Lesson One

Guitar Anatomy

Here is all you need to know about guitar anatomy:

Reading Chord Diagrams

The second step in playing guitar, after learning all the parts, is to understand chord diagrams - they teach you how to form & play new chords:

When forming chords, you use the 4 fingers mentioned above - the thumb rests on the back of the guitar neck. Place it in a position that is comfortable for you, and then try to form your first 4 chords:

Now that you've learned your first 4 chords, let's add some rythm:

Strumming & Rhythm

Time signatures are the key to understadning rhythm in music. A time signature tells you how the music is to be counted. Time signatures consist of two numbers written like a fraction:

The two numbers in the time signature tell you how many beats are in each measure of music. The top number of the time signature tells you how many beats to count. A piece with a time signature of 4/4 has four quarter note beats; each measure with a 3/4 meter has three quarter note beats; and each measure of 2/4 time has two quarter note beats. This is represented on sheet music like this:

Basically, it means you're counting "one, two, three, four", or "one, two, three", over and over again. The bottom of the fraction tells you what type of beat (note) the top number on the fraction is. For this lesson, you only need to learn one more time signature, 6/8 time:

Basically, it means you're counting "one-two-three, four-five-six". Now let's take this concept, and apply it directly to strumming!

Reading Strumming Diagrams

Here's the key for reading these diagrams:

Sometimes these symbols are used, and if not, then simple up and down arrows, or the letters D and U, are used to indicate up or down strums. Now let's look at our first strumming patterns:

It is important to count while you strum in the beginning. It helps to lock the time-strum relationship in your mind until it becomes muscle memory. To count while strumming, you count "one-and-two-and-three-and-four-and". The "and" (&) corresponds to the upward movement of your strumming hand after a down strum. In the first pattern you don't strum on the upward movement, but with the next pattern, you do:

Use the chords you've learned to practice strumming in-time. Practice with one chord first, and then try changing between chords while you strum. This will be very dificult at first, but you will get better and faster over time!

The Open Chords

The open chords are the first chords you learn in your journey as a guitarrist. Practice the fingering for these chords first, and then practice them with the strumming patterns: