If you have never changed guitar strings before, you will need to make sure you know how they are attached. If you are not confident you will remember the details, take pictures of the bridge and the headstock with your phone.

Do not think that changing your guitar strings can be done in five minutes. If you have never done it before, set aside an hour for your first time. It probably will not take that long, but you should allow for the unexpected.

Two pieces of equipment that are useful for changing electric guitar strings are a string winder and a pair of sharp-nosed pliers. The pliers are for cutting and pulling the strings. A string winder is a handle with a socket that fits on top of the machine head.

The most time consuming part of fitting new electric guitar strings taking up the slack. This is where a string winder saves you time. You use the winder to wind the string until it begins to tighten. Once most of the slack is gone you should begin to tune the string using your fingers.

String winders are available at music stores or on Amazon.com very cheaply. They make the job of removing and replacing guitar strings less of a chore, and also includes a string puller and a cutter. There are also battery-powered models which make winding strings faster.

You can remove all the strings at once before you start replacing them but it is good practice to remove the sixth string first, and replace it immediately. Once the string is fitted you can tune it before continuing with each of the other strings separately. Each string will go out of tune several tines before you have stretched it enough, but it makes the process go smoothly if you remove, replace and tune the strings one at a time.

As you remove the strings, use a dry cloth to wipe the fretboard. During the course of playing you have deposited grease from your fingers onto the guitar. There is no need to buy any special products to keep the fretboard clean, just wipe the built up grease from between the frets.

The purpose of the string winder is to remove and replace each string quickly without too much wear and tear on your fingers. Once the string is almost completely unwound, use the string cutter to chop the curly bit off the end and pull it out of the machine heads.

The procedure for replacing the string is to pull it through the hole in the tail piece or body of the guitar until the ball on the end is hard up against the hole. Guide the string onto the bridge and onto the nut. If you do not know what the nut is, refer to the guide to the parts of the electric guitar.

The strings are wound onto the machine heads by winding from the inside of the post. Keep the string tight by pulling the string upwards until the slack is taken up by winding it onto the tuning peg. There is no need to wind the string more than a few times to secure it. Any extra string left sticking out can be chopped off by the cutter. Do not wind the string too tight with the winder as you will need to use your fingers to tune it.

Now you have your new strings fitted, it is time to learn how to maintain them so they do not deteriorate quickly. Electric guitar strings naturally become coated in grease from your fingers. They are also affected by the moisture in the air. All of this rubbish works its way in between the string windings and gives the string that dead feeling. To keep your strings fresh, wipe them with a dry cloth after you have finished practicing every day. If you want spend less time tuning and more time playing, the best electric guitar strings to buy are ones that have a special polymer or enamel coating that repels all the moisture and finger grunge. Elixir and Ernie Ball are two string manufacturers who have their own special protective coatings for strings.

How To Change Electric Guitar Strings Using A String Winder

A new Discipline

When you begin a course of electric guitar lessons you will be setting aside a part of your day for guitar practice.

During this practice time you will be engaging in a range of new activities including:

• repetitive practice of unfamiliar patterns of movement such as chord changes, picking and strum patterns, and as you advance, more demanding techniques such as string skipping, harmonics and playing scales
• learning the language of music – either notation or tab

All of these new activities will be performed while you are supporting a heavy musical instrument.

Discovering How to Hold the Guitar

For a beginner, learning how to play the electric guitar begins with finding the most comfortable and most effective way to hold the instrument. The way you support the weight of the guitar must allow you to:

• move your right hand freely so you can not only play the guitar, but also use the whammy bar or adjust the volume and tone controls if you need to
• allow your fretting hand to move freely up and down the guitar’s neck

Of course, not all electric guitar genres demand the freedom of movement expected of a rock guitarist but you should still be able to move both hands to meet the demands of the music he is playing.

During your first days as an electric guitar player you should be experimenting with different ways of sitting and standing while playing. The guitar should never be supported by the arms and hands. It is not possible to play music if your muscular energy is being used up by the weight of your instrument. A popular way to sit while playing the guitar is with the right leg crossed over the left leg. In this position the guitar is leaning against your body while being supported by the right leg.

When sitting with the guitar in playing position, the guitar strap should be adjusted so that it is taking most of the weight. Most players find that resting the guitar on the left leg is the ideal way to play while sitting, but the guitar should not be able to drop off the leg, making it necessary for the guitarist to catch it with his left hand.

