Things That I Know

I started playing the guitar about six years ago, and I started by walking into a guitar shop and picking out the cheapest, most “guitar-looking” guitar in the store. Apparently, I didn’t get a very good one, but I got one with six strings and made of wood.

For that reason, my first guitar was good enough at the time. At that point I didn’t know what a chord was, or how to hold a pick. There was no point in buying anything expensive because there was a good chance that I was going to use the thing three times and be sick of it. Instead, over the next year I got better and better and eventually fell in love with the instrument.

About three years into my guitar playing, I realized that the guitar I had just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I went to the local Guitar Center and started toying around with some guitars and realized just how much better everything in the store was compared to the piece of wood that I had. The guitar I loved in the store was the Gibson J-200, which runs a cool $3000. That’s a bit out of my budget for a guitar that I only play to entertain myself.

So after looking around the Interwebs for a bit, I stumbled upon the Epiphone EJ-200. This guitar is the little step-brother of the Gibson (Epiphone is made by Gibson). None of my local stores carried the guitar so I couldn’t try it out, but I loved the way it looked and decided that I needed that guitar. So when my tax returns came back, I decided it was time to just go for it, and I purchased the Epiphone EJ-200.

After waiting for the doorbell like a six year old for a few days, it finally arrived. Right out of the box, this guitar is a sight to behold. I got the ebony version, but it’s also available in natural and sunburst. All three of them are visually stunning. From the moment I opened the box, the thing played better than any guitar I’d ever played.

Being a jumbo guitar, the EJ-200 has a powerful, almost booming sound to it. It sounds great when played loud, but it is also crisp and bright at low volumes. I’ve never needed a single adjustment on this guitar, it had perfect action (for me) and seemed to just fit in my hands.

Even the strings that it came with sounded great, but over the years I’ve tried many different kinds. I started out putting Martins on it and they worked well. Then I strapped on some D’Addario EJ16’s and it sounded unbelievable. The only problem with them is that they don’t last too long, and I hate changing strings.

For long life, I use either the D’Addario coated strings or Elixers, both of which can last for quite a while. Right now I have D’Addario EXP17 Coated Phosphor Bronze Medium strings on my EJ-200 and I couldn’t be happier.

Since I’ve bought the EJ-200, I’ve had the urge to buy a new guitar, and regularly go to the guitar shop to try a few out. The problem is, I’ll get there and wish they all sounded like the guitar I already own. I’ve played the top end Martins, Taylors and Gibsons and outside of a few of them, I prefer the sound of the Epiphone, even at a fifth of the price (or lower). The closest I’ve come to buying a new guitar in the last three years was almost buying another Epiphone EJ-200 in natural or sunburst.

I know this sounds like a Gibson/Epiphone sponsored ad, but it’s not. I’m simply an extremely happy customer. When I was going to purchase this guitar, I searched all over for reviews of it. If I can help someone else into this guitar, then I’ll feel like I did my job.

The Epiphone EJ-200 is a fantastic guitar. Don’t let the price tag fool you — you can get a top of the line guitar for under $400. I’ve done it. And now that it’s three years later, I can’t even wonder how it will hold up. It played great out of the box, and it sounds even better now.

This guitar is fully recommended by ThingsThatIKnow.com.

To me, learning to play barre chords is the key to playing the guitar. Once you get a basic understanding of barre chords, you can play any chord, anywhere on the fretboard.

A barre chord is a chord where no open strings are played. To play a barre chord, you start by putting your first finger across all of the stings on a fret. Then, you can play any chord based on where your finger is on the guitar, and learning a few basic shapes to make the chords.

If you can play an F or Bm, you can play barre chords. There are two basic formations to play barre chords. For our example, we’ll use the G and C chords. Of course you can play these chords in open form (G- 320003, C- x32010), or you can play them as barre chords.

As barre chords:

G - 355433
C - x35553

These are the two basic barre chord shapes. The “E Form” which is based on the open ‘E’ chord (022100) and the “A Form” which is based on the open ‘A’ (x02220). In this example, the G takes on the E Form, and the C is in the A Form.

