LyxPro Electric Guitar Starter Guide

Your musical journey starts now

 

Thank you for purchasing this LyxPro guitar. We hope you are loving your instrument and enjoying it to the fullest. If you have been playing guitar for years, we hope this guitar is moving you forward musically and pushing you to new heights. If this is your first guitar, welcome to the journey! The purchase of a first guitar is an exciting beginning, and we’re here to support you on this path.

 

When you purchase a LyxPro guitar, you join a growing community of musicians that looks to stand on the shoulders of the legendary musicians who came before us. By learning from the past, we look to blaze a new trail forward, one that values innovation, creativity, and personal expression. This lofty goal pushes to stand behind both our instruments and our musicians.

 

To push forward, you need to start with a solid foundation. A house is only as strong as the foundation it’s built on, and the same is true with your musical growth. To become the best musician you can be, you need a strong musical foundation. This guide is designed to help provide you with the basics you need to grow musically towards your goals.

 

In this guide, we’ll cover some of the fundamentals of music and guitars. We’ll help you get comfortable with your guitar by going over each of the parts as well as some basic maintenance procedures. We’ll also dive into the fundamental concepts of music by helping you find the notes on the fretboard, keep time in a song, and play basic chords and scales. With each step, you’ll become more able to think your way through music and grow as a musician.

 

Every musical journey is a long one, and this guide is meant to be a simple first step. Think of this guide as learning the basics of driving so you can then go on to explore the open road. Every journey begins with a single step. Let’s start this musical journey together.

 

The Parts of a Guitar

 

Playing an instrument well begins with a firm grasp over every part of the instrument. In this chapter, we will go over the various parts of your guitar and explain the role each one plays.

 

• Tuning pegs
• Posts
• Headstock
• Truss rod hole
• Nut
• Neck
• Fretboard
• Frets
• Pickups
• Strap posts
• Body
• ¼ inch jack
• Pickup selector
• Volume/tone controls
• Bridge

 

 

Tuning Pegs

The tuning pegs are the pieces on the headstock that you twist to change the tuning of the strings. To tune each string, slowly twist the tuning peg until the right tuning is achieved.

 

Posts

Posts work to hold tension in the strings so they can play distinct notes. When stringing your guitar, pass the string through the hole on the posts and wrap it around the post.

 

Headstock

The headstock is where your tuning pegs are mounted at the end of the neck. Its main role is to hold your strings in place by securing the tuning pegs and other mounting elements. The headstock is also where you will find the truss rod hole.

 

Truss Rod Hole

The truss rod runs through the entire length of the neck and keeps your neck straight. Should the neck begin to warp, small truss rod adjustments can straighten the neck out.

 

Environmental conditions like temperature and humidity, as well as string tension, can cause bowing of the guitar neck. If your instrument has an adjustable truss rod, you can try to adjust it to keep the neck as straight as possible.

 

Tightening the truss rod clockwise causes the neck to curve upward.

 

Tightening the truss rod counterclockwise causes the neck to curve downward.

 

Nut

The nut runs across the top of the neck and has grooves to hold your strings in place. When under tension, the strings will naturally stay in their grooves. It is important to make sure that the strings lay nicely in their grooves when replacing strings.

 

Neck

The neck is the long wooden part of the guitar where the strings run. The front part of the neck is the fretboard where you will place your fingers to play distinct notes and chords. Your hand will go behind the neck with your thumb facing upward and your other four fingers wrapping under the neck to reach the fretboard.

 

Fretboard

The fretboard is the flat part of the neck that will face forward while you are playing. The metal strips that run across the width of the neck separate one fret from another. To play a note, press down on a string between two frets. Each fret represents a new note.

 

Frets

A fret is a metal strip that runs across the width of the neck. Each fret distinguishes one note from another. A fret refers to the space that is just above it. For example, the first fret refers to the space between the nut and the first metal strip at the top of the neck. When playing a note, try to hold your finger near the fret while still remaining above it.

 

Pickups

The pickups are the electronic strips that capture the sound from your strings to produce sound through your amplifier. Your pickups sense the sound from your strings and convert it into an electric signal your amplifier can understand. Different pickups add different tones to your sound and can be adjusted.

