Free Guitar Lessons – Lesson 5
June 9, 2008 by guitar-lessons
Filed under Free Guitar Lessons
Beginner Guitar Lesson #5 – Guitar Chord Lesson
Jamorama – The Ultimate Guitar Learning Course
Guitar Lesson Five – Introduction to Chord Progressions
When you listen to one of your favorite songs you become aware to the fact that it is built up of notes and chords that are changing and causing the song to evolve in a way that is pleasing to the ear. The question that I want to look at today is: why do some chords sound good together and others sound absolutely terrible?
To answer this, we need to look at root notes as they are the base that chords are built upon. If we take the notes of a scale and number them from 1 to 8, you will find movements between notes 1, 4 and 5 consistently sound better and stronger than between any other number. Let’s take a look at a scale (for learning purposes we will use the C Major Scale):
It might be a good idea to get your guitar out at this point and just have a play around with the notes in the above scale so you can hear what I mean about strong movement between numbers 1, 4 and 5. Also, play around with some of the other numbers to see what some weaker movements sound like.
So, now that we have established the above fact, let’s use it in some chord progressions.
A turnaround progression is a sequence of chords that can be continually repeated due to strong sounding chord movement between the ending and starting chords. In the following turnaround progression we use the F chord (F being 4 in the C major scale) to get back to the starting chord C (C being 1 in the C major scale):
Try playing the above chord progression using a strum of your own. If you don’t know the chords, they are shown at the bottom of this page – you will hear that the progression sounds good and repeats itself through a strong chord movement.
Here are some more turnaround progressions for you to practice:
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Chords
Guitar Tip: It’s important to enjoy the process of learning how to play guitar. Try not to push yourself to learn to play too quickly. This sounds basic, but often beginners learning guitar often focus on negative aspects about their guitar playing skill level. Remember, all professional guitarists started off just like you at one time! Learning guitar takes time, patience and practice.
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Free Guitar Lessons – Lesson 4
June 9, 2008 by guitar-lessons
Filed under Free Guitar Lessons
Free Guitar Lesson #4 – Beginner Fret Board & Tab Score
Jamorama – The Ultimate Guitar Learning Course
Guitar Lesson Four – How Tablature Relates to The Guitar Fret Board
Guitar tablature is probably the easiest and most used method for guitar notation. On the internet, you can find guitar notation for almost any song that you want to learn. Tablature is easier to learn than traditional music notation because it relates directly to the fret board of the guitar, indicating where your fingers should be placed. Although it is an easier method to learn it still has its weak points, the main one being that you can’t easily indicate rhythm on tablature. This means that when you learn a song you have to learn the strum from the song itself.
The following diagram shows you how tablature relates to the guitar fret board:
We use numbers to indicate the string and the fret position that you are supposed to play. Each fret is numbered, starting at the nut of the guitar at O and moving upwards towards the bridge of the guitar. The following diagrams demonstrate this principle.
The 3 on the above tablature score (Tab. diagram 1) indicates to you that you place a finger on the third fret of the sixth string. It is the note G.
Diagram here.The 1 on the tablature score (Tab. diagram 2) on the last page indicates to you that you place a finger on the first fret of the third string. It is the note C.
The O on the above tablature score (Tab. diagram 3) indicates to you that the third string is to be played open. This means that you don’t need to place a finger on it. It is the note G.
Chords and Tablature
Chords are indicated by a set of numbers that tell you which frets need to be played and which don’t. The following diagram demonstrates how an open A major chord is constructed with tablature.
The first and fifth strings are played open whilst the second, third and forth strings are played at the second fret. The sixth string is not played in the A Major Chord and this is indicated by an X.
Often tablature is written beneath traditional music score or stave. The two together looks like this:
Side Note: “GuitEarIt!” is a powerful ear training game developed to help you learn music notes fast. The program works simply by starting you off with the notes A, B, C, and D. As you listen to various strums, you must choose the note that was just strummed by using a multiple choice answer board. You’ll be amazed at how quickly GuitEarIt trains your ear with very little effort on your part. It’s extremely effective and fun to play. And of course, the GuitEarIt software program is included as a free bonus with Jamorama.
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Free Guitar Lessons – Lesson 3
June 9, 2008 by guitar-lessons
Filed under Free Guitar Lessons
Beginner Guitar Lesson #3: How to Read Guitar Tab
Jamorama – The Ultimate Guitar Learning Course
Guitar Lesson Three – How to Read Guitar Tablature
Tab or tablature is the most common method of writing out music for the guitar. It is different from classical music notation in that; TAB uses ordinary numbers and keyboard characters as opposed to standard musical notation which uses symbols. Because of this format, anyone with a computer can write or read TAB making it the most user friendly way to read and communicate guitar music. Also TAB relates directly to the fret board of your guitar meaning that you may easily see where you put your fingers.
