Guitar talk, and easy guitar lessons from beginner to jazz with Birdsnake Brown
In this lesson on basic music theory we learn about melody and harmony. We talk about triads and arpeggios on guitar and we also learn what chords are.
The overall idea here is that melody is when notes are played in a sequence and harmony is when notes sound together.
In this lesson on music theory basics we learn all about whole steps and half steps on guitar. Also know as tones and semitones, these are the basic building blocks of all music.
This is the second lesson in the beginner series. In this easy beginner guitar lesson we learn some new chords. We learn the D major guitar chords, and then practice a chord progression using D, E, and A major chords.
Then we learn to play E minor and A minor. Last week we learned easy versions of these chords using only one note, so this week we expand them into the standard guitar chord finger positions.
We are slowly working through learning the basic guitar chords, and these are among the easiest.
We also learn some new strumming patterns, and I show you how to alternate strings in your strumming patterns to add some variety to your playing.
Finally we wrap up the lesson with the C major scale. For beginners, the C major scale is a great starting point because not only is it the foundation of most music, it’s also easy and familiar sounding.
Here are the chords charts from this guitar lesson:
And here are the charts for the C major Scale:
Here’s the tab for the C major Scale:
In this beginner guitar lesson we learn power chords. Power chords are the most common chord your will find in most punk rock and rock music.
Power chords are a finger shape you can move around the guitar neck, so you learn one pattern, and you can play a power chord for any note on the guitar neck. To learn all the power chords you really only have to learn one power chord shape.
The most basic power chords on guitar use 2 notes, but the more common 3 note version is just as easy to play.
You can play the three note power chord with three fingers
You can also play a 3 note power chord with a bar
This lesson is the first guitar lesson you should watch. You will learn to play some basic chords and notes, and how to pick or strum.
We will learn some basic guitar strumming patterns, talk about switching guitar chords, play some single notes, and just go over the absolute basics of playing guitar.
Here are the chord charts for the basic chords from the video:
When you practice switching chords on guitar, just take your time. It will get easy over time, and you will get faster at guitar by practicing slow.
Here are the alternate A major chords I discuss in this guitar lesson:
I suggest learning the first shape, which I call the Mel Bay A chord because it was in the standard Mel Bay guitar books (https://amzn.to/2W8bCoz). This way your hands and brain can get used to your fingers fitting into the space of the guitar. Over time you should transition to the bar version or the 234 version which I labeled “Birdsnake A chord” above.
The cheater version of the A chord is just that, a cheat. As you develop as a guitar player there is not time or place where your fingers will be in that order across one fret, so it’s a bad habit to start.
Just for fun, here’s the 0-3-5 tab
Other Beginner Guitar Lessons: