How to make your electric guitar play great

how to make your guitar play great

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Post on 12-Nov-2014

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Dedication Dedicated to my wife Joan, and daughters Meredith and Katewith love.Published by Backbeat Books 600 Harrison Street San Francisco, CA 94107 An imprint of The Music Player Network United Entertainment Media, Inc. Publishers of Guitar Player magazine and MusicPlayer.com

2001 by R. Daniel Erlewine. All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by copyrights hereon may be reproduced or copied in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews. For information contact the publishers. Distributed to the book trade in the U.S. and Canada by Publishers Group West 1700 Fourth Street Berkeley, CA 94710 Distributed to the music trade in the U.S. and Canada by Hal Leonard Publishing, P.O. Box 13819, Milwaukee, Wl 53213 Library of Congress Control Number: 00-136124 ISBN 0-87930-601-7

Printed in the United States of America 03 04 05 5 4 3

Editor: Meredith Erlewine Design: [email protected] Production: Daniel D. Erlewine Cover photos: Tom Erlewine, Summer Blevins Photo Credits: Many thanks to my friend Brian Blauser of Athens, Ohio, for his photos from our many setups of the stars road trips. Brian Blausers photos appear on pages 63, 64, 108, 113, 117, 118, 119, 123 and 127. Thanks also to Paul Natkin of Photo Reserve for his great photo of Albert King (page 128). Special thanks to all those who provided guitars and information: Allparts Music Corp.; Baker USA, Custom Guitars; Buzz Feiten Design; Carruthers Guitars; Dominick Ramos Guitars; Dunlop Mfg. Inc.; Epiphone/Gibson; Fender Musical Instruments Corp.; Fishman, Inc.; Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd.; FRET-King Guitars, Parts, and Accessories by Trev Wilkinson; Fretware Guitars; GHS Corp.; Gordon-Smith Guitars; GraphitAll (Rene Martinez); Graph Tech; Gruhn Guitars; Ibanez Guitars; J. DAddario & Co.; JM Rolph Pickups; Joe Barden Pickups; Lindy Fralin Pickups; Parts Is Parts (John Sprung); Paul Reed Smith Guitars; Sadowsky Guitars; Seymour Duncan Pickups; Stevens Electrical Instruments (Michael Stevens); Stewart-MacDonalds Guitar Shop Supply; Suhr Guitars; Tom Anderson Guitarworks; Tom Holmes Pickups; Tone-Pros; TV Jones Guitars; Vintique; Washburn International; WD Music Products, Inc.

IntroductionElectric guitars that are set up correctly shorten the learning curve for beginners and set the stage for advanced players to take their music to the next level. Unfortunately, even most advanced players dont know how to perform the tried-and-true tricks of guitar setup that will make a guitar rock and roll. Most electric guitars are factory made and roll off the assembly line in amazingly playable shape. Still, after shipping, settling and the inevitable shrinking and swelling associated with climate adjustment, its a rare guitar that plays anywhere near its potential directly off of a music store wall. Not surprisingly, used guitars present their own setup challenges. I never expect any guitarnew or usedto satisfy me until Ive set it up to suit my style. A setup is the combination of tweaks and adjustments you can make to your guitar so that it suits your style and preferences. A good setup can eliminate typical problems like fret buzz, strings noting out on high or low frets, poor intonation, string height (action) that is either too high or too low, strings that wont stay in tune, unbalanced pickup output, and tremolos which, if used, put the guitar hopelessly out of tune. Music store repair staff can set up your new (or new to you) guitar so that it plays the way you want it to, but if youre like me you want to do the work yourself. Dan Erlewine

Thats what this book will teach you how to do. Youll master adjustments that can make the difference between a guitar that sounds bad (or even good) and a guitar that sounds great. A long time ago I learned that with some simple tools and some common sense I could make my guitars sound just the way I wanted them toand so will you. And really, the best person to set up your guitar so that it plays the way you want it is you, so have fun!

Evaluating a GuitarHaving run a repair shop for more than 30 years, I can spot a guitars needs for setup or maintenance in no time flat and usually can suggest ways to make a guitar sound better than its owner even thought possible. By following the guidelines below, I seldom overlook a problem and can chart the course for a supreme setup. This evaluation is an absolute must when youre guitar shopping, too. It may help you negotiate a better price-or decide that even the best repair person in the world wont help the guitar youre considering.

Put your guitar (or the one youre thinking about buying) through these paces, making a list of possible trouble spots. The 1967 Gibson Trini Lopez I use to illustrate the steps of the evaluation happened to exhibit everything we need to cover.

Play the guitar

Play the guitar from one end to the other for as long as it takes to get a feel for its actionthe feel of how that particular guitar plays and responds to your touch. Then check the clearance between the bottom of the strings and the top of both the 12th and 1st frets. That distance will greatly affect the action, as will the amount of straightness or relief you deliberately adjust into the neck and fretboard. Relief is a measurable gap, or upward bow, in the fingerboard, caused by the strings pull and/or a deliberately loosened truss rod. In some cases, relief eliminates strings buzzing against frets (caused by the long, elliptical pattern of a plucked string shown in the drawing below). Ill go into more detail about relief beginning on page 19.

Inspect the guitar for cracks, dents, and scratches

I always inspect a guitar under good lighting, looking for cracks, dents, dings, and scratches. This may not affect a setup, but it might affect how much Im willing to pay for an instrument (new or used). This close inspection also protects me from customers who carefully look over their guitars for the first time after theyve spent money to set them upthey often find scratches that were already there! Hold the guitar at an angle so that it catches the lightany hidden marks will jump out. Inspect and feel the back of the peghead for any sign of a crack or break (especially on used Gibsons with mahogany necks, which are notorious for cracking across the grain). A good example of a broken peghead is the ES-335 below, which Ive reglued and will touch up with lacquer. You must have a broken peghead repaired before you start any setup.

Test the neck for strength and twist

Rest the guitar body face up and on the bottom back edge of the lower bout, support the peghead, and pull down from the center of the neck. Youll know immediately if the neck is strong and stiff or weak and rubbery. Stiff necks are best because you can easily control them with a little truss rod adjustment. Rubber necks, caused by weak or inferior wood, may never straighten out because the pull of the strings is too much for even the truss rod to correct. Refretting usually will straighten out a weak neck, but not always.

