Types Of Scales
Note: The scales in this lesson are all G scales, but you can move the pattern all the way up the strings. I will use abbreviations for whole step and half step in this lesson. Whole step is represented by 'W', and half step by 'H'. A whole step means to go up 2 frets, and a half step means 1 fret.
Figure 1: Major scales
E-|---------------------------2-3-|-3-2---------------------------|
B-|-----------------------3-5--H--|--H--5-3-----------------------|
G-|-----------------2-4-5--W-W----|----W-W--5-4-2-----------------|
D-|-----------2-4-5--W-H-W--------|--------W-H-W--5-4-2-----------|
A-|-----2-3-5--W-H-W--------------|--------------W-H-W--5-3-2-----|
E-|-3-5--H-W-W--------------------|--------------------W-W-H--5-3-|
W W W W
Major scales have the pattern W, W, H, W, W, W, H.
Figure 2: Natural Minor Scales
E-|---------------------------1-3-|-3-1---------------------------|
B-|-----------------------3-4--W--|--W--4-3-----------------------|
G-|-----------------2-3-5--H-W----|----W-H--5-3-2-----------------|
D-|-----------1-3-5--H-W-W--------|--------W-W-H--5-3-1-----------|
A-|-----1-3-5--W-W-W--------------|--------------W-W-W--5-3-1-----|
E-|-3-5--W-W-H--------------------|--------------------H-W-W--5-3-|
W H H W
Natural minor scales have the pattern W, H, W, W, H, W, W.
Figure 3: Melodic Minor Scales
E-|---------------------------2-3-|-3-1---------------------------|
B-|-----------------------3-5--H--|--W--4-3-----------------------|
G-|-----------------2-3-5--W-W----|----W-H--5-3-2-----------------|
D-|-----------2-4-5--H-W-W--------|--------W-W-H--5-3-1-----------|
A-|-----1-3-5--W-H-W--------------|--------------W-W-W--5-3-1-----|
E-|-3-5--W-W-W--------------------|--------------------H-W-W--5-3-|
W H H W
Melodic minor scales have the ascending pattern W, H, W, W, W, W, H, but have the same descending pattern of natural minor scales.
Figure 4: Harmonic Minor Scales
E-|---------------------------2-3-|-3-2----------------------------|
B-|-----------------------3-4--H--|--H--4-3------------------------|
G-|-----------------2-3-5--H-WH---|----WH-H--5-3-2-----------------|
D-|-----------1-4-5--H-W-W--------|---------W-W-H--5-4-1-----------|
A-|-----1-3-5--|-H-W--------------|---------------W-H-WH-5-3-1-----|
E-|-3-5--W-W-H-WH-----------------|---------------------H-W-W--5-3-|
W H H W
Harmonic minor scales have the pattern W H W W H WH H, the WH being a whole step plus a half step, or 3 frets.
Figure 5: Chromatic Scales
E-|---------------------------------------------1-2-3-|
B-|-----------------------------------1-2-3-4-5--H-H--|
G-|---------------------------1-2-3-4--H-H-H-H-H------|
D-|-----------------1-2-3-4-5--H-H-H-H----------------|
A-|-------1-2-3-4-5--H-H-H-H-H------------------------|
E-|-3-4-5--H-H-H-H-H----------------------------------|
H H H
Chromatic scales are all half steps, so the pattern is H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H, H.
Figure 6: Whole Tone Scales
E-|-----------------------1-3-|-3-1-----------------------|
B-|-------------------2-4--W--|--W--4-2-------------------|
G-|---------------2-4--W-W----|----W-W--4-2---------------|
D-|---------1-3-5--W-W--------|--------W-W--5-3-1---------|
A-|-----2-4--W-W-W------------|------------W-W-W--4-2-----|
E-|-3-5--W-W------------------|------------------W-W--5-3-|
W W W W
Whole tone scales only use whole steps, so the pattern is W, W, W, W, W.
Figure 7: Pentonic Scales (A)
E-|---------------------3-|-3---------------------|
B-|-----------------3-5---|---5-3-----------------|
G-|-------------2-5--W-WH-|--|-W--5-2-------------|
D-|---------2-5--|-W------|--WH--W-WH-5-2---------|
A-|-----3-5--|-W-WH-------|----------W-WH-5-3-----|
E-|-3-5--W-W-WH-----------|--------------W-W--5-3-|
W WH WH W
The first type of pentonic scale uses five notes, and was originally designed for the piano's group of two, and then three black keys. The pattern is W, WH, W, W, WH.
Figure 7: Pentonic Scales (B)
E-|-----------------------2-4-|-4-2-------------------------|
B-|-------------------2-4--W--|--W---4-2--------------------|
G-|---------------1-3--W-WH---|----WH-W---3-1---------------|
D-|----------1--4--W-WH-------|---------WH-W--4--1----------|
A-|-----1--4--WH-W------------|--------------W-WH--4--1-----|
E-|-3-5--WH-W-----------------|-------------------W-WH--5-3-|
W W W W
The second type of pentonic scale was designed for three, then two black keys. The pattern is W, W, WH, W, WH.
Guita Learning / Finger Picking
Jumat, 09 Oktober 2009
FingerPicking
First off, fingerpicking is when your not using a pick to play your guitar, and instead you use your fingers, mostly your thumb, index, and middle fingers(all at the same time). Now here's and example:
|-----|
|-2---|
|-2---|
|-----|
|-----|
|-2---|
Here you would use your thumb to play low E, your index finger for G, and you middle finger for B. Once you feel comfortable playing this chord, try playing this simple rhythm:
|-------------------|
|-2---2---2---2-----|
|-2---2---2---2-----|
|-------------------|
|-------------------|
|---2---2---2---2---|
You can also try a simple scale with fingerpicking:
Use your thumb and index finger
|-3--5--7--8--10--12--14--15--|
|-----------------------------|
|-----------------------------|
|-----------------------------|
|-----------------------------|
|-3--5--7--8--10--12--14--15--|
With enough practice, you can then try to play Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" and I'll just give you the intro from the tab on the site and a video of me playing the first bit of the song, here it is:
|--------------------|-----------------------------|
|--------------------|--------2h3p2----5-----5--2--|
|--------------------|-----2--------2--4-----4--2--|
|--------------------|-----------------------------|
|--------------------|--0--------------------------|
|----------------0h2-|-----------------4--4-----2--|
F#m A(onE) D(onF#) E7sus4E7
-------------------------|-------------------------|
-------2-----2-----2-----|--3-----3-----3-----3----|
-------2-----2-----2-----|--2-----2-----2-----1----|
-------------------------|-------------------------|
-------------------------|-------------------------|
----2-----2--0--0-----0--|--2--2-----2--0--0--0----|
A
------------------------|
--2-----2-----2-----2---|
--2-----2-----2-----2---|
------------------------|
--0--0-----0--0--0--0---|
------------------------|
First off, fingerpicking is when your not using a pick to play your guitar, and instead you use your fingers, mostly your thumb, index, and middle fingers(all at the same time). Now here's and example:
|-----|
|-2---|
|-2---|
|-----|
|-----|
|-2---|
Here you would use your thumb to play low E, your index finger for G, and you middle finger for B. Once you feel comfortable playing this chord, try playing this simple rhythm:
|-------------------|
|-2---2---2---2-----|
|-2---2---2---2-----|
|-------------------|
|-------------------|
|---2---2---2---2---|
You can also try a simple scale with fingerpicking:
Use your thumb and index finger
|-3--5--7--8--10--12--14--15--|
|-----------------------------|
|-----------------------------|
|-----------------------------|
|-----------------------------|
|-3--5--7--8--10--12--14--15--|
With enough practice, you can then try to play Eric Clapton's "Tears in Heaven" and I'll just give you the intro from the tab on the site and a video of me playing the first bit of the song, here it is:
|--------------------|-----------------------------|
|--------------------|--------2h3p2----5-----5--2--|
|--------------------|-----2--------2--4-----4--2--|
|--------------------|-----------------------------|
|--------------------|--0--------------------------|
|----------------0h2-|-----------------4--4-----2--|
F#m A(onE) D(onF#) E7sus4E7
-------------------------|-------------------------|
-------2-----2-----2-----|--3-----3-----3-----3----|
-------2-----2-----2-----|--2-----2-----2-----1----|
-------------------------|-------------------------|
-------------------------|-------------------------|
----2-----2--0--0-----0--|--2--2-----2--0--0--0----|
A
------------------------|
--2-----2-----2-----2---|
--2-----2-----2-----2---|
------------------------|
--0--0-----0--0--0--0---|
------------------------|
Guitar Larning / Scale Cords
Kamis, 08 Oktober 2009
Scale Chords
Scale:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G etc.
¦<------------------->¦
Octave
Each letter is a 'Note', not a chord.
Guitar:
FRETS
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
S ¦-> e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
T ¦ B|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
R ¦ G|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
I ¦ D|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
N ¦ A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G ¦-> E|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
O O O O OO
The 'O' are the dots on the fretboard on the guitar. Notice on the 12th fret there are 2 dots, this signifies the next octave. Eg: on the 'e' string, the 12th fret would also be an 'e' note.
Another thing is that the 5th fret plays the same note as the string higher than it. Eg: playing the 5th fret on a 'E' string would play an 'A' or exactly same as the 'A' string.
Except: the 'G' strings 4th fret is a 'B'.
Scale On The Guitar:
e|--F--|--F#-|--G--|--G#-|--A--|--A#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--D#-|--E--|
B|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--D#-|--E--|--F--|--F#-|--G--|--G#-|--A--|--A#-|--B--|
G|--G#-|--A--|--A#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--D#-|--E--|--F--|--F#-|--G--|
D|--D#-|--E--|--F--|--F#-|--G--|--G#-|--A--|--A#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|
A|--A#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--A#-|--E--|--F--|--F#-|--G--|--G#-|--A--|
E|--F--|--F#-|--G#-|--G#-|--A--|--D#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--D#-|--E--|
O O O O OO
Chords:
A chord is made up of a root note, 3 notes above and 5 notes above.
Chords on the guitar don't always exactly obey this. Eg: an 'A' chord is this:
Key:
OOOOO = Fret to put fingers on
XXXXX = String NOT to play
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
We Need:
• The root note which is A
• The note 3 up from A, which is C (we include the root note)
• The note 5 up from A, which is E
We Have:
• C# (Close to a 'C')
• A
• E
So this makes a chord. Here is a chord list:
Key:
OOOOO = Fret to put fingers on
XXXXX = String NOT to play
A:
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
B:
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|
D|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|
A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|
E|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
C:
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
D:
e|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
E:
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
F:
e|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
G:
e|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
Advanced Chords:
Chords also have 7's, 9's, 11's, and even 13's. A '7' E chord would be written as E7.
A '9' E chord would be written as E9. etc. 7's, 9's, 11's, and 13's are the notes up from the root note we play. Eg: A7 would equal.
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
Note: The 'A' string is a main note
We Need:
• The root note which is A
• The note 3 up from A, which is C
• The note 5 up from A, which is E
• The note 7 up from A, which is G
We Have:
• C#
• G#
• E
• A
So to make 7's, 9's etc. just build up using the scale. There is also something called a 'suspend'. It just means throw. Out the 5th note up from the root note.
Scale:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D, E, F, G etc.
¦<------------------->¦
Octave
Each letter is a 'Note', not a chord.
Guitar:
FRETS
<---------------------------------------------------------------------->
S ¦-> e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
T ¦ B|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
R ¦ G|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
I ¦ D|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
N ¦ A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G ¦-> E|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
O O O O OO
The 'O' are the dots on the fretboard on the guitar. Notice on the 12th fret there are 2 dots, this signifies the next octave. Eg: on the 'e' string, the 12th fret would also be an 'e' note.
Another thing is that the 5th fret plays the same note as the string higher than it. Eg: playing the 5th fret on a 'E' string would play an 'A' or exactly same as the 'A' string.
Except: the 'G' strings 4th fret is a 'B'.
Scale On The Guitar:
e|--F--|--F#-|--G--|--G#-|--A--|--A#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--D#-|--E--|
B|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--D#-|--E--|--F--|--F#-|--G--|--G#-|--A--|--A#-|--B--|
G|--G#-|--A--|--A#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--D#-|--E--|--F--|--F#-|--G--|
D|--D#-|--E--|--F--|--F#-|--G--|--G#-|--A--|--A#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|
A|--A#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--A#-|--E--|--F--|--F#-|--G--|--G#-|--A--|
E|--F--|--F#-|--G#-|--G#-|--A--|--D#-|--B--|--C--|--C#-|--D--|--D#-|--E--|
O O O O OO
Chords:
A chord is made up of a root note, 3 notes above and 5 notes above.
Chords on the guitar don't always exactly obey this. Eg: an 'A' chord is this:
Key:
OOOOO = Fret to put fingers on
XXXXX = String NOT to play
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
We Need:
• The root note which is A
• The note 3 up from A, which is C (we include the root note)
• The note 5 up from A, which is E
We Have:
• C# (Close to a 'C')
• A
• E
So this makes a chord. Here is a chord list:
Key:
OOOOO = Fret to put fingers on
XXXXX = String NOT to play
A:
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
B:
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|
D|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|
A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|
E|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
C:
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
D:
e|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
E:
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
F:
e|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
G:
e|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|-----|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
Advanced Chords:
Chords also have 7's, 9's, 11's, and even 13's. A '7' E chord would be written as E7.
A '9' E chord would be written as E9. etc. 7's, 9's, 11's, and 13's are the notes up from the root note we play. Eg: A7 would equal.
e|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
B|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
G|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
D|-----|OOOOO|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
A|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|
E|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|XXXXX|
Note: The 'A' string is a main note
We Need:
• The root note which is A
• The note 3 up from A, which is C
• The note 5 up from A, which is E
• The note 7 up from A, which is G
We Have:
• C#
• G#
• E
• A
So to make 7's, 9's etc. just build up using the scale. There is also something called a 'suspend'. It just means throw. Out the 5th note up from the root note.
Guitar Learning / Chord Transition
Rabu, 07 Oktober 2009
Chord Transition
This lesson is for beginners that want some suggestions in chord knowledge and how to slide from one chord to another smoothly. In this lesson I will be teaching you how to play the G chord, C chord, D chord, Em7 chord all with two fingers. My friend Rollie, once said your skill level really comes down to the basics. If you really know your root chords and how to strum. I will also give an overview on adding the Sus4 and Sus2 elements to your playing repertoire. Remember to practice hard, you have to love what your playing.
About Two Fingers? Yes, all you will need it two fingers to hold the bottom strings and just shift you other two. On normal finger positions you play the following chords like this:
G: 320003
C: X30210
D: XX0232
Em7: 022030
Many of us have absolutely no problem to play these. However, playing these chords isn’t the problem. The real challenge for beginners is to transition them. We usually take quite a while to slide these roots. Thanks to my friend Gabe, I’ve come with an awesome solution. Take a look at these new chords:
Gadd9:320033
Cadd9:X32033
D: XX0323
Em7add9:022033
All you need to do is to take your ring and pinky fingers and hold both of them on the 3 fret of the 2nd and 1st string. The remaining two fingers can now hold the other fret positions. I believe this will make a big difference in your playing because a lot of the songs are use these basic chords. The chords might sound different but, it won’t really change the sound. Try them on out this song called Lord Reign In Me:
G D C D G
Lord reign in me, reign in your pow’r.
D C D Em
Over all my dreams in my darkest hour
D C D Am.
You are the Lord of all I am.
C D G
So won’t you reign in me again.
*Note that all the chords remain the same way I put them even though I changed the name.
Now the next part of this lesson is the Sus4 and Sus2 additions to the D chord and A chord. Please note Bryan Adam’s Summer of 69 acoustic:
(A)
Dsus D Dsus4 D Dsus D
e|---0------2----3-----2-----0-----2----------|
b|--------------------------------------------|
g|--------------------------------------------|
d|-0-----0----0-----0--------0-----0----------|
a|--------------------------------------------|
e|--------------------------------------------|
(B)
Asus A Asus4 A Asus A
e|--------------------------------------------|
b|---0------2----3-----2-----0-----2----------|
g|--------------------------------------------|
d|--------------------------------------------|
a|-0-----0----0-----0--------0-----0----------|
e|--------------------------------------------|
Tabbed by: spoons42
Thank you Spoons for this tab. I think you’ll get the better feeling in you heard the song. However, adding the Sus’s and Sus4s are all part of your feeling. Whenever you play the D or A chord during a chorus, or any part of the song that you could spice up a little. Something that you could work on once you get the hand of the Sus’s is hammering the Sus’s. If you do this effectively, I assure you the sound will resonate beautifully.
To summarize this lesson, I hope you all will practice hard in hope of being a better guitar player. Remember its really down to the basics. Thanks for your time.
This lesson is for beginners that want some suggestions in chord knowledge and how to slide from one chord to another smoothly. In this lesson I will be teaching you how to play the G chord, C chord, D chord, Em7 chord all with two fingers. My friend Rollie, once said your skill level really comes down to the basics. If you really know your root chords and how to strum. I will also give an overview on adding the Sus4 and Sus2 elements to your playing repertoire. Remember to practice hard, you have to love what your playing.
