If you are to ask someone who’s the greatest guitarist of all time, you’d probably get different answers.

It’s just that every popular guitarist right now is skillful in his/her own way.

They just have different genres, flavors, techniques, and styles that made them excel in their respective fields.

Nonetheless, if you look around or listen to people’s answers intently, you’d probably get some names twice or thrice.

So, we tried to narrow them down and identify who are the ten most skillful guitarists of all time. Here’s what we found.

Top 10 Most Skilled Guitarists

1. Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen is the guitarist, keyboardist, and main songwriter of the band Van Halen.

Eddie was accustomed to playing his guitar without the support of a bass guitarist. Because of this, he developed a one-of-a-kind technique that involves placing the guitar pick between his middle fingers.

This allowed him to gain a wider picking range, hitting multiple strings at once.

Additionally, he also lets his wrist “float” over the bridge, and with every downstroke, he hits an average of two to three notes with each string by using hammer-ons, pull-offs, open strings, and other picking techniques.

To sum it up, Eddie has a wider picking range, hits multiple strings with every downstroke, plays multiple notes with every string.

Combine all of that with his unbelievably fast picking and fretting fingers, and you get one of the most skillful guitarists to ever walk this earth.

2. Stevie Ray Vaughan

Unfortunately, this next guitar legend died at the young age of 35 years old.

Nonetheless, he was still able to garner multiple awards and nominations.

This includes six Grammys, ten Austin Music Awards, five W.C. Handy Awards, a double-platinum album Texas Flood, and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

What helped SVR achieve stardom was his versatility in playing the guitar.

He had the ability to play subtly, slowly, loudly, or aggressively. He also played country, rock and roll, blues, jazz, and sometimes a mixture of all of them.

When you see him play, it’s like the guitar is a part of him.

There was even a time when he played live, broke a string, kept playing, adlibbed the rest of his guitar solo, waited for the pause, and switched guitars without missing a beat.

3. B.B. King

It’s difficult to answer who the greatest guitarist of all time is, but if you were to ask us who’s the greatest blues guitarist, there’s one name that always comes to mind; B.B. King.

He is perhaps one of the most expressive guitarists out there, aside from also being an exceptional singer and songwriter.

His intricate riffs combined with breathtaking vibratos seem like, pardon the lack of a better term, he’s making love to the guitar.

He also stood out among the other blues players because of his note choices.

Most blues guitarists use the pentatonic scale as passing notes. However, B.B. King uses the notes on the pentatonic scale as if they were part of the main act. This really catches the attention of the listeners as his guitar, Lucille, cries out every note. Thus, earning him the title “King of Blues.”

4. Tom Morello

Before modern guitarists started using a dozen pedals for their effects, Tom Morello was already there, doing anything and everything possible to his guitar.

If you’re not aware, Morello is the lead guitarist and co-founder of Rage Against the Machine, which then switched to Audioslave after the former’s disbandment.

Morello didn’t use a dozen effects pedals.

Instead, he used simple tools and techniques like scratching the strings with his palm, switching the toggle between treble and bass, and a lot more.

This allows him to make crunchy, heavy sounds while also making his guitar seem like a DJ’s turntable.

5. Slash

Slash is a really charismatic and flashy guitarist at times, which sometimes takes the spotlight off of his skills.

Then again, you didn’t think Guns N’ Roses would reach the popularity they have today if it’s all about appearances, right?

His timing, combined with his tone, vibrato, and phrasing skills, make it look like playing the guitar should be effortless.

Additionally, Slash seems to have mastered the exact time of when he should play the instrument and when he shouldn’t. That’s what made him an integral part of the band.

In fact, when Slash left Guns N’ Roses in 1996, the band started to deteriorate in terms of musical quality.

6. Eric Clapton

We’re here to tell you that being skillful in the guitar is not always about speed.

Eric Clapton is proof of that.

Believe it or not, Clapton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame three times! It was once as a member of Cream, once as a member of The Yardbirds, and once as a solo artist.

He’s a prolific singer and songwriter and has exemplary skills in playing blues vibratos with perfect form and phrasing. He can play multiple genres, and he also has a good command of both the acoustic and the electric guitar.

In fact, he’s so good at what he does that The Rolling Stones and The Beatles considered him to be part of their respective bands.