With the guitar in this position (the neck pointing straight at you), you can see if the neck has a twist toward either the bass or treble side. If it does, the peghead usually will dip in the direction of a twistin this case, slightly toward the treble side, but not enough to affect playability. I avoid buying a guitar if it has a discernable twistbut a wee bit doesnt bother me.

Sight the neck for straightness or relief

With the guitar on its side (the playing position), close one eye and sight along the fretboard edge. Sight first on the bass, then the treble side, to see if the neck (and especially the fretboard, because it is the playing surface) is either straight, back-bowed (away from the strings) or up-bowed (toward the strings). A straight neck is a desirable starting point for any setup; you may be able to adjust a slight up-bow (relief), but back-bow is always bad because it will cause the strings to buzz against the fretboard.

Another way to check for relief is to use the strings as a straightedge (above), fretting a string toward each end of the fretboard while stretching one finger toward the center and pressing the string down. If it moves, you have relief; if it rests on the frets, the neck is straight (or maybe even backbowed). Professional gu

How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great

Almost any electric guitar can be made to play great, especially modern guitars where the neck has a truss rod. All it takes is a couple simple tools and a little knowledge. Making a guitar easy to play is called a setup: when the strings are lower, the guitar is easier to play. Here’s what you need to know.

Checking for a straight neck

We need to make sure the neck is essentially flat. You can get a pretty good idea where you stand just by visually sighting down the neck with one eye. You’ll see any humps and valleys that need to be corrected. To take any guess work out of the process, we’ll use a straight edge. My straight edge is a quarter-inch piece of precision ground steel 24” X 3”. It’s one of my favorite tools, its thickness and heft make it easy to see any light peeking in under frets revealing a bow in a neck or any piece of wood. You may not have a precision straight edge handy, but a steel or aluminum ruler will suffice, as long as it covers pretty much the length of the fingerboard, or about 19”

Checking for a flat neck with a steel straightedge

Looking towards a light, you’ll be able to see even tiny gaps between the straight edge and the tops of the frets. If the gap, which will most likely be in the center of the neck (especially if the guitar has been strung up for more than a few months) is less than the width of a piece of paper or two, we’re good to go. If the gap is bigger, like the width of two credit cards, we’re going to straighten the neck.

Adjusting the neck

Depending on the guitar, there will be an adjustment mechanism either at the headstock or at the end of the fret board where the neck joins the body. It will be a heavy screw, a nut or more likely, a hex nut that requires an Allen wrench (hex key). If the adjustment is at the headstock, it could be under a small cover, easily removed with small screws. On a bolt-on neck guitar (like a Strat or Tele), if you see the adjusting nut but the pickguard is in the way to where you can’t get the hex key or screwdriver in there, here’s the deal. De-tune the strings so they’re loose. On the back of the guitar, loosen the four screws that attach the neck a few turns. This will allow you to pop the neck up to get access to the adjusting nut. Put it all back when you’ve got the neck flat.

The four screws that hold the neck on most bolt-on neck guitars

We’re not going to turn much, only one quarter turn at a time. Unless the neck has a severe bow, it won’t need much adjusting. Turning clockwise will bring the middle of the neck up, eliminating much of that bow. Do a quarter turn and re-check with your straight edge. While the truss rod may be firm to turn, we’re not going to turn it too far. The worst that can happen is to break it inside the neck. But that won’t happen if we adjust slowly only a quarter turn at a time.

When the straight edge lies flat across all the frets, you’re done. If there’s the slightest of bow still in the middle frets of the neck, you’re probably still good. Think about the physics of a string being plucked: the vibrating distance will be greatest in the center of the string, around the 12 th fret. If your neck is adjusted totally flat, it will probably take on a very small amount of bow when under string tension and that’s okay. We never want “back bow,” where the middle of the neck is higher than each end; that will make the strings buzz. If that’s there’s some back bow in our initial read of the neck, we’ll adjust the truss rod counter-clockwise to bring the neck flat. We’re ready to adjust the string action now.

The truss rod adjustment screw

String height at the nut

Precise Measuring

The StewMac string action gauge with super-precise lines

Raising and lowering strings at the nut

Common needle files good for starting a nut slot

The cut of the nut slots should angle just slightly from the fingerboard downward towards the tuners. The string should sit so about half or a little more of the thickness of the string is in the slot. If the slot is too shallow, the string will pop out during playing. If the slot is deeper, it may be workable but it becomes more likely that you’ll have a buzzing at the nut. If all the strings uniformly need to be lower, it might be easier to remove the nut and sand the bottom of the nut. The nut is lightly glued in and usually comes free with a hammer tap into a block of wood. If the bottom of the nut is curved to match the fingerboard radius, use the fingerboard as the sanding block using sandpaper on the fingerboard while moving the nut across by hand. 220 grit sandpaper is about right. Go slow. Use two small dots of white glue to glue the nut back in.

Japanese steel nut files

Are strings too low?

If the strings are too low, you will have some buzzing or string rattle across several frets. In this case there are two options. One is to remove the nut and add a shim to the bottom of the nut and glue it back in. The shim can be a couple pieces of paper with white glue, or a piece of manila folder cut so spec. If a single string slot is too deep and needs to be raised, this can be accomplished by a drop of CA glue (super glue) into baking soda that is sprinkled into the nut slot. Hitting that with a shot of CA glue accelerator will give an instantly hard repair, where you can then re-cut the nut slot at the correct height. Be sure to tape off the areas around where you don’t want the super glue to go, it will run like water onto the fingerboard or headstock. It’s a great trick.

If you yak this job up and the nut seems beyond repair, no worries. You can start over with a fresh new nut.

String height at the 12th fret

Intonation

While we’ve done the stuff that will make the guitar play optimally, let’s check the intonation so it will play in tune. Make sure a string is in tune and then play that string at the 12 th fret and compare the pitch. They should be the same. The 12 th fret is the theoretical midpoint between the nut and the saddle in the bridge. But it is not the mathematical midpoint; the bridge is a fraction of an inch farther. Measure the distance between the nut and the 12th fret, and it should be equal to the distance from the 12th fret and the bridge (plus about 3mm), and that distance (25.5”) is called the scale length of your guitar. If you fret a string at any fret, you are literally stretching that string and changing the mathematical relationship of the distance between the fret and the bridge. Adding that 2-3mm to the scale length compensates for that phenomena and the extra distance added is called compensation. Adjusting the string length so the fretted 12 fret is the exact same pitch as the open string (or the 12 th fret harmonic) is called intonation.

