Have you ever wanted to learn how to play the guitar but haven't had time to take lessons? Are you one of those people where you have a guitar in your house or even in your room, but don't know how to tune it? In this presentation I will teach you the basics of the guitar where you'll be able to take what you have learned home with you and be able to practice on your own and eventually teach yourselves. I taught myself how to play and have been playing for about six years now.

HISTORY OF THE GUITAR

Guitar-like instruments have existed since ancient times, but the first written mention of the guitar proper is from the 14th century. In its earliest form it had a total of 7 strings which were in pairs. It is said that the guitar probably originated in Spain. So back in ancient times guitars didn't look like this. The guitar became popular in other European countries in the 16th and 17th centuries, and by the late 17th century another pair of strings had been added below the others giving a total of 9 strings. In the mid-18th century the guitar attained its modern form, when the pairs of strings were made single and then a sixth string was added above the lower five single strings a total of 6.

The electric guitar, developed for popular music in the United States in the 1930's, usually has a solid, nonresonant body (meaning no sound hole). The sound of its strings is amplified electronically by the performer.

The classical guitar is a descendent of the lute. It evolved into its modern appearance in Spain in the early 1800's. The man responsible for its modern design was a carpenter named Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817-1892). Guitars these days range in price from anywhere between $50.00 to $1,000's of dollars depending on where you go and what brand you want.

PARTS OF THE GUITAR

(*REFER TO HANDOUT*) The head of the guitar is where you control the tuning of the strings. Tightening the string, or increasing its tension makes the pitch get higher. Loosening the string, or decreasing the tension, lowers the pitch.

The fretboard or neck is where you have control of the pitch and articulation of the music you play on the guitar. The classical guitar has a wider neck than other guitars which helps accomodate the finger-picking techniques. The fretboard itself is separated into sections by dividers called frets.

At the top of the fretboard, the strings rest on the nut before winding into the tuning pegs on the head of the guitar.

When you play the strings without pressing down on the string somewhere on the fretboard, it is called playing the string "open".

The fretboard reaches the body at the 12th fret. Each fret you press the string down on will increase the note by a half-step.

The strings tie into the part of the guitar called the bridge. The part of the bridge that touches the strings is called the bridge saddle. On a steel-string acoustic, the strings are usually held in place by six pegs which wedge into the bridge, but they slip through the bridge on a classical guitar, and then tie around it.

Between the bridge and the fretboard, you can find the soundhole. This is where the vibrations are amplified with an air-coupled resonance system. The vibrations of the strings cause the air inside the sound hole to increase the energy, which in turn causes the front of the guitar, the soundboard, to vibrate as well.

TUNING

Before you can play anything you need to have a tuned guitar. It takes a little time before our ears learn the tones and their relations to each other. (*TUNING YOUR GUITAR*)

PLAYING MUSIC

(*REFER TO HANDOUT*) The picture at the very top is like a guitar map to find the notes. You've got the strings numbered on the right side and the frets numbered at the top. In order to play the "F" note on the 6th string looking at the map you know to press down the 1st fret or even the 13th fret. The order of notes is underneath. It's like counting numbers but only using the letters A through G.

There are a couple of ways to read music. Most musicians use what is called "musical notation". We've all seen how this is written with notes. The names of the notes in between the lines (in the spaces) spell out F.A.C.E. and the names of the notes on the lines spells out E.G.B.D.F. (Every Good Band Does Fine). Learning to read music takes a lot of time and practice.

Another way to read music is called "tablature". At the top you have musical notation and on the bottom you have tablature. There are six lines in tablature represent the six guitar strings. Remembering that the 6th string is the fattest. The numbers on the lines represent what fret to hold down. For example the "3" means to play the 5th string on the 3rd fret and this refers to the note "C". The "0" again means playing the note open, not pressing down any strings.

CONCLUSION

There's still a lot more to learn but like I said at the beginning theses are the basics to give you a start to teach yourselves so now you don't have to take lessons and you can also go home and tune that guitar of yours. If there is time later I'll play a song or two.