In the full version of Jamorama, both standard musical notation and tablature are used. But for this mini free guitar course we will only use TAB. The reason for this is that tablature is very easy to read and you should have no problems learning TAB in a few short minutes of reading.
TAB has some weak points, the worst of which is that rhythm can’t be easily indicated. This shouldn’t pose a problem though, as I will indicate the rhythm for each exercise using the strum indicators that were introduced in lesson one.
OK, let’s get started. Look at your guitar and you will clearly see that it has six strings going from thickest to thinnest. On a TAB diagram, the thinnest string, (or 1st string as its most commonly called) is at the top – The thickest (or 6th string) is at the bottom. This is clearly demonstrated in the 1st example below.
The following diagram shows you how tablature relates to the guitar fret board:
Some of you may notice that this guitar seems upside down in relation to how you play. This is simply the way that guitar music is generally written. Now if you transfer this same model to a written format you will get TAB, which can be seen below.
So the lines above indicate the strings on a guitar. The top line of the TAB being the thinnest string of the guitar, and the bottom line on the TAB chart indicating the thickest string of the guitar. Now if you look at your guitar you will see metal bars that raise up from the neck of the guitar called frets. TAB uses numbers to show you which one of these frets to press down and play.
| For example, look at the tab diagram to the right and you can see that the 1st string (thinnest string) is being played. The number refers to the fret that you should press down. In this case the number zero is shown meaning, therefore, that you should not press down anything. |
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So if you were to play the above piece of TAB on your guitar, you would pick the thinnest string once with your plucking hand and do nothing with your fret hand.
Now let’s see if we can start pushing down some strings. Look at the next example below and try and play the note that the TAB chart displays.
Guitar Tab Video: If you are having trouble learning guitar tab with this concept, you can download a video or audio example of the above exercise to see and hear it for yourself. The download links are below (right click on the link and select "save as"):
| Dial Up | Broadband |
| QuickTime WindowsMediaPlayer |
QuickTime WindowsMediaPlayer |
Let’s try another one. Play the following piece of TAB:
This TAB diagram above indicates the 2nd string (second thinnest) and you should be pressing down on the first fret.
Guitar Tab Video: Once again, there is guitar tab video available for this example. The download links are below (right click on the link and select "save as"):
| Dial Up | Broadband |
| QuickTime WindowsMediaPlayer |
QuickTime WindowsMediaPlayer |
Things become a little more complicated when you are required to play chords, however the basic principals I have already outlined still apply. The only difference is that you will be required to play more strings and hold down more strings with your fingers. In this next example I will show you how to play the chord ‘A’.
A Major Chord
The first and fifth strings are played open while the second, third and forth strings are played at the second fret. The sixth string is not played in the A Major Chord and this is indicated by an X.
If you have read the TAB correctly your fingers should look like this:
A Major Chord Video: To learn guitar tab faster, you can download a video or audio example of the above exercise to see and hear it for yourself. The download links are below (right click on the link and select "save as"):
| Dial Up | Broadband |
| QuickTime WindowsMediaPlayer |
QuickTime WindowsMediaPlayer |
So now you know how to use basic tablature as it applies to notes and full chords. In this introductory set of lessons you will use TAB to learn different chords and by lesson six you will be able to play the full song, ‘Rivers of Babylon’.
Notes on the First String
Knowledge of the notes that are on each string is necessary for understanding guitar theory. The first string is also known as the high E string. The main notes in the first position on the first string are E (open), F (1st fret) and G (3rd fret). The first position refers to the first 4 frets of the guitar.
We will use these notes in the following exercise to introduce to you the concept of note picking.
Exercise:
Note picking is a skill that is used in all types of music. For now, we will use it to familiarize ourselves with the note names on each string in the first position. Pluck these first string notes with a downward picking motion. Notice that your fingers should match the fret number when playing in the first position:
Try listening to audio for this example.
Audio
Picking the notes on the first string Note: MP3 link opens in new window (456KB)
That’s it for now in terms of guitar theory. In guitar lesson 4 we’ll get you strumming more.
