Guitar Alliance Absolute Beginners Series: Lesson One

by Daniel L. Halberg, PhD (a.k.a. SlowBlues)

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Philosophy of the Series
Purpose of the Series
Organization of the Series

Lesson

Ergonomics of Playing Guitar
Tuning Up
Warm Up
Rhythm Practice
Lead Practice

Conclusion

Introduction and Philosophy of the Series: (Back to Top)

When sat down to write these lessons, I started by trying to think about the single question that underpins this entire series, which is:

What does it mean to be an "absolute beginner"?

This was a harder question to answer than I had at first anticipated because this is a special audience. All of you reading this are "seekers". Meaning, just like me, you were looking for the solution...the key to learning guitar. So, my basic guess is that you decided to try out GuitarAlliance because of one of the following reasons:

a) you couldn't learn from a teacher (more likely, you couldn't find a teacher who could actually teach!);
b) every book you read just seems to be a little too hard...even the ones that say "easy" on them! Don't feel bad - I bought them ALL - and they are all like that!;
c) you've already looked on the internet for help, but either couldn't find what you were looking for, or were completely overwhelmed with information.

Maybe there are other reasons or a combination of reasons. Regardless, I imagine that you have tried some other sources, with only marginal success. You are probably still struggling with playing anything that resembles a song, or you can "kinda sorta" play a song or part of a song.

Maybe you are decent at one aspect of playing (say playing single note runs) but you are having trouble developing skill at a different aspect (say strumming a constant rhythm). You know in your heart that you must develop the weaker skill, but you can't derive the fundamentals for getting there.

Maybe you are not struggling or frustrated just yet. You just bought your guitar yesterday or last week and want the fastest way possible to playing some great songs, or to even write your own!

If any of that sounds like you, then you definitely have some "absolute beginner" in you!

Purpose of the Series: (Back to Top)

If you are still with me after reading the above section, I'll assume that you really want to move out of being an absolute beginner - or you are at least curious as to my approach! If you allow me a few more words before we get to the actual playing, I would like to explain further the purpose of this series and what you can expect.

First the details...and an admission...I am not a guitar virtuoso! I didn't pick up my guitar and start playing Hendrix tunes. Heck, I when I first started, "Ode to Joy" was a real challenge. I could just barely manage "Mary had a Little Lamb". In fact, I brought my guitar to the Guitar Store and told the GSG (Guitar Shop Guy) that my guitar was broken! I am so glad he didn't laugh me out of the store. He just explained that some of the things I was trying to do would physically take time. So, in hindsight, I had to accept that, intellectually, I am a very fast learner...but on the guitar, I am just average.

What I also realized is that most of the guitar playing world is pretty much "sink or swim". Meaning you either get it or you don't. Well, these lessons are intended to change that. For everyone, the initial stages of guitar playing seem extremely difficult. Did I say extremely, I meant to say DARN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE! Guitar is physically demanding instrument. The sooner we can admit that - the sooner we can conquer it!

Here is another observation. Most guitar method books are not written for the absolute beginner. There is often too big of a leap from lesson one to lesson two with regard to the level of theory, technique, control, or timing required to UNDERSTAND the lesson, let alone actually learn to execute and master the lesson within a reasonable amount of time.

Why am I telling you all this? Because I want you to mentally relax and understand that you are not alone. Almost everyone who plays guitar had to struggle with what you are struggling with right now. I am telling you that you will learn to play. You may learn faster or slower than average, but ultimately you can get there, and it will not take a Herculean effort. Guitar playing should be fun! Whether you are 10 or 70, just play what you can and work on the rest. Admit to yourself that the guitar is not an easy instrument, but it is the "coolest"! It takes great mechanical ability to play the guitar well. It's like that old saying, "If it was easy, everyone could do it." That's my challenge to you...be the person you learned to play - even if it is just one song!

I can make one promise to you. If you can make it through the tough beginning stage using this series, you'll have the fundamentals to take your playing in ultimately whatever direction makes you happiest.