About Two Fingers? Yes, all you will need it two fingers to hold the bottom strings and just shift you other two. On normal finger positions you play the following chords like this:
G: 320003
C: X30210
D: XX0232
Em7: 022030
Many of us have absolutely no problem to play these. However, playing these chords isn’t the problem. The real challenge for beginners is to transition them. We usually take quite a while to slide these roots. Thanks to my friend Gabe, I’ve come with an awesome solution. Take a look at these new chords:
Gadd9:320033
Cadd9:X32033
D: XX0323
Em7add9:022033
All you need to do is to take your ring and pinky fingers and hold both of them on the 3 fret of the 2nd and 1st string. The remaining two fingers can now hold the other fret positions. I believe this will make a big difference in your playing because a lot of the songs are use these basic chords. The chords might sound different but, it won’t really change the sound. Try them on out this song called Lord Reign In Me:
G D C D G
Lord reign in me, reign in your pow’r.
D C D Em
Over all my dreams in my darkest hour
D C D Am.
You are the Lord of all I am.
C D G
So won’t you reign in me again.
*Note that all the chords remain the same way I put them even though I changed the name.
Now the next part of this lesson is the Sus4 and Sus2 additions to the D chord and A chord. Please note Bryan Adam’s Summer of 69 acoustic:
(A)
Dsus D Dsus4 D Dsus D
e|---0------2----3-----2-----0-----2----------|
b|--------------------------------------------|
g|--------------------------------------------|
d|-0-----0----0-----0--------0-----0----------|
a|--------------------------------------------|
e|--------------------------------------------|
(B)
Asus A Asus4 A Asus A
e|--------------------------------------------|
b|---0------2----3-----2-----0-----2----------|
g|--------------------------------------------|
d|--------------------------------------------|
a|-0-----0----0-----0--------0-----0----------|
e|--------------------------------------------|
Tabbed by: spoons42
Thank you Spoons for this tab. I think you’ll get the better feeling in you heard the song. However, adding the Sus’s and Sus4s are all part of your feeling. Whenever you play the D or A chord during a chorus, or any part of the song that you could spice up a little. Something that you could work on once you get the hand of the Sus’s is hammering the Sus’s. If you do this effectively, I assure you the sound will resonate beautifully.
To summarize this lesson, I hope you all will practice hard in hope of being a better guitar player. Remember its really down to the basics. Thanks for your time.
Guitar Learning
Selasa, 06 Oktober 2009
Beginner's Guide
Step 1: The guitar
Right, so the first thing you’ll want to do is get yourself a guitar, if you already haven’t gotten one. When buying your first guitar keep in mind that it’s your first and especially if you’ve never played an instrument before it might be a wise idea not to spend too much money on it. It might be better to buy a cheap guitar, you never know what might happen. Maybe you’ll get bored, frustrated or after a couple of weeks you won’t have enough time to play guitar. If you’ve then bought yourself an expensive guitar you’ll be stuck with it. Even so, if you do continue on with playing guitar you’ll want to buy a new guitar after a while. Also, do realize what you’re going to do. Don’t just burst into a shop and buy the first and cheapest guitar you can find. There might be stores that sell full packages (guitar + accessories) or that just sell better quality guitars.
If you’ve done all that, take a look at this site. Really no explanation needed. Great site to start with anyway ^^.
Step 2: Gear
So now that you have the guitar it’s time to stock up on some essentials. Firstly, get yourself a tuner. If you’re lucky, or smart, and have bought a guitar package it might have been one of the things that came along with the guitar. For me, my mum got a sack to put the guitar in and one of those tuning flutes. For people, like me, who have never played an instrument before it might be really hard to tune your guitar just by using this flute. In that case, get yourself an electrical tuner (I’d recommend the ones from Korg). They’re cheap and easy to use.
Secondly, get yourself some instruction books. Learn about notes, strumming, rhythm and maybe even learn your first chords. In the end you’ll want to search for songs on this site, or others, to be able to play for yourself. But if you can’t progress from one chord to another and have no idea how hard you need to press the strings or what strings it’s going to be a little hard. Of course, there are people who haven’t learned notes at all and have just started with chords but personally I found that an easy instruction book can help you get on your way. You’re bound to finish them within days but they’ll give you a basic impression on what it’s like to have a guitar.
Thirdly, get yourself some picks. Not too much to explain on this count, they cost like nothing and you’re bound to use them.
Other accessories that might be worth getting are a capo, a metronome, bag for your guitar, a strap, maybe even a standard but when you’re beginning you really don’t need them all. You can search for songs that don’t need a capo, use your foot to get the right rhythm and you can play guitar while you sit down.
Step 3: Chords
So now that you have all the appropriate material and you have learned the basics it’s time to move onto chords. There are a couple of ways you can learn them, I learned them by searching for a song and just trying the chord. You can also follow this link, which will show all of the available chords and just make your way through the list.
Believe me, it’ll take a while ^^. So what I did was simple. I searched ultimate guitar for an easy song. I ended up with Bubbly by Colbie Caillat. If you’ve never heard the song, listen to it once. It’s basically three chords over and over again. It’s really easy.
So, you can start with that song. Don’t mind the strumming/plucking just yet. Just make sure you can play the chords without letting any of the strings ring. Keep practising it until you can transition fluently from one chord to the next. It’s gonna take a while before you can flawless the song. It might get a little frustrating and your fingers may hurt. Just take a break then, you’re not going to learn to play guitar in a day, or a week for that matter. Be patient, it’s a different way of letting your brain work and your brain will probably need to get used to it too.
If you’re really getting pissed with this song or just don’t know the song and want to play a song that’s a bit harder take a look at these: look at the beginner songs program. Though tbh there are a lot of songs on that list that use hammer ons and pull offs and you’ve probably never heard from them ever before.
America – Horse with no name (lesson + tabs). For that song I’d look at the lesson really, since it only features two chords and has a full explanation on what you’re suposed to do.
Guns ’N Roses – Knocking on Heaven’s Door. Four chords, but it’s a good song to start with. Tabs.
Nelly Furtado – Try. One of the first songs I learned. Three chords.
Other than that you can of course always just scan through the tabs looking for something that you think you might be able to play. When looking for songs be sure you look for songs that have been tagged novice and don’t involve too many chords. It helps to find a song you like that you can play over and over. Also, when playing chords and looking at figures featuring chords, bear in mind that the strings labelled with an x should not be played. Might seem straightforward but it can easily be forgotten.
Step 4: Strumming
By now you must be wondering which way you need to strum your guitar. Or in fact, how to. If you’ve bought a pick, this is where they come in handy. I have an acoustic guitar and I felt that strumming with a pick only made it harder to strum correctly. So I decided to strum by hand. There are a couple of sites explaining about strumming and youtube videos to explain strumming itself. As with everything when it comes to playing guitar it takes a bit of practice and patience. It’s more of a personal preference whether you strum by hand or use a pick. Find out which ever suits you.
For me, I just youtubed some videos to see how other people do it. There are a lot of strumming patterns you can learn and a lot of different things you can do during a song, like change the strumming for a song etc. Before I go on, here are some of the resources for strumming. In this article there is an explanation of how to strum but also, at the end there is a list of strum patterns for a few songs which may be helpful.
Nextleverguitar has some interesting videos on youtube, explaining in a clear manner what it is you need to do to create a certain sound. And again, lessons from about.com.
So, read/watch those, or find your own resources. What you’ll want to do is just get a strumming pattern you feel comfortable with. For as you will find out soon enough, most tabs don’t feature the strumming pattern. As you will progress you’ll be able to tell when a person strums upward or downwards and you might make up your own pattern for a song. If you’ve found that strumming pattern you’re comfortable with, just play that for the songs you’re playing. Strumming down all the time would be the easiest, but if you feel comfortable enough to do down-up-down-up then try that. It not only enriches the song, but it’s one of the most commonly used strumming patterns for beginner songs. Or so I’ve found. It sounds right with a lot of songs.
Right, time for a distraction:
Do you remember the Colbie Caillat song I was talking about just now? With that song you don’t strum, but you pluck the strings. This basically means you curl the fingers of your right hand around the appropriate strings and you pull them a bit away from the guitar and then let them go. I make that sound a lot harder on paper then it actually is. For that particular song you’ll want to pluck the DGB string twice each chord. Sounds a lot better then just strumming down right?
Back to what we were talking about. For me, I learned to strum using the Lifehouse song, you and me. The bridge was far too hard for me to play, so I just skipped that but the tabs that are on UG explain something about the chords and give you the strumming pattern to. (Look here) There is also an explanation on the same page about strumming that might be worth looking into.
Oh and remember how I said Try by Nelly Furtado would be a good one to start with? Try strumming that using down-down-up for the Em and D chord and then 4 downs for the Am chord. The actual strumming is down-up-down-up up-down-up for the Em chord, but if you’re just starting it might be better to just start with down-down-up, since it’ll give you some time to transition from Em to D.