Free Guitar Lessons – Lesson 2
June 9, 2008 by guitar-lessons
Filed under Free Guitar Lessons
Beginner Guitar Lesson #2: How to Tune a Guitar
Jamorama – The Ultimate Guitar Learning Course
Guitar Lesson Two – Tuning Your Guitar to Itself
This is probably the most important piece of knowledge that you can learn when it comes to tuning your guitar. The process of tuning your guitar to itself is one by which you tune each string to another string on the guitar.
Basically, it means that you can tune the guitar without having to use a tuner or pitch tool. The only set back about using this method is that your guitar may not end up in exact concert pitch. What I mean by that is that the strings may not run E, A, D, G, B, E as they would if they were in correct concert pitch (you would need a tuner or pitch tool to do that), rather they will all be tuned to whatever note the top string happens to be at the time of tuning.
The first step is to get your fifth string in tune with your sixth string. Place a finger on your left hand on the fifth fret of the sixth string. The note that you are holding down is the pitch that string five should be tuned to.
Keep your finger in position and pluck the sixth string and let that note ring. As you let the sixth string ring, pluck the fifth string.
If the fifth string sounds exactly like the note you are holding on the sixth string, it is in tune. If it is higher, you need to tune down below the note on the sixth string and then bring it back up to match with the fifth fret note on the sixth string. If the fifth string note is lower, you need to tighten the string and bring its pitch up to the fifth fret note on the sixth string.
It may take you a while to match pitches exactly but the more practice you get at this, the faster you will be able to do it.
The second step is to get your forth string in tune with your fifth string. Place a finger on your left hand on the fifth fret of the fifth string. The note that you are holding down is the pitch that string four should be tuned to. Keep your finger in position and pluck the fifth string and let that note ring.
As you let the fifth string ring, pluck the forth string. If the forth string sounds exactly like the note you are holding on the fifth string, it is in tune. If it is higher, you need to tune down below the note on the fifth string and then bring it back up to match with the fifth fret note on the fifth string. If the forth string note is lower, you need to tighten the string and bring its pitch up to the fifth fret note on the fifth string. Keep tuning the string until you get an exact match for pitch.
The third step on how to tune a guitar is to get your third string in tune with your forth string. Place a finger on your left hand on the fifth fret of the forth string. The note that you are holding down is the pitch that string three should be tuned to. Keep your finger in position and pluck the forth string and let that note ring.
As you let the forth string ring, pluck the third string. If the third string sounds exactly like the note you are holding on the forth string, it is in tune. If it is higher, you need to tune down below the note on the forth string and then bring it back up to match with the fifth fret note on the forth string. If the third string note is lower, you need to tighten the string and bring its pitch up to the fifth fret note on the forth string. Keep tuning the string until you get an exact match for pitch.
The forth step is to get your second string in tune with your third string. Place a finger on your left hand on the forth fret of the third string. The note that you are holding down is the pitch that string two should be tuned to. Keep your finger in position and pluck the third string and let that note ring.
As you let the third string ring, pluck the second string. If the second string sounds exactly like the note you are holding on the third string, it is in tune. If it is higher, you need to tune down below the note on the third string and then bring it back up to match with the forth fret note on the third string. If the second string note is lower, you need to tighten the string and bring its pitch up to the forth fret note on the third string. Keep tuning the string until you get an exact match for pitch.
The last step of tuning your guitar to get your first string in tune with your second string. Place a finger on your left hand on the fifth fret of the second string. The note that you are holding down is the pitch that string one should be tuned to. Keep your finger in position and pluck the second string and let that note ring.
As you let the second string ring, pluck the first string. If the first string sounds exactly like the note you are holding on the second string, it is in tune. If it is higher, you need to tune down below the note on the second string and then bring it back up to match with the fifth fret note on the second string. If the first string note is lower, you need to tighten the string and bring its pitch up to the fifth fret note on the second string.
Keep tuning the string until you get an exact match for pitch and you will have tuned the guitar to its own strings.
You have just tuned your guitar to itself. If the guitar sounds a little out, you should go back and repeat the process – it is a little hard to master for a start but you should stick to it as it is a very useful skill to have.
Progress and Motivation:
An old piano teacher of mine used to record my playing at different times throughout my terms work. At the end of the term she would give me a tape that contained a selection of pieces that I had played running from work that I had completed early in the term to the things that I was working on at the end of the term. I would take this tape home and I would play it to my friends and family. People listening to the tape would say, “Man, you’re getting good”.
This did two things for me. First of all, it made me go back to my teacher for more lessons. Secondly, it made me practice more because I could see the benefits of working on something over time. Basically, the progress that I could hear on the tape motivated me to progress further.