7. Tommy Emmanuel

When we talk about the most skillful guitarists of all time, we shouldn’t focus merely on electric guitarists.

Moving over to the acoustic department, we have Tommy Emmanuel, arguably the best acoustic guitarist alive today.

He started playing the acoustic guitar at an early age of four, and from then on, he developed his skills by playing numerous songs from different genres.

He’s very famous for his fingerpicking skills, and he can make the acoustic guitar sound like a whole orchestra.

8. Keith Richards

When we talk about guitar skills, we almost always assume that it’s about fast fretting and picking, making loud and heavy noises.

However, “guitar skills” is an extremely broad topic. With that, let’s talk about Keith Richards, the rhythm guitarist of The Rolling Stones.

What makes Richards a skillful guitarist is his way of composing riffs.

Despite the riffs and note progressions of The Stones’ songs being relatively easy, Richards knows how to cement them into people’s hearts and minds.

His compositions are so unique that they make the band stand out. Nonetheless, he is also just as skillful in actually playing the guitar.

On top of that, he can even make it look so easy.

He’s one of the few guitarists to receive the “Living Legend Award” from the ABC network.

Additionally, Keith Richards is also considered one of the pioneers of the alternative rock genre. It’s just that Richards has a way of expressing deep, dark, and enchanting emotions with his guitar.

9. Jimmy Page

He may not be the greatest guitar player of all time, but we’re certain that Jimmy Page is the 1970s’ greatest rock guitarist.

Some guitarists gain fame because of their overbearing skills that sometimes overshadow the band’s character.

However, Page can fling his guitar solos to the sky while still being grounded in the band’s songs.

If you listen to “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin, you’ll know what we mean. His guitar-playing skills do not devour the band’s sound, but without them, the sound is incomplete.

His most famous technique is palm muting the sixth string between multiple notes. His alternate picking is also just as exceptional.

Lastly, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, which is more than enough reason to include him on this list.

10. Jimi Hendrix

Lastly, we have someone who a lot of people will argue is the best guitarist of all time. Of course, that’s difficult to prove.

However, simply hearing his name and instantly recognizing him is proof of this guitarist’s amazing feat.

We’re talking about none other than Jimi Hendrix.

Hendrix died at the age of 27, but his legacy will probably live forever.

This left-handed guitarist defied the traditional laws of guitar-playing.

He played lefty on a right-hand guitar by inverting the strings, and he popularized some of the most unusual guitar tricks ever, like playing behind the head or playing with teeth.

However, that’s not purely what made him famous. It’s his distortion effects, wah-wah pedal, and unconventional choice of notes and progressions that propelled him to the top of the music industry.

In fact, there’s not a list of “greatest guitarists” out there that you wouldn’t find Jimi Hendrix.

If that’s not proof enough, the fact that Lenny Kravitz, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Slash, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante, and a thousand more popular guitarists look up to him is a testament to his legacy.

Conclusion

A list of ten is obviously not enough to talk about the world’s most skillful guitarists of all time.

There are dozens more that we failed to mention here.

However, we believe that these people are the ones that really made it to the top.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll see your favorite guitarist on our next list!

Let us know who you think should also be on this list!

Ever wonder how musicians give life to the soul of heavy genres that typically stimulate our desire to rave, such as hardcore, death metal, and drum and bass? Do you find lower registers appealing to the ears? This technique may do the magic for you, guitar players! If you ever think Drop D tuning is already low, then you aren’t prepared for Drop G.

What is Drop G in tuning? Drop G tuning refers to an alternative tuning where the pitch is arranged to G-D-G-C-E-A (or to more specific, G1-D2-G2-C3-E3-A3).

Understanding Drop G Tuning

Drop G tuning is best demonstrated using a 6-string guitar, described to be a fifth lower than Drop D, which has the tuning D-A-D-G-B-E. If you tune down Drop D to a fifth, you will be able to yield G-D-G-C-E-A. The change done alters the pitch of all the six strings in your guitar, which helps you play in the key of G major power chords easier.

The Drop G technique is largely used when using baritone instruments, such as baritone acoustic or electric guitars, to improve playing pieces at lower notes. Note that baritone guitars are characterized by having longer-scale lengths! The usual baritone standard tuning follows the chords B-E-A-D-F-#B, a musical fourth lower than the tuning on regular acoustic guitars.