 

Strap Posts

Strap posts are small knobs that a guitar strap can be connected to. Simply locate the slits on the ends of the guitar strap and pass the strap post through those slits until it settles into place. This will allow you to stand while playing guitar.

 

Body

The body of your guitar is the main section. It houses all of the electronics in your guitar. Acoustic guitars have hollow bodies that allow the sound of the strings to reverberate. Electric guitars can have solid, semi-hollow, and hollow bodies depending on the tone they are trying to achieve.

 

¼ inch jack

The ¼ inch jack allows you to plug a ¼ inch cable directly into your guitar. This cable will then take the electric signal from your guitar and run it to an amplifier. This jack works exclusively with ¼ inch cables.

 

Pickup Selector

The pickup selector chooses which pickups are active at any time. By moving the switch, you can change between the pickups. This allows you to control the tone of your guitar as it captures sound from different areas of your guitar.

 

 

Volume/tone controls

The volume and tone controls are knobs you can twist to change the output volume and tone of your guitar. The tone knob controls how much treble is coming from your guitar while the volume knob determines the output volume.

 

Bridge

The bridge rests in the body of your guitar and supports the strings. By lifting the strings off of the body of the guitar, the bridge allows the strings to ring out when you strum or pluck them. When you change your strings, run them through the back of the guitar and pass them through the bridge.

 

Preparing to Play

 

Before you begin playing, you will need to get your equipment set up properly. Fortunately, setting up your guitar is a very simple process. We will first go over the process of connecting your equipment before covering how to tune your guitar.

 

Connecting Your Equipment

 

Setting Up Your Amplifier

To play your electric guitar properly, you will need to connect it to an amplifier. Most setups will either connect the guitar directly to the amplifier or run the guitar through a pedal system. Pedals can be added to nearly any guitar setup to create custom tones. The LyxPro amplifier that came with your guitar can help you customize your sounds as well.

 

To use your amplifier, first plug the power cord into an appropriate outlet. This will provide power for the amplifier and for your guitar.

 

Connecting Your Guitar

With your amplifier plugged in, connecting your guitar is a very simple process. Simply take a ¼ inch cable and plug one end into the ¼ inch jack on your guitar. Then, take the other end of the cable and plug it into the ¼ inch input on your amplifier. It is best to do this when the amplifier is off to avoid popping noises that can damage the amplifier over time.

 

Tuning Your Guitar

Tuning your guitar is an important step to take every time you play your guitar. Tuning your guitar is the process of making sure the proper amount of tension is on each string to play the exact notes you want.

 

There are various kinds of tuners from clip-on tuners, tuning pedals, and even phone apps that will help tune your guitar. Most LyxPro guitars include a clip-on tuner.

 

To use the included tuner, clip it to the head of the guitar and press the power button. You will see the screen light up to indicate that it is on.

 

Using a pick, pluck one string and let the note the ring out. The tuner will then show you which way to adjust the string to get it to the proper tuning. Standard tuning for each string is shown on the table below.

 

6	5	4	3	2	1
E	A	D	G	B	E

 

 

 

 

 

 

Playing Position

 

When playing guitar, your body position goes a long way in determining your ability to play the notes and chords you want. In this chapter, we will go over some basics of body position to enable you to play as efficiently and comfortably as possible.

 

Body Position

Guitar is mostly played either sitting down of standing up. When seated, you will want to sit as upright as possible. You may be tempted to lean over the guitar and arch your back while playing. This is a bad habit to develop that will throw off the alignment of both your arms with the guitar. Instead, sit as upright as possible. This will be helpful for both seated and standing playing.

 

Holding the Pick

Unless you are playing a left-handing guitar, you will hold the pick in your right hand. There are various ways to hold the pick, so it is important to find the most comfortable position for you.

 

Start by holding the pick between your pointer finger and your thumb. You want to be able to have a loose grip on the pick, but not so loose that it falls out when you pluck a string. Do not grip the pick too tightly as this will add unnecessary strain to your hand.

