and size of pick.
Some are large, some are small.
After you play around with picks for a while, you'll find what you like.
And the great thing is they're cheap, so you can afford to experiment a lot.
Well, all right.
I assume that you've got all six strings on your guitar,
and you're pretty close to being in tune, so it's time to play something.
But before we do, let me take just a second to talk about how to hold the guitar.
Now, it seems pretty obvious, but there's a couple of points to keep in mind.
I've got a pretty big body acoustic here, and it's got this natural curve to it,
so I'm just laying it across my leg.
Whether you play with a crossed leg or play with your legs open
like this doesn't really matter, but avoid hunching your back.
It's very important.
You don't want to give yourself a bad back.
Now, you want your right hand to strike the strings right about in the middle
of the sound hole, and that's true whether you're using a pick or using your fingers.
Now, if you're playing a smaller style of guitar, like a solid body electric,
then even though the body's smaller, the same principle applies.
And it is your right arm brings your hand across so that you're going
to strike the strings pretty close to that front pick up there.
As far as the left hand, just kind of reach out and grab it,
and as long as your left hand is relaxed and you've got a good grip
on the strings, you're all right.
Now, if you have small hands, this is a concern of many younger people especially,
it's not the size of the hands that's so important.
It's learning how to use them efficiently.
And on a guitar like this with a relatively thin neck,
it shouldn't be much of a problem.
If you're playing a nylon string, classical style guitar, and the neck is very wide,
that can make some of the chords harder to play.
But it's strictly a matter of adaptation,
as some great guitar players have very small hands.
So don't let that even hold you back for a second.
Well, one other thing that every one of these guys here in this room has in common is
that besides knowing how to tune up, every single one of them, I guarantee,
started out playing guitar with the very same six chords
that I'm about to show you right now.
These are called open position chords.
And the reason they're called that is that they all include open strings.
And because they include open strings, it means they ring, they vibrate, they resonate.
And whether you play acoustic or electric guitar, these will be the chords
that you'll use throughout your lifetime.
So let's start out with chord number one.
And this is called E major.
Now let's form this open E chord.
And as I put the chord together here,
you're going to see a chord diagram appearing on your screen.
And the chord diagram looks like a vertical guitar neck.
And the dots are going to appear as I show you what the notes are.
And you'll see that outlined in yellow is a note which is the other root.
We've got the open six, open first, and an E in the middle.
And that's how the chord diagram is put together.
The numbers on the neck show you the finger numbers.
Remember the fingers, one, two, three, and four.
All right, here's how to play an open E chord.
Take your second finger and place it on the fifth string at the second fret.
Remember to keep it vertical.
Press it straight down.
Right next door, use your third finger on the fourth string at the second fret,
also coming down as close as you can to the fret.
And then finally, place your first finger on the third string at the first fret.
Give it a whack.
Does it sound nice and clean?
Can you hear every note, any buzzes?
If it sounds like this, there's a small problem which you want to fix.
One of the most common problems is that you're fingering it either too far away
from the fret or right on top of the fret.
You want the fingers to sit right behind the fret.
Notice how this finger right here is not touching the fret,
but it's as close as I can get it.
The second finger is kind of crowded, so I get it as close as I can.
And the first finger is also right up against the fret.
And that gives you the cleanest, clearest sound.
So that's open E. The next chord I'm going to show you is open A. It's called open A
because the open fifth string is the root.
Now this is fingered with three fingers, and there's a lot of controversy about this chord.
There's several different ways to finger it, and I'll show you a couple of them.
This is the one that probably most people will find most comfortable.
Place your second finger on the fourth string at the second fret.
Now you're going to have to keep it kind of farther away from the fret
than you would normally want to because next door you have to put the third finger
on the third string and right next to that the fourth finger.
So you notice all three fingers are pointing straight down on the neck.
The thumb is behind, and the wrist is down to cause the fingers to arch
and strike the strings dead on, and it should sound like this.
Now that includes the open first string.
That's a hard string to get the ring out at first.
It'd probably sound more like this.
Right? And if that's the case, which is quite common,
I personally don't use the open first string all the time
because of the difficulty.
Here's another way to finger that chord using these three fingers.
Now if your fingers are a little fatter like mine are, then it's harder to crowd them
into that fret, but that's also a good alternative.
And then finally, this is the secret A chord.
One finger laid flat across the same three strings.
You don't have the sound of the first string there,
but it's much easier to grab in a hurry.
Next up is the D chord.
With E, A, and D, you're going to be ready to rock.