Organization of the Series: (Back to Top)

So, I can put the question back to you. Are you an absolute beginner? Do you feel like you are struggling with the simplest aspects of playing? Then commit yourself to completing this series. I have broken the lessons down into small pieces with only a slight difficulty incline. I have written each lesson so that it should take a week to master if you practice an hour a day. If it only takes you two days to master, fantastic! If it takes you two weeks or a month, no problem! If you think about it, everyone looks (or in this case sounds) the same at the finish line!

Each week (except this week), the lessons will be broken up into five parts:

A. Tune up - 5 minutes
B. Warm-up and technique exercises: 10 minutes
C. Rhythm Practice - New chord 5 min - Rhythm practice: 10 minutes
D. Lead Practice - New scale/ melody practice 5 minutes, riff practice 10 minutes
E. Song Practice - 15 minutes

I know most method books pride themselves on "having you play a song in the first ten minutes". Can we be realistic? The song you get to learn how to play is "Go Tell Aunt Rhoadie" or "Ode to Joy". Now, I am not knockin' those songs, but where I grew up, you would get beat up if you played either of those! So just for the first week, I want you to concentrate on technique. The goal is to achieve relaxed nearly perfect technique. Each aspect represented in these five parts is further broken down into "levels". Your goal is to achieve each level before moving onto the next.

Notice I said "nearly perfect" above. You are not ready to move to the next level or lesson until you can perform all of the requirements with at least 95% proficiency (usually this allows you at least one mistake). So what is so special about 95%? Yes, it is an arbitrary number, but in my limited experience, it seems that you actually gain the last 4-5% over an extended period of time working with harder material. So that when you go back to it later, it seems relatively easy - so it becomes a simple matter to gain 99%-100% perfect technique. Call it the "experience factor." Also, you can spend too much time trying to be perfect. Go for great now, perfect will come later.

Notice that each aspect has an "Extra Credit" option. You do not need to complete this to move onto the next level. It is only meant as something for you to work on if you have mastered one aspect but are still trying to get another up to speed before moving on.

Now that we have covered the philosophical aspects of this series, are you ready for the lessons?



LESSON 1 (WEEK 1) (Back to Top)

Goal: Complete a series of fundamental activities necessary to developing accuracy, timing, and control. This will lead us to the next lesson where we will begin to play full chords and first songs.

Objectives:

1) Introduce concept of "absolute beginner"
2) Explain the purpose of this series
3) Understand the structure of each lesson
4) Understand the basics of achieving perfect technique
5) Familiarize yourself with using a metronome
6) Start to develop timing and rhythm by playing your first chord with a metronome.
7) Start to develop finger coordination and speed by playing your first blues riff

Requirements:

1) Your guitar if acoustic, your guitar hooked into an amplifier if electric.
2) A metronome. You can either buy one (They are less than $10. But you'll probably want to spend a little more to get one with a "wood block" or pleasant "tapping sound". The piezo "beep" of the cheap ones gets really annoying). or you can download a free metronome from the GuitarAlliance website for your computer. There are other free metronomes you can download from around the internet if you look hard enough. I don't personally practice in front of the computer most of the time, so I use a separate metronome.
3) A clock or watch with a timer. Make sure you balance each of your aspects of playing using the clock. When time is up, go to the next aspect of playing. This will require discipline.
4) You may want to keep a journal of your progress.
5) A print out of this lesson for reference.
6) PowerTAB software to load the lesson tabs (if desired).
7) The PowerTAB file for this lesson.
8) To watch movies you may need to download Apple Quicktime.

Practice Notes:

1) Work on each aspect until you can achieve at least 95% proficiency at each level of playing. When you have achieve all levels over all aspects you are ready to move to the next lesson!
2) Relaxed technique is the goal in this lesson, not speed.
3) Pay attention to your posture and take breaks if you feel tired.


A. ERGONOMICS OF PLAYING GUITAR - (5 Minutes) (Back to Top)

Well are you ready to play? Remember that I said that this week's lesson structure is a bit different. This week we have to cover what I will call "guitar ergonomics". This essentially breaks down into how you hold the guitar and how you hold the pick (or plectrum) if you are using one.

