Grab The Guitar

This section has been made for the beginner guitarist who is looking for quick access to lessons available that are more suitable to the beginner guitarist as opposed to the intermediate or advanced guitarist. This is a compilation of lessons found in other areas of this website. For example, the lessons found here on chords can also be found in our section that is exclusively on chords but the chord section will also have lessons more suitable to advanced guitarists. This listing focuses on any lessons on any topic that would be useful for the beginner guitarist. How To Tune Your Guitar (Standard Tuning) Part I - The Strings On The Guitar - EADGBE Part II - Tuning The Low E String Part III - Tuning The Rest Of Your Guitar Introduction To Guitar Tabs - How to read the most basic guitar tabs Right Hand Positioning - Where to put your right hand on the guitar Strumming The Guitar - How to strum your guitar Basic Picking - The basics for picking correctly on ...

The first scale most guitarists learn is the minor pentatonic scale. Pentatonic may sound scary but it really isn't, it simply means 5 notes. So a pentatonic scale is just a 5 note scale. The pentatonic scale is extremely useful for guitarists. This is for a few good reasons. - Music that is commonly played on the guitar (rock, blues, country, pop, ect...) use the pentatonic scale in its melodies and improvisation. - The pentatonic scale is easily playable on the guitar with pentatonic 'boxes'. - The licks and riffs from the pentatonic scale sound amazing. With that said, lets get into the minor pentatonic scale. The following is a tab file and a scale diagram of the minor pentatonic scale in the Key of A. Didn't I say a pentatonic scale was only 5 notes. The above tab file and scale diagram feature alot more then 5 notes. Take a look at the red dots on the scale diagram, for example the 5th fret on the Low E string and High E string and the 7th fret on ...

Scale diagrams are an easy and effective way of learning how to play new scales. A scale diagram is essentially just a grid. But viewing the grid in comparison to the guitar neck is what makes it useful. Take a look at the following diagram. As shown, the vertical lines represent the 6 guitar strings, while the horizontal lines represent the guitar frets with the top most horizontal line being the guitar nut. This is a graphic representation of the guitar neck. Picture your guitar pointed to the sky with the strings facing you. By adding circles to the diagram we now have information on which strings need to be played and which frets need to be fretted. The above demonstrates the popular pentatonic scale, one of the first scales guitarists learn. As indicated, you start with the top left dot which is really the lowest note of the scale, play the next dot on the same string and then move to the A string and play the top dot. This pattern continues until you reach the highest...

Power chords are the holy grail for the all out rocker. Crank up the amp and turn on the distortion and these chords will sound like heaven. In all reality these chords contain little, consisting of two or three notes. If played on a clean setting they sound boring and bland, it’s not until you play them loud and hard that you can hear the true potential in them. Two Note Power Chords There are two ways of fingering two note power chords. As show in the following diagrams, the index finger will always be fretting the root of the chord . However for the other note in the chord (the fifth), it will be fretted with either your 3rd finger or your 4th. Play around with both fingerings and see which one you like. Remember that just like barre chords, power chords are movable chord shapes, you can play them anywhere’s on the neck. Three Note Power Chords The three note power chord is identical to the above two note power chords with an addition of a third note. The third note b...

There are four essential barre chords. Two chords with the root on the 6th string and two chords with the root on the 5th string. With one chord major and one chord minor. (see also 100 easy songs to play on guitar ) Instructions for a Major Barre Chord with the root on the 6th string. Place your 1st finger down as a barre. Place your 3rd and 4th fingers on the 5th and 4th strings two frets up and your 2nd finger on the 3rd string one fret up. The result is a major barre chord with the root on the 6th string. Notice that the chord shape is the same as an E major chord in open position. Instructions for a Minor Barre Chord with the root on the 6th string. Place your 1st finger down as a barre. Place your 3rd and 4th fingers on the 5th and 4th strings two frets up. The result is a minor barre chord with the root on the 6th string. Notice that the chord shape is the same as an E minor chord in open position. Instructions for a Major Barre Chord with the root on th...

It should be clear by now that the barre effectively replaces the use of the nut on the guitar. If not, then go back and read Part One . Once understanding the barre replaces the use of the nut, it should make sense that you could use the same basic chords in open position and apply them after the barre. Use the exact same chord shape, just replace the nut with the barre using your first finger and refinger the chord as necessary. While this method will work with all open position chords, there are four particular chord shapes, two major shapes and two minor shapes, that are essential for all guitarists. The two basic open position chords that we will be using to build our major barre chords are the E major and the A major chord forms. Let's start with the E major chord. This chord should already be familiar. If not then read up on the basic chords in open position . The two diagrams to the right is an E major chord in open position followed by an F# major barre chord. T...

Barre chords are useful tools for guitarists. Just by knowing a few shapes a guitarist could play many chords in any key. A guitarist just needs to know one major barre chord shape and they would be able to play any major chord in any key. Same with a minor chord, dominant chord, sus chord, you name it. Just learn the shape and you can play that chord in any key, anywhere’s on the guitar. This is a phenomanal aspect about the guitar, not many instruments have this power. This is in direct conflict with the basic open position chords. With those chords, you need to learn a new shape for every new chord. Not so with barre chords, because you only need a few shapes and your can literally play any of the most used chords in any key anywheres on the guitar neck. Phenomanal. The Barre The barre is a technique where one finger is used to fret many strings on the guitar. It is most commonly used when referring to the 1st finger fretting all the strings on the same fret. When done t...