In this final country guitar lesson I want to take a look at some of the things you are going to need – or at least are likely to need – as you both begin and progress through your lessons. Think of it as a kind of checklist for guitar playing beginners. I’ve added a few notes that I think may be valuable because they are things I discovered for myself and would have been happier knowing much earlier. Let’s get to it.

Practice! Practice! Practice!
No apologies for making this the top priority. Without it, you may as well give your guitar away. How much practice do you need? Well, the answer is as much as you can manage. When you think that even top guitarists like Tommy Emmanuel and Eric Clapton still put in an hour or so’s practice whenever they can you get some idea of its importance.

Now you don’t have to go mad. Fifteen minutes a day of intensive practice is far more valuable than an hour’s noodling on the couch, and if you can manage 30 minutes, so much the better. It doesn’t even have to be all in the same session.

Guitar Strap
Even if you practice sitting down, you will find a strap very useful. It helps to keep the guitar under control in your early days – you are about to find out these instruments have a life of their own – and it means you can stand up and play if you want to. Get one that is broad fitting. They are the most comfortable. I use leather ones costing around $25 each, but there are cheaper nylon versions. Classical guitar players don’t need one because of the way they hold the guitar, which is why few classical guitars have strap pins.

Foot stool
Optional, but handy. Trying to play with your legs crossed can cramp you up a bit so putting your right or left foot on a stool is a good alternative. There are music ones available which allow you to adjust them for height. Ask at your local guitar shop.

Music Stand
If you don’t intend to read music – either tab or notation – you don’t need a music stand, but you certainly do need one otherwise. They are cheap and portable and very, very useful.

Guitar Stand
You can hang your guitar on the wall, or you can put it in a stand. I recommend the latter. Once again they are cheap, help to protect your guitar from accidental knock downs and look as though you know what you’re doing. Above all, never leave your guitar standing around leaning against something, especially if there are kids or pets in the house. Cats knock them over just for fun.

Metronome
Love it or hate it – I’m feeling homicidal towards mine – a ‘nome is an absolute must if you are going to do any more that just noodle around on the couch. They are free online, but of course you need to be at your computer to use one of those. When I’m travelling I use a Boss TU-80 because it is really a guitar tuner with a ‘nome built in and is very handy to carry around. At home, however, I invariably use a Peterson BB-1 Pulsing BodyBeat Metronome (see the customer reviews) partly because it’s silent, but also because the beat feels like part of my own body. It’s hard to explain, you just have to try one and they’re not cheap.

Tuner
There are a number of ways to tune a guitar, but by far the easiest (and most accurate) is to use an electric tuner. As I’ve mentioned, I use a Boss-TU80C because it has a metronome built in and buzzes when I’ve got the tuning right, but there are plenty of others available.

Stool
Please, please, pleeeaaase don’t make the mistake of trying to learn to play in an armchair, on the couch or even sitting on your bed. Sitting on an armless stool gives you a huge mental kick – it feels like you’re serious – as well as ensuring your posture is good. You cannot move your arm and wrist fast enough surrounded by cushions when trying to strum Peggy Sue! If it has a rung you can put your foot on for support, so much the better; you can do away with the foot stool and look really cool into the bargain.

Flat picks
Get some, even if you intend to play finger style. You may end up loving them to death. They come in various shapes and thicknesses, but to start with Dunlop 0.71mm are probably about right for a beginner. They allow you to strum and pick comfortably. There’s a lot of nonsense talked about picks on the various forums, by the way. The truth is the right pick to use is the one you feel comfortable with and, later on in your career, produces the sound you want. Yes, that’s right, different picks produce different sounds. As a matter of fact, the same pick can produce different sounds. Try picking the same string with different parts of the pick and hear the difference in tone.

Soft cloth
Use it to keep the dust off your guitar but don’t use it to apply the various oils on sale for that purpose. Instead, every three months, take your guitar to your local luthier and get him or her to change the strings and service the instrument. It will come back gleaming with lemon oil (or similar) and sounding bright as new.

Humidifier
If you live in a hot, dry climate and you play an acoustic guitar you may need to find some way to keep the air in the room where your guitar is stored moist. I just leave a shallow bowl of water in the room and it works fine, but do be aware of the fact that your guitar is made of wood, which stretches and warps under extreme conditions.

Finally
Is that enough for you to be going on with? Yes. Of course make sure you have a case for the guitar and so on, but you should already have that if you followed my tips on guitar buying. What’s listed above is the bare minimum of what you’ll need in the future, especially when the GAS attacks set in (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome).

Okay, that’s the end of my lessons on the guitar. The rest is now between you and your teachers, but come back often to these pages because I will be keeping you up to date with what’s new, what’s hot, what rocks and anyway, it’ll be good to hear how you’re progressing. Best of luck!

Michael Sheridan
Minnamurra, Australia
2009

photo credit: lysinewf