Also, if you replace the Bm chord with an Am chord in KT Tunstall’s Other side of the world you can also play that. Try to use down-down-down-up-down-up for the intro (you can actually throw in an extra down at the end) and then down-up-down-up for the strumming part of the song. The first verse doesn’t require strumming all the time, it’s just strumming one chord at a given time. Lastly, you can take a look at the Kooks – Ooh la. It’s a quite easy song, the only thing that makes it hard is the strumming pattern and the pace of the song. Since it’s a pretty fast song and a quite difficult strumming pattern. It’s a really fun song to play though. Here’s a video with a really good explanation. Thing about Ooh la is that you need a capo. So by now, you’ll be able to play a couple of songs. About time we move on!
Step 4.5: Reading
When browsing through UG you’re bound to find tabs at some point. At first they might seem a bit daunting and scary to read. I had some difficulties with them but thankfully I have a friend who has played guitar for 5 years now who could explain it to me.
Tabs are mostly used when playing single notes, for instance in an intro. Take a look at the intro of Far Away by Nickleback or Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol. If you listen to the songs you’ll know what I mean. Each line represents one string, each number represent where you need to press it and play it. If all of the numbers are lined up then they form a chord. Mostly, when tabbing chords people will not use guitar tabs but simply write down the chords, cause it takes a lot of time to tab chords throughout an entire song. So basically, you read the tab from left to right. 0 means you play the open string. When the numbers are played diagonally it means you need to play them after each other. (Duh) The space in between the numbers indicate how long the pause between them should be. Even though most tabbers try to get the pauses right it might be a wise idea just to listen to th song itself to hear when or where you need to pause.
Intros and tabs might seem a bit challenging at first and they certainly are but they add up to a song a lot more than just chords do. There are times when a certain guitar plays the intro over and over throughout a song (like for instance Away from the Sun by 3 Doors Down).
It takes more effort to read tabs than it does to read the chords that are already written out but you’ll learn to do it quickly soon enough. Not being limited to only chords means you might be able to play songs you weren’t able to play before.
Step 5: Bar Chords
So, it seems I’ve been holding this off for a while now but it was necessary. Bar chords are, especially in the beginning really hard. A bar chord is a chord in which you need to use one finger to press down multiple strings. Common bar chords are the F and the Bm. If you’ve played KT Tunstall before you’ll have come across this one already (at which point I told you to use an Am instead).
The thing that makes bar chords hard is that you need to stretch your fingers over 3 frets (just talking about F and Bm chord at the moment) and you need to put enough pressure on the strings to not let them ring.
Since the F chord is basically the same as the Bm chord, when it comes to difficulty I’ll just explain the Bm chord. Bear in mind that with the Bm chord you only need to bar 5 strings, with the F that’s 6 strings. Take a look at this video
In case you’re sick of videos, here’s a quick explanation. The finger that’s going to bar the strings should be the last finger you put down. Make sure the other three fingers are in place and just play with the string to see if they ring or not. Then put down your bar finger, so to speak and make sure you press it against the neck as firmly as you can. Try turn your finger a bit to the side, away from the other three fingers. In this case you don’t need to press too hard against the strings since you’re now barring with bones rather than fleshy skin. Also, watch the creases of your finger, if they are on top of a string they are bound to ring. And make sure you press down against the high E string too.
And then strum! If all sounds well you’ll have learned your first bar chord now.
Here are some songs you can practice your Bm chord with.
Set the fire to the third bar – Snow Patrol
Other side of the world – Kt tunstall
Iris – Goo Goo Dolls
I’d really recommend snow patrol since it’s just three chords and i’ve found out that a lot of songs use the A or Am and G chord in combination with the Bm chord.
Step 6: ….
So yeah, this was it. This is how I taught myself how to play guitar. I hope it was helpful and that you managed to read it all whilst staying awake. And since I’m really a beginner myself I’ve sort of run out of things to teach you or tell you about. Sure, there are a couple of misc. Things I can talk about but I’d rather keep it like this. Suggestions are always welcome. And thanks once again for reading.
Senin, 05 Oktober 2009
Guide To Guitar. Basics And Open Chords
Hey it’s JP here and this is my first in a series of guitar lessons. Now before any of you advanced guitarists start lashing into me for this lesson not showing anything new, keep in mind that this lesson is directed at the beginners on this site. Basically in these lessons I am going to be passing on the information that I learned from my guitar teacher when I was a beginner while also adding in some tips and techniques I learned by myself through discovery and through watching other guitarists. I am a firm believer that playing guitar should be an overall enjoyable experience. While the practising of some of the techniques and methods may prove to be “less enjoyable”, in hindsight you will realise that those hours of practice were all worth it when you’re fingers are blazing along the fret board, and you never know you could become famous as a solo artist or for your band. It’s all down to you and how much you want to kick ass at guitar.
Psyched yet? Alright let’s get started
Holding The Guitar And The Pick
Alright I’m not going to force you to hold your guitar a certain way or even the way I hold my guitar for the following reason I was never told how to completely hold my guitar. The way I hold it is an invention of my own and has been tailored to provide comfort and ease to my guitar playing. It corresponds to me and my body shape. As we know everyone is different. People with longer arms could hold the guitar different to people with shorter arms. People with a bit of a stomach (like myself) may hold their guitar different to thinner people. Is this wrong ? Of course not. You should just hold the guitar in a position that is comfortable to you and doesn’t restrict your guitar playing. While the above is true I am going to recommend a position that I used as a beginner for practising and getting used to playing before, eventually, developing my own style.
• Sit Up, preferably straight to avoid any back pain.
• Rest the area of your arm just below your elbow on the top “corner”, I guess you can call it that, of the guitar.
Even if you just follow that roughly, you’ll still do fine. Same facts apply to holding the pick. You develop your own style over time. All I will say is this. Do not, I repeat, do not hold the pick with more than 2 fingers and a thumb. The pick does not have enough room for anymore and it hinders your playing. Ready? Let’s move on
Strumming
Alright a quick talk on strumming before moving on to open chords. Strumming, in my opinion, is the most important aspect of guitar playing. Without learning to strum rhythmically, your dreams of becoming a legendary lead guitarist, pulling off massive solos, will be quickly destroyed. Alright, without holding down any of the strings strum all 6 open strings - up, down, up, down etc. You should be using the area of your arm - from elbow to fingers_ to create a smooth flowing rhythm pattern. It should be a smooth sound and shouldn’t sound like multiple picks of each string. Try not to use too much effort, just enough to move your arm. It shouldn’t feel forced. If you start to feel your arm go stiff, stop and pretend you’re a dish cloth i.e. “floppy”. Try to keep the same timing with the strums, so strum them at the same pace. Keep practising and you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Open Chords
Alright, open chords are the “easier to play” chords. They are called open chords because at least one of the strings are played “open” i.e. not fretted by a finger. They are usually the first chords that guitar students learn and it is seriously important that you learn them all and that you can switch between with ease. Now before you can play chords, you need to know how to read chord diagrams. Chord diagrams show you where to place your fingers, what strings to play and what fingers to use. I’m going to show you an example of a chord diagram and how it works, then I’ll give you a list of the 10 basic open chords and their diagrams for you to practise off of. There are more than just 10 open chords but I am just going to show the major and minor open chords to begin with. In a couple of lessons I will give you all the open chords and their diagrams. I just want you to get these few down first. Practise the basics over and over again until you get them right, know them off by heart and can switch between them easily. Thanks to Grant for his brilliant chord diagram design. It makes it a lot easier to show the chords. So here we go.
A
0 1 2 3 4 5
e|o|---|---|---|---|---|
B|-|---|-4-|---|---|---|
G|-|---|-3-|---|---|---|
D|-|---|-2-|---|---|---|
A|o|---|---|---|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---|
Alright this is an example of a chord diagram. The letter on top tells you what chord it is. It is an “A”. There is nothing beside the A which means that it is a major chord. The chord is “A Major”. The horizontal line of numbers below the “A” tell you what frets are being shown. 0 is another name for the open strings. 1 is the first fret and so on. The horizontal lines are your strings. The letters to the left of these tell you the name of the string. The capital E is the thickest string on your guitar. A is the one below that and so on.. The vertical lines show your frets and the space between them is where you put your fingers. The numbers in these spaces tell you what fingers to use. 1 = index finger (beside your thumb), 2 = middle finger, 3 = ring finger, 4 = pinkie.
Alright so how do you play this chord? First look at the 0 column. The ‘o’s at the “e” and the “A” mean that you play these strings open. The ‘x’ at the “E” means that you don’t play this string. Now look at the 2 column. The 4 on the “B” string means you put your 4th finger on the “B” string at the 2nd fret. The 3 on the “G” string means you put your 3rd finger on the G string at the 2nd fret. The 2 on the “D” string means that you put your 2nd finger on the D string at the 2nd fret. When you have your fingers in place, strum all the strings except for the “E” string which we’re not meant to play. You’ve just played an A major chord. Here are the other basic open chords.
