Learn The Basics Then Pick Up Your Guitar And Play

Every year many people want to learn to play the guitar. A few succeed but many more fail. Learning to play takes some skills that most people can master if they really try. The whole idea behind playing guitar is actually picking up the guitar and playing. It is all too easy to get hung up in details and forget about the big picture.

You need to get comfortable if you to learn this instrument. Next you should learn the right way to hold your guitar and pick. Learning to tune is one of the most important skills you will need to master. Then you can jumpstart your playing by learning to read tablature. This article will take a look at a few essential things you need to think about when learning to play a guitar.


When starting your guitar learning adventures it is wise to get comfortable. It is hard to learn how to do anything if you are not in the right state of mind. Find a place to play where you can have some privacy so you will not drive your family nuts when you play that G scale for an hour at a time.

Take the time to learn the right way to hold your instrument. Bad habits are hard to break so take the time to learn the basics. It is a lot easier to learn the correct way than it is to have to start over.

Ask anyone who has had to listen to someone playing an out of tune guitar if learning to tune your guitar is important and you will probably get a quick answer. You cannot tell if you are playing the correct notes if the guitar is out of tune. With the modern technology available today anyone can learn to tune the guitar. You can buy an electronic tuner that will tune your guitar very accurately.

Learning to read music is certainly not for everyone. It takes many hours to learn to read music and most people just want to get on with playing. Fortunately there is an easier way to learn. Reading tablature is a method a lot of folks really like. Most people find reading tablature to be a better way to learn.

Use the method that suits you best to learn to play guitar but stay with the reason you started learning in the first place. Get your basics right and make sweet music by picking up the guitar and playing. That is what learning to play guitar is about.

By: Douglas Taylor

Free MP3 Downloads - Good or Bad?

Here is a site I came across recently where many MP3 files are available. This got me to thinking - is this a good thing for musicians?

So in this article I want to explore some basic questions concerning free MP3 downloading. Free MP3 downloading is one of the most important phenomena in recent music history.

The reason is easy to understand. Musicians and music publishers want to get paid for their work. The general public wants access to free music whenever possible. So there is a natural conflict.

On the other hand, some music groups have actually profited by encouraging people to distribute their music for free. One notable example is The Grateful Dead, one of the most famous and profitable music groups of all time.

The Grateful Dead became famous for allowing fans to tape their live concerts and then distribute the tapes among other fans. In this way, the band's following increased, leading to more concert attendance and more album sales.

So should musicians today be worried about free MP3 downloads of their music? Should publishers be up in arms?

Or should the music producers relax and enjoy all the free publicity that comes from having free MP3 music downloaded by potentially millions of fans?

In my opinion, music groups that plan to make most of their revenue from live performances can benefit by having their music download freely in MP3 form.

For music fans, the important thing is getting the downloads fast, easy, and free. So the free MP3 download site is certainly a popular option.

As for the future of MP3 downloads, we will have to wait and see. Expect many struggles between the music industry and their desire for profit, versus the fans and their urge to download free music in MP3 form for free.

by Lee Reeves