Use your digital tuner and make sure the string is in tune; then compare the pitch to the 12 th fret. It’s harder to do it by ear, so use a tuner. If the 12 th fret is lower than the open pitch, the bridge needs to be closer to the nut. We’ll accomplish this by not moving the whole bridge, but by adjusting the screw that slides the saddle for that particular string to and fro. If the 12 th fret is higher, the bridge needs to move farther from the nut. If it’s flat, the bridge needs to move forward towards the nut. In either case, the amount of movement is very small, so go slow, re-tune the open string, and retest.

A modern “hardtail” bridge; big screws move the saddles, the small set screws adjust the saddle height.

A twist on this is to play the harmonic for a string at the 12 th fret (lightly touch the string at the 12 fret while plucking it) and compare it to the pitch of the fretted 12 fret pitch.

What if the guitar won’t “intonate?”

If you can’t get a string to intonate correctly, there could be a couple of things going on. It’s unlikely on a modern guitar, but the bridge could be in the wrong place on the body, a quarter-inch off, either way, would make it impossible to intonate. You see this more often on older, cheap acoustic guitars. A quick measurement will verify if the bridge is placed correctly.

Another possibility is that a string slot in the nut was improperly cut, and the string is contacting the back of the nut, not the front; about a quarter-inch difference. It’s also possible that the nut slot has picked up enough dirt and grunge that the string is seating at the back of the nut instead at the front; this adds almost a quarter-inch to the string length, making it impossible to intonate. Finally, I’ve seen old or grungy strings that simply would not tune properly. Easy fix, you just need new strings.

Neck feel

The next thing you may need to tend to while making your guitar play better is the feel of the fret ends in the neck. They should be smooth. If you can feel any sharpness, like they’d catch on your sweater, we can fix that. Low humidity has microscopically shrunk the width of the fingerboard, leaving the metal frets standing proud of the wood, or the fret ends have slightly worked loose and popped up. Eye the fret ends; if they are not fully seated, they can benefit from a smart rap with a small hammer. There are fret hammers with a softer metal head, like brass, or hard plastic. The neck should be supported on the opposite side to the blow. See if that seats the fret end. Then file those fret ends with a very small, fine file to remove any sharp points or edges. Do this with a fret dressing file, and be sure to tape around the frets with masking tape to protect the fingerboard while you work.

String gauge matters

The last thing to consider is string gauge. Using a lighter string gauge will make any guitar easier to play, but there are pros and cons related to tone. Experiment with different string gauges.

Professional setup

How to Play Electric Guitar (13 Tips)

Last Updated On: July 23, 2021

Did you grow up blasting rock music? Maybe you idolized Jimi Hendrix and wanted to take the stage just like him.

Whatever the case, we’ve got 13 tips on playing the electric guitar right here – all tuned and refined for you. Read on to learn more!

Tip 1: Do the Research on Electric Guitars

We know it can be daunting for most beginners picking up their first electric guitar because there is so much information on the internet about tips for owning the best electric guitars, how to use one, and so forth. Therefore, we briefly addressed some of the most common and basic concerns under this first tip for you.

What Is an Electric Guitar?

An electric guitar is a fretted musical instrument that requires plucking the strings (fingers or a guitar pick). It is connected to an electrical device called an amplifier, which helps convert the string’s vibration into electrical signals. Through the guitar’s pickup to the amp, such signals are strengthened so that, ultimately, the sound is produced through one or more loudspeakers.

An electric guitar is used for multiple sounds and styles in genres. They include pop and rock, country, jazz, blues, electric blues, rock music, rock and roll, heavy metal, and much more.

Several electric guitar types exist, including the solid-body, chambered body, semi-acoustic, full hollow-body, electric acoustic, and the six-string guitar. The latter is the most common type.

How Does an Electric Guitar Compare with an Acoustic Guitar?

When merely hearing the word “guitar,” most people would picture playing an acoustic guitar, another popular string-instrument in the guitar family (and one who often sounds more romantic and serene, you can say). Its cousin, the electric guitar, is significantly different because, as mentioned previously, an electric guitar’s sound can be shaped or electronically altered to create different timbres or tonal qualities.

Furthermore, when deciding whether to start playing an electric guitar or acoustic guitar, we could argue that electric guitars are more comfortable to learn on some level. They have thinner strings, are much slimmer, and are more portable – so much that you don’t have to lean over as much to reach the fretboard.

However, there are also reasons why electric guitars are harder to learn guitar on. One of them is that electric guitarists deal with more variables in play at any one time. In other words, there are more controls or dials that you must adjust to influence the perfect sound of an electric guitar. Therefore, this may be overwhelming for many beginners at first.

In the end, both guitar versions work the same; you can press while holding the strings down with your left hand. Simultaneously, you can strum the strings with your right hand to produce music. Also, in terms of chords, electric guitar chords are the same as acoustic guitar chords. Of course, when we discuss electric guitar chords, we are referring to those on an electric. Plus, some chords sound better on electric than other guitars (like acoustic).

What Are the Body Parts of an Electric Guitar?

Invented in 1932, the electric guitar has been designed with dozens of different models in mind. However, as part of our first tip in understanding this magnificent human-made instrument, it’s good to also know the standard features found on them and what each does. The standard components of an electric guitar include:

Tip 2: Get What You Need but Nothing So Fancy

To work an electric guitar effectively and efficiently as a first-timer, you must own all the right and necessary gear. At the same time, you should also focus on getting decent quality equipment pieces rather than spend hundreds of dollars on each item. Luckily, though, companies out there understand how tough it is to learn a new instrument, so some offer electric guitar starter packs to help beginners get quickly started.

Below are the essential equipment pieces needed to play an electric guitar. They are:

No matter how dead-serious you are about advancing your career as an electric guitarist, it doesn’t matter much about spending a lot on fancy new equipment. For example, you never know what happens along the way, such that you may pause from practice for a while or end up not entirely into the new hobby.

The key focus here is to start small when you are barely learning how to play the electric guitar. How you do so is to keep within a reasonable budget and keep things simple, like learning basic guitar chords first before playing songs on electric guitar. Let the learning process naturally take shape!