Baritone players tend to achieve tuning down their instruments by adjusting them two more semitones lower, which recommends improving the instrument by equipping heavy-gauge strings.

The reason why you need heavier strings? Dropping them down several steps can cause the strings to slack, lack tension, and produce undesired sounds. After the adjustment, it is then tuned to the 6th string, and sometimes, the first string, both to G, yielding the tuning patterns G-D-G-C-E-G or G-D-G-C-E-A.

Drop tunings in general help perfect fifth intervals, concerning the bottom two strings, in playing a power chord with one finger only. Open chords in guitars also tend to have greater resonance in comparison to bar chords. Drop G tuning helps to utilize open chords better to play sounds as bottom-heavy as it is, especially for guitarists who want to play their instruments in a bass-like tone.

Here’s our very own teaching what is drop g tuning:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00MSp2mH5sM

Drop G: Song and Musicians

The use of Drop G has been prominent in rock music, particularly heavy metal, which rose to prominence during the late 1960s in the West. They were largely known for developing thick sounds that are heavily distorted, emphatic beats, and emphasis on guitar solos.

As music has evolved into the recent years, however, the tuning was also used for stylistic experimentation of artists beyond the genre. A notable musical field that uses the technique is metalcore, combining extreme metal and hardcore punk. They are defined by having good instrumental qualities for breakdowns, heavy riffs, stop-start playing, and blast beats.

While Drop G tunings have been rare in popular music, they have been notable for their usage by different bands and artists! American metal band Darkest Hour used the tuning to their songs “Wasteland”, “Attack Attack!” and “Baroness” early in their career. South Korean rock band FTISLAND, known to experiment with the tunings of their songs, applied Drop D to their song “Shadows”. Metalcore and heavy metal bands such as Dead by April and In Flames used the technique as staple parts of their discography and concerts. Pantera’s song “The Underground in America”, from The Great Southern Trendkill, made use of Drop G with a D standard variation.

How to Tune Your Guitar to Drop G

To achieve the Drop G tuning on a 6-string guitar, you must do the following in this order:

• The low E string should be tuned down to G by four and a half steps.
• Afterward, tune A should be strung down to D by three and a half steps.
• Then, strings D, G, B, and high E must be tuned to strings G, C, E, and A, respectively, through tuning them down by also three and a half steps.
• Lastly, try plucking the strings like how you normally play the guitar in order to see if the desired notes are achieved.

While Drop G tuning centers most on 6-string guitars, the technique can also be applied in seven-string guitars! The 7-string guitar follows a standard tuning of B-E-A-D-G-B-E. It shares a similar pattern with the standard tuning of the 6-string guitar, with the difference being the first B string added to be the new lowest tone.

Drop G tuning is achieved by having a tuning pattern of G-D-G-C-F-A-D. This is a whole step lower than Drop A of a 7-string guitar (A-E-A-D-G-B-E), requiring extra work to be done. Drop G tuning in 7-string guitars share a similarity to a D standard combined with a low G string!

To assist you with the tuning, here is a guide:

https://youtu.be/yp3RTyFH1eE

The Beauty of Alternate Tuning (Final Thoughts)

The purpose of alternative tunings, after all, is to make playing music more diverse and more fitting to one’s vision or experiment. Not every song or piece can be played pleasantly in any key with standard guitar tuning.

The biggest benefit might be the ease of access to any chord, riff, or key you desire to play. Specifically, under drop tuning, you may be able to play both octave and power chords with more comfort and ease, now that they are closer together on the E and A strings.

Bands prefer tuning down during their performance in order to insinuate a darker, more menacing ambiance towards the direction they are aiming for. Sometimes, they conduct alternative tunings to suit the range of the vocalist without compromising the quality of the instrumentation. Alternative tuning also allows them to get out of the zone of comfort, from playing the same comfortable patterns to achieving musical independence in terms of fingering.

Aside from improving the beauty of performances, alternative tuning also makes the standard impossible, possible. Players of riff-based music may be able to increase the complexity of their pieces. Chord inversions and wider combinations of open and fretted strings become more available due to the change in the overall tonality of the guitar.

Still, as much as you enjoy the expression of playing your guitar on drop tuning, don’t forget to learn them the way they are intended to be played also!

