If you’re just starting out here is a nice chord progression to get those fingers working. We’re using 3 chords, each has a name. The first is ‘G’, the second is ‘G7’ and the third is C. In Video 1 we will learn easy versions of each chord where we only use one finger on our fretting hand (LH if you’re a right handed player, RH if you’re a left handed player). Video 2 uses the same chord progression but is now using full ‘voicings’ (slightly more complicated chord shapes). The pressure points in this exercise are to get the shape of your fretting hand correct. The trick is to use your finger tips to play the notes on the strings, rather than the flatter pads. This may be uncomfortable for a while, but over time this discomfort will fade. Keep your wrist fairly low under (and just behind) the guitar neck, with your thumb pointing towards the ceiling and the pad of your thumb resting in the centre of the neck. This position should give you the angle you desire. Video 3 now focuses on the strumming hand. Until now we have just been strumming the strings in a downward motion. In Video 3 we will add some upward strums too. In this exercise we have 4 beats in each bar. When you are playing you need to keep the time between each beat even and try not to pause between the end of one bar and the start of the next. You should be counting: 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 | 1 2 3 4 In this exercise when we add in our up strum it will fall in between beats 2 and 3. Keep counting at the same speed and now add an ‘and’ in between each number. Your up strum will be played on the ‘and’ after 2. 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & | 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & In the attached PDF I have tabbed out the chord changes for each video. Please keep in mind that the direction of the strumming arrows is relative to the pitch of the strings in the TAB; this means that the top E string (the highest string in pitch, which in reality is actually closest to the floor when you're playing the instrument) is represented by the top line of the TAB. The arrow that is pointing in an upwards position is instructing you to strum in a direction from the lower strings to the top strings relative to pitch, therefore actually instructing you to perform a downward strum. Happy strumming! ![]()
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Hello fellow guitar geeks! So I missed an instalment last week, many apologies! But, that means there's double the content this week! Today, I uploaded a double video lesson on learning note names on the guitar fretboard. I believe this to be a fundermental area where a lot of players fall down in their understanding of the instrument. The fact that the guitar is a pattern-based instrument can be a double edged sword, players learn shapes for scales and just transfer those patterns up and down the neck for new keys. On one hand it's great, you can do exactly that, learn shapes and a handful of notes on the bass strings to work out which key you need to play in, but this means you are not asking yourself to fully understand what you're playing, eg 'is the scale I'm playing major or minor?', 'should I be calling this note F sharp or G flat?'. For some, these questions and their answers maybe irrelevant, 'if it sounds good then I'm happy with that' and of course that's fine, but if you find yourself wanting to progress and utilise more exotic scale and chord choices then starting to develop this area of your knowledge is imperative. Over the coming weeks I will focus more on this area, for now you can find a general explanation of the relationship between the piano keyboard and guitar fretboard in both part one and two of this video instruction. Please see below the image of a piano to help visualise my explanations in the video. For (much) more information on 'guitar positions' please read this fantastic piece by Greg O'Rourke. On the performance side of life this week there are a couple of new cover videos up for you to check out. Lauren and I had some technical issues uploading last week which set us back a bit, hence one of the reasons I didn't write for you. But we got it all fixed and online. So the two new songs up are a back to back medley of songs by The Weekend 'I Feel It Coming/Starboy', and the latest is a request made to us to do a version of Drake's 'Hold On, We're Going Home'. Both can be found in the playlist I created on my YouTube channel. ![]()
Ladies and gents, here is a quick post for those of you wishing to learn some open position guitar chords. I have included chord grids with the photos to help visualise the positioning of your fingers. where you see a 'X' this means you do not play this open string as part of the chord. Where you see a 'O' this indicates you do play this open string as part of the chord.
Happy Strumming! |