Where is it best to buy my equipment pieces to play my electric guitar?

These days, you can buy all the necessary gear online. However, if possible, we recommend visiting your local music store to look around and also discuss with the salesmen.

When it comes to between you and your music, each item should be treated like your own baby because they will feel more right when you actually feel and hold it at the start.

Tip 3: Get to Know Your New Best Friend, the ‘Amp’ (Its Channels and How to EQ It)

Basically, an amplifier takes sounds from your guitar and strengthens the sound waves to make them louder. The amp has different channels to help it achieve this. However, all amps have a “clean” channel: the pure tone coming from your guitar and the amp’s internal speakers.

Additionally, most amp systems have another channel called ‘distortion,’ ‘gain,’ and ‘overdrive.’ This second channel creates a more ‘fuzzy’ or ‘dirtier’ sound.

Depending on the amp you buy, some come with more than one ‘distorted’ channel. The multitude of these fuzzy channels enables you to play different and distinctive sounds and are easily switched between on the spot by pressing down on the amp’s connected foot pedal.

Keep in mind that most guitar amps have the same EQ knob dialers: gain, bass, middle, treble, presence, and master volume. They all are designed to control your overall balance of tone. The following briefly describes what each of the knobs does:

Taking all that into account, next, we recommend setting your amp to a standard clean tone as a default. To do this, you will need to know how to ‘EQ your guitar amp.’ When guitarists tell you ‘to EQ,’ this would mean you can shape your tone in a very controlled way.

In other words, you are basically toying with several amp dials until you achieve the quality you want. You can think of your amp as the heart of your guitar tone – without a proper amp setup, you simply won’t sound good.

Here are quick, specific tips to EQ-ing a guitar amp to achieve the perfect guitar tone. They are:

Essentially, you will have a standard set up for both your electric guitar and amp. As a result, you will play consistently and in a predictable manner.

Tip 4: Know Your “Elephants and Donkeys Grow Big Ears”

Are we still talking about electric guitars?

Yes! Part of the early stages in learning how to play the electric guitar involves understanding your guitar string notes function. Some would argue it is also almost like learning a new language because knowing the ins and outs of guitar sheet music will help you better communicate with other guitarists.

Furthermore, learning this very basic step in guitar playing speeds up your learning process. For example, if your instructor says, “we will be on the G string,” but this takes you some seconds to think about, then you might miss out on their subsequent instructions because you’re still wondering which string is G?

Each guitar string is associated with its own letter. They are as follows (from thickest to thinnest):

A key trick to memorizing this group of letters would be to note down the mnemonic device, a sentence where the first letter of each word corresponds to that string’s name. What’s more, is that most are usually humorous, making it easier for you to recall!

You can choose to remember one of the following mnemonic devices:

Tip 5: Learn by Watching Influencers and YouTubers

Watching is one of the ways many people learn new things, especially with playing an electric guitar. It used to be that back then, learning to play a new instrument was more challenging because the internet was more or less absent.

However, now you can familiarize yourself with the technical aspects, such as enrolling in online courses or (and we like free, so we suggest this one more) through YouTube. With the rise of the social media influencers phenomenon, dozens of these ‘local celebrities’ are more or less paid to share their video tutorials over a broad range of topics, including electric guitar lessons.

Additionally, you clearly can choose an offline teacher or who is merely a friend willing to help you out. Compared to learning guitar lessons online, nothing is as enriching as the old-fashion method. Your lessons are more valuable from just seeing your tutor’s facial expressions, the way their fingers dance across the fretboard, and how they arch their back.

Tip 6: Learn by Listening to Guitar Lesson Podcasts

Beyond visualization, another method in which we humans learn and grow is through listening. Ironically enough, there is a growing trend in audio technology, which will become the next big thing in the future. In turn, this has given rise to the disruptive medium of podcasting.

Therefore, we recommend improving your electric guitar skills with audio-based training. For example, on your way to work or biking to school, you may enjoy the popular podcast, The Guitar Podcast by Loren Hunt.

In the process, you will develop not only a higher Guitar IQ but an excellent overall ear. Plus, generally, listening to podcasts involves no costs or fees at all!

Tip 7: Download a (Free) Metronome App

There are many tips on playing the electric guitar, most of which have popularly advised using a metronome!

A metronome is a timing device that creates a steady pulse while the musician plays. It’s another piece of equipment to help with your practice, but it is free or one of the low-cost tools benefiting you. It’s easy to find online a free metronome or download a metronome app.

Timing is everything, especially when it comes to making music. You’d want to have good rhythmic control when you start initially. Then, later on, your sound results will flow in tune with other musicians.

Like with all good things, it takes time, and starting small goes a long way. So, always play any piece of music slowly with a gradual increase in the tempo.

Tip 8: Hit the Books on Music Theory

Hands-on experiences are backed by theoretical knowledge. To be practical with an electric guitar, one must also have some background knowledge of music theory.

Music theory is, basically, the study of music. Interestingly enough, music existed before theory because people were making music naturally before finding ways to explain how and why. Therefore, you don’t need to have taken a class to become a good musician. It’s just very beneficial to know the terminologies or technicalities.

Imagine those who cannot read or write but can still verbally express their feelings and thoughts to get others to understand them. Musicians are similar in that some are self-taught, never having learned to write or read music due to finding it all tedious an unnecessary.

So, by taking it upon yourself to understand some music theory related to electric guitar playing, you may end up picking up new techniques, creating unfamiliar music styles, and developing overall higher confidence in the process.

Tip 9: Sit up, Strap on, and Relax

Did you know that your body posture influences the effectiveness of your guitar sounds? But also playing guitar affects your body posture? That is why knowing how to hold your guitar is important.

For instance, when you stand or sit while playing your guitar for some hours, you may feel a strange ache, mainly in the back, shoulders, legs, and wrists. Due to tension buildup, this is quite common among beginner guitarists.

Here are several common areas of your body that mainly suffer from guitar playing and specific tips on reducing the pain.

Back Pain (When Sitting)

Some of us may already have bad posture when we sit to read or write. Guitar playing promotes this even more when you sit down to play because it causes you to hunch over to reach certain parts of your instrument.

