Beginner Guitar Lessons

This section covers the basics of the guitar and should be the choice destination for beginning guitarists, but there is a lot of material

here that even some intermediate or advanced players may benefit from.

Before You Start Playing

In this chapter we’ll learn about the parts of the guitar, how to hold the guitar, how to use a pick, how to tune your guitar, and the names of the open strings.

Getting To Know The Fretboard

It’s highly important that you begin to get familiar with the names of the notes on the frets of a guitar. Knowing them will serve you to a great degree in the future when learning chord and scale systems.

  1. Mapping Out The Fretboard: The 12 notes in music and how they relate to guitar.
  2. Fretboard Inlay System: Using the dot inlay system to get around the fretboard.
  3. The Notes On The Fretboard : The location of the primary notes on the guitar.
  4. Fretboard Flashcards: If you are having
    trouble remembering the names of the notes on
    your guitar fretboard, then these handy printable
    flash cards will definitely do the trick!

Playing Guitar Chords

Chords are a fundamental element in music. One of the reasons that the guitar is such a popular instrument is it’s ability to play chords. If you think about it most instruments don’t have this ability. Of course keyboard instruments like pianos have this ability, but what about trumpets, or saxophone, etc.?

  1. All About Guitar Chords Here we discuss what a chord is and how a chord is formed as well as intervals found using steps in chords.
  2. How To Read A Chord Diagram: In order to learn chords, you must first understand how to read a chord diagram.
  3. The 5 Basic Chord Shapes: There are 5 basic chord shapes featuring both major and minors. Here we show you each of the 5 chord shapes, which actually allow you to learn ANY chord you ever want to know using these 5 basic shapes.
  4. Changing Chords Exercises: Before you begin tackling more intricate chords and changes involved within them, we need to first make sure we
    understand how to change chords using the major chords you learned previously.

Rhythm And Strumming

In this chapter we will work on playing in time and strumming basic chords to the beat.

  1. What Is Strumming? Strumming isn’t just a simple concept. Sure there are elements of strumming that might seem simple, but that is ONLY the beginning!
  2. Introduction To Rhythm: Here we will discuss the two main elements of strumming, which are rhythm and pitch. We also expand our vocabulary by learning about measures, standard time, and tempo.
  3. Strumming To A Beat: Before you begin learning to strum on a more intermediate level, you must make sure that you understand how to follow the beat when provided.
  4. Quarter Note Strumming: Now we’re going to play a series of chords that you’ve already learned using quarter notes.
  5. Strumming Patterns: While you will find that strumming patterns are rarely necessary (or even recommended) to use when playing a song, this section details a few of the more common
    ‘templates’ one could use when learning to strum a song based on the genre of music it comes from.
  6. Strumming Songs Courtesy of E-Z Strummer: This link will provide you with 10 songs from the E-Z Strummer online catalog. They range from beginner to intermediate.

Power Chords

  1. All About Power Chords
  2. Power Chord Patterns
  3. Power Chord Exercises

Tablature

  1. How To Read Guitar Tab

Music Theory

  1. Music Term Glossary
  2. Note Values
  3. Time Signatures
  4. Identifying Key Signatures
  5. Intervals Guide

Articles

  1. How To Change Strings On Your Acoustic Guitar Song
  2. How To Change Strings On Your Electric
  3. More Articles

What’s Next?

It’s up to you! There’s no way to make you practice and that’s the only way you’re going to get any better. You cannot avoid getting better with regular
practice, but if you don’t practice you will find yourself getting no where. Here are some some tips to help improve your practice time:

  • It’s a good idea to practice at least a little every day. Set aside some time each day to practice undisturbed. Even if it’s only 10 or 15 minutes
    a day, you will marked improvement from day to day or week to week.
  • Set both short and long term goals. An example of a short term goal may be to learn your basic chord patterns. An example of a long term goal
    may be to learn all the notes on the fretboard.
  • If you start to feel too much discomfort in your hands and/or fingers you may want to take a break or wait until the next day to continue. Over time the muscles in your hands will develop to the point where they won’t cramp as much, and your fingertips will develop hard calluses.
  • Don’t get ahead of yourself. If you come across something that you do not understand don’t skip it and go on to something else. Stop and click
    the support button or visit the forums so that you get the help you need to understand. Skipping material is like skipping chapters in a novel:
    you’ll be scratching your head in confusion.
  • Concentrate on your weaknesses. Don’t spend most of your practice time on the areas that you would consider your strengths. Take the time to make your weaknesses strong.
  • Try recording a practice session then go back a month or two later and listen to it. You’ll be amazed at the progress you’ve made if you’ve stuck with regular practice.

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