A Am
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
e|o|---|---|---|---|---| e|o|---|---|---|---|---|
B|-|---|-4-|---|---|---| B|-|-2-|---|---|---|---|
G|-|---|-3-|---|---|---| G|-|---|-4-|---|---|---|
D|-|---|-2-|---|---|---| D|-|---|-3-|---|---|---|
A|o|---|---|---|---|---| A|o|---|---|---|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---| E|x|---|---|---|---|---|
B7 C
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
E|-|---|-4-|---|---|---| e|o|---|---|---|---|---|
B|o|---|---|---|---|---| B|-|-1-|---|---|---|---|
G|-|---|-3-|---|---|---| G|o|---|---|---|---|---|
D|-|-1-|---|---|---|---| D|-|---|-2-|---|---|---|
A|-|---|-2-|---|---|---| A|-|---|---|-3-|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---| E|x|---|---|---|---|---|
Cm D
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
e|x|---|---|---|---|---| e|-|---|-2-|---|---|---|
B|-|-2-|---|---|---|---| B|-|---|---|-3-|---|---|
G|o|---|---|---|---|---| G|-|---|-1-|---|---|---|
D|-|-1-|---|---|---|---| D|o|---|---|---|---|---|
A|-|---|---|-4-|---|---| A|x|---|---|---|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---| E|x|---|---|---|---|---|
Dm E
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
E|-|-1-|---|---|---|---| e|o|---|---|---|---|---|
B|-|---|---|-3-|---|---| B|o|---|---|---|---|---|
G|-|---|-2-|---|---|---| G|-|-2-|---|---|---|---|
D|o|---|---|---|---|---| D|-|---|-4-|---|---|---|
A|x|---|---|---|---|---| A|-|---|-3-|---|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---| E|o|---|---|---|---|---|
Em G
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
e|o|---|---|---|---|---| e|-|---|---|-3-|---|---|
B|o|---|---|---|---|---| B|o|---|---|---|---|---|
G|o|---|---|---|---|---| G|o|---|---|---|---|---|
D|-|---|-4-|---|---|---| D|o|---|---|---|---|---|
A|-|---|-3-|---|---|---| A|-|---|-1-|---|---|---|
E|o|---|---|---|---|---| E|-|---|---|-2-|---|---|
So these are the 10 basic open chords. Some people might not agree that the B7 major chord should be here but I’ve put it in for a reason as it is important in the next lesson. Okay so that’s it for my first lesson. Lesson 2 will be coming soon and will deal with basic rhythm and I’ll be teaching you a song, to make it more fun and to start off your song repertoire.
Hey it’s JP here and this is my first in a series of guitar lessons. Now before any of you advanced guitarists start lashing into me for this lesson not showing anything new, keep in mind that this lesson is directed at the beginners on this site. Basically in these lessons I am going to be passing on the information that I learned from my guitar teacher when I was a beginner while also adding in some tips and techniques I learned by myself through discovery and through watching other guitarists. I am a firm believer that playing guitar should be an overall enjoyable experience. While the practising of some of the techniques and methods may prove to be “less enjoyable”, in hindsight you will realise that those hours of practice were all worth it when you’re fingers are blazing along the fret board, and you never know you could become famous as a solo artist or for your band. It’s all down to you and how much you want to kick ass at guitar.
Psyched yet? Alright let’s get started
Holding The Guitar And The Pick
Alright I’m not going to force you to hold your guitar a certain way or even the way I hold my guitar for the following reason I was never told how to completely hold my guitar. The way I hold it is an invention of my own and has been tailored to provide comfort and ease to my guitar playing. It corresponds to me and my body shape. As we know everyone is different. People with longer arms could hold the guitar different to people with shorter arms. People with a bit of a stomach (like myself) may hold their guitar different to thinner people. Is this wrong ? Of course not. You should just hold the guitar in a position that is comfortable to you and doesn’t restrict your guitar playing. While the above is true I am going to recommend a position that I used as a beginner for practising and getting used to playing before, eventually, developing my own style.
• Sit Up, preferably straight to avoid any back pain.
• Rest the area of your arm just below your elbow on the top “corner”, I guess you can call it that, of the guitar.
Even if you just follow that roughly, you’ll still do fine. Same facts apply to holding the pick. You develop your own style over time. All I will say is this. Do not, I repeat, do not hold the pick with more than 2 fingers and a thumb. The pick does not have enough room for anymore and it hinders your playing. Ready? Let’s move on
Strumming
Alright a quick talk on strumming before moving on to open chords. Strumming, in my opinion, is the most important aspect of guitar playing. Without learning to strum rhythmically, your dreams of becoming a legendary lead guitarist, pulling off massive solos, will be quickly destroyed. Alright, without holding down any of the strings strum all 6 open strings - up, down, up, down etc. You should be using the area of your arm - from elbow to fingers_ to create a smooth flowing rhythm pattern. It should be a smooth sound and shouldn’t sound like multiple picks of each string. Try not to use too much effort, just enough to move your arm. It shouldn’t feel forced. If you start to feel your arm go stiff, stop and pretend you’re a dish cloth i.e. “floppy”. Try to keep the same timing with the strums, so strum them at the same pace. Keep practising and you’ll soon get the hang of it.
Open Chords
Alright, open chords are the “easier to play” chords. They are called open chords because at least one of the strings are played “open” i.e. not fretted by a finger. They are usually the first chords that guitar students learn and it is seriously important that you learn them all and that you can switch between with ease. Now before you can play chords, you need to know how to read chord diagrams. Chord diagrams show you where to place your fingers, what strings to play and what fingers to use. I’m going to show you an example of a chord diagram and how it works, then I’ll give you a list of the 10 basic open chords and their diagrams for you to practise off of. There are more than just 10 open chords but I am just going to show the major and minor open chords to begin with. In a couple of lessons I will give you all the open chords and their diagrams. I just want you to get these few down first. Practise the basics over and over again until you get them right, know them off by heart and can switch between them easily. Thanks to Grant for his brilliant chord diagram design. It makes it a lot easier to show the chords. So here we go.
A
0 1 2 3 4 5
e|o|---|---|---|---|---|
B|-|---|-4-|---|---|---|
G|-|---|-3-|---|---|---|
D|-|---|-2-|---|---|---|
A|o|---|---|---|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---|
Alright this is an example of a chord diagram. The letter on top tells you what chord it is. It is an “A”. There is nothing beside the A which means that it is a major chord. The chord is “A Major”. The horizontal line of numbers below the “A” tell you what frets are being shown. 0 is another name for the open strings. 1 is the first fret and so on. The horizontal lines are your strings. The letters to the left of these tell you the name of the string. The capital E is the thickest string on your guitar. A is the one below that and so on.. The vertical lines show your frets and the space between them is where you put your fingers. The numbers in these spaces tell you what fingers to use. 1 = index finger (beside your thumb), 2 = middle finger, 3 = ring finger, 4 = pinkie.
Alright so how do you play this chord? First look at the 0 column. The ‘o’s at the “e” and the “A” mean that you play these strings open. The ‘x’ at the “E” means that you don’t play this string. Now look at the 2 column. The 4 on the “B” string means you put your 4th finger on the “B” string at the 2nd fret. The 3 on the “G” string means you put your 3rd finger on the G string at the 2nd fret. The 2 on the “D” string means that you put your 2nd finger on the D string at the 2nd fret. When you have your fingers in place, strum all the strings except for the “E” string which we’re not meant to play. You’ve just played an A major chord. Here are the other basic open chords.
A Am
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
e|o|---|---|---|---|---| e|o|---|---|---|---|---|
B|-|---|-4-|---|---|---| B|-|-2-|---|---|---|---|
G|-|---|-3-|---|---|---| G|-|---|-4-|---|---|---|
D|-|---|-2-|---|---|---| D|-|---|-3-|---|---|---|
A|o|---|---|---|---|---| A|o|---|---|---|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---| E|x|---|---|---|---|---|
B7 C
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
E|-|---|-4-|---|---|---| e|o|---|---|---|---|---|
B|o|---|---|---|---|---| B|-|-1-|---|---|---|---|
G|-|---|-3-|---|---|---| G|o|---|---|---|---|---|
D|-|-1-|---|---|---|---| D|-|---|-2-|---|---|---|
A|-|---|-2-|---|---|---| A|-|---|---|-3-|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---| E|x|---|---|---|---|---|
Cm D
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
e|x|---|---|---|---|---| e|-|---|-2-|---|---|---|
B|-|-2-|---|---|---|---| B|-|---|---|-3-|---|---|
G|o|---|---|---|---|---| G|-|---|-1-|---|---|---|
D|-|-1-|---|---|---|---| D|o|---|---|---|---|---|
A|-|---|---|-4-|---|---| A|x|---|---|---|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---| E|x|---|---|---|---|---|
Dm E
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
E|-|-1-|---|---|---|---| e|o|---|---|---|---|---|
B|-|---|---|-3-|---|---| B|o|---|---|---|---|---|
G|-|---|-2-|---|---|---| G|-|-2-|---|---|---|---|
D|o|---|---|---|---|---| D|-|---|-4-|---|---|---|
A|x|---|---|---|---|---| A|-|---|-3-|---|---|---|
E|x|---|---|---|---|---| E|o|---|---|---|---|---|
Em G
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
e|o|---|---|---|---|---| e|-|---|---|-3-|---|---|
B|o|---|---|---|---|---| B|o|---|---|---|---|---|
G|o|---|---|---|---|---| G|o|---|---|---|---|---|
D|-|---|-4-|---|---|---| D|o|---|---|---|---|---|
A|-|---|-3-|---|---|---| A|-|---|-1-|---|---|---|
E|o|---|---|---|---|---| E|-|---|---|-2-|---|---|
So these are the 10 basic open chords. Some people might not agree that the B7 major chord should be here but I’ve put it in for a reason as it is important in the next lesson. Okay so that’s it for my first lesson. Lesson 2 will be coming soon and will deal with basic rhythm and I’ll be teaching you a song, to make it more fun and to start off your song repertoire.
