A person’s knowledge of strumming can develop aside from his usual strumming patterns if he learns more on chords and strumming techniques. This will help him master many strumming patterns that will enable him to be more creative in his guitar playing and surpass his old style of strumming. Here are some tips that will help a person to strum the guitar.

1. To be an expert on strumming, a person should first learn the basic steps and patterns as well as the proper way of down stroking and up stroking on the strings of the guitar. It is important that there is smooth execution and a balanced rhythm to the strumming.

2. He must keep a steady rhythm to his strumming; if he wants to have a slow pace on the strum he may do so as long as it is done smoothly and with precision. Sometimes the strokes tend to slow down or speed up if the chords are complicated or more difficult for beginners.

3. There are also strumming patterns that do not require a person to change the pace of his strum or oppose the down stroke or the up stroke. He must only do it with a nice and steady flow with a smooth flicking stroke all going in the same direction.

4. He must make sure that the rotation of his wrist is patterned to the motion of the guitar and his strumming. It does not matter which stroke he is doing or what kind of skill levels he has in his strumming. Remember not to let the wrist tighten while picking or strumming.

There are many variations of strumming and they depend on the skills a person may have on the guitar. The type of the guitar that the person is using will also influence the pattern of his strumming. For many who play the guitar, they see strumming as coming from the wrists and the fast or slow stroking during the strumming is regulated by it.

In order to play the chords, the beginner should first start with the three most common chords. They are the G major chord, C major chord and the D major chord. These are the easiest chords and they should be the ones practiced first.

When playing the G major chord, the guitar player should place the second finger on the sixth string of the third fret. Then he can place the first finger on the fifth string of the second fret. The third finger is then placed on the third fret of the first string. It is important to remember that the fingers should be curled and should not be touching any other strings that they are not supposed to touch. He can then strike all the six strings in one continuous strum. They should make the sound at the same time and not one at a time.

In playing the C major key, all he can do is place the third finger on the third fret of the fifth string. Then, the second finger may be placed on the second fret of the fourth string. He can finally place the first finger on the first fret of the second string. It is important to be careful and not hit the sixth string. Only the bottom five strings should be strummed when playing the C major key.

The D major key may be difficult for some beginners because all three fingers crowd into a very small area. After the technique id learned this should not be a problem to everyone. The beginner can put the first finger on the third string of the fourth fret. Then he can place the third finger on the second string of the third fret. Finally, he can put the second finger on the first string of the second fret. He can then strum the four bottom strings to play the D major key.

It is important to be familiar with these three basic chords before starting to learn the more complicated ones, as these are the chords that are commonly used to play many songs. He can start learning by choosing songs that only have these three chords for his practice and remember, it is by practicing that a person will be able to master playing chords with the guitar.

1. The guitar player should first identify if the guitar is in or out of tune. A guitar is out of tune if the chords are played but the sounds do not seem right which means that it is time to tune the guitar.

2. The sixth string is usually the string that is always in tune because it is the largest string and does not go out of tune easily.

3. When tuning the fifth string, all a person has to do is place the finger on the sixth string on the fifth fret. He can then strike the sixth string. After that, he can strike the fifth string. If the sounds created were not the same, he can make the fifth string tighter or loosen it depending how low or high the pitch has become.

4. The person can do the same process on the fourth and third strings placing the higher string on the fifth fret and striking it. Then he can strike the lower string and if they do not create the same pitch, he can either loosen or tighten it.

5. When tuning the second string, he can place the finger at the third string on the fourth fret and either tighten or loosen the third string to match the sound of the second string.

6. Placing the finger on the second string and press on the fifth fret will be the method to tune the first string and then he can strike and follow by striking the first string open. He can either tighten or loosen the second string to match the sound of the first string.

7. To check to determine if the guitar is in tune, all he has to do is try a chord. If the guitar still does not sound in tune, he can do the process again until he is able to fine-tune the guitar.

This is the easiest method of tuning a guitar. There are also electric methods to tune a guitar, but this traditional method is the most efficient. Once a beginner is able to learn how to tune a guitar, learning to play it will never be that hard.

1. The tuning of the guitar must be replaced from its regular chord tuning of E-A-D-G-B-E to a more open tuning; with the chord alignment on the D major arranged as D-G-D-B-D. The change should be from the sixth string up to the first string.

2. He can make a slide by moving the fingers of his left hand. The execution should follow the correct positioning of the chords. A smooth and slow slide would be perfect to accurately play the new chords.

3. Make a gentle grip on the neck of the guitar and expose the end finger to have a feel on the strings. In this way, you can easily make the slide with simple finger movement.

4. To create a wailing sound, it is necessary that you must only cover the strings that are needed for the slide. Sometimes the guitar will produce an unwanted noise from the strings if the slide is not properly done, so be sure that strings are properly covered by the fingers.

5. Always remember to have a slide vertically aligned straight to the strings. This will allow you to exert effort when making a slide than the normal way of holding a guitar.

6. You can make a little movement along the strings with the fingers. It must be executed with smoothness and gentleness. A hard press or tight hold might create distracting noises on the fret.

7. You can execute a slide on the first and second string making E and B chords and a D-major key on the twelfth fret of the guitar.

8. Then execute the slide going toward the bottom from the D-major key, which is in the twelfth fret for a G-major key in the fifth fret. That would give a loud wailing sound because of the slide.

9. You can make a slide going back on the A-major key, which is in the seventh fret and then release your fingers removing the slide and make an open twelfth fret to create a D-major sound.

To have a perfect execution in sliding requires more practice. It is easy to learn sliding by practicing with an open tone because all of the strings will have similar chords when they are strummed. If the strings are set up with their regular tones, the player needs to make sure to cover the right strings when sliding.

So, what should you do then? You probably got a cheap bag with the guitar when you bought it, a bag that in most cases is nothing but a piece of woven nylon made into a guitar shaped bag. If you are lucky, it was a bit padded.

So head down to your local guitar store and check prices for padded gigbags or even better, cases. Guitar cases have a hard shell that protect your instrument from damage, and I think cases are the best way of protecting your instrument. However, as a young 14 year old guitarist who is gonna ride your bike to band practise, a gigbag would be better, as most bags have straps so you can carry it as a backpack. I will recommend you to check out Ritter Bags, 500 series or better, as they are really good. They are well-padded, they are waterproof (or resistent, at least), and they have lots of pockets for you to put all your gadgets in (notes, cables, tuners, fx boards and pedals, extra strings, you-name-it), Also, they are one of few independent bag companies I’ve seen that make bags for odd-shaped guitars, like BC Rich or Gibson Explorers.

If you are a talented artist (and now I mean “artist” as in painter), you can try to customize your axe by painting it with some paint that will stick on (I’m no painter, I have no clue what paint to use), or you can (as I have done) put on some stickers. Basically, to customize your axe, use your imagination. Almost everyting can be done with it. Do not try to reshape it, neither the body nor the neck nor the headstock, as this can mess up the sound coming from it.

“My acoustic has a nice finish, however no scratchplate, and I play with a pick, what should I do” – Either you should go and learn fingerpicking or clenched fist strumming, or you could go to your local music store and ask for acoustic scratchplates. They most likely have some. I think the nicest scratchplates are the ones that are completely black, but this is a matter of your taste. Acoustic scratchplates have a protective sheet at the back that you remove, and then you put it on the guitar where you want it (align it with the soundhole), adhesive side down (obviously).

“My strap keeps falling off when I play!”

Get straplocks. Simply put. Boston and Jim Dunlop makes some nice ones. All there is to strap locks is: Remove old strap button. Insert new strap button. Put straplock on strap. Put strap on strap button. Strap button does not come off unless a) You remove the strap by triggering the straplock mechanism or b) the strap button comes out of its hole, in which case you pour wood glue down into the hole and put the strap button back on.

Every now and then, pick it up, check for damage and polish it. If you have an electric guitar, try loosening the strings a bit so you can remove the dust that most likely has gathered around the pickups. If you have an acoustic, loosen the strings and remove the dust by the bridge. You don’t need to loosen them much, just enough to get a cloth underneath. Also prod the hardware to see if it’s loose, and if it is, see if there’s a screw you can tighten. If you have a strat-type of guitar, check the nut on the socket. It is probably loose, so tighten it, either just by your fingers (but it’s gonna get loose again real soon) or with some pliers (don’t tighten to hard, or you are gonna damage the nut).

Now your guitar looks real nice and shiny.