To avoid bad posture when sitting and playing, push your chest slightly outwards. What you really want to avoid is arching your lower back outwards. Plus, you can consider investing in a quality ergonomic chair for all your guitar rehearsals and beyond.

Back Pain (When Standing)

When playing and standing, be aware of lengthening your back and keep your guitar at a comfortable distance. One solution to this would be to invest in a durable guitar strap, as mentioned earlier in the article. In this way, you control the distance from which your guitar is held.

What you can further do is adjust your strap first when you are sitting with the guitar. Then, your guitar should be at around the correct height for you when you stand up. Some prefer to hang their guitar lower or beneath your waist. However, the main idea is not to bend your wrist too much when playing. Also, when the guitar is too high, your shoulders become too raised for playing open chords.

Shoulder Pain

Unknowingly, most of us harbor our anxiety and stresses within our shoulders. Guitar playing promotes shoulder tension even more, especially when playing a fast passage. As this area of your body is where pain commonly occurs due to heavy guitar strumming, you should always actively remember to relax your shoulders then.

Tip 10: Tune Like There’s No Tomorrow

Often hear the term ‘tuning’ when it comes to playing the guitar? Tuning your guitar strings is one of the best ways to make it sound consistently exceptional at all times.

Tuning your guitar is a habit you need to develop – not just a skill.

We recommend learning how to tune your guitar strings as soon as possible because the sooner you know, the quicker you will have fun naturally playing without looking at the clock.

‘Standard tuning’ is one of the most common ways to approach guitar tuning. It strikes a balance between playing chords and playing guitar scales. Also, tuning a guitar involves various ways, such as tuning by ear (without a tuner) or tuning with electronic tuners, mainly including a microphone-based tuner, vibration-based tuner, and a plug-in/pedal.

For beginners, tuning by ear may be the longest time to learn but the most valuable (and natural) method. You will always have your hearing to rely on, if not your electrical tuner with you. Plus, you would not have to buy an additional piece of equipment if you mostly know how to tune by ear.

Nowadays, however, the most modern approach is tuning a guitar with an app. Given that most people spend most of their time on their phones, a guitar tuning app is the most convenient and low-cost method. Some tuning apps to consider are Cleartune and VITALtuner.

Lastly, what happens if you avoid tuning your guitar for too long? You would then have been consistently playing and untuned guitar, which makes you already used to the off-tuned sound at that point. Thus, it will be hard to recognize or become familiar with the sound of the “correct” pitch for each string.

Tip 11: Focus on Accuracy Before Speed

As often seen on rock n’ roll music videos, many artists thrust their heads back and forth while strumming quickly to the loud power of their electric guitar. It so happens that this should not be the case.

Most beginners focus more on speed before accuracy with their electric guitar. This is where it becomes problematic because you should be starting slow and steady. When you’re barely learning how to play guitar at first, you will need to train your mind first to know how to apply the right fingers to each of their associated notes and move around on your fretboard.

If you feel you have mastered one particular area in your run of notes, you can challenge yourself more in the next part by gradually increasing your speed.

Tip 12: Avoid Strumming Away Your Pain

When next focusing on how to strum your guitar, some players forget about what to avoid. The common disassociation with playing the electric guitar is that often beginners assume strumming hard to produce louder sounds is the way to go. However, violently strumming your guitar can lead to finger cuts, bleeding nails, and, thus, awkward bandagings.

An important tip we want to really stress is to strum in a balanced way. Besides, your amplifier is there to strengthen the electric sound waves. So, you don’t even need to strum as hard as you want your strings to sound. Bass tones are the first to be stricken, and as a result, they absorb most of your force. Strumming the guitar strings too hard leads to no balance in the bass tones and almost no mid or treble tones.

Tip 13: Rehearse Not Only Regularly But in the Dark and out in the Spotlight

Mr. Hendrix didn’t become ‘one of the greatest electric guitarists of all time’ overnight. But that is why likely many of us start to pick up an electric guitar in the first place.

Still, with such a ‘god-given talent’ like his, there were undoubtedly endless nights of blood, sweat, and tears into forming such legendary greatness.

Our final tip is beyond the obviousness of practicing regularly – you should also do it alone and in the public eye.

Rehearsing alone will lead you to have fewer anxieties than when having people around you. You may want to repeat a few bars of music a hundred times until you get it right. For this part, playing in solitude is the key (but then checking up on whether your neighbors are home is a different story). Plus, an intense solo practice will also allow you to, eventually, play without looking (maybe even blindfolded if you get that good).

Then, after months of rehearsals in solitude or combination with a few friends/tutors here and there, you will likely have a performance-ready piece. This is when we recommend you jump out of your comfort zone and into the spotlight.

What’s the point of honing mad electric guitarist skills if you won’t, eventually, show it off to an audience? Will you always want to play for yourself? Of course not!

Let’s not forget, after all, you boldly took it upon yourself to learn a whole new instrument in the first place. After conquering your intimidation and nerves of learning all the ins and outs of playing the electric guitar, you’ve come a long way, my friend – even far enough to conquer your next challenge, stage fright. So, stop fretting!

How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great: The Electric Guitar Owner’s Manual

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How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great is a set up and maintenance guide by the renowned luthier, Dan Erlewine. Erlewine has been in the guitar repair biz for decades and is reputed to be the most knowledgeable guitar guy around. Whether or not this is true, he is a leading light in the realm of guitar repair and definitely knows his stuff.

Unlike Erlewine’s excellent Guitar Player Repair Guide, this book concentrates solely on set up and maintenance. Things like adjusting string height and How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great is a set up and maintenance guide by the renowned luthier, Dan Erlewine. Erlewine has been in the guitar repair biz for decades and is reputed to be the most knowledgeable guitar guy around. Whether or not this is true, he is a leading light in the realm of guitar repair and definitely knows his stuff.

Unlike Erlewine’s excellent Guitar Player Repair Guide, this book concentrates solely on set up and maintenance. Things like adjusting string height and tension, pickup height, bridge height and neck bow as well as cleaning and polishing. You’ll learn how to turn your Strat into a hard tail or solve tuning issues with those pesky floating tremolos. There’s an interesting section at the end of the book devoted to case studies of specific luthiers working on famous folks’ guitars. Erlewine also saw fit to include a sheet of handy, dandy radius gauges for setting up your guitar. You can pop these die cut gauges out of the bound plastic sheet in the back and use them to determine neck radius and adjust your bridge saddles to match. Thanks, Dan!