 

Hand Position

Unless you are playing a left-handed guitar, your left hand will go behind the neck of the guitar. The back of the neck has a curved design to make playing more comfortable. Extend your thumb away from your pointer finger and place the middle of the curve between your pointer finger and thumb. As you move up and down the neck, this part of your hand should stay in contact with the neck.

 

Your thumb should not wrap around the neck to the point where it touches the strings. Instead, you will play with your other four fingers. These will wrap under the neck and reach around to the fret board.

 

Finger Placement

When placing your finger on a string, you want to use the tip of your finger to push down on the string. Your finger should only touch one string at a time. Touching other strings will prevent them from ringing out.

 

To keep your fingers in the right place, try to have your fingertip push down from above the string. This will make it easier to only touch the string you are trying to play.

 

When you are first beginning, it is common to experience pain in your fingertips. Over time, you will develop callouses that make playing guitar more comfortable. While some pain is normal, do not push yourself beyond your comfort level.

 

 

 

Learning the Fretboard

 

Music is made up of individual notes. To play any song, you will need to find and play the proper note. In this chapter, we will go over the strings and fretboard so that you can find any note you need to.

 

Understanding the Strings

Before we look at the fretboard, it is important to know what note each string is. Below is a diagram of your fretboard. The vertical lines represent each of the strings of the guitar, while the horizontal lines represent the individual frets on the neck of your guitar.

 

 

Placing Your Hand on The Guitar

Proper technique is crucial when learning to play guitar. Part of that technique is placing your fingers in the right position when you go to play a chord or note. In the chord charts that will come later in this book, notations will be made to tell you which finger goes on which string. Below is a chart numbering your fingers.

 

Finding Notes

To get familiar with your fretboard, start by going down the strings and naming each note. Follow the chart below to find each note:

 

You will notice that some positions on the fretboard have two different names for that note. For example, the second fret on the low E string is called an F# and a Gb. These are both the same note. This one note will go by different names depending on the key you are playing in. As you begin to get comfortable with the fretboard, familiarize yourself with these notes using both of their names.

 

Once you pass the twelfth fret, the notes on the neck repeat. For example, the notes on the thirteenth fret are the same as the first fret, the notes on the fourteenth fret are the same as the second fret, and so on.

 

 

Reading Chord Charts

 

As this book goes on, we will begin to look at different chord charts. These charts will teach you how to play specific chords.

 

Below is an example of a chord chart:

  

The chart is showing you the way a chord will look on the guitar. The top bar represents the nut of the guitar and each descending line is a fret. The black dots show you where your fingers will go.

 

Each finger corresponds with a number that will be shown within the black dot. Your pointer finger is 1, your middle finger is 2, your ring finger is 3, and your pinky is 4. Use the corresponding finger to make the shape shown on the neck of your guitar. A chart in chapter 4 provides a visual example of the number associated with each finger.

 

If a string does not have a black dot on it, you will want to let that string ring out. Make sure your other fingers do not touch that string.

 

If a string is not meant to be played, an X will appear above the string on the chart. In this case, the low E string is not meant to be played.

 

 

Open Chord Positions

 

In music, certain chords sound better together than other chords do. This is what it means to play music in a key. A key is the scale on which a piece of music is based. For a better understanding of keys, refer to chapter 8.

 

For the purposes of this chapter, we will go over the main chords used in two different keys. These chords can all be played in an open position, meaning that in standard tuning you can play these chords while letting at least one of the strings ring out.

 

Using the charts below, practice playing each of these chords. As you become more comfortable, begin practice transitioning between chords. Focus at first on proper technique before worrying about speed.

 

G Shape Chords

 

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G Major	C Major	D Major	E Minor

 

 

C Shape Chords

 

C Major	F Major	G Major	A Minor

 

 

 

Keeping Time

 

When playing an electric guitar, there are two main ways to play. Either you will be playing individual notes or strumming to play chords. In this chapter, we will go over the basics of strumming and keeping time.

