Jamming is Fun- Easier Said Than Done

The GUITAR is one of the most admired musical instruments of all times. It’s not only popular with the music-bugs, but it also tends to create a remarkable style statement. The rocking head shake style of the guitar players is so cool; it makes the audience go crazy.

Talking about the history of guitar, the use of similar musical instruments dates long back to thousands of years. The cool instrument has its roots back to Europe and central Asia. Since then the guitar has evolved aesthetically. The guitar has many forms broadly two- acoustic guitar which includes classical guitar, ten-string guitar, Portuguese guitar, Archtop guitar and many other. The other type is the electric guitar and electric bass guitar.

The guitar has well maintained its special place across the music lover’s community. I can be said that the guitar is all the rage with all almost age-groups, especially among the youth. The young music lovers aspire to learn the jamming style which seems greatly appealing and simple which indeed is not. Learning guitar takes a great deal of effort and dedication, coupled with immense passion for music which is found wanting in most cases. As a beginner player the first step should be to understand the instrument itself.. It is important for the new players to acclimatise with various parts of guitar. It means getting introduced to basic segments like the head stocks, nut, machine heads, truss rods, neck, body, pickups, electronics etc. All this is to fundamentally understand what is where and how it works. Next comes the part of holding the guitar in the right position. Guitar can be made to meet the requirements of both left and right-handed players. Traditionally, the dominant hand is assigned the task of strumming or plucking the strings. For majority of people this means using the right-hand. This is because the tune expression is largely determined by the plucking hand while the other hand is assigned the lesser mechanical work of gripping the strings. Starting with the playing, its important to build vigour and dexterity to be more like a pro, so that the gauche fingers can be moved smoothly for effortless tunes.

After being comfortable with the strings, the learner should emphasise on techniques of strumming styles, percussive strum, deadening, staccato strum, tricked out scales, hammer-on, pull offs, transposing keys, vibrato, palm muting etc. This could take a while, but the great golden rule applies here, that of practising more and more for flawless motions. After this the simple tunes can be started with and slowly going ahead with different range of tunes which cover number of chords. The basic chords are very important, once a player learns them he or she will be able to bang out a decent range of several songs. If the learner likes to be taught then e should ask a guitarist to show few basic chords, this is the best mode to learn and will go a long way. After this, taking a cue from the internet itself can help. This can be done by looking at the tablature of songs which shows where to put the finger to play the chords to a tune. It is perhaps a great way for guitar learners who can’t read music. Now, comes learning to play ‘barre’ chords. These are basically chord shapes that can be moved up and down the neck of the guitar. When a learner ‘barre’ the chord with finger, he is moving the top fret down to get in the different key. The easiest way of learning the ‘barre’ chord is by using a book and practising the shapes on the guitar and moving them up and down on the neck. For beginners the fingers get cramps and sores, but over time the hands will become stronger and fingers will develop calluses. Learning finger picking can also enhance the playing; many songs are entirely composed of finger picking. There are many different styles of it, it takes time to get comfortable with how the fingers move, but with time it will almost move by themselves. After being conversant with the guitar the most important part comes that of practise. The more a player practises; his fingers will glide smoothly and effortlessly over the neck of the guitar. As a thumb rule the best way to learn is to play that song. People who have become pros in guitar have not achieved it over-night. Of course, it has taken long hours of practice, hard-work and dedication. It is after years of good practice sessions that bring out a true guitarist in oneself. Some of the new learners find it difficult to move ahead and learn fresh and more difficult lessons but what can stop a guitarist whose true soul knows nothing but the essential ardour for music.