From ‘G’, you can move up and down the fret board and play from an open ‘E’ to a ‘D’ or maybe higher depending on the guitar. You don’t have to move your hand at all. You can play a ‘G’ at 355433 and move to an ‘A’ by just sliding your hand up two frets to 577655. If you keep this shape, you are always playing the chord of the note on the low ‘E’ string. If you hold this shape and you are playing a ‘B’ on the low ‘E’ string, you are playing a ‘B’ chord.

The same goes for the C position. By sliding up and down the fretboard, you can play a variety of chords. The note that you are playing on the ‘A’ string is the chord you are playing in this position.

Now, simple changes in your hand shape can change the type of chord you are playing. Again, I’ll use the G and C chords to demonstrate.

G - 355433
Gm- 355333
G7- 353433
Gm7-353333

C - x35553
Cm- x35543
C7- x35353
Cm7-x35343

You can apply these chords to any spot on the guitar. Once you get these basic shapes down, you can play any chord instantly. If someone tells you to play a Bb7, you won’t even have to hesitate to play 686766. It may seem hard at first, but eventually it will make things much easier.

And don’t be discouraged if your hand just doesn’t want to play barre chords. You’ll have to teach your hand how to play it. Until you develop the muscle memory and hand strength, you may have a hard time. And you will definitely have a sore hand if you practice these too much, too soon. But stick with it, because it makes playing the guitar much easier in the long run.

How to play major and minor chords

No strings played = 000000
Basic tuning = EADGBe
x = Don’t play that string

Major Chords

A - x02220
B - x24442
C - x32010
D - xx0232
E - 022100
F - 133211 or xx3211
G - 320003 or 320033

Minor Chords

Am - x02210
Bm - x24432
Dm - xx0231
Em - 022000

What notes make up a chord? Here they are:

Chord Notes
C — C E G
G — G B D
D — D F# A
A — A C# E
E — E G# B
B — B D# F#
F# — F# A# C#
F — F A C
Bb — Bb D F
Eb — Eb G Bb
Ab — Ab C Eb
Db — Db F Ab
Gb — Gb Bb Db

For in depth lessons, I recommend Ultimate-Guitar’s lesson section.

For some of the real basics, lets start with what notes are on a guitar. Not just a guitar, but these are the musical notes if you don’t have any music background.

Starting with ‘A’, these are the notes you’ll find in order the following.

# = sharp
b = flat

“Sharp” means one step above the listed note. So ‘A#’ is one step above ‘A’
“Flat” is one step below the note. So ‘Bb” is one step below ‘B’
A# and Bb are the exact same thing.

A, A#, B, C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#

After G#, the scale goes back to ‘A’.

So, on the ‘D’ string, your notes are:
Open fret: D
1st fret: D# or Eb
2nd fret: E
3rd fret: F
4th fret: F# or Gb
5th fret: G
6th fret: G# or Ab
7th fret: A
8th fret: A# or Bb
9th fret: B
10th fret: C
11th fret: C# or Db
12th fret: D

The 12th fret on a string will always play the same note as the string itself.

Rather than read sheet music, most guitarists read “tabs.” Tabs are music written out for the guitar by string and fret. Tabs can be simple, one note at a time; or, they can be very complex with multiple notes being played simultaneously. We’ll start off here with the basics of how to read a tab.

The standard tuning on a guitar is E-A-D-G-B-e. That means from the top (thickest/bass string) to the bottom (thinest/highest) string, the strings are tuned EADGBe. Both the first and sixth string are both tuned to ‘E’, so a lowercase ‘e’ is used on the higher string to differentiate the string we’re talking about.

A basic tab sheet will look like this:

e———————————
B———————————
G———————————
D———————————
A———————————
E———————————

Now, any number that shows up on the tab indicates what note to be playing on that string. For instance, if there is:

e–7————————-
B—-5———————–

…then you would play the 7th fret of the high ‘e’ string, then the 5th fret of the ‘B’ string.

Try this one:

e—0-0-7-7-9-9-7—–5-5-4-4-2-2-0——————-
B———————————————————
G———————————————————
D———————————————————
A———————————————————
E———————————————————

That should sound like “Twinkle, Twinkle”.

