Mastering Guitar Techniques: A Guide for Beginners
Chords and songs come first on the guitar, but a handful of techniques are what turn the right notes into music. This guide covers the ones worth learning first, roughly in the order most beginners meet them, with something to try for each. At the end there's a simple plan for a free weekend.
Your strumming hand
Strumming is running a pick, or your thumb and fingers, across the strings in a steady rhythm. Start with slow downstrokes on each beat, then add an upstroke in between. Keep your hand swinging like a pendulum even when it isn't touching the strings. A hand that never stops moving is what keeps your timing steady.
Fingerpicking means plucking individual strings with your fingers instead of strumming them all. Your thumb looks after the three thickest strings and your index, middle and ring fingers take one each of the three thinnest. Hold any chord and play thumb, index, middle, ring, slowly and evenly. It's the sound of folk and classical guitar, and of a great many pop ballads.
Palm muting gives rock and metal rhythm guitar its tight, chunky sound. Rest the edge of your picking hand lightly on the strings, just where they leave the bridge, and strum. Too far forward and the notes die completely; too far back and nothing changes. Move your hand a few millimetres at a time until you find the spot.
Your fretting hand
Hammer-ons and pull-offs let you play two notes with one pick stroke. Pick a note, then bring another finger down firmly on a higher fret of the same string. That's a hammer-on. A pull-off is the reverse: flick the finger off sideways so the lower note sounds. Lead guitarists string them together for fast, smooth runs.
Slides join two notes. Play a note, keep the pressure on, and move your finger along the string to another fret. Keep pressing all the way or the note will fade before it arrives.
Bending means pushing a string sideways across the fretboard to raise its pitch. It's the crying sound in blues and rock solos. Use three fingers together for strength, with your ring finger on the note, and check your tuning by ear: a full bend should match the note two frets higher.
Vibrato is a small, repeated bend, a gentle wobble that makes a held note sing. It takes longer to learn than anything else here, and it's the technique that makes a player sound like themselves. Start slow and even, and speed up over months rather than days.
A plan for a free weekend
A bank holiday or a quiet weekend is a good chance to move your playing on. Pick two or three of these.
- Learn one new chord. If you know the open chords, try F as a barre chord, or a seventh chord such as A7 or E7.
- Play a scale slowly. The minor pentatonic is the place to start. Use a metronome and only speed up when every note is clean.
- Learn one whole song. Start to finish, not just the riff. Finishing songs is a skill in its own right.
- Experiment with your sound. If you play electric, spend half an hour with the controls on your amp, or a single effects pedal, and listen to what each one actually does.
- Get some feedback. A teacher will spot in one lesson the habits that take months to notice on your own.
How to practise a new technique
Take one technique at a time and give it a week. Practise it slowly for five minutes at the start of each session, then find a song that uses it. Technique sticks when it has somewhere to go. There's more on building a routine in our guide to how much to practise.
Everything here works on acoustic and electric guitar, though bends and vibrato are easier on an electric's lighter strings. If you're still choosing an instrument, see our Fender Stratocaster review and our comparison of guitar and bass guitar.
Want someone to check your technique before bad habits set in? Tempo Tuition arranges one-to-one guitar lessons in Bristol for beginners and improvers.