Guitar Learning / Beginner Lesson
Minggu, 04 Oktober 2009
Beginner Lesson
The web has a vast number of resources available for learning about guitar. You can learn how to play songs, how to repair your broken instrument, how to play fancy scales, and much more. The trouble is, there just aren't many GOOD guitar lessons available to someone looking to start playing guitar. These guitar lessons are designed for people who own (or have borrowed) a guitar, but don't yet know the first thing about playing it.
What you'll need for these Guitar Lessons:
• A guitar with six strings. Any type of guitar will work fine.
• A guitar pick. Medium gauged picks are recommended to start with, but any will work okay in a pinch.
• A chair without arms.
• A reasonable amount of patience.
Guitar Lesson Overview: What you'll learn
By the end of this guitar lesson, you will have learned: the names of many parts of the guitar, the names of the open strings, the process of tuning the guitar, how to hold and use a pick, how to play a chromatic scale, and how to play a simple song using Gmajor, Cmajor, and Dmajor chords.
The Parts Of A Guitar
Although there are many different types of guitars (acoustic, electric, classical, electric-acoustic, etc.), they all have many things in common. The diagram to the left illustrates the various parts of a guitar. At the top of the guitar in the illustration is the "headstock", a general term which describes the part of the guitar attached to the slimmer neck of the instrument. On the headstock are "tuners", which you will use to adjust the pitch of each of the strings on the guitar.
At the point in which the headstock meets the neck of the guitar, you'll find the "nut". A nut is simply a small piece of material (plastic, bone, etc.), in which small grooves are carved out to guide the strings up to the tuners. The neck of the guitar is the area of the instrument you'll concentrate a great deal on: you'll put your fingers on various places on the neck, in order to create different notes.
The neck of the guitar adjoins the "body" of the instrument. The body of the guitar will vary greatly from guitar to guitar. Most acoustic and classical guitars have a hollowed out body, and a "sound hole", designed to project the sound of the guitar. Most electric guitars have a solid body, and thus will not have a sound hole. Electric guitars will instead have "pick-ups" where the soundhole is located. These "pick-ups" are essentially small microphones, which allow the capture the sound of the ringing strings, allowing them to be amplified.
The strings of the guitar run from the tuning pegs, over the nut, down the neck, over the body, over the sound hole (or pick-ups), and are anchored at a piece of hardware attached to the body of the guitar, called a "bridge".
Examine the neck of your guitar. You'll notice there are metal strips running across it's entire surface. These pieces of metal are referred to as "frets" on a guitar. Now, here's what you'll need to keep in mind: the word "fret" has two different meanings when used by guitarists. It can be used to describe:
• The piece of metal itself.
• The space on the neck between one piece of metal and the next.
• To further explain, the area of the neck between the nut and the first strip of metal is referred to as the "first fret". The area on the neck between the first and second strip of metal is referred to as the "second fret". And so on...
Now, that we know about the basic parts of a guitar, it's time to get our hands dirty, and start learning to play it. Get yourself an armless chair, and take a seat. You should be sitting comfortably, with your back against the back of the chair. Slouching significantly is a no-no; you'll not only end up with a sore back, you'll develop bad habits on the guitar.
Now, pick up your guitar, and hold it so the back of the body of the instrument comes in contact with your stomach/chest, and the bottom of the neck runs parallel to the floor. The thickest string on the guitar should be the closest to your face, while the thinnest should be closest to the floor. If this isn't the case, turn the guitar the in other direction. Typically, a right-handed person will hold the guitar so the headstock points to the left, whereas a left-handed person will hold the guitar so the headstock points to the right. (NOTE: to play the guitar as a lefty would, you will need a left-handed guitar.)
When playing the guitar sitting down, the body of the guitar will rest on one of your legs. In most styles of guitar playing, the guitar will rest on the leg farthest away from the headstock. This means, a person playing the guitar in a right-handed fashion will typically rest the guitar on his/her right leg, while someone playing the guitar in a lefty manner will rest it on their left leg. (NOTE: proper classical guitarist technique dictates the exact opposite of the above, but for this lesson, let's stick to our initial explanation)
Next, concentrate on your "fretting hand" (the hand closest to the neck of the guitar, when sitting in proper position). The thumb of your fretting hand should rest behind the neck of the guitar, with your fingers in a slightly curled position, poised above the strings. It is extremely important to keep these fingers curled at the knuckles, except when specifically instructed not to do so.
Using A Pick
Hopefully, you've found, bought or borrowed a guitar pick. If not, you'll need to buy yourself some. Don't be stingy, go and pick up at least 10 of them - guitar picks are easy to lose (they often don't cost more than 30 or 40 cents each). You can experiment with different shapes and brands, but I highly recommend medium gauge picks to start; ones that aren't too flimsy, or too hard.
The following documentation explains how to hold, and use a pick. When reading, keep in mind that your "picking hand" is the hand which is nearest to the bridge of the guitar, when sitting in the correct position.
• Open your picking hand, and turn the palm to face you.
• Close your hand to make a very loose fist. Your thumb should remain beside your index finger.
• Rotate your hand until you are looking at it's profile, with your thumb's knuckle facing you.
• With your other hand, slide your guitar pick between your thumb and index finger. The pick should be approximately located behind the knuckle of the thumb.
• Be sure the pointed end of the pick is pointing directly away from your fist, and is protruding by about a half an inch. Hold the pick firmly.
• Position your picking hand over the soundhole of your acoustic guitar, or over the body of your electric guitar. Your picking hand, with thumb knuckle still facing you, should hover over the strings.
• Do not rest your picking hand on the strings or body of the guitar.
• Using your wrist for motion (rather than your entire arm), strike the sixth (lowest) string of your guitar in a downward motion. If the string rattles excessively, try striking the string a bit softer, or with less of the pick surface.
• Now, pick the sixth string in an upwards motion.
• Repeat the process several times. Try and minimize motion in your picking hand: one short picking stroke downwards, then one short picking stroke upwards. This process is referred to as "alternate picking"
• Try the same exercise on the fifth, fourth, third, second, and first strings.
Tips:
Holding the pick in this manner will invariably feel awkward at first. You will initially have to pay special attention to your picking hand whenever you play guitar.
Try and create fluidity in your alternate picking. Your downstrokes should sound virtually identical to your upstrokes.
Unfortunately, before you begin playing, you'll really need to tune your guitar. The problem is, it is, at first, a relatively difficult task, one that becomes much easier over time. If you know of anyone who plays guitar, who could do the job for you, it is advised that you get them to tune your instrument. Alternately, you could invest in a "guitar tuner", a relatively inexpensive device which listens to the sound of each string, and advises you (via a few blinking lights) on what you need to do in order to get the note in tune.
Playin Scales
Now we're getting somewhere! In order to become skillful on the guitar, we'll need to build the muscles in our hands, and learn to stretch our fingers. Scales are a good, albeit a not very exciting way to do this. Before we start, look at the diagram above to understand how fingers on the "fretting hand" (the hand that plays notes on the neck) are commonly identified. The thumb is labelled as "T", the index finger is the "first finger", the middle finger is the "second finger", and so on.
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
The above diagram may look confusing... fear not, it's one of the most common methods of explaining notes on the guitar, and is actually quite easy to read. The above represents the neck of the guitar, when looked at head on. The first vertical line on the left of the diagram is the sixth string. The line to the right of that is the fifth string. And so on. The horizontal lines in the diagram represent the frets on the guitar... the space between the top horizontal line, and the one below it is the first fret. The space between that second horizontal line from the top and the one below it is the second fret. And so on. The "0" above the diagram represents the open string for the string it is positioned above. Finally, the black dots are indicators that these notes should be played.
Start by using your pick to play the open sixth string. Next, take the first finger on your fretting hand (remembering to curl it), and place it on the first fret of the sixth string. Apply a significant amount of downward pressure to the string, and strike the string with your pick.
