Guitar Picks

For a majority of the lessons on this website, we will primarily focus on pick-style playing, which will use a guitar pick rather than our fingers in our right hand as the primary way of plucking the strings on the guitar. Guitar picks come in many shapes and sizes, and thicknesses.

Typically, picks fall into three categories: light, medium, and heavy. Lighter picks are best for strumming, but have less control when playing single strings, while heavier picks have more control for single-note playing but more difficult for strumming. Many guitar players use multiple types of picks throughout a performance, depending on the style of music and the type of guitar.  

Guitar Cables

For electric guitar players, guitar cables are necessary for connecting the guitar’s output jack to the input jack of the amplifier, a standard guitar cable looks like a large headphone cable, and is often referred to as a 1/4 inch (or “quarter-inch”) cable. Guitar cables come in various lengths and colors.  

Guitar Strap

In order to stand up while playing the guitar, it is necessary to have a guitar strap. The ends of the strap connect to the strap buttons on the back and front of the body of your guitar. All electric guitars will have two strap buttons, but it is common for acoustic guitars to have only one on the back of the guitar. In this case, you can tie the string attached to the strap around the headstock and under the nut to secure the guitar while standing. When using a guitar strap, please your head and picking arm through the strap. 

Metronome

A metronome is a device that helps us practice by producing an audible “click” at an interval of time measured in beats per minute (bpm) this provides the tempo, or pulse of the music and helps to keep us in time with the music we are trying to perform. Metronomes are available as stand-alone devices or as downloadable apps on smartphones and tablets. 

Capo

Although not necessary to play the guitar, a capo is an extremely useful tool that we will use frequently as we learn to play the guitar. A capo is placed on one of the frets of the guitar and temporarily changes the tuning of the open strings. This is used to transpose the open chords on the guitar into different keys and retain the sound of the open strings on the guitar.