What makes a good guitarist? The best attributes that make a good guitarist include a good grasp of music theory, musical aptitude, dexterity, discipline, dedication, commitment, curiosity, creativity, and of course, substantial knowledge of the instrument and how it works.

Trying to define what makes a guitarist good can be tricky because it is subject to individual opinions.

Perhaps many would say that a good guitarist possesses all the technical abilities to play flawlessly. Maybe, for others, a good guitarist is someone who can play any part and improvise. Others may hear a really wicked solo and think, “Hey, that’s one hell of a good guitarist right there!”

Yes, the answer to the question “What makes a good guitarist?” is contingent on subjective assessment.

But, really, to be considered a good guitarist, one does not necessarily need to know how to play like Jimi Hendrix (because he is not a good guitarist—he’s the greatest!). Certain traits separate a good guitarist from the average one, and these are:

A Good Guitarist Knows His Guitar Really Well

First of all, a good musician knows his weapon. A good singer is aware of her vocal range and knows how to use it. A good pianist understands the piano and knows how to blend different notes together to create a moving piece. A good drummer recognizes each and every component of his percussion set and knows how to use them to construct expressive beats.

A good guitarist knows the guitar—from the instrument’s hollow body up to its neck and headstock. He knows how the individual parts work, and he knows when any of those parts don’t work! He knows it like the back of his hand; he has a deep understanding of the instrument.

Has a Good Finger Dexterity

Playing the guitar is going to be harsh on your hands, especially on your fingers. You will be doing finger gymnastics that will absolutely leave you with hand cramps, calluses, and a whole feeling of awkwardness realizing how your fingers can do those things while you sometimes fumble with your front door keys.

A good guitarist is someone who has developed good finger, hand, and wrist coordination. This means that he can play with good accuracy and rhythm, executing every note clean and clear.

Has a Good Level of Musical Aptitude

Musical aptitude can be defined simply as having a fine ear for music, which means the skill of being able to recognize pitch, melody, rhythm, harmony, and other elements of music. When a guitarist knows the interplay between all these elements, trust that he can always come up with something good!

This attribute also brings us to the next section; when a guitarist has the makings of a musical genius, then he most likely…

Understands Music Theory

Yes, we know this one has been a subject of debate for the longest time now. And this section is going to be a little lengthier than the rest, but it’s a point worth exploring.

Do you really have to have a good understanding of music theory to be called a good guitarist—or a musician, for that matter?

We can almost hear the choruses of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Louis Armstrong, David Bowie, and many other outstanding musicians of the modern world who didn’t know (or study) music theory.

But!

These musical geniuses do know how music works, and that, in theory, is music theory! As one former Redditor beautifully put it, “Good musicians who don’t “know theory” or were never trained, actually do know theory, they just don’t know the universally standard words to describe what it is they know.”

Also, these talented musicians had been exposed to musical experiences where applied music theory is intrinsic in those experiences’ nature. Paul McCartney, for instance, had years of experience singing in the choir, and this must have been the secret as to The Beatle’s delicate vocal harmony.

These artists have, within them, this innate sense of musicality that’s characteristic of what music theory demonstrates. They just didn’t have a reference point to know the theory labels, but they know. When you observe them carefully, you will see what we mean.

In addition, these artists may also have eventually picked up some pointers from other musicians and people in the industry they have worked with—pointers that are the crux of music theory.

And now, going back to the main discussion, a good guitarist is someone who has a good grasp of music theory. Because, by understanding music theory, by understanding why some chords sound good together, how pitch and rhythm work together to create melody, why augmented chords work so well for specific pieces, how syncopation adds another dimension to the music, and many others, the guitarist is able to:

1. Enrich musical development;
2. Helps achieve mastery of the instrument with proper understanding of how music works;
3. Communicate and work with other musicians seamlessly;
4. Improves skills in improvisation, critical listening, song arrangement, and composition;
5. Develop a deeper appreciation of music.

These are only some of the many benefits of understanding music theory. If you want to know more about this, here is a practical guide:

Has a Strong Sense of Discipline

And having a strong sense of discipline entails patience to keep going when the going gets tough (you know you could be having fun with the boys at the bar, but here you are with your guitar, polishing those last bits of your first solo).