I realize that both of these things have an element of personal preference and ultimately you'll have to play in a way that is comfortable for you. Nevertheless, I submit that variations from these principles should be minor and if you train yourself to practice with good posture and technique, your playing will come that much easier. Also, please know that there are debates between "classical" guitar players and "modern" guitar players regarding these issues. I am going to assume that you are not playing classical guitar.

HOLDING THE GUITAR:

As I have alluded, there are two ways of holding the guitar. The classical way and the modern way. See the pictures below and select the position which feels most comfortable to you. If you have very small hands, let me suggest you at least try the classical position because it often offers greater access to the fretboard. There are four keys to either position:

1). Make sure the waist of the guitar is well balanced on your legs.
2) If you are sitting, it is important to slightly raise your foot off of the floor. You can accomplish this by: crossing your leg in the casual style or by raising your leg using some books, a small box or a special guitar footstool. Trust me, this will make your guitar much more comfortable to play.
3) Whether standing or sitting, make sure the head of the guitar is raised. Do not raise the head of the guitar above shoulder level. Raising the head of the guitar in this way will offer the best access to the strings and frets for learning purposes. This is for practice purposes, what you do when you are actually playing is totally up to you! It may be "cool" to hold the guitar differently on stage, especially if you are a "rocker"! Just don't tell anyone how you practice!
4) If you are sitting, rest your forearm on the body of the guitar.
5) If standing using a good leather strap, preferably with strap locks. If you use one of those cheap nylon straps you are likely to hurt your shoulder and/or drop your guitar. You can also use the strap while sitting to help you stabilize the guitar.

Modern Position

Classical Position

HOLDING THE PICK:

Everyone holds the pick differently. Eddie Van Halen held the pick between his thumb and middle finger. But I suspect that the easiest way to play with a pick is to hold the pick between your first finger and thumb as shown. Don't grip too tightly or you will slow down your playing. Hold it firm enough that it won't fall out, but relaxed enough so you don't feel tense in any way.

I want to make two final suggestions to you about your playing style. First, don't over do it physically. You can hurt yourself if you try to force your hands into doing something which they have not yet developed enough strength or control to execute. If they feel tired or cramped, take a break. You won't gain anything by pushing your fingers. But if you hurt them, you may have to lay off a couple weeks from playing. That would be a real tragedy if you love your guitar as much as I love mine! Second, please be aware of your state of relaxation. As you play try to be aware of muscles tensing in reaction to your playing and consciously try to relax them. This occurs most often in your back, shoulders, arms, and hands, but can occur anywhere. Tension will slow you down - so it is key that learn to play without it. If you get frustrated and tense, step away for a few minutes. Stretch out, grab a drink, a fresh perspective and come back.

Spend five minutes getting the feel of the guitar in this position. Take the time to find the position that is most comfortable to you, yet provides access to all the strings and frets.

Holding the Pick

B. TUNING UP (5 minutes): (Back to Top)

Before you play you must tune up. Please read the section on GuitarAlliance on tuning your guitar.

Never, ever, ever.....and I mean never play with your guitar out of tune. Especially in these early stages. For the purposes of these lessons, I have recorded some tuning notes for you to match your guitar to mine. You can use the included PowerTAB file or the tuning notes below.  Personally, I use an electronic tuner each time I play.

Before we tune up, I have to let you know that we are going to use tablature or TAB in this lesson. TAB is notation specially designed for playing guitar. If you need to, please read the section in GuitarAlliance that explains tablature. I will give a brief overview here. It's actually pretty easy.  You will note that I have included some music notation below.  Each note represents one of the open strings on the guitar from lowest to highest.

Pay attention to the lines that say TAB.   Each line refers to a string on the guitar.  The most confusing thing for people is to remember that on the TAB, the bottom line is the low E string and the top line is the high E string, whereas when you are holding your guitar the top string is the low E and the bottom string is high E.  (Don't yell at me - I didn't invent it!)

Since I don't want to confuse you, here's another way to think about TAB.  If you lay your guitar flat with the head pointing to the left, the strings on your guitar would then match the score - see the picture below.  The numbers on the lines tell you where to fret the notes.  Since we are tuning the guitar, we are going to play all "open" notes, which are designated by a zero (0). 