Very clear, readable and easy to understand. I’ve watched some of his videos, and I hear his voice when I’m reading the book. I like his emphasis on using standard or non-traditional tools, as opposed to custom guitar-only stuff.

It’s definitely one expert’s approach and preferences, so cross checking with other books or online advice is still useful. There’s more than one way to do a lot of these things.

Even if I choose a different approach, it’s always good to know what Dan Erlewine might do Very clear, readable and easy to understand. I’ve watched some of his videos, and I hear his voice when I’m reading the book. I like his emphasis on using standard or non-traditional tools, as opposed to custom guitar-only stuff.

It’s definitely one expert’s approach and preferences, so cross checking with other books or online advice is still useful. There’s more than one way to do a lot of these things.

Even if I choose a different approach, it’s always good to know what Dan Erlewine might do instead.

A nice book, but not balanced quite right. Not sure if it had too much info or not enough. I’d rather have a bigger book with more info (which might be Erlewine’s Guitar Player Repair Guide—I gotta check that out next.)

Half of it is stuff I hope I never have to deal with (locking tuners, Floyd Roses, pretty finishes), and I wish it was more in depth on other stuff (nuts, frets).

11 Tips To Playing Electric Guitar for Beginners

How do you play electric guitar? If you’re trying to learn to play electric guitar, you probably know that it can be a daunting prospect. There is a lot to consider, so we give you the ultimate guide to playing electric guitar for beginners.

There is nothing cooler than rocking out on the electric guitar, but it is not as easy as it looks. All the masters have gone through picking out a guitar, amp, and some pedals and sitting down to practice.

It is essential to follow some expert guidance before making an expensive mistake or picking up any bad habits. If you wonder what you need to play electric guitar, you have arrived at the right place.

There are many things to discuss when it comes to playing the electric guitar. Unsurprisingly there are many divisive issues in the electric guitar community Guitarists are constantly arguing. Whether it is over the Telecaster vs Les Paul debate or Ibanez vs Gibson. There is always plenty of discussions when it comes to learning and playing the guitar.

Whether you are just looking to dip your toes into the world of playing the electric guitar or want to become an expert, our tips will help you get where you need to be.

Whether you’re reaping the benefits when learning guitar on your own with the help of blog posts or with an app that has online guitar lessons you can always improve technique and proficiency through concerted practice.

If you are someone who prefers a guitar app to help you while learning to play guitar, then see our list of guitar apps that we have reviewed.

How to Play Electric Guitar for Beginners

1. Get the Necessary Equipment

Before you get started, there are a few items you will need to learn to play electric guitar efficiently.

Guitar Amp

In order to play the guitar, you need a decent amp. Now as a beginner, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars on something top of the line, but you should have something that sounds halfway decent.

An amp is an essential companion to the electric guitar. Without a decent guitar amp, you won’t be able to get the full sound from your electric guitar. A good amp is the best way to release the full potential of the electric guitar.

Not sure where to look? Here’s a list of some of the best amps for electric guitar novices.

Instrument Cable

You will also need an instrument cable to go with your new amp. This is to connect your new electric guitar to the amplifier in order to create the best sound. The amp is pretty useless without it!

Guitar Tuner

As a beginner at playing guitar, you will need to learn to tune your springs. This is made much easier if you have a good tuner to help you out.

There are several styles of tuners you can get for the electric guitar. The most common type of tuners is the Chromatic, Polyphonic, Strobe, and Microphone. Any one of these will help to keep your guitar in tune and sounding great.

Some tuners are more suited to live and group environments. Make sure you speak to your local music store about which tuner is the most suitable for you.

You can find these at a local music store or online.

Strap

To make your guitar playing experience as comfortable as possible, we recommend getting yourself a guitar strap. They come in all kinds of colors and sizes, so you should have no trouble finding one you like.

Straps also come in many different types of material. The most important things are comfort and functionality. You want the strap to fit your shoulder nicely and have the strength to hold your guitar. It is very embarrassing when your strap breaks on stage, so make a good investment!

If you love to make your basic guitar strap stand out and show off your personality, try decorating your very own one with these enamel pins custom featured with any music notes, inspirational quotes, or clipart images that mean to you. Going beyond the guitar strap, you can customize your entire guitar with supplementary personalized stickers to make a whole cool look.

Picks

Guitar picks are essential when you learn to play electric guitar. These come in all shapes and sizes, but it’s prudent for beginners to start out using a thickness between 0.65-0.73.

This will ensure you can strum and pick effectively. Over time you will probably lose many picks and find many more in strange places. It is always a good idea to have a few spare picks if you play a live gig!

Last but certainly not least, you should make sure to purchase a guitar capo.

This tool is essentially a clamp that tightens the strings when used, meaning you can change the key you are playing in.

It is particularly useful for a beginner because it minimizes the number of complex shapes and stretching you need to play a song. Similarly, many online tutorials assume that you have a capo to hand. So make sure you get a quality capo as you begin your electric guitar journey.

2. Find Your Perfect Starter Electric Guitar

In addition to all of the equipment we just discussed, you will, of course, have to choose the best starter electric guitar for beginners. Playing electric guitars in all their shapes and sizes is an excellent place to start.

It is essential to be aware of what kind of guitar you need. As a beginner, do you need a full-size electric guitar? Or a lightweight electric guitar? When will you need an electric guitar with a whammy bar? These are all critical questions to ask yourself before you purchase your starter electric guitar.

Know Your Budget

So how much should you spend on a good beginner electric guitar?

It will depend on what you can afford to spend and how decent a guitar you want to start with. You will have to spend a bit to ensure you get a good product, but you also want an affordable electric guitar for beginners.

Beginner guitars are cheaper than the more prestigious and professional models, but that does not mean they are bad instruments. Your beginner guitar should last for a while.

The best electric guitar for beginners is one that keeps you playing even when practicing is challenging. When you are a great guitarist with a room full of instruments, your first guitar should hold a special place in your heart.

Do Your Research

Before purchasing anything, you will want to make sure you do some research on the best beginner electric guitar options and their features.

If you are interested in learning, you could probably spend all day playing electric guitars and trying out every type of guitar available.

Most importantly, you should consider the options for electric guitar body styles.