If you have a large mirror you can keep an eye on your posture and your hand and arm positions.

How Heavy is Your Guitar?

Weight is one of the factors that needs to be considered when deciding on the best beginner electric guitar to suit your needs. If you are going to be standing up while you play, you do not need to damage your back by supporting an instrument that is too heavy for you. Electric guitars can weigh as much as 13 pounds, but smaller guitars made of carbon fiber can weigh as little as five pounds, making them ideal for people of slight build or those with chronic back problems.

Many guitarists recommend the Fender Stratocaster or the cheaper Squier copy as the best electric guitar for beginners. These guitars are available in most music stores catering for guitar players. When you buy your first guitar, also buy the widest strap the store has as well as several different types of picks. Picks come in various sizes and materials, and finding the kind that suits you is another one of the pleasant tasks associated with learning guitar.

Positioning the Left Hand

To find the correct position for your fretting hand, begin by standing or sitting in playing position and placing your left thumb on the back of the guitar’s neck. Your thumb should be at a right angle to the line of the neck.

The placement of your thumb will be the main thing to keep checking on as you practice. The left hand fingers should fall naturally so that the very tips are pressed on the strings. With the left hand fingers bent naturally it should not be a problem getting the tips of the fingers to make contact with the fretboard.

As you practice, your thumb will be always moving from the right-angle position. When you notice this has happened, simply stop and place it correctly. This will probably seem like a huge pain at first but like all new skills, placing your thumb will soon become second nature.

A feature of any course of electric guitar lessons is learning about the parts of your guitar. Here is a guide to the electric guitar parts. Every electric guitar player will need to become familiar with the various configurations of tone, volume and pickups. The use of the whammy bar may not be an issue for the genre you have chose, in which case simply unscrew it as soon as you get your new guitar home.

Some Points for Beginners on Learning How to Play Electric Guitar

If you have a computer handy when you are tuning your guitar, you could make use of one of the on-line guitar tuning websites. These tuners generate electric guitar tones which you match with the corresponding note on your guitar by turning the tuning peg until the two sounds match up. Beginner guitarists may find this kind of tuner difficult to use at first, as it requires a practiced ear to easily detect whether a note is sharp or flat. If you have been struggling with tuning your guitar using a tuning fork, on-line tuners might make the job easier as they produce realistic guitar sounds, and the tones usually last longer than the tone of a tuning fork.

The disadvantage of tuning an electric guitar using an on-line tuner or a tuning fork is the background noise at a gig, or in the place you use for practice, makes concentrating and comparing the notes difficult. The background noise factor makes a tuner which connects to the guitar by a cable the best alternative, but there are other options to consider:

The type of graphic display

Some tuners use LED lights to indicate whether the guitar is sharp, flat or in tune. These displays are easy to read in any room, no matter how dark. Other tuners have a needle which shows the guitar is in tune when it is hovering in the center of the dial. If you decide on a tuner with this type of display, make sure it has a backlight so you can read it in a dimly-lit room. The displays on some tuners can be intensified so they can be read in bright sunlight at outdoor venues.

The Method of detecting sounds

There are three ways a guitar tuner can detect the note you are playing:

• Microphone
  These tuners have a microphone which picks up the sound of the guitar. These types of tuner work well in quiet environments but it will be difficult to tune a guitar at a gig where there is a lot of background noise.
• Clip-on Tuners
  These tuners feel the vibration when you play a note, and analyze the sound to work out which string you are playing and how flat or sharp the note is. Clip-on tuners often have a microphone if you prefer to tune that way, and a built-in metronome for practice sessions.
• Cable
  These are specifically made for electric guitars. The guitar is plugged into the tuner via a cable from the output jack. Some tuners of this type are versatile enough to tune basses and seven-string guitars, automatically compensate for flat tunings, and some contain a microphone for tuning acoustic guitars.

As the plug-in tuners are generally more reliable and accurate under all kinds of playing conditions, they are the most popular for electric guitar players. This does not make them more accurate when it comes to tuning – many guitarists prefer clip-on tuners or microphone tuners for tuning accuracy. Your own experience will govern which tuner you choose.

An advantage to using tuners which connect to your guitar is that they can be integrated into your effects pedal board. This way you can use a pedal to turn your tuner on whenever you need it.