If you need a further introduction to TAB, please see the GuitarAlliance page that discusses this in much greater depth.

Match the TAB lines with your guitar

We will start from the low E string (or sixth string).

GA1-TuningLoE.mp3

We will then go to the:

A string (the fifth string);

GA1-TuningA.mp3

D string (the fourth string);

GA1-TuningD.mp3

G string (the third string);

GA1-TuningG.mp3

B string (the second string);

GA1-TuningB.mp3

High E string (the first string).

GA1-TuningHiE.mp3

All together now!

GA1-AllStrings.mp3

Extra Credit: De-tune your guitar's low E string. Turn the knob so that the sound gets LOWER in pitch (don't go to a higher pitch, you might over tighten and snap your string). Play the tuning note one time. When the tuning note STOPS, try to tune the Low E string UP to the correct pitch using your "ear". Play the tuning note again to see if they match. When people say they play by "ear", they mean they play by their memory. So try to tune your guitar up so that it matches the recent memory of what the Low E should sound like! If you get really good, you'll be able to tune your guitar without a tuner! (Don't worry, I can't do it yet either! But it's fun to try!)


C. WARM UP (15 Minutes): (Back to Top)

What, you ask? We are actually going to play now? Absolutely! As I mentioned we are going to start off easy this week.

WARM UP 1: PICKING PRACTICE (7 Minutes)

We are going to learn what is called "alternate picking". Some books wait some time before showing you this "secret speed" technique, but I believe that you should learn how to alternate pick from the beginning. What I mean by alternate picking is to pick a string on the downstroke of the pick motion and to pick the same string (or a maybe different string) on the upstroke of the pick motion. Now a word about the nature of this motion. Try not to use your fingers to execute the motion. The majority of the motion should come from your wrist. Imagine how you turn a doorknob. Do you use your fingers even though that is what grasps the knob? No. You use your wrist. It is the same concept in this case. Stay relaxed and focus on technique, not speed. Speed will come much quicker if you can achieve great technique.  See the video for the wrist motion.

P1010006.MOV

Example 1:

We are going to start by playing only the low E string. Remember each line on the tabulature (or TAB) represents a string on the guitar - where the top string is the high E and the bottom string is the low E. A zero (0) means to play the string open (no fretted notes). In this case we are going to play only open notes on the low E string. Play the audio and I will walk you through it. Don't worry about tempo or timing with this, just get used to the feel of alternate picking.

ga1-example1.mp3

Example 2:

To execute this exercise without the audio, set your metronome to 50 beats-per-minute (BPM). Count aloud with the metronome saying "1" "2" "3" "4" with each beat. If you can manage it, tap your foot along with the metronome while you count. At each "1" beat, play the downstroke. On the next "1" beat, play the upstroke. Don't rush this, be conscious of how relaxed you can stay while counting and picking. This will help develop your sense of timing as well as your alternate picking ability. Discipline yourself to wait for the "1". It's harder than you think.

Once you can do this at 50 BPM, work on raising the metronome speed in no more than 5 BPM increments until you have achieved all of the levels below. Use the TAB listed above in example one.

 

Here it is at 50 BPM:

ga1-example2a.mp3

And again, at 110 BPM:

ga1-example2b.mp3

Extra Credit: We will be working on this in the next lesson, but you can sneak ahead if you have this exercise mastered early. Try to play the downstroke on every second beat instead of every fourth beat. That is, play the downstrokes on the "1" and "3" beats. Play the upstrokes on the "2" and "4" beats. Use the metronome chart above and see how far you can get in a week!


WARM UP 2: FRETTING PRACTICE (6 minutes):

I know you are asking yourself, "Umm, Dan, this is all great, but don't people usually play guitar with two hands?" Yes, I confess, it's true. But at this stage of development it is very important to develop hand "independence". To paraphrase one great guitar player, "once your left hand learns what needs doing, it doesn't care about the right hand!" So for this week I just want you to practice fretting notes with your left hand without trying to play the note with the right hand. Incidentally, if you are having trouble with a piece of music, it is often good to separate the hands and work on them independently.