You can go with a solid-body guitar, which includes a few different options:

If you are looking for something other than a solid-body electric guitar, you can also take a look at hollow and semi-hollow bodied options as well. These are electric guitars that have hollow bodies, like acoustic guitars.

Semi-hollow guitars also have a completely solid center block, which helps cut down on their feedback.

Hollow and semi-hollow guitars are typically used with jazz music and some blues, rock, and country.

If you are looking for a guitar that can do funk and jazz and rock, it may be worth picking up a Fender Telecaster starter pack. And maybe in the future, you will move on to an Ibanez Stratocaster copy or a Fender Jaguar.

When looking at the top body options, make sure you consider the best options for your preferences regarding pickups and bridges. For most people, the easiest electric guitar to play and practice on is a double-cutaway body.

Your local guitar store should be able to give you a recommendation when it comes to starter guitars. If you want to be entirely sure, it will help if you visit other guitar stores to get a second opinion and browse some online forums for expert advice.

3. Learn Basic Chords and Scales

Regardless of the type of music you want to play with your electric guitar, you should make sure you take the time to learn your chords and practice scales. This will make it easier and more satisfying to know your favorite songs.

Some chords like B or F will be more challenging to learn as a beginner until you build your finger strength. However, you can learn simplified versions of any chords you have difficulty with, making it much easier to learn to play electric guitar.

As you progress, your finger dexterity and your muscle memory will develop. Running through scales and chord progressions will feel natural. And that is where the fun begins!

Once you have most of the basics down, try learning some really easy tunes. Picking out some of the best electric guitars for beginner songs will motivate you to practice harder.

Learning basic chords and scales will also make it easier when you come to play with other musicians. You will have common knowledge that will allow you to play songs and improvise together. This is the actual value in practicing and why many people learn to play the guitar in the first place!

4. Learn to Use an Amp

Obviously, with an electric guitar, you will want to be familiar with your amp. The amp is simply taking the noise from your guitar and making it louder. Knowing the ins and outs of your amp will make playing your starter electric guitar easier.

Typically, an amplifier will have different channels, making huge adjustments to the amp’s sound. Even the most basic amps will have specific features to allow you to modify and amplify your sound. The best beginner guitar amps will be easy to use and give a great tone.

All of them will have what is known as a “clean” channel, which is the pure tone that comes from your guitar and the speaker inside of the amp. Then most amps will also have another channel that gives you a more distorted, “dirtier” sound. This is commonly known as distortion or overdrive.

Some amps have even more than one gain channel, which offers you several different, distinct sounds that you can switch between with a foot pedal.

If you are brand new and just starting to learn to play electric guitar, you may want to use a standard clean tone as a default. To do this, we are going to talk about how you can EQ your amp.

You will want to set your three EQ controls (low, mid, and high, or they could be labeled bass, mid, and treble) at 5. They should have a range from 0-10. Then turn off any onboard effects that the amp has, like chorus, delays, etc.

After that step, you will want to select your clean channel and then turn your volume on the guitar up to 10. Then turn the tone control to the midpoint.

With the guitar and amp set up this way, you will have a standard setup that allows you to play with a predictable and consistent tone. If you have one of the best beginner guitar amps, then this should not be a problem. But playing electric guitars through bad amps is a sure-fire way to ruin your sound.

As you progress, you will be able to experiment with how an amp can change the tone and texture of your guitar and the volume. Messing around with your amp is one of the most enjoyable parts of becoming an electric guitarist.

5. Get Some Lessons

Once you familiarize yourself with the technical elements of the electric guitar you may want to get some proper lessons. It is an important step in your guitar learning journey.

There is only so much you can do on your own. This is especially true for electric guitarists because the possibilities are so wide and almost overwhelming for a beginner.

A professional will help you learn notes, chords, and progressions. A teacher will also help you set up your guitar properly.

It is important to treat your guitar, amp and other accessories right. A tutor will be able to give this guidance so that you can learn quickly and efficiently.

A pro will help you achieve clean or distorted sounds and show you the best way to deploy your pedals. This will help you when you are practicing on your own at home. If your guitar, amp, and pedals are not appropriately balanced, this can ruin a practice session. A tutor can help you get this right.

Additionally, playing with another electric guitarist is an excellent way of becoming inspired and vigilant with your practice. It is easy to become ill-disciplined if you only practice on your own.

An electric guitar usually sounds the best when played alongside other instruments like drums or bass guitar. Taking lessons will help you learn how you can use your electric guitar to complement the song and band as a whole.

It is a no-brainer! It should be easy to find lessons that focus on electric guitar for beginners in your local area.

Even if you have the best beginner guitar amp and the sexiest-looking electric guitar, you will need to learn from an expert if you want to sound good.

Getting some form of guidance will make you a better guitarist. Find a tutor that suits your personality and skill level if you genuinely want to improve your electric guitar for beginner skills. You won’t regret it!

6. Learn Online

Thankfully there are now several ways to develop your skills without ever leaving your home. There are so many online resources for guitarists that it is almost overwhelming.

There are several guitar-centered websites that can offer help. And plenty of guidance can be found on YouTube. If you want to be a great electric guitar player, several online teachers can have several online teachers that can help you do just that.

Online tutorship may be the perfect solution if you are not keen on taking lessons in person. Many musical educators like Adam Neely, GuitarJamz, and Andy Guitar, all guide development as electric guitarists. Their advice is free and informative.

Obviously, there are some techniques and avenues that, while available to electric guitarists, are not possible for acoustic guitarists. There are plenty of online videos that show you exactly how to use pedals, amps, and other electric guitar accessories.

7. Listen To Your Favorite Electric Guitarists

The best way to develop a style is by listening to some of your favorite guitarists. Knowing the sound, you like to listen to will be easier to determine how you want to play. While it may be difficult to sound like Jimi Hendrix or Jonny Greenwood, it is always helpful to feel inspired.

An electric guitar for beginners can seem daunting. There are so many knobs and effects to mess around with. You can become distracted from what is important. And it is difficult to become inspired if you feel isolated and frustrated with your playing.

Listening to a pro will show that practice is the key. Owning all the pedals in the world won’t make you a great electric guitarist. You can buy the most expensive amp, and it still sounds terrible.

A loud amp can make you feel vulnerable. You can hear every imperfection. Listen to how your favorite guitarists use their amp to make them sound better, not just louder. Listen to how they can extract different tones and textures and how they play around with rhythm.