Tuning Mode

Some tuners for electric guitars are limited to indicating the notes of the guitar in standard tuning: E A D G B E. The most versatile tuner offers the choice between chromatic and guitar modes. When the tuner is set to chromatic mode, it can be tuned to any note, which makes it ideal for a player who uses alternate tunings. Some tuners also have a bass mode for tuning bass guitars.

Silent Mode

Some electric guitar tuners give the guitarist a choice between hearing the notes during the tuning process, and tuning solely by using the needle or LEDs.

Power Source

Your average electric guitar tuner uses a battery as the main source of power. This allows the player to tune his guitar without needing to look for a power outlet. The trouble with batteries is that they run out of power, so it is best to buy the power adapter which is often an optional extra with the tuner. Your tuner should also have the option to save battery life by turning off the display when it is not in use.

How to tune an electric guitar

The picture above shows the parts of the electric guitar.

This explanation of the parts of the electric guitar gives you the basic knowledge you need before you start playing. The production, amplification and distortion of the sound made by the electric guitar is an art in itself, but the basic principles are easy to understand.

The guitar in the picture is a solid body electric called a Stratocaster. The guitarist picks or strums the strings, and the pickups – microphones situated near the bridge – transfer the sound to an amplifier.

The BODY of the guitar is made of wood, and is much heavier than an acoustic guitar. There are electric guitars with hollow chambers which makes the instruments much lighter. In the early stages of development of the electric guitar, feedback was a problem when pickups were fitted to hollow body guitars. The solid body eliminated this problem.

The guitar PICKUPS are situated just above the bridge. There are usually three pickups which can be used together or independently. When the strings vibrate, a current is created in the pickup which creates the sound in the amplifier.

The guitar is connected to the amplifier by a cable plugged into the JACK.

The PICKGUARD is a piece of plastic which covers part of the top of the guitar body to protect it from wear and tear during playing.

The BRIDGE is located towards the lower end of the body. The original purpose of the bridge was to anchor the strings to the body. On electric guitars, some bridges allow the individual strings to be raised or lowered to suit the preferences of the guitarist.

The TREMOLO ARM – or “whammy bar” – is screwed into the bridge of some electric guitars. Manipulating the tremolo arm can prolong a note by giving it vibrato. The pitch of the strings can also be changed up and down quite drastically if the player so desires.

The NECK can be attached to the body in one of two ways. The neck can be glued to the body or secured by bolts. Many solid body electrics have the headstock, neck and middle of the body made from a single piece of wood.

At the top of the neck is the HEADSTOCK which holds the MACHINE HEADS which hold the ends of the strings. The machine heads are metal pegs that can be turned to change the tension of the strings to alter the pitch.

At the top of the neck, below the headstock, is the NUT. The nut is a metal, plastic or bone strip that has grooves cut into it to hold the strings.

The neck also holds the FRETBOARD which is a piece of wood – mostly ebony, maple or rosewood – that holds the frets.

The FRETS are strips of metal that are embedded in the fretboard. The frets are positioned at particular points along the fretboard to produce the musical notes.

At the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 12th and 24th frets are POSITION MARKERS which are supposed to make it easier to navigate the fretboard. The position markers are usually dots inlaid in the fretboard.

A Diagram of the Parts of the Electric Guitar

This article contains some vital information for guitar students who want to learn how to play electric guitar:

• Some popular beginner electric guitars
• A discussion on guitar necks and bridges, including an explanation of what a floating bridge is, how to tune a guitar that has one and what to do if your guitar has a floating bridge and you don’t like it.
• All about fretboards and how pickups are switched on and off in different combinations.
• An explanation of the function of the tone control
• How to use the tremolo bar
• The names of the guitar strings
• The names of the left hand fingers
• The gauges of electric guitar strings, why beginners should use lighter gauge strings and the effect of perspiration on uncoated strings.
• How to tune your guitar with and without a chromatic tuner
• How to hold the guitar in a balanced position, whether or not to use a strap to hold the guitar and the possible benefits of using a footstool for electric guitar players
• The best way of holding the right hand when you are about to embark on years of picking and strumming
• How to angle the pick in relation to the strings

If your preferences lean more toward the electric guitar, you will need to look at the popular beginner guitars.

One of the first considerations for an aspiring electric guitar player is which is the best electric guitar for beginners. A common choice is the Squier Strat which is an inexpensive copy of the Fender Stratocaster. As with many of the cheaper electric guitars, the Squier Strat is made in several different factories in different countries, and consequently the quality of workmanship can vary. The Squier Affinity Telecaster features a maple neck with an alder body, and combines good looks with solid construction.