The "frets", of course, are the thin metal wires on your fretboard. You should get used to placing your finger just behind the fret. Sometimes, especially when you are playing chordsl, you cannot physically get your fingertips right behind the fret. That is normal, but you should make sure that your fingers are positioned such that the notes sound cleanly with no "buzzing" or "muting".

Here is the tabulature for the lesson. Remember that each line represents a string on the guitar. You will start on the Low E (sixth) string and progress to each subsequent string using the pattern given in the TAB. A zero, if you remember represents an unfretted note, a 1 means that the note is fretted at the first fret, a 2 the second fret, a 3 the third fret.



What I want you to do is practice fretting with ONLY the left hand. There are two basic rules you must try to remember for now (until we break them later!). These are the ONE FINGER PER FRET RULE and the LEAVE FINGERS DOWN UNTIL THEY USED AGAIN RULE. This means that for this example, your index finger should only fret notes on the first fret. Your middle finger should only fret notes on the second fret, and your ring finger should only fret notes on the third fret. Leaving your fingers down will help build coordination and speed.   Here's a video of the finger movement I want you to employ (Apple Quicktime).

P1010007.MOV

Focus on slowly placing your finger tips just behind the fret. Use the metronome to maintain time. Again set your metronome at 50 and follow along with the audio. Remember, do not play the note just concentrate on fretting correctly! I will be playing the notes in the example so you can follow along. Stay relaxed and focused. Your goal is not speed, but rather to land each finger in perfect position.

Remember to execute this exercise without the audio. Set your metronome to 50 beats-per-minute (BPM). Count aloud with the metronome saying "1" "2" "3" "4" with each beat. If you can manage it, tap your foot along with the metronome while you count. At each "1" beat, don't fret a note - this is the open string. On "2", press down on the first fret of the current string. On "3" press down the middle finger on fret 2. On "4" press the ring finger down on fret 3. Now DO NOT move your fingers. On the next "2" count move only your first finger to the fret 1 of the next string, on "3" the second finger to fret 2 the next string, and on "4" the third finger to fret 3 of the next string.

Don't rush this, be conscious of how relaxed you can stay while counting and fretting. This will help develop your sense of timing as well as your left hand coordination. Trust me, this can be a hard exercise to do in time, especially as the metronome speed increases. If you need to, slow it down by only moving your fingers on every other beat (i.e., "1" and "3").

Once you can do this at 50 BPM. Work on raising the metronome speed in no more than 5 BPM increments until you have achieved all of the levels below.

Here it is at 50BPM:

fretting50.mp3

Here it is at 110BPM:

fretting110.mp3

Extra Credit: If you were to play these as notes like I did in the audio example, you would be playing what is called a "chromatic run". For a glimpse at next weeks warm up, try playing this run using alternate picking.


WARM UP 3: FIRST FINGER BARRE (2 Minutes)

Eventually you want to be able to play barre chords. But if you are like me it will take a long time before you have sufficient strength in your first finger to do this. But if you spend two minutes with this exercise every day, you'll get there much faster.

Look at the picture below. See how I am "pinching" the guitar between my first finger and my thumb?

The Barre

Want Video?

P1010011.MOV

Try to do this and see how many strings you can get to sound. Again, if you are like - it won't be many. It is especially difficult at the first fret. DO NOT FORCE YOUR FINGER. I actually hurt my finger trying to force it, and had to lay off playing the guitar for two weeks. We are going to hold each first finger barre for 10 seconds. Strum the strings one time to see how many strings you get to sound. As we move up the fretboard it will get easier.

Audio Example:

barre1.mp3

This was shortened to conserve bandwidth. But you should hold each fret for ten seconds up to the twelfth fret. That is 12x10=120 seconds or two minutes.

You are done with warm-up! Shake your hands. Stand up and stretch if you need to!


Extra Credit: The notes on the low E string go (from the first fret) F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# E. Call out these notes as you execute the barre at each fret. Knowing these notes will help you greatly when you get to E shape barre chords! Follow along with the audio if you can.

barre2.mp3


D. RHYTHM PRACTICE: (15 minutes):(Back to Top)

Your first chord! Your first chord is what we are going to call "Easy" G. It looks like this:

Easy G Chord (Press down only the at the third fret)

It is called "easy" because you only need one finger to fret this chord. Also when you strum you are only going to strum the bottom four strings. That is, you are going to miss E and A, and strum D, G, B , and E.

When you strum along to any song, you are going to use a pattern. To start you off, we are going to use a very simple strumming pattern.

Set your metronome to 50 beats-per-minute (BPM). Count aloud with the metronome saying "1" "2" "3" "4" with each beat (are you noticing that everything we do requires counting?) Again, try to tap your foot along with the metronome while you count. You may need to practice this separate from the guitar if you are having trouble. At each "1" beat, strum the guitar. Stay relaxed. The strum motion should not be stiff. It should be like you are shaking water off of your hand. On the next "1" beat, play another downstroke. Don't rush. Like with the picking exercise, be especially conscious of how relaxed you can remain. This will greatly develop your sense of timing as well as your ability to strum "in time" which is one of the hardest things for new guitarists to learn. Force yourself to only play a single strum on the "1" beat, while counting aloud. Again, this can be very difficult.

Here's video of the basic strumming motion.

P1010008.MOV

Follow along with the audio exercise.

Once you can do this a 50 BPM. Work on raising the metronome speed in no more than 5 BPM increments until you have achieve all of the levels below.

Here it is at 50BPM:

rhythm50.mp3

Here it is at 110BMP:

rhythm110.mp3

Extra Credit: Start over at 50 BPM and instead of playing only on the "1" beat, play downstrokes only on the "1" and the "3" beats! Here's an audio example!

rhythm-extra.mp3


E. LEAD PRACTICE: (20 minutes): (Back to Top)

What is a "riff"? Think of a riff as a series of notes that represent a defined musical thought or statement. It is often the most recognized part of a song. If you have access to GuitarAlliance's sister site, Riff-O-Matic you can attempt (or at least listen to!) some of the coolest riffs. To start out your single note playing - usually called lead guitar - we are going to introduce a very easy, but very cool little blues riff. It could form a nice little background line for any blues song in the key of E. (If you don't know what I mean by a key --- don't panic! --- you don't need to know this right now).

Below is the tablature. We are still following the one finger per fret rule except in this case we are using the first finger and middle finger to play the 3rd and 4th frets. This is marked in the TAB as a 1 and 2 below the bottom line:




Start your metronome at 50 BPM and play one note with each tick using strict alternate picking. Count out loud "1" "2" "3" "4" and tap your foot.

Play along with this audio example first.  Notice that I added a little bit to the tablature at the end, see if you can use your "ear" to figure it out!

Here it is at 50 BPM:

lead50.mp3

And again at 110 BPM:

lead110.mp3

Extra Credit: Listen to the audio example below I am playing the same riff, except I am using a "swing feel" or "shuffle feel". Don't worry about the theory, just try and copy it! Listen to how it sets a completely different groove.

leadswing.mp3


CONCLUSION: (Back to Top)

I'm so glad you completed this initial lesson. I'll bet you found some of it to be pretty easy. I know some of it was harder than it initially seemed! If you completed all of the exercises above you have set a strong foundation for the next lesson. I am only going to make it a little bit harder. As I promised you in the beginning, no big jumps! If you can do this lesson - I know you'll be able to do lesson two! Oh yeah, don't be afraid to come back and practice this lesson if you feel the need to focus on a particular aspect of your playing. Remember, the little bit of extra time spent now learning to place your fingers in exactly the right space, in time with the metronome, could possibly save you YEARS of correction later on!

About me:

I have been member of GuitarAlliance since January 2003.  My wife bought me a guitar for my birthday about two years ago, but it wasn't until about a year ago that finally picked it up and started playing.  Now I can't put it down!  I own four guitars now, my Yamaha EF10 acoustic (the birthday gift), an Epiphone Dot 335 Semi-hollow body, a Cort X6 Electric, and an Alvarez AF60CK Koa (it's the one in the pictures).  I have a beautiful wife and a daughter that I like to spend time with too! 

If you want, you can visit me at my website at:

 http://www.guitargearheads.com