Hot Acoustic Guitar How-Tos

How To: Play Neil Young's "Old Man" on acoustic guitar

Want to know how to play "Old Man" by Neil Young on the guitar? Learn how with this free video guitar lesson. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate players, rock guitarists of all skill levels can play along given a little sticktoitiveness. For more information, and to get started playing this seventies folk ballad on your own guitar, watch this how-to!

How To: Play "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young on acoustic guitar

Want to know how to play "Harvest Moon" by Neil Young on the guitar? Learn how with this free video guitar lesson. While this tutorial is best suited for intermediate players, rock guitarists of all skill levels can play along given a little sticktoitiveness. For more information, and to get started playing this seventies folk ballad on your own guitar, watch this how-to!

How To: Play "Tell Me Why" by Neil Young on acoustic guitar

Want to know how to play "Tell Me Why" by Neil Young on your acoustic guitar? While this free video lesson is best suited for intermediate players, rock guitarists of all skill levels can play along given a little sticktoitiveness. For more information, and to get started playing this seventies folk classic from Neil Young's After the Gold Rush on your own guitar, watch this how-to!

How To: Play lead guitar licks like Angus Young from AC/DC

Angus Young of AC/DC is one of the true icons of rock guitar, both for his style on stage and for his amazingly simple but awesome-sounding blues rock licks. This video teaches you how to play six very cool such licks on electric guitar (did you think you were going to play Angus on acoustic? Come on.) quickly and easily. It breaks the licks down at low speed so that you can practice, practice, practice them until, even as a novice guitar player, you end up shredding just like the legend hims...

How To: Play Taylor Swift's "White Horse" on acoustic guitar

If you love Taylor Swift, her simple but pretty compositions can be a great gateway to learning to play the guitar. This tutorial teaches us how to play a cover version of her song "White Horse" on acoustic. It may not be exactly how the original song is played, but it is a good facsimile and will allow you to perform the song for your friends and mirrors . Handy graphics illustrate the chords and the strumming pattern. Some of the instruction is in French, but non-speakers should still be ab...

How To: Play Daughtry's "Life After You" on acoustic guitar

This tutorial teaches us how to play an acoustic guitar cover of Daughtry's "Life After You". Done entirely from the performer's (not Daughtry, as should be immediately apparent) bed, it features handy graphics that help to overcome the somewhat quietly recorded audio and make the video an effective tool for learning how to play this popular song by the former American Idol finalist.

How To: Substitute diminished chords for 7b9ths in jazz guitar

Ready to make your brain hurt? In this free video jazz guitar lesson from Justin Sandercoe, you'll learn about dimished/7b9 chord substitution. In short, if you have a functioning 5 chord, you can substitute a diminished chord (with one of the root notes a semitone above the root). For more information, and to get started using this substitution in your own jazz playing, watch this helpful tutorial.

How To: Read and play guitar chords

If you are just starting out learning to play the guitar, one of the first things you need to know is how to read chords. In this tutorial, learn exactly how to read and play certain chords on your guitar. This video is fairly straight forward and offers useful examples for finger placement and playing tips.

How To: Master reading guitar chords in one minute

In this tutorial, professional guitar player David Wallimann, demonstrates how to read and understand guitar chords in less than one minute. With this straight forward approach you should be on your way to reading and performing proper chords in no time at all. Follow along and practice finger placement along with David, and start playing like a rock star. Reading chords is very important and is one of the first things you will learn when you start jamming, so get a head start and check out t...

How To: Play the Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl" on guitar

If you want to pay the Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl" song on guitar you should first the chords for the verse are D to a B minor, to a G and then to A. That is for the first half of the verse. The second half of the verse starts with a D chord, then goes to D7, then to a G then a G minor (barre on the 3rd fret). Now, when you play this, you should just repeat both phrases again. For the bridge, start with a G chord, to A, to D and B minor. You should also repeat this portion for the bridge then g...

How To: Hold an acoustic guitar correctly

True Fire TV and Guitar Lessons for Beginners demonstrate how to correctly hold an electric guitar. Good posture and hand positions will affect the sounds that you are making. Cross your legs to prop up your guitar which gives you more flexibility and freedom. Prop out the neck for better hand and finger positions. Don't look over the guitar. Remain loose, comfortable and relaxed. The left hand fingers should be close to the end of the fret. Press the strings only as hard as you need to using...

