Learn Electric Guitar · Part 3
Start with bad posture, and it can take months to unlearn. Spend just five minutes today on correct sitting posture, how to hold a pick, and how to read a chord diagram, and every practice session after this one moves faster. This guide covers three fundamentals every beginner needs before diving into chords.
For right-handed players, rest the guitar's waist on your right thigh. This is the casual position, and it's the most natural and recommended starting point for beginners. The classical position uses the left leg, usually with a footstool — that's a classical-guitar standard you don't need to copy unless you're studying classical technique.
Wrap the inside of your right elbow lightly over the top of the guitar body. This keeps it from tipping forward or sliding off your leg. You don't need to press down hard — just let it rest naturally. Your right arm still needs to move freely back and forth for strumming.
Your left hand (fretting hand) should only be used for pressing chords. If it also has to hold up the guitar's weight, your thumb and wrist tense up, chord changes get slower, and long-term playing can lead to wrist injury. Your right arm and right leg should carry all the weight. Your posture is correct if the guitar stays stable even when you lift your left hand slightly off the neck.
Keep the guitar close to vertical. You'll be tempted to tilt it back so you can see the fretboard, but doing so bends your fretting wrist and locks in a bad habit. Playing without looking at the fretboard feels hard at first, but training your ear to confirm what you're playing pays off with much faster progress long-term.
Keep your back straight and the headstock level with the floor or angled slightly upward. If the headstock points down, your left hand has to rise to reach the neck, straining your wrist and arm. Practicing next to a mirror is a good way to check your posture objectively.
Before you pick up the pick, relax your whole hand. Make a fist and release it once, then start with your fingers naturally, slightly curled. Gripping the pick too hard stiffens your wrist and makes strumming rigid.
Rest the pick on the side of your index finger's first knuckle (the side facing your thumb, not the nail side). Point the pick's tip toward your fingertip. A medium thickness (0.6–0.8mm) is the easiest to control when you're starting out.
Cover the pick with the inside pad of your thumb (the fleshy side, not the nail). Your thumb and index finger should pinch the pick lightly front and back. It's a natural grip if your thumb sits just slightly ahead of your index finger.
Only 3–5mm of the pick's tip should stick out past your fingers. Too much and it catches on strings, making your strumming rough; too little and the tone gets thin and hard to control. It's fine to start with a bit more showing — adjust the length as you play to find what suits you.
Hold the pick just tightly enough that it doesn't wobble or slip during a strum. Gripping too hard stiffens your wrist and makes up-down strumming difficult. Dropping the pick often at first is completely normal — keep a few spares nearby while you practice.
Guitar sheet music and method books represent chords using a chord diagram (chord box). Learn these five symbols and you can read any chord.
The 6 vertical lines in a diagram represent the guitar's 6 strings. The leftmost line is the thickest, low-E 6th string; the rightmost is the thinnest, high-E 1st string. The layout direction can vary between method books (some flip it vertical/horizontal), but the string order stays the same.
The horizontal lines represent frets. The thick line (or double line) at the top is the nut, meaning the diagram starts at fret 1. Chords played higher up the neck have a fret number written separately to the side.
A black dot (●) on the diagram marks the fret and string you should press. Only fret the strings with a dot — the rest are either open or not played.
The number written on or below a dot is a finger number, not a fret number: 1 = index, 2 = middle, 3 = ring, 4 = pinky. This is the part beginners mix up most, so make sure it sticks.
An O (circle) shown above the nut means play that string open — no fret pressed, just let it ring. An X means don't play that string at all, or mute it. A D chord, for example, has an X on the 5th and 6th strings, so you skip both low strings.
Once you know the symbols, review them against real chord diagrams. Look up open chords like C, G, Am and Em in the free chord dictionary and find the O's, X's, dots and finger numbers for yourself.
📖 Open the chord dictionary →