Now, take your second finger, place it on the second fret of the guitar (you can take your first finger off), and again strike the sixth string with the pick.
Now, repeat the same process on the third fret, using your third finger. And lastly, on the fourth fret, using your fourth finger. There! You've played all the notes on the sixth string. Now, move to the fifth string... start by playing the open string, then play frets one, two, three and four.
Repeat this process for each string, altering it only on the third string. On this third string, play only up to the third fret. When you've played all the way up to the first string, fourth fret, you've completed the exercise.
Tips
• When playing a note, place your finger at the "top of fret" (the area of the fret farthest away from the headstock). This will produce a clearer sound.
• Try to use alternate picking while attempting this exercise. If this is overwhelming, try using only downstrokes with your pick, but learn properly once you've gotten used to the scale.
• Once you've finished the scale, try playing the scale backwards, by starting at the first string, fourth fret, and playing all notes in exactly the reverse order.
Playing Basic Chords
(Remember these are open chords so for now practise playing thm on the first four frets!)
Although practicing the previous chromatic scale will certainly provide you with great benefits (like limbering up your fingers), it is admittedly not a whole lot of fun. Most people love to play "chords" on the guitar. Playing a chord involves using your pick to strike at least two notes (often more) on the guitar simultaneously. The following are three of the most common, and easy to play chords on the guitar.
Playing a G major chord
----/----/--2--/----/
----/--1--/----/----/
0|----/----/----/----/
0|----/----/----/----/
0|----/----/----/----/
----/----/--3--/----/
This diagram illustrates the first chord we are going to play, a G major chord (often simply called a "G chord"). Take your second finger, and put it on the third fret of the sixth string. Next, take your first finger, and put it on the second fret of the fifth string. Lastly, put your third finger on the third fret of the first string. Make sure all of your fingers are curled, and are not touching any strings they're not supposed to. Now, using your pick, strike all six strings in one fluid motion. Notes should ring all together, not one at a time (this could take some practice). Voila! Your first chord.
Now, check to see how you did. While still holding down the chord with your fretting hand, play each string (starting with the sixth) one at a time, listening to be sure each note rings out clearly. If not, study your hand to determine why it doesn't. Are you pressing hard enough? Is one of your other fingers touching that string, which is preventing it from sounding properly? These are the most common reasons why a note does not sound. If you're have trouble.
Playing a C major chord
x----/----/----/----/
----/----/--3--/----/
----/--2--/----/----/
----/----/----/----/
--1--/----/----/----/
----/----/----/----/
The second chord we'll learn, the C major chord (often called a "C chord"), is no more difficult than the first G major chord. Place your third finger on the third fret of the fifth string. Now, put your second finger on the second fret of the fourth string. Finally, put your first finger on the first fret of the second string. Here's where you have to be slightly careful. When playing a C major chord, you do not want to strum the sixth string. Watch your pick to make sure you only strum the bottom five strings when you are first learning the C major chord. Test this chord as you did with the G major chord, to make sure all notes are ringing clearly.
Playing a D major chord
x----/----/----/----/
x----/----/----/----/
----/----/----/----/
----/--1--/----/----/
----/----/--3--/----/
----/--2--/----/----/
Some beginners have slightly more difficulty playing a D major chord (often called a "D chord"), since your fingers have to cram into a fairly small area. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, however, if you can comfortably play the other two chords.
Place your first finger on the second fret of the third string. Then, put your third finger on the third fret of the second string. Lastly, place your second finger on the second fret of the first string. Strum only the bottom 4 strings when playing a D major chord.
Spend some time familiarizing yourself with these three chords... you will use them for the rest of your guitar-playing career. Make sure you can play each of the chords without looking at the diagrams. Know what the name of each chord is, where each finger goes, and which strings you strum or do not strum.
Practise Schedule
Realistically, to start improving on guitar, you're going to need to set aside a bit of time to practice. Developing a daily routine is a good idea... planning to spend at least 15 minutes daily practicing all you've learned will really help. At first, your fingers will be sore, but by playing daily, they'll toughen up, and in a short amount of time, they'll stop hurting. The following list should give you an idea of how to spend your practice time:
• Get your guitar in tune.
• Make sure you're sitting, holding the guitar, and using your pick properly. You'll have to correct your natural bad habits at first, until it becomes second nature.
• Play the chromatic scale several times. Try playing it backwards.
• Play each of the three chords you've learned. Check to be sure each note is ringing. If not, find out why, and correct the problem.
• Try moving from one chord to another. Before switching chords, mentally picture exactly where each finger is going to move in order to play the next chord. Only then should you switch chords. This is the key to switching chords quickly.
• If you're having trouble getting your chords to ring clearly, read this feature on getting your chords to ring clearly.
• Try playing some, or all of the songs listed above. At first, try only to think of the songs as a way in which to practice playing chords.
• Don't get discouraged. This is hard stuff at first, and you'll probably feel like you can't do it. You certainly can. Everyone struggles, so just put in your 15 minutes, and then don't worry about it until the next time you play. This is supposed to be fun.
The web has a vast number of resources available for learning about guitar. You can learn how to play songs, how to repair your broken instrument, how to play fancy scales, and much more. The trouble is, there just aren't many GOOD guitar lessons available to someone looking to start playing guitar. These guitar lessons are designed for people who own (or have borrowed) a guitar, but don't yet know the first thing about playing it.
What you'll need for these Guitar Lessons:
• A guitar with six strings. Any type of guitar will work fine.
• A guitar pick. Medium gauged picks are recommended to start with, but any will work okay in a pinch.
• A chair without arms.
• A reasonable amount of patience.
Guitar Lesson Overview: What you'll learn
By the end of this guitar lesson, you will have learned: the names of many parts of the guitar, the names of the open strings, the process of tuning the guitar, how to hold and use a pick, how to play a chromatic scale, and how to play a simple song using Gmajor, Cmajor, and Dmajor chords.
The Parts Of A Guitar
Although there are many different types of guitars (acoustic, electric, classical, electric-acoustic, etc.), they all have many things in common. The diagram to the left illustrates the various parts of a guitar. At the top of the guitar in the illustration is the "headstock", a general term which describes the part of the guitar attached to the slimmer neck of the instrument. On the headstock are "tuners", which you will use to adjust the pitch of each of the strings on the guitar.
At the point in which the headstock meets the neck of the guitar, you'll find the "nut". A nut is simply a small piece of material (plastic, bone, etc.), in which small grooves are carved out to guide the strings up to the tuners. The neck of the guitar is the area of the instrument you'll concentrate a great deal on: you'll put your fingers on various places on the neck, in order to create different notes.
The neck of the guitar adjoins the "body" of the instrument. The body of the guitar will vary greatly from guitar to guitar. Most acoustic and classical guitars have a hollowed out body, and a "sound hole", designed to project the sound of the guitar. Most electric guitars have a solid body, and thus will not have a sound hole. Electric guitars will instead have "pick-ups" where the soundhole is located. These "pick-ups" are essentially small microphones, which allow the capture the sound of the ringing strings, allowing them to be amplified.
The strings of the guitar run from the tuning pegs, over the nut, down the neck, over the body, over the sound hole (or pick-ups), and are anchored at a piece of hardware attached to the body of the guitar, called a "bridge".
Examine the neck of your guitar. You'll notice there are metal strips running across it's entire surface. These pieces of metal are referred to as "frets" on a guitar. Now, here's what you'll need to keep in mind: the word "fret" has two different meanings when used by guitarists. It can be used to describe:
• The piece of metal itself.
• The space on the neck between one piece of metal and the next.
• To further explain, the area of the neck between the nut and the first strip of metal is referred to as the "first fret". The area on the neck between the first and second strip of metal is referred to as the "second fret". And so on...
Now, that we know about the basic parts of a guitar, it's time to get our hands dirty, and start learning to play it. Get yourself an armless chair, and take a seat. You should be sitting comfortably, with your back against the back of the chair. Slouching significantly is a no-no; you'll not only end up with a sore back, you'll develop bad habits on the guitar.
Now, pick up your guitar, and hold it so the back of the body of the instrument comes in contact with your stomach/chest, and the bottom of the neck runs parallel to the floor. The thickest string on the guitar should be the closest to your face, while the thinnest should be closest to the floor. If this isn't the case, turn the guitar the in other direction. Typically, a right-handed person will hold the guitar so the headstock points to the left, whereas a left-handed person will hold the guitar so the headstock points to the right. (NOTE: to play the guitar as a lefty would, you will need a left-handed guitar.)
When playing the guitar sitting down, the body of the guitar will rest on one of your legs. In most styles of guitar playing, the guitar will rest on the leg farthest away from the headstock. This means, a person playing the guitar in a right-handed fashion will typically rest the guitar on his/her right leg, while someone playing the guitar in a lefty manner will rest it on their left leg. (NOTE: proper classical guitarist technique dictates the exact opposite of the above, but for this lesson, let's stick to our initial explanation)
Next, concentrate on your "fretting hand" (the hand closest to the neck of the guitar, when sitting in proper position). The thumb of your fretting hand should rest behind the neck of the guitar, with your fingers in a slightly curled position, poised above the strings. It is extremely important to keep these fingers curled at the knuckles, except when specifically instructed not to do so.