An instrument that many players consider to be the best electric guitar for beginners is the Epiphone Les Paul Special II. The body is alder and maple, and the neck is rosewood. This guitar will serve any beginner well as their technique grows.

The Ibanez RG guitar is consistently praised by guitar players who have tried it. The RG series came out in the late nineteen eighties and has a twenty-four fret thin neck that is built for speed. As with most inexpensive electric guitars, the RG necks are mostly bolt-ons but the RGT model has neck-thru construction which many guitarists prefer for its longer sustain. The RGs also mostly feature The Floyd Rose tremolo system but there is an RG Fixed and RGA Prestige which have fixed bridges and a much warmer tone than the tremolo models. For a beginner guitar player the fixed bridge is easier to maintain and set up but there are some advantages to the Floyd Rose system.

The Floyd Rose tremolo system is made up of a lock situated at the nut which stops the machine heads being turned and a floating bridge where the strings are also locked. This combination of locks stops the strings from going out of tune and allows the strings to be loosened by use of the tremolo arm to a much greater extent than on other tremolo configurations. This allows for spectacular lowering of the pitch while playing. To use the Floyd Rose tremolo system you tune the guitar, put the lock on the machine heads and then fine tune using a set of special tuning heads. Most guitar players who use the tremolo arm find the tremolo RG series guitars stay in tune better than any other tremolo guitar.

The RG models come in various colors and shapes, and the wood the guitars are made from vary as do the configuration of the pickups. The RG Prestige is the most popular. It features a distinctive biting tone which is typical of the humbucker pickups it features. If you ask around about Ibanez RG guitars you will find that the only area that guitar players complain about is the pickups. Many people just don’t like the sound of the single coil humbuckers and either sell the guitar or replace the pickups. But as for playability and capacity to stay in tune, they are universally loved.

Now some lessons on how to play the electric guitar. Today’s video lesson is conducted by Lisa Pursell from Jamplay. Lisa has been learning and teaching the guitar for many years. She started out with classical guitar in Atlanta, moving to California to study and eventually join the faculty of the Musicians Institute. She has also spent a lot of time composing songs and instrumentals. Her first record was an all-instrumental CD featuring some covers and an original tune. Lisa has also taken the unusual step of producing a book of music theory that you can understand without learning to read music!

This six part free video guitar lesson starts with an explanation of the electric guitar parts using a Stratocaster for demonstration purposes. The video finishes with a quiz on the subjects of the first five sections and a reminder about the importance of being realistic when you are planning your daily guitar practice.

Choosing an Electric Guitar For Beginners

String bending is an essential skill for a Metal guitar player. Your whammy bar will bend strings for you but on many cheap guitars the whammy bar does not work without breaking strings. Anyway, you don’t need to use the whammy bar when you can just move your guitar string sidewise to change pitch.

An attractive element of metal guitar is the chugging noise. This sound is achieved by muting the strings. The technique used is called palm muting. You do this by resting the side of your hand on the strings while you are picking. Just try the technique according to this simple description and compare it with the sound you hear on your favorite CDs. This should be enough material for you to get the technique right. You can combine the palm muting with fast up-and-down strokes.

Your main piece of equipment as a Thrash Metal guitar player is a distortion pedal. The music you will need to learn is basically blues and rock. The major, minor, pentatonic, and minor harmonic scales will be useful as well as the Phrygian, Lochrian and Byzantine modes.

Metal guitar makes good use of drop tunings. If you are a serious metal guitar player your guitar should be tuned low. Your control over your sound and your guitar strings is more immediate, letting your emotions express themselves through the guitar. Also the sound you are getting is much more aggressive and you have more latitude with using hammer ons, pull offs and tapping. Why not start with just tuning your guitar half a step down? This is not a big deal but it makes your guitar growl while still giving you some high notes to play with. On the other hand you could tune your strings down one half step so that your guitar is tuned to D G C F A D.

The maximum you should tune your guitar down is three steps. When you get to this stage you could be looking at getting a guitar with an extra long neck, otherwise you may find your strings moving around under your fingers way too much.

Here is a Metal Guitar video lesson:

Speed Picking Techniques In Metal Guitar: Free Online Lessons – Amazing videos are here

Learn to set up your guitar