Eventually, you’ll be playing:

e————————————————————————-
B—0——-1——-3———-12—-12–12—-12—-12–12————
G——0——-0——-0———-0——-0——-0——-0————-
D————————————————————————–
A———–0——-2———-10——10——10——10—————
E—3———————————————————————-

E—————————————————————————
B—5——-8——-7——-10———8—–8—8—–8—–8—8——-
G——-0——-0——-0——-0———-0——-0——-0——-0—-
D—————————————————————————
A—3——-4——-5——-6———-7——-7——-6——-6———-
E—————————————————————————

That’s “Blackbird” by The Beatles. Now, that may look intimidating now, but you’ll be able to play that much sooner than you think. I only post that tab so you have something to shoot for, sort of as a measuring stick. When you can play “Blackbird”, you’ve got a decent grasp on playing tabs.

In the meantime, there are plenty of websites that offer guitar tabs, so pick some of your favorite tunes and give it a go. There will be plenty of songs too advanced to start with, but make note of them, and periodically check back to see if you can play them yet. It’s a good way to keep track of your progress. You may want to play a song now, but it looks like it’s in another language, then, six months from now you can cruise right through it.

For tabs, there are lots of sites, but I recommend:
Ultimate Guitar
tTabs
911 Tabs

There are obviously more like this, but these are all good. Of course, you can buy tab books from your local music store as well. This is a good way to get a good selection of music in the genre you like, and you can play without having to sit in front of a computer.

Tabs take some time to fully grasp. But if you’re not just playing chords, they are the best way to learn how to play a song on the guitar. Take your time and play each note. Then, when you get comfortable with when to play each note, you can speed up your play to the tempo of the song.

Teaching yourself to play the guitar could be considered a never ending process. As long as there are songs to be learned or written, there is more guitar playing to learn. But learning just how to play the instrument is something you can teach yourself, and make yourself quite competent in in a fairly short time.

When I say a fairly short time, I do not mean you’ll be good by next week. But you can play some things you recognize in that time. But it requires dedication to teach yourself how to play the guitar well.

In order to learn how to play the guitar, we’ll start with the basics, all the way back at step one.

First, what kind of guitar do you want to play. In general, you need to learn the basics for any style, but there are enough differences that the learning process will change. Do you want to play the acoustic, electric or classical guitar? While you can learn to play on any of them, they are all different instruments. For instance, the strings are different on each guitar, changing the level of playability accordingly. Acoustic guitars mostly are steel stringed, classical are nylon, and electric are also usually steel-based. The way they are made however, makes each one more or less “playable”. A first-time guitar user may have an easier time pushing down the strings on an electric guitar than an acoustic because of the strings.

Generally, classical guitars are used for classical music or similar types. Spanish music is often classical based. It has a softer tone to it and is played with the fingers, rather than a pick. Acoustic guitars can be played either finger-style or with a pick. It can be used for both rythym and for solos. Electric guitars are played with a pick and require additional equipment to be played. They are plugged into an amplifier and can be played much louder than acoustic guitars. Electric guitars can also be used for rythym or soloing, but are far better than the others for basic solos.

I’m sure some people will disagree with the basics of what I just wrote, but I’m just trying to give you a basic idea. There are plenty of expert classical guitarists that can out-solo electric players, but I’m only trying to speak in general terms. If you just want to learn how to play the basics, I’d recommend an acoustic guitar, then progress towards the style you like best after you have a foundation. I say this because I think the acoustic is the toughest to play. Not in theory, but physically. You need to push the strings much harder than on an electric, which makes moving to an electric guitar later seem much easier.

Making your choice of what kind of guitar you want to play is a purely personal choice. The first guitar I ever played was a cheap acoustic guitar. I didn’t find out until later on, that it was not a good guitar. But in retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t know, because being so tough to play has made all guitars I’ve picked up since feel like solid gold. My advice is to pick a guitar you like, one you’ll want to pick up everyday, regardless of it’s style. Pick something in your price range that you like, and you’ll be happy.

Once you have a guitar, you’re ready to start playing it. Be patient, and take baby steps, and next thing you know, you’ll be pretty good.

Now, it’s time for lessons in playing.