Now the D chord includes an open D string.
And I'll show you the fingering again, one string at a time.
First finger on the third string at the second fret.
Third finger on the second string at the third fret.
And the second finger goes down on the first string at the second fret.
Putting them all down together like that.
Now one point to make, actually I should have mentioned this about the A chord as well.
There's a string you don't want to play.
On the A chord, it's the open low E string.
It won't sound bad, it just kind of muddies up the chord a bit.
So you want to strike the pick or your fingers from the fifth string up on the A chord.
And on the D chord from the fourth string, once again if you hit the A string,
it doesn't sound bad, it's just kind of muddy.
And if you hit the E string, well that sounds kind of bad.
So strike the strings from the fourth string up.
Now that we've learned a couple of chords, let's take another look at strumming.
Now the key, as I mentioned when we talked about holding the guitar, is relaxation.
Just let your right hand go up and down and strike the strings evenly,
both on the downstroke and the upstroke.
This is called alternate strumming or alternate picking, by the way.
Taking those three chords that we've got here and putting them together,
here's a typical kind of strumming pattern.
The next chord is one that requires a little bit of a stretch.
This is open G. Now the open G has the root on the sixth string at the third fret.
You're going to play it with your second finger.
So place that finger in position.
And then the first finger on the fifth string at the second fret.
And now you reach all the way over here with your third finger all the way to the first string.
And this is where it's crucial again, thumb behind the neck and wrist down,
because you want to get all those fingers to come straight down on the neck
so that all the strings ring out clearly.
And played properly, it should sound like this.
You're hearing three open strings, the fourth, third, and second in the middle,
and the other notes are fingered.
Now combining it, for instance, with the D chord, using the same three fingers
to play each chord, but in completely different shapes, and once again,
strive to get the fingers to go down as a group.
And then strum it together with the other chords and just kind of make up something,
see if you can write a song with four chords.
Rod Stewart did it.
The next chord I'm going to show you is the open C chord.
In this case, the root is on the fifth string at the third fret,
played with your third finger.
And then the second finger goes down on the fourth string at the second fret.
Leave the G string, the third string, open.
And then use your first finger on the second string at the first fret.
And then first string open as well.
And then all together, it sounds like this.
And notice I'm leaving the low string, the sixth string, out of the chord, only the top five.
The last chord I'm going to show you is B7.
It's got a number attached to it, don't ask me why.
But this is a kind of a bluesy chord.
It's used a lot in the key of E, and it's a very important open position chord.
Now it's played with the first finger on B, on the fifth string at the second fret.
Then the index finger, playing the first fret of the fourth string.
The third finger playing the second fret of the third string.
And the open second string.
And finally, the fourth finger, all the fingers get into this act on the first string
at the second fret.
It does have a little bit different sound than the chords we've been hearing
because it's more complex.
It has an extra note in it, the seventh.
Now combine this chord with E.
To hear a typical combination.
And so once again, you're working on getting your fingers to go down in groups
as you make the change from chord to chord.
Now we're ready to put these chords to work.
What we're going to do for you right now is play a rhythm track.
And this rhythm track is based on one of the most popular progressions that there is
in music, the blues progression.
And it's going to be played in four different keys, and it'll give you a chance to use all
of the open position chords and use them in a way that's very typical
in all different styles of music.
Now you can strum these chords any way that you want to.
I'll show you a couple of different ways to do it.
For instance, using the open A chord, which would be the first chord you'll play.
We'll start with just a steady strum.
This will be one strum of the right hand for every beat in the music.
And it'll be like this.
Two, three, four.
You can also play it with your thumb.
Now another pattern that involves the use of some upstrokes is this one right here.
All you're going to do is still use the same motion of the right hand,
but you'll hit the strings on some of the upstrokes.
You try to get a little rhythmic pattern going.
For instance, like this, three, four.
And again, you can do it with your thumb.
And again, you'll hit the strings on some of the upstrokes.
Well, it feels like we just got started, and already we're out of time.
And I'm sure you've got questions not only about what we just did, but about what to do next.
The best thing to do is to get together with somebody that plays guitar better than you.
It might be a friend or preferably a good teacher, and they'll help you through all the problems
that you're going to run into when you're just starting out.
And I know it can get discouraging.
It's painful.
Those calluses haven't formed yet.
But give it some time, and you'll get going.
And we'll also be back, by the way, in step two.
And we'll have a chance to show you more about chords and scales
and get in some improvisation.
In the meanwhile, if you need some inspiration,
all you have to do is listen to these guys.
I'll see you later.