Star Guitars: 101 Guitars That Rocked the World

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Maintain an optimal temperature. Playing in a well-ventilated room that is at a comfortable temperature can go a long way toward creating a comfortable environment to practice guitar. You might not be as inclined to sit down for a practice session if the room feels like a hot box or if you’re too cold. Additionally, maintaining a comfortable, consistent temperature in your practice room can also help keep your guitar in tune as temperature fluctuations can impact its performance. These components all work together to produce a louder, more sustained sound that sets the tone of an electric guitar apart from an acoustic. An electric guitar can also be used with effects pedals to create custom tones, ranging from fuzzy distortion to echoing reverb to full-throttle overdrive.

Carve out regular time to practice. Setting aside as little as 15 minutes to practice each day can help you to steadily increase your proficiency as a guitarist. Fender Play’s bite-sized video lessons are an ideal way to help structure your practice sessions, guiding you along a specific path and building upon learned skills.

It may not be as exciting as playing your first solo or strumming the chords to your favorite song, but little things like learning the names of your strings and the different parts of your guitar can help you build greater familiarity with your instrument. Here are just a few guitar basics and why you should learn them: Warm up first. Warming up your fingers and practicing a few scales or finger exercises can help you prepare for a practice session. It can also help you be sure your guitar is in tune. The first steps are always the most difficult. But you have to learn to crawl before you can walk -- building up strength and confidence before you can get going. Whether you’re learning to play guitar at home and using the Fender Play curriculum, or if you decide to take weekly guitar lessons with a teacher in-person, learning the basics and practicing them can help you work your way up to more advanced techniques.

Learning to play notes, scales and chords are certainly fundamentals of your musical education. But the best way to learn guitar is to put those techniques into practice while learning a new song. Strumming a chord progression or practicing a hammer-on pull-off can feel much more real when you’re playing it in one of your favorite songs. This makes the experience much more fun instead of practicing the same things over and over without context.

Learning which notes -- sharps, flats, and root notes -- comprise a particular scale can help you identify the key of a song. In turn, that can help you narrow down what chords and notes are included in some of your favorite songs and how the artist decided to structure a riff or solo based on those scales. One way to help narrow the field is to try out our Find Your Fender tool. Find Your Fender asks you a few simple questions about the type of tone you prefer, your budget, and even your physiology -- such as whether you have smaller hands or if you play guitar left-handed or right-handed. Based on that criteria, it gives you a short list of guitars to explore to see if they might be the right fit for you. 3. Create An Ideal Learning Environment It’s impossible to achieve your guitar goals with wannabe celebrity instructors, or searching through How to Strum like a Pro - Little things like keeping your wrist loose while strumming can not only help you to achieve a more fluid style of playing, but it can also help to decrease pain or tightness after a practice session. Get more tips for strumming like a pro!

If you want to learn to play guitar, you might not know where to start. What is the best way to learn guitar? Can I learn guitar at home or do I need an instructor? Should I learn to play chords or scales first? Your mind may be brimming with questions and it can feel intimidating. You might also wonder if you’ll be good at guitar. In some instances, new players don’t always give themselves enough time to learn the basics and unfairly put a lot of pressure on themselves to “get good” right out of the gate. Whether you’re learning to play an acoustic or electric guitar, or decide that you want to learn how to play bass, finding the right instrument is essential. Whether you want to learn your favorite songs or compose your own original tunes, you’ll find what you need among Fender Play’s catalogue of chords, scales, songs and skill-based lessons.For many new players, using an online guitar lesson app can help give you access to the tools you need to learn no matter where you’re at. Fender Play gives new guitarists access to top-notch instructors who have been there, done that, and created an easily-accessible curriculum broken into bite-sized video lessons. The portability of using an app like Fender Play allows you to practice anytime, anywhere -- as often or as you like. If there’s a particular concept of lesson you haven’t quite grasped, simply replay the lesson and practice it until you feel satisfied. Fender Play also gives you access to a library of hundreds of songs that you can learn to play. Learn chords, riffs, or even songs in their entirety to put the skills you learn to practical use.