 

Understanding the Rhythm

Rhythm is the time pattern by which you measure a song. Most popular music is counted on a four-beat system. To play in rhythm, you will need to be able to identify the beats in a song. A good way to practice this is to listen to music and try to count to four along with the beat of the song. As you learn to identify the rhythm, it will become a natural way you identify music.

 

Counting Time

When looking at a piece of sheet music, you will see two numbers on the staff.

 

The top number in the time signature tells you the number of beats in a measure. In this example, there are four beats in the measure. This is the most common time signature.

 

The bottom number of the time signature tells you what kind of note counts as one beat. In this example, a quarter note will be counted as one beat.

 

Here are the kinds of notes you may see.

 

 

Strum Patterns

As you strum within the rhythm of the song, the pattern in which you strum up and down will create your strum pattern. As you play a song, you will create a consistent feel by repeating the same strum pattern.

 

Begin by practicing strumming up and down on the guitar. Simply count a four-beat rhythm and alternate between strumming down and up on the strings. As you grow more comfortable, add more strums into your rhythm and work on the pattern until you feel confident.

 

 

Power Chords

 

The open chords covered in the chapter 6 will help you play in the keys of G and C, two very common keys for playing guitar. In this chapter, you will learn a method that will help you play chords in any key you want.

 

A power chord is a chord shape that can be played virtually anywhere on the guitar. These chords are extremely versatile because they are neither major nor minor. A power chord is made up of only a root note and a fifth. This means you can, for example, use the same power chord to play an A major or an A minor.

 

Power Chord Shape

A power chord will keep the same shape and can slide up and down the neck of the guitar to give you different chords. For this example, we will use the G power chord.

 

Begin by putting your first finger on the third fret of the low E string. This is a G note. Then, take your third finger on the fifth fret of the A string. Complete the power chord by putting your fourth finger on the fifth fret of the D string. This is a G power chord.

 

 

So long as you keep this spacing, you can move up and down the neck of the guitar to make any note on the E string into a power chord.

 

One great benefit of power chords is the way they allow you to transition quickly between chords without moving your finger position. Take some time to get comfortable playing these chords, transitioning from power chord to power chord. As you get more comfortable, experiment with different strum patterns while you transition between power chords.

 

 

Major Scales

 

Scales are one of the most fundamental building blocks of music. The scale you are playing in sets the standard for what notes/chords you will use. In most modern music, the major scale is used.

 

A scale is a series of ascending notes in a particular pattern. Scales are defined by movements upward of a half step or whole step. On your guitar, every one fret upward is a half step and every two frets upward is a whole step.

 

Constructing a Major Scale

Any major scale is a series of 8 notes that have the same number of steps between each note. Every major scale follows the series of steps shown below:

 

Whole (2 frets) whole (2 frets) half (1 fret) whole (2 frets) whole (2 frets) whole (2 frets) half (1 fret)

 

Let’s look at the G major scale for an example and build the scale note by note.

 

The scale will start on G and take a whole step to get to the second note, which is an A. Another whole step makes the third note a B. Then, a half step will make the fourth note a C. Next, three whole steps in a row will make the next notes D, E and F#. Finally, a half step will make the final note G. The table below will also show you each of the notes of the G major scale.

 

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
G	A	B	C	D	E	F#	G

 

 

Playing a Major Scale

While the entire scale can be played on one string, this is not the most practical way to play the scale. Once you have the notes of your scale figured out, those notes can be played on any of the strings as long as they are played in the proper order.

 

Below is an example of how the notes of the scale can be played on multiple strings.

 

 

Take some time to play through the G scale using each string. It is important to play the scale correctly as you are learning, so go slowly so that you can build correct muscle memory of the scale. As you get more and more comfortable, you can begin to pick up your speed.

 

After you are confident in your ability to play the G major scale, attempt to write out the notes of another major scale. Then, find the notes on the different strings on the neck and begin to play the scale. Focus on scales that begin on notes that are neither sharp nor flat as these are most commonly used.

 

Chord Charts

 

As you get more comfortable playing guitar, you will want to experiment with new chords. Below is a chord chart that will help you play more complicated music. Take some time to get comfortable playing each of these chords and begin to experiment with transitions between them.

 

 

Basic Guitar Maintenance

 

As you use your guitar, some maintenance will be required to keep your guitar in optimal condition. Below are instruction guides for a few basic maintenance procedures. Should you need guidance beyond these instructions, please consult with a qualified professional.

 

Changing Guitar Strings

Guitar strings will naturally wear down through use. As they wear down, they will become less comfortable to play and will not keep the same tone. Guitar strings may also break. If a string breaks, change it before continuing to play. Guitar strings should be changed every three (3) months for optimal tone and comfort.

 

Follow the instructions below to change your strings.

 

1. Lay the guitar on a flat, level surface.
2. Using the tuning peg, release the tension in the string until it is easy to move.
3. With a wire cutter, cut the string you are looking to change. Then, remove the string from the guitar by removing the top end from the post and the lower end through the bridge. For the lower part of the string, you will need to push it out of the back of the guitar.
4. Take the new string and run it through the back of the guitar so that the bottom of the string sits properly in the bridge. Be sure to check the string’s packaging to ensure you are using the right string.
5. Run the string through the post and pull it gently so that it sits properly in the nut.
6. Using the tuning peg, begin to tighten the string until you feel it begin to hold tension.
7. Tie a knot in the string that loops around the post and pull it tight.
8. Using the tuning peg, add tension to the string until it plays the correct note.

 

After changing a string, it will stretch as you first begin to play it. This will cause the string to go out of tune. Bend the string on each fret to speed up the stretching process.

 

Truss-rod Adjustments

The truss-rod in the neck of your guitar adjusts the way the neck holds tension. When you look at the neck of your guitar, it should look straight and having even spacing between the neck and the strings the entire length of the guitar.

 

When making truss-rod adjustments, look to make small adjustments at any given time. It is not recommended to adjust the truss-rod more than a ¼ turn at any one time. A truss-rod adjustment might take as much as 24 hours to completely settle in. If you have questions about the kind of adjustment your guitar needs, please contact a qualified professional.

 

Tightening the truss rod clockwise causes the neck to curve upward. Tightening the truss rod counterclockwise causes the neck to curve downward.

 

Cleaning Your Guitar

Whenever possible, keep your instrument in a case or carrying bag when transporting or storing it. Do not place any objects on the top of your instrument.

 

Regularly clean your guitar, including the finger board, with a clean, dry, soft cloth. Polish the finished surface with an appropriate guitar polish. Humidity and temperature affect your guitar. Avoid exposing it to extreme temperatures, high humidity, and excessively dry environments.

 

SC Series

Whether you are looking to purchase your first guitar or add to your impeccable collection, the SC series is sure to please. The SC Series brings modern technology to a classic design, making it both more durable and affordable at the same time. These guitars feature a Canadian maple neck and a rosewood fretboard for added brightness, excellent sustain, and a smooth feel. The 5-way pickup selector allows you to mix and match the active pickups to give you complete control over your tone and resonance. With superior craftsmanship, these guitars are perfect whether you are playing your first note or recording your fifth album.

 

BP Series

Simple designs turn into the most reliable products. That thinking inspired the BP Series, a guitar line that focuses on making warm, engaging tone easier to achieve. These guitars weigh in as our lightest, making them more comfortable to play and easier to transport. Focusing on simplicity, each BP Series guitar features a neck made only of Canadian maple wood. These guitars also come with a fixed bridge, making standard maintenance like changing your strings or adjusting intonation easier to perform. No matter what you are looking for, the BP Series guitar provides ease of use and engaging, powerful tone. 

 

SB Series

Many guitarists want rich, full tones, and few guitars provide them like the SB Series. With a larger profile, the SB Series gives you a warmer, more responsive playing experience. Every major wooden component, from the body to the neck to the fingerboard, is made of solid mahogany, adding sustain to your tone. The SB Series comes with 2 humbucker pickups and 4 control knobs, giving you complete control. The fixed bridge provides a reliable home for your strings, giving you excellent, lasting quality. From the tonal control to the warm design, the SB Series is a great guitar for beginners and experienced musicians alike.