Even some seasoned acoustic guitarists struggle to get the best out of an electric. It is all about using each tool at your disposal in the service of the song or piece of music.

By listening to a variety of your favorite guitarists, you will be able to hear how each person uses their amps and pedals differently. Sometimes you want to rock out. Other times an electric guitar can be used exclusively for rhythm.

The electric guitar is also capable of many things. Every electric guitar for beginners’ guide should advise you to use and train your ears as much as possible. Sometimes an electric guitar solo is the best thing in the world, but sometimes it is inappropriate. This is something you will become more aware of as you listen to more music featuring electric guitars.

8. Practice as Much as Possible

Practice makes perfect! Our final tip to start the process of helping you learn to play electric guitar is simply to advise that you practice as much as you possibly can. Whether it’s 20 minutes a day or 2 hours, making sure that you consistently take out your guitar daily will make you a good player.

Once you have assembled all the necessary equipment and accessories it is time to start playing. There is no substitute for good practice. This involves finding a good teacher, using online resources, and listening to lots of electric guitar music.

It is all about getting into a good routine. Every time you pick up your electric guitar, you should feel that you can make some good music. This means taking care of your instrument and having an objective every time you practice. It can be challenging to feel inspired every session, but thankfully there are now many resources to help you.

Inspiration can be found in many places. If you genuinely want to succeed, you will become excited and not disheartened when listening to masters like Hendrix and Clapton. You should take comfort in knowing that legendary guitarists only became great by practicing every day and staying curious.

9. Use a Metronome

Timing is vital if you want to become an excellent electric guitarist. The best way to learn any piece of music is by playing it slowly and gradually increasing the tempo.

If you practice this way with an electric guitar, a metronome is extremely helpful. It is a simple piece of advice that will be useful for anyone learning electric guitar for beginners.

It is a good idea to start practicing your rhythmic control at the earliest possible stage. You won’t be able to have fun playing with other musicians if your timing is off.

A metronome will probably be the least expensive bit of gear you acquire when you start playing electric guitars. You can even download a free metronome app on your phone.

You can spend hours browsing the internet for the best electric guitar for beginners. But you should also ensure that you take advantage of other gear that will help you nail the important technical elements.

10. Play with Other Musicians

Don’t be shy! Start playing with other musicians as soon as possible. One of the best ways to improve is by learning from your peers.

You can spend hours playing electric guitars on your own without making any tangible progress. The electric guitar in genres like rock, blues, and jazz works best when played alongside other instruments.

Find a pianist, a drummer, a singer, and even other guitarists. They will help you expand your musical horizons.

11. Try Learning Some Music Theory

Learning some music theory early on will make your life a lot easier. Having extensive music theory knowledge will not instantly make you a great guitarist. Practice and all the other steps we have mentioned are more important for beginners to embrace.

Eventually, as you become a better guitarist, you will find that knowing some music theory is essential to learning pieces and playing with others.

By acquiring a knowledge of music theory, you will know how notes, chords, tempo, and keys relate. This is essential to becoming an electric guitarist who can solo, play rhythm guitar, and even compose.

So, it is best to start early.

Can I teach myself electric guitar?

Yes, you can teach yourself electric guitar! However, learning electric guitar can be tricky, so following these steps will be immensely helpful as you work to teach yourself this new skill.

Can I learn to play electric guitar first?

There is no right or wrong answer here. You can learn to play the electric guitar first; however, before choosing to start with the electric guitar, it’s helpful to know the trade-offs of learning electric or acoustic first.

It’s first important to note that the fundamentals of acoustic and electric guitars are the same. They have the same amount of strings (six, to be exact), the same notes, and are tuned the same way.

Learning Electric Guitar First

Based on others’ experiences with learning to play the guitar, many say that the electric guitar feels easier to learn at first than the acoustic. The first reason that the electric guitar feels easier is that its strings are thinner. Because of the way an electric guitar’s vibrations play, it is unnecessary to have thick strings.

Oppositely, however, because the strings on an electric guitar are smaller, they are closer together. This closeness can make it tricky as you are figuring out how to learn electric guitar.

Another great benefit to playing the electric guitar first is the size of the guitar’s neck. An electric guitar typically has a thinner neck, making it easier to reach your hand around it.

Learning Acoustic Guitar First

Just like the electric guitar, you can most certainly learn to play on an acoustic guitar first. However, as we’ve already addressed, strings on an acoustic guitar are thicker. Because of that, learning to strum the chords can be taxing on your fingers in the beginning stages. However, your hands will become stronger starting on an acoustic guitar because of this.

Another benefit of learning the acoustic guitar first is the weight of the guitar. Acoustic guitars tend to be lighter than electric guitars, just by the nature of the guitar’s build. This makes it easier to maneuver the guitar.

Can beginners learn electric guitar?

Yes, you can learn to play the electric guitar first. Many guitarists suggest learning to play guitar on an electric vs. an acoustic to start. Utilize the following tips in your effort to find the best way to learn to play electric guitar.

Is it hard to learn to play electric guitar?

Playing the electric guitar is as difficult as you make it. Is it easy to learn something new, like the electric guitar? No, it’s not. However, is it achievable? Yes, absolutely, and some even say that learning the electric guitar is easier than learning the acoustic guitar.

For example, the strings on an electric guitar are thinner than they are on an acoustic guitar. The thinness makes it much easier to start learning the electric guitar than it does to learn the acoustic guitar. Once you get past the initial mental blocks that come with learning something new, you’ll be able to practice, practice, and practice some more, which will lead to great skill at playing the electric guitar.

How To Make an Electric Guitar for Beginners

If you want to know how to make an electric guitar, you need to be prepared for a serious undertaking. It is probably a good idea to start on the best electric guitar for beginners before building your own.

There are plenty of detailed online guides on making an electric guitar that you should consult before buying any materials.

Have a look at some of the best beginner electric guitars on the market for some guidance on what body shape, materials, and style you might want.

The best guitars for beginners aren’t necessarily the most flashy and eye-catching ones. Make sure to keep it simple!

So get your guitar out, plug your amp in, arrange your pedals, and start playing!

For those of you just starting with electric guitar for beginners, what is your biggest struggle in getting started? What aspect are you working the hardest to master?