How To: Restring guitars with a stop-bar tailpiece

In this Music & Instruments video tutorial you will learn how to restring guitars with a stop-bar tailpiece. The video shows how to do this on a solid body electric guitar. First, with the Planet Waves pro winder rotate the tuning key button clockwise to release the tension on the string, then pull the string put. Now slide the new string through the back of the tail piece, place the tail piece back in to position, pass it through the tuning key post and pull it tight. Wrap it around behind t...

How To: Hold your guitar pick in two different ways

Before learning how to play a guitar your going to want to know how to hold your guitar pick. First there is the one finger hold, this looks like you're making a fist. You don't want to make a hard fist but a loose one, not a of strain should be put on the hand. Move your thumb down a little and your first finger too so that it looks like a ribbon or a bow. You have to line up the edge of the pick with the edge of your index finger. Once that is done adopt the hold defined above to complete i...

How To: Hold a guitar pick with the NYC Guitar School

In this how to video, you will learn how to hold a guitar pick. This is useful if you want to successfully rock out. A pick is a triangular piece of plastic. First, lay the back of the pick into the crease of your index finger. Next, lay your thumb perpendicularly across the back of the pick. If you look at it from this angle, the flat of the thumb is on one side while the side of the index is on the other. When playing, you will have a little bit of pick past the finger as you slide along th...

How To: Play "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed on acoustic guitar

If you want to play 'Perfect Day' by Lou Reed on acoustic guitar you first need to play an E chord, then go to Am, and repeat this. Now move to a D and crawl up to a G, then play a C and go to F. Move to Dm and play E. When you play the E chord you should play it with your pinkie. After playing the E, you play the last two strings in order and then continue on with the chord progression. If you continue on with this chord progression you will play the song. Listen to the song to get the strum...

How To: Play the guitar and sing at the same time

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to play the guitar and sing at the same time. Before trying to sing and play, users will first need to know how to play the song well. Learn the song well and play it over again. Do this so that you can memorize each strum without looking at the guitar. Sing and talk to yourself as you play. Keep doing this and practice alone to help you learn faster. This video will benefit those viewers who play the guitar and would like to learn how to play the gui...

How To: Properly hold a guitar pick

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to properly hold a guitar pick. Begin by placing the pick on the index finger. The bend the index finger to the thumb. Let the thumb hold the pick. It should be in a form of an X as you hold the pick between the index and thumb. The corner of the thumb nail should be at the edge of the pick. Don't hold the pick so close to the edge, making it sticking out too much. This video will benefit those viewers who are beginning to play guitar and would like t...

How To: Play "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple on guitar

How classic is "Smoke on the Water" by Deep Purple, right? It's one of the greatest classics of all time! And now, you can learn how to play this hit on your acoustic guitar by yourself. Impress anyone who's listening with this rockin' tune. This tutorial will show you exactly how to play "Smoke on the Water" with your guitar, from finger placement to the proper chords.

How To: Play "Tell Me Why" by Neil Young on acoustic guitar

If you want to play 'Tell Me Why' by Neil Young on acoustic guitar you should first tune your guitar down a whole step for every string. First, the chords are in a Key of G. The chords you will play with are G, D, C, Am7, Gmaj7 and a Bm. Also on certain parts of the song you should lift up your index finger on the C. The verse will be C, D, Am7 and G. This is a boom-chucka rhythm which means you play the root note and go down up on the chord. You can throw in licks by lifting up your index fi...

How To: Play a simplified version of "Hallelujah" on guitar

To play a simplified version of 'Hallelujah' on guitar you first should put a capo on the fifth fret. This song only has three parts. The intro is E minor played two times and a G chord played. You will pick the strings of these chords six times in a progressive order from 1 down to the 4th and up to one again. The first part is switching between these two chords. Then you play a C chord, a B, G and then A minor. And this will be the second part of the song. Next, you play G, C, A minor and C...

How To: Get your guitar pick if it falls inside your guitar

Guitar Player shows the easiest way to get your pick if it falls inside your guitar. Since this has happened to everyone, he shows his technique for getting it out. Don't shake your guitar trying to get it out. Do shake until you can see the pick. Shake until the pick is on the label of the guitar. Some people like to put a piece of gum on the pencil. Flip the guitar over and pull the pencil up all at once. The pick will then be on the strings. Once this happens just reach in and pull out you...

How To: Find your pitch and sing while you play guitar

Stephenmdt2 wants to teach us how to find our note while playing guitar. First he goes over how you use a capo, which you need in order to find your note. Place it on any fret that you want it to go on. Next you want to place your fingers anywhere pressing the strings on the guitar. You know that you're doing it correctly because your fingers are spread out. Start strumming and then sing with your strumming until you find your pitch. Sometimes you need to sing high in falsetto. If you still c...