Hi, my name’s Michael. They’ve asked me to speak to you today so here it goes…

How and when did you start playing the guitar? I started playing guitar, I think it was around 1993, um, Seattle music had just come out; Nirvana, Soundgarden, all these great rock and roll bands and, you know, being a lead guitar player sounded like the coolest thing in the world that you could possibly be. Uh, that’s pretty much what got me interested in playing guitar, um, since then I’ve just, you know, I just love playing music and seeing what you can create and invent and uh making stuff sound really cool that people would enjoy listening to.

What are the names of the key parts of the guitar and other equipment you may need to play? Uh, names of the key equipment of the guitar, uh, obviously the guitar itself. Uh, the amplifier, which, um, makes the music louder, uh, I’m sure everybody knows what an amplifier is.  Um, guitar pics, uh, that helps you strum the strings without really damaging your fingers. Uh, guitar tuner, uh, that keeps the guitar in tone or different key. Um, what else would you need to play guitar? Um, that’s pretty much it.

What advice would you have for someone that is interested in playing guitar?  Um, my two key pieces of advice for someone who wants to learn how to play guitar is to stick with it. Um, when you first pick it up it’s extremely difficult, uh, your hands just don’t naturally want to make those different formations and the strumming patterns, it’s, it’s something that’s very difficult to learn at first but if you stick with it, I guarantee you get better over time. Um, my second piece of advice would be to learn scales. Uh, scales actually help you transition the notes on the guitar and actually make you learn how to play something that sounds good. So uh, everything in guitar is basically in theory based around scales, so scales are very important.

Uh, again my name is Michael, for Learning English Matters uh, thank you for your time and, uh, have a great day.

Words in this story:

Transition – to move from one key to another

In theory – in principle

Amplifier – an electronic device that makes the sound louder when the guitar is plugged into it

Strum – playing a sound on the guitar when your fingers move on the strings

Stick with it – to keep moving forward

Formations – the arrangement of the notes

Extremely – very great

Scales – of notes

guitar – gə-ˈtär

actually -[ ak-choo-uh-lee ] in reality

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