Having a strong sense of discipline also means having the will to learn something new each day. You can’t go stagnant; you have to do something, learn and relearn—a riff, a chord pattern you first thought was boring, a new finger exercise routine, whatever it is.

A good guitarist sticks to practice and playing routine, and tracks his progress as well so he knows where he falls short of and where he excels. With a strong sense of discipline, the guitarist becomes committed to growth.

Curious, Committed, and Creative

Curiosity is a natural precursor to being committed. Being committed is a natural precursor to creativity.

When he is curious, then he will more likely listen, observe, and take note of how high-caliber guitarists play. He has a natural desire to learn and to improve. This enthusiasm leads to him being committed—or dedicated—to this journey.

Being committed to this art means devoting some of his time to honing his skills. He takes time to evaluate his strengths and weaknesses. He wants to be a good guitarist, so he has got to earn it. There are no shortcuts.

Soon, he finds himself doing improvisations. He becomes creative. He gets excited at what other things he can execute on his guitar.

And that’s how a good guitarist is born.

Here’s a video that is a great complement on this topic:

The Makings of a Good Guitarist: Final Thoughts

As a guitarist, you probably wonder where you fall in the guitar playing goodness scale. But if you find that you are lacking on, let’s say, discipline department, or maybe, finger agility, don’t get discouraged. More often than not, what stops us from becoming good at something is just all in the head.

Knowing what your weaknesses are gets you one step forward to becoming a good guitarist! However, you should not stop there; take the next few steps as you work on your finger dexterity, or figuring out the best times for playing when you know you will be at your most motivated self!

Anyone can become a good guitarist if they will put their heart and mind into perfecting the art! While some artists are born, others are made. You can do it!

Playing guitar is a fun, rewarding, and versatile skill. Whether you want to play at parties and start a band with your friends, serenade a loved one, or if you’re simply looking to play for your own personal satisfaction, learning the guitar is a valuable skill that anyone can pick up.

Since guitar is such a highly popular instrument, featured in numerous genres, it’s what many aspiring musicians pick up first. Some people seem to be born with musical talent, but anyone can learn an instrument if they put in the time and effort. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be the next Steve Vai, but you can definitely experience the joy of making music and expressing yourself on this beautiful instrument that’s been played by countless hands over the ages.

How to Play Guitar – Where to Start?

You make your life much easier as a guitar player when you start by learning the fretboard. It’s often helpful to use charts for a visual reference as you gain familiarity with fret numbers, note names, and string names. Once you’ve memorized the basics and your muscle memory has been sufficiently activated, you’ll start to find your fingers naturally falling into the right place – an extremely satisfying moment for any learning guitarist.

You don’t have to learn everything about music theory, but understanding the basics definitely helps. You probably won’t have to worry about reading standard notation or sheet music – the written music that people play in orchestras and other ensembles. With the exception of classical or jazz musicians, guitar players usually read music in tablature form, commonly just called “tabs.”

While there are some limitations to what tabs can communicate, such as the length of each note, it’s still a simple and efficient way to notate guitar chord shapes and finger patterns, especially if you’re already familiar with the rhythm of the song in question.

The problem with using standard notation for guitar is that sheet music generally doesn’t tell you which string to play each individual note on, leaving that up to the guitarist to decipher. Tabs simplify the process by focusing on fret numbers, strummer techniques, and guitar-specific articulations. Some tabs are combined with standard notation to provide the most specific information possible, but this is rare.

Push Through the Rocky Start

Any aspiring guitarist should know that the first days – and weeks, and possibly even months – of playing are virtually guaranteed to be extremely challenging, and might include some of the hardest moments in your guitar-playing career.

That might sound discouraging, but before you’re scared off by that prospect, just remember that every stage of your guitaring journey will get easier once you’ve muscled through this rough onset. It’s helpful to have this to look forward to when you feel like you’re not making any progress, don’t like the way you sound, and are worried that you might never be the guitar-slinging hero you’ve dreamt of becoming. It should be a comfort to know that every great guitarist started out struggling just to hold down a simple chord.

Guitar greatness can only be achieved by building finger and hand strength as well as developing calluses on the fingertips. This is something that’s physically impossible to develop overnight, so if your intention is to master the guitar in one weekend, you might as well make your way to the crossroads and try to find a devil to make a deal with.