I strongly recommend that you begin to record your practice sessions for future reference.
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Free Guitar Lessons – Lesson 1
June 9, 2008 by guitar-lessons
Filed under Free Guitar Lessons
Beginner Guitar Lesson #1: Beginner Guitar Tips For Getting Started
Jamorama – The Ultimate Guitar Learning Course
Sitting Positions When Playing Guitar
There are two sitting positions for holding the guitar; classical and casual.
1. Pick up the guitar and make sure that the guitar body is supported by your leg.
2. Position yourself at the edge of your chair.
3. Ensure that your back is relaxed but straight.
4. Lean the guitar back towards you slightly.
Standing Position
1. Pick up the guitar and place the strap over your shoulder.
Adjust the strap so that the guitar is positioned mid-body.
2. Use your left hand to support the neck of the guitar.
3. Rest your right hand over the bridge of the guitar.
Guitar Hand Positions
It is important that you relax your wrists and hands. Straining them can cause injury.
| Front View | Rear View |
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Warning! Make sure that you never position your hand like this:
Your thumb should never be placed this low on the neck of the guitar as it puts unnecessary strain on your wrist and thumb. |
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Fretting
When you play the guitar, you use your left hand fingers to press down the strings on the fret board of the guitar and use your right hand to pluck or strum the stings at the bridge end of the guitar. Using your left hand to press the strings on the fret board is called fretting. Here are some tips you will need to know:
1. Short fingernails are essential.
2. Use only the tips of your fingers to press the strings.
3. When making a chord, be sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret.
We will cover chords in lesson one.
4. Check each string that it rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing.
As a beginner guitarist, it may hurt your fingers to play. This is normal. Every guitarist starts this way for the first couple of weeks. With practice, you will develop guitar fingers (hard skin on your fingertips).
Holding the Pick
Position the pick between thumb and index fingers like in the diagram below:
Well done, you’ve just completed the first part of this free guitar lesson. Next you are about to learn about chords and by the end of this lesson you’ll learn how to play the A and D major chords.
Now you are ready to start learning how to play guitar. Your goal in this lesson is to learn the A and D major chords and to introduce yourself to reading guitar tablature. This lesson is very important, so I want you to really focus.
Guitar Playing Tip: It is more beneficial for you to practice multiple times during a week than to practice for one long session. This is because your brain processes information in chunks at a time and it can only hold a certain amount in short term storage.
For example, with phone numbers, it is very difficult to remember any more than 7 digits at a time. Yet if you give yourself time between practicing, even if it is just 10 minutes, you’ll find that your brain is much more efficient at turning your short term practice into long term knowledge.
Ok. That aside, let’s get started on the lesson. To start with, I want you to have a look at the guitar neck diagram below and make note of all the relevant pieces of information.
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Frets
The guitar neck is divided into what we call frets, making a fret board. Most guitars have around 20 frets. Notice that we number each fret starting at 1 at the head of the guitar. In this first guitar lesson, we will focus on the first four, also known as the first position. In future lessons we will move beyond that. |
Guitar Playing Tip: Each string on the guitar is numbered. When you hold your guitar as you would when using the casual playing position, the 1st string is at the bottom and the 6th string is at the top.
Notice also the term, ‘Tuning’ at the bottom of the above diagram. Tuning refers to the notes that the guitar strings are tuned to. In the above diagram, I have given a very common tuning called standard E tuning that consists of the notes E, A, D, G and B.
Strings 1 and 6 are both tuned to the note E. The open 6th string is called low E. The open 1st string is called high E as it is two octaves higher than the 6th string open E. You’ll learn more about notes and octaves in a later lesson, but for now, you only need to know the names of the notes in standard open E tuning.
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Throughout this free guitar course, we will stick to standard E tuning. Ensure now that your guitar is tuned to open E tuning (the most common tuning). If you don’t know how to tune your guitar, then download my free guide to tuning your guitar here => how to tune your guitar Note: To open the above tuning.pdf file you’ll need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can get the free acrobat reader download here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html Or, if you are already a Jamorama member you can use their free guitar tuning software to tune your guitar. |
Introduction to Chords
Now we are going to look at guitar chords. Guitarists use many different chords to make progressions or riffs that can then be used to create songs. If you are not familiar with some of these terms, it’s ok. We will cover everything that I am talking about in good time.