Using A Pick
Hopefully, you've found, bought or borrowed a guitar pick. If not, you'll need to buy yourself some. Don't be stingy, go and pick up at least 10 of them - guitar picks are easy to lose (they often don't cost more than 30 or 40 cents each). You can experiment with different shapes and brands, but I highly recommend medium gauge picks to start; ones that aren't too flimsy, or too hard.
The following documentation explains how to hold, and use a pick. When reading, keep in mind that your "picking hand" is the hand which is nearest to the bridge of the guitar, when sitting in the correct position.
• Open your picking hand, and turn the palm to face you.
• Close your hand to make a very loose fist. Your thumb should remain beside your index finger.
• Rotate your hand until you are looking at it's profile, with your thumb's knuckle facing you.
• With your other hand, slide your guitar pick between your thumb and index finger. The pick should be approximately located behind the knuckle of the thumb.
• Be sure the pointed end of the pick is pointing directly away from your fist, and is protruding by about a half an inch. Hold the pick firmly.
• Position your picking hand over the soundhole of your acoustic guitar, or over the body of your electric guitar. Your picking hand, with thumb knuckle still facing you, should hover over the strings.
• Do not rest your picking hand on the strings or body of the guitar.
• Using your wrist for motion (rather than your entire arm), strike the sixth (lowest) string of your guitar in a downward motion. If the string rattles excessively, try striking the string a bit softer, or with less of the pick surface.
• Now, pick the sixth string in an upwards motion.
• Repeat the process several times. Try and minimize motion in your picking hand: one short picking stroke downwards, then one short picking stroke upwards. This process is referred to as "alternate picking"
• Try the same exercise on the fifth, fourth, third, second, and first strings.
Tips:
Holding the pick in this manner will invariably feel awkward at first. You will initially have to pay special attention to your picking hand whenever you play guitar.
Try and create fluidity in your alternate picking. Your downstrokes should sound virtually identical to your upstrokes.
Unfortunately, before you begin playing, you'll really need to tune your guitar. The problem is, it is, at first, a relatively difficult task, one that becomes much easier over time. If you know of anyone who plays guitar, who could do the job for you, it is advised that you get them to tune your instrument. Alternately, you could invest in a "guitar tuner", a relatively inexpensive device which listens to the sound of each string, and advises you (via a few blinking lights) on what you need to do in order to get the note in tune.
Playin Scales
Now we're getting somewhere! In order to become skillful on the guitar, we'll need to build the muscles in our hands, and learn to stretch our fingers. Scales are a good, albeit a not very exciting way to do this. Before we start, look at the diagram above to understand how fingers on the "fretting hand" (the hand that plays notes on the neck) are commonly identified. The thumb is labelled as "T", the index finger is the "first finger", the middle finger is the "second finger", and so on.
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
0|--1--/--2--/--3--/--4--/
The above diagram may look confusing... fear not, it's one of the most common methods of explaining notes on the guitar, and is actually quite easy to read. The above represents the neck of the guitar, when looked at head on. The first vertical line on the left of the diagram is the sixth string. The line to the right of that is the fifth string. And so on. The horizontal lines in the diagram represent the frets on the guitar... the space between the top horizontal line, and the one below it is the first fret. The space between that second horizontal line from the top and the one below it is the second fret. And so on. The "0" above the diagram represents the open string for the string it is positioned above. Finally, the black dots are indicators that these notes should be played.
Start by using your pick to play the open sixth string. Next, take the first finger on your fretting hand (remembering to curl it), and place it on the first fret of the sixth string. Apply a significant amount of downward pressure to the string, and strike the string with your pick.
Now, take your second finger, place it on the second fret of the guitar (you can take your first finger off), and again strike the sixth string with the pick.
Now, repeat the same process on the third fret, using your third finger. And lastly, on the fourth fret, using your fourth finger. There! You've played all the notes on the sixth string. Now, move to the fifth string... start by playing the open string, then play frets one, two, three and four.
Repeat this process for each string, altering it only on the third string. On this third string, play only up to the third fret. When you've played all the way up to the first string, fourth fret, you've completed the exercise.
Tips
• When playing a note, place your finger at the "top of fret" (the area of the fret farthest away from the headstock). This will produce a clearer sound.
• Try to use alternate picking while attempting this exercise. If this is overwhelming, try using only downstrokes with your pick, but learn properly once you've gotten used to the scale.
• Once you've finished the scale, try playing the scale backwards, by starting at the first string, fourth fret, and playing all notes in exactly the reverse order.
Playing Basic Chords
(Remember these are open chords so for now practise playing thm on the first four frets!)
Although practicing the previous chromatic scale will certainly provide you with great benefits (like limbering up your fingers), it is admittedly not a whole lot of fun. Most people love to play "chords" on the guitar. Playing a chord involves using your pick to strike at least two notes (often more) on the guitar simultaneously. The following are three of the most common, and easy to play chords on the guitar.
Playing a G major chord
----/----/--2--/----/
----/--1--/----/----/
0|----/----/----/----/
0|----/----/----/----/
0|----/----/----/----/
----/----/--3--/----/
This diagram illustrates the first chord we are going to play, a G major chord (often simply called a "G chord"). Take your second finger, and put it on the third fret of the sixth string. Next, take your first finger, and put it on the second fret of the fifth string. Lastly, put your third finger on the third fret of the first string. Make sure all of your fingers are curled, and are not touching any strings they're not supposed to. Now, using your pick, strike all six strings in one fluid motion. Notes should ring all together, not one at a time (this could take some practice). Voila! Your first chord.
Now, check to see how you did. While still holding down the chord with your fretting hand, play each string (starting with the sixth) one at a time, listening to be sure each note rings out clearly. If not, study your hand to determine why it doesn't. Are you pressing hard enough? Is one of your other fingers touching that string, which is preventing it from sounding properly? These are the most common reasons why a note does not sound. If you're have trouble.
Playing a C major chord
x----/----/----/----/
----/----/--3--/----/
----/--2--/----/----/
----/----/----/----/
--1--/----/----/----/
----/----/----/----/
The second chord we'll learn, the C major chord (often called a "C chord"), is no more difficult than the first G major chord. Place your third finger on the third fret of the fifth string. Now, put your second finger on the second fret of the fourth string. Finally, put your first finger on the first fret of the second string. Here's where you have to be slightly careful. When playing a C major chord, you do not want to strum the sixth string. Watch your pick to make sure you only strum the bottom five strings when you are first learning the C major chord. Test this chord as you did with the G major chord, to make sure all notes are ringing clearly.
Playing a D major chord
x----/----/----/----/
x----/----/----/----/
----/----/----/----/
----/--1--/----/----/
----/----/--3--/----/
----/--2--/----/----/
Some beginners have slightly more difficulty playing a D major chord (often called a "D chord"), since your fingers have to cram into a fairly small area. Shouldn't be too much of a problem, however, if you can comfortably play the other two chords.
Place your first finger on the second fret of the third string. Then, put your third finger on the third fret of the second string. Lastly, place your second finger on the second fret of the first string. Strum only the bottom 4 strings when playing a D major chord.
Spend some time familiarizing yourself with these three chords... you will use them for the rest of your guitar-playing career. Make sure you can play each of the chords without looking at the diagrams. Know what the name of each chord is, where each finger goes, and which strings you strum or do not strum.
Practise Schedule
Realistically, to start improving on guitar, you're going to need to set aside a bit of time to practice. Developing a daily routine is a good idea... planning to spend at least 15 minutes daily practicing all you've learned will really help. At first, your fingers will be sore, but by playing daily, they'll toughen up, and in a short amount of time, they'll stop hurting. The following list should give you an idea of how to spend your practice time:
• Get your guitar in tune.
• Make sure you're sitting, holding the guitar, and using your pick properly. You'll have to correct your natural bad habits at first, until it becomes second nature.
• Play the chromatic scale several times. Try playing it backwards.
• Play each of the three chords you've learned. Check to be sure each note is ringing. If not, find out why, and correct the problem.
• Try moving from one chord to another. Before switching chords, mentally picture exactly where each finger is going to move in order to play the next chord. Only then should you switch chords. This is the key to switching chords quickly.
• If you're having trouble getting your chords to ring clearly, read this feature on getting your chords to ring clearly.
• Try playing some, or all of the songs listed above. At first, try only to think of the songs as a way in which to practice playing chords.
• Don't get discouraged. This is hard stuff at first, and you'll probably feel like you can't do it. You certainly can. Everyone struggles, so just put in your 15 minutes, and then don't worry about it until the next time you play. This is supposed to be fun.
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