Finger Boot Camp

The best way to build up the necessary strength to play guitar is by sending your fingers to boot camp. This involves running a series of drills or exercises that help you work your way up the fretboard in different patterns.

You don’t have to worry about tempo or following specific scales with these exercises at first. For beginners, it’s enough just to get your fingers on the frets and produce a sound. A good way to start is by going up and down the fretboard chromatically, which means going fret by fret without skipping any.

Finger Numbers

Guitarists refer to the fingers on their left hand by numbers to make things simpler. Your index finger is 1, middle finger is 2, ring finger is 3, and pinky is 4.

Guitar Parts

In order to be able to navigate your guitar and be on the same page with other guitarists when you communicate with them, it’s a good idea to know the names of the basic parts of a guitar.

Neck
This is the long, flat part that extends from the guitar’s body. The front-facing side of the neck includes the fretboard, and the neck ends with the headstock.

Bridge
Located at the end of the strings on the opposite end of the headstock, the bridge is responsible for supporting the strings and transmitting the vibrations to the guitar’s soundboard.

Strings
Standard guitars have six: high E, B, G, D, A, and low E. Most guitar strings are made from tin-plated steel, but other guitar styles like classical use nylon strings.

Tuning Pegs
These are located on the headstock, with one peg corresponding to each of the six strings. The guitar strings are tuned by turning these pegs.

Body
This the main part of the guitar: the large, curvy portion of the instrument. If you’re playing an acoustic guitar, this part is hollow with a hole in the front. There are also hollow-bodied electric guitars that were more common in the ’50s but are still frequently played by jazz musicians.

Watch Your Technique

Using proper technique is essential to both avoid injury and to make it easier to play. It’s always a good idea to check on your wrist and make sure it’s not bent in unnatural ways. Do your best to keep the fingers arched.

You should also take the time to find a comfortable strap length if you are playing wearing a guitar strap. Even while sitting, a strap is helpful to keep your instrument firmly locked in place to prevent you from hunching forward while you play.

You don’t have to sling your guitar way down low like many iconic rock stars are seen doing. Many players find a higher position gives them more comfort and control. It all comes down to what works well for your particular body and unique playing style.

Make sure that your thumb is firmly placed on the back of the guitar’s neck. This will provide a sort of clamp that will give you the leverage you’ll need to firmly hold down the fingertips on the fretboard.

Be careful not to build up bad habits as a beginner. These will only have to be unlearned later down the line before you can retrain yourself to play the instrument correctly. If you ever want to reach your full potential or enjoy a lifelong of guitar playing without developing carpal tunnel, it’s well worth it to practice good form and technique.

Some techniques are purely for the benefit of your sound and have less to do with preserving your body. One common rookie mistake is to let off the strings with the left hand (the fretting hand) to end a chord or note. It’s much better to cut off chords by muting them with the right hand.

This is done by bringing the palm down over the strings near where they meet the bridge. Master this technique and you’ll have a clean ending to every note. Otherwise, if you use a fret release to end notes, your chords will fall slightly out of tune each time. While casual listeners at a family gathering may not notice, discerning musicians may call you out for it.

These types of form corrections may seem as nonreflexive as patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time, but they eventually become the most natural thing in the world with enough practice.

It’s also crucial not to let your strings get away from you, especially on electric guitar. The more distortion and heavy effects, the more important it is to protect the ears of your audience and bandmates by taking care to mute your strings when they’re in use.

You can also turn the volume down on your guitar if it has a built-in volume knob when you’re not playing – just to be on the safe side. Everyone makes mistakes, and the loudest, most embarrassing ones tend to happen onstage in the middle of a show. All it takes is some dead air between songs when a sudden screeching unwanted note fills the air, potentially killing the vibe of your performance.

What kind of guitarist are you?

You may want to consider ahead of time what type of guitar you want to play. This isn’t referring to the instrument itself – rather, the style you choose to play in. Or, if you want to write your own music, you may want to compose free of genre restraints, perhaps forging a brand-new style along the way.

Still, it’s often extremely helpful to explore existing artists and genres that you like so you can build a sense of what’s already been done. This also helps to give you a sense of what listeners expect to hear from a fully formed song.