A chord is defined as a combination of 3 or more notes played together. To examine this, I want to take a look at chord diagrams. Chord diagrams are used to illustrate how a chord is played. They are very easy to use because they look very much like the neck of the guitar, in fact, the Jamorama chord diagram is a guitar neck.
As stated above the Jamorama chord diagrams are going to be pictures of an ‘actual’ guitar neck so it’s easy to make the connection between strings and fingering. There is also a picture of the type of chord diagram that appears in most other Guitar learning guides. I want you to be aware of that form of ‘standard’ chord diagram because you may want to use it when writing up chords on paper at home.
So, now that you know what a chord diagram looks like and how it matches with the neck of your guitar, it’s time to come back to what I said earlier about a chord being a combination of 3 or more notes played together. Finger placing symbols are added to the chord diagram so we know which notes to play. To start with, let’s look at your fingers.
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We give each playing finger a number that we can then match up on the chord diagram (see below). |
And now, let’s look at a full chord diagram. We will use the example of the A major chord:
Chord Diagram – A Major Chord
In the chord diagram below you can see that the A major chord uses fingers 1, 2, and 3. Take note of how this chord diagram looks – we will use this style from now on.
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The A major chord is constructed of the notes A, C# and E. We will cover notes a little later. For now, we will make chords without knowledge of individual notes. |
Note that there is a red dot marking the 6th string on the above chord diagram. The red dot tells you that you are not to play that string. The sixth string of the A major chord is not played, but you play the rest.
Throughout these free guitar lessons, every chord diagram will be accompanied by a picture of the chord being held on the fret board and video and audio of the chord being played for you to check with.
Pictured below is the A major chord being played:
Guitar Exercise: Playing the A Major Chord
Position each finger with care, according to the above diagram. Make sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret. Firstly, pluck across the strings one by one with your right hand, checking that each string rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing. Play the first Audio or video example to hear how the chord should sound.
Now that we’ve looked at chord diagrams, I want to move on to strumming.
Introduction to Strumming the Guitar
In a strum there are two types of guitar stroke. They are up stroke and down stroke. Throughout these guitar lessons these strokes will be notated as follows:
When you play a stroke, you strum across the strings just in front of the bridge of the guitar with the pick in your left hand. When strumming a chord, make sure that you play all of the necessary strings in the chord. The stroke direction will depend on which stroke is indicated; up or down as shown above.
Guitar Exercise: Strumming the A Major Chord
Position each finger with care, according to the A Major chord diagram (above). Make sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret. Firstly, pluck across the strings one by one with your right hand, checking that each string rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing. Once you are sure that you are holding the A major chord correctly, practice strumming the chord in single downward strokes as indicated below:
While you play this, see if you can say out loud an even 4 count. Another option if you are a Jamorama member is to use the Jamorama metronome – it will help you to stay in time.
A Major Chord Guitar Video Lesson: You can download a video or audio example of the above exercise to see and hear it for yourself. The download inks are below (right click on the link and select "save as"):
| Dial Up | Broadband |
| QuickTime – A Major (1.56MB) WindowsMediaPlayer – A Major (1.76MB) |
QuickTime – A Major (4.00MB) WindowsMediaPlayer – A Major (5.87MB) |
| A Major Audio: | |
| A Major audio clip MP3 Format (0.75MB) |
Try your best to start your strum from the fifth string each time you strum. A major, doesn’t sound bad if you accidentally hit the top string, although if you want your music to sound professional, you’ll want to play this chord properly. Remember to stay relaxed. Your fingers may hurt a little but they will get stronger.
Now that you are playing the A major chord properly, let’s take a look at strumming another chord…
The D Major Chord
The D Major Chord is constructed of the notes D, F# (F sharp) and A and is played using fingers 1, 2 and 3:
As with the A major chord: try strumming the D major chord in downward strokes with your right hand.
D Major Chord Guitar Video Lesson: You can download a video or audio example of the above exercise to see and hear it for yourself. The download links are below (right click on the link and select "save as"):
| Dial Up | Broadband | QuickTime – D Major (1.51MB) WindowsMediaPlayer – D Major (1.97MB) |
QuickTime – D Major (3.91MB) WindowsMediaPlayer – D Major (4.05MB) |
| D Major Audio: | |
| D Major audio clip MP3 Format (0.73MB) |
Guitar Playing Tip: The top two, or fifth and sixth, strings are not played in the D major chord. Make sure that you start your stroke from the third string each time you strum D major, it doesn’t sound bad if you accidentally hit the fifth string, although as with A major above, if you want your music to sound professional, you need to play this chord properly.
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