The good news is that the world of guitar styles is more versatile and accessible than ever. With some effects pedals and the right amp, you can make virtually any guitar sound any way you want – and from there, all you have to do is learn how to play it!

To pick or fingerpick?

True fingerpicking in country-western and classical guitar styles involves a fair amount of commitment. You have to grow out the fingernails on your right hand and carefully maintain them at the perfect length and shape to use them as part of your instrument.

Many guitarists use metal or plastic fingerpicks that you attack to each finger and one to the thumb, but some purists hold that this doesn’t produce as pure of a sound as genuine human fingernails. However, it all comes down to a matter of taste.

Others choose to use the flesh of their fingertips to fingerpick with, but this is less common because it’s harder to get a full sound from this technique. Consequently, players in this style usually requires substantial amplification when performing live.

Some musicians prefer fingerpicking style because of its added expressivity. However, for holding down demanding rhythms and slamming out killer licks, you can’t go wrong with a good old-fashioned pick.

It may take some trial and error to find your preferred pick thickness and shape; luckily, picks come cheap. It’s usually best to avoid novelty picks because they’re often cheaply constructed and tend to break quickly.

Strumming Patterns

Strums come in two basic forms: upstrokes and downstrokes. In addition, there is also muted strumming, which is when the palm of the right hand is covering the strings to mute the tone of the strings. The strings can be muted in varying degrees, allowing you to either slightly hear the tonality of the chord being fingered or only hear the clicking of the pick on the fully muted strings.

Make Sure to Tune!

If your instrument isn’t in tune with itself, you won’t have a chance of sounding good – even if you’re just playing by yourself.

There are plenty of inexpensive tuner options that will automatically detect the pitch of the string you’re playing and provide you with clear illuminated symbols that show you whether to tune up or down.

It’s important when tuning to always approach the pitch from below, meaning the string should be below the pitch you’re tuning to, and you tune up to it. Otherwise, if you tune some strings down from above, the pitch will be slightly off.

You can also use online resources or free apps that will help you get your guitar in tune. Once you’ve tuned the A string, you can tune the other strings using the A as a reference. As you become more experienced, your ears will become more acutely aware of the subtle wobble heard when a string is slightly out of tune.

How to Read Guitar Tabs

Tableture or “tabs” are preferred by most guitarists because they’re easy to read. The notation includes numbers that correspond to frets. The frets start at one, with an open string (no frets fingered) notated with a “0.” Strings that aren’t played at all are notated with an “x.”

Notice the dots on the neck of your guitar. These are there to help you keep track of the fret numbers. The dots are usually located at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th fret, with the 12th fret marked with two dots.

This is how the strings are notated in tableture:

e|
B|
G|
D|
A|
E|

You’ll see that there are two E strings – one on top and one on bottom – with the uppermost one in lowercase. This will help you remember that the top string in tableture notation is the high E string, meaning the string that produces the note with the highest pitch.

This may be confusing at first, since this is the reverse of the strings that are physically on top and bottom. But as you get used to reading tabs, you’ll find this makes the most sense: You’re viewing the string layout in the same order as you see them when you look down at your guitar.

Basic Chords

Now that you know how to read tabs, here are some of the most basic guitar chords in tableture form. You’ll also find the corresponding finger for each note in the chords to help you find your way.

Open Major Chords

E major
e|0
B|0
G|1 (2nd finger)
D|2 (4th finger)
A|2 (3rd finger)
E|0

G major
e|3 (4th finger)
B|3 (3rd finger)
G|0
D|0
A|2 (2nd finger)
E|3 (1st finger)

A major
e|0
B|2 (3rd finger)
G|2 (2nd finger)
D|2 (1st finger)
A|0
E|x

C major
e|0
B|1 (1st finger)
G|0
D|2 (2nd finger)
A|3 (3rd finger)
E|x

D major
e|2 (2nd finger)
B|3 (3rd finger)
G|2 (1st finger)
D|0
A|x
E|x

Open Minor Chords

E minor
e|0
B|0
G|0
D|2 (4th finger)
A|2 (3rd finger)
E|0

A minor
e|0
B|1 (2nd finger)
G|2 (4th finger)
D|2 (3rd finger)
A|0
E|x

D minor
e|1 (1st finger)
B|3 (3rd finger)
G|2 (2nd finger)
D|0
A|x
E|x

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