We will start by getting you set up on your guitar. If you've already covered holding your guitar, sitting and standing positions and holding a pick then feel free to more on to
part 2 of this lesson.
Part 1 - Getting into position
Sitting Positions
There are two sitting positions for holding the guitar; classical and casual.
- Pick up the guitar and make sure that the guitar body is supported by your leg.
- Position yourself at the edge of your chair.
- Ensure that your back is relaxed but straight.
- Lean the guitar back towards you slightly.
Casual Position
Classical Position
Standing Position
- Pick up the guitar and place the strap over your shoulder. Adjust the strap so that the guitar is positioned mid-body.
- Use your left hand to support the neck of the guitar.
- Rest your right hand over the bridge of the guitar.
Hand Positions
It is important that you relax your wrists and hands. Straining them can cause injury.
Front view
Rear view
Fretting
On a typical right handed guitar, your left hand will form the chords and your right hand will strike the strings.
Fretting is the act of pressing the strings down on the fret board. Here are some tips you will need to know:
- Short fingernails are essential.
- Use only the tips of your fingers to press the strings.
- When making a chord, be sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret. We will cover chords in lesson one.
- Check each string that it rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing. As a beginner guitarist, it may hurt your fingers to play. This is normal. Every guitarist starts this way for the first couple of weeks. With practice, you will develop guitar fingers (hard skin on your fingertips).
Holding the Pick
Position the pick between thumb and index fingers like in the diagram below:
Time to take a break
Well done, you've just completed the first part of this lesson. Take a few minutes to reinforce what you've just learned.
Coming Up
- Learn about chords
- Start using the A and D Major chords
Part 2 - Chords
Now you are ready to start your first theoretical lesson. Your aim in this lesson is to learn the A and D major chords and to introduce yourself to reading guitar tablature. This lesson is very important, so you'll need to stay focused.
Remember! It is more beneficial for you to practice several times during a week than to practice for one long session. This is because your brain processes information in chunks at a time and it can only hold a certain amount in short term storage.
If you take a break between practice sessions, even if it is just 10 minutes, you’ll find that your brain is much more efficient at turning your short term practice into long term knowledge.
Ok, let’s continue with the lesson. Have a look at the diagram below and familiarize yourself with the neck of the guitar.
Frets
The guitar neck is divided into what we call frets, making a fret board. Most guitars have around 20 frets. We will focus on the first four frets, also known as the first position.
Note: Each string on the guitar is numbered. When you hold your guitar as you would when using the casual playing position, the 1st string is at the bottom and the 6th string is at the top.
Notice also the term, ‘Tuning’ at the bottom of the above diagram. Tuning refers to the notes that the guitar strings are tuned to. In the above diagram, we have given a very common tuning called standard E tuning that consists of the notes
E, A, D, G and
B. Strings 1 and 6 are both tuned to the note E. The open 6th string is called low E. The open 1st string is called high E as it is two octaves higher than the 6th string open E. We explain notes and octaves in the Jamorama Beginners Course, but for now, you only need to know the names of the notes in standard open E tuning.
Now make sure that your guitar is tuned to
standard E tuning (the most common tuning). If you don't know how to tune your guitar, then download our free guide to tuning your guitar from
here.
Note: To open the above tuning.pdf file you'll need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download a free copy
here.
We will stick to standard E tuning throughout this mini-course.
Introduction to Chords
Now we are going to look at guitar chords. Guitarists use many different chords to make progressions or riffs that can then be used to create songs. If you are not familiar with some of these terms, it’s ok. We will cover everything that I am talking about in good time.
A chord is defined as a combination of 3 or more notes played together. To examine this, I want to take a look at chord diagrams. Chord diagrams are used to illustrate how a chord is played. They are very easy to use because they look very much like the neck of the guitar, in fact, the Jamorama chord diagram is a guitar neck.
You may like to use 'standard' chord diagram when writing up chords on when you practice.
So, now that you know what a chord diagram looks like and how it matches with the neck of your guitar, it’s time to come back to what we mentioned earlier about a chord being a combination of 3 or more notes played together. Numbered finger symbols are added to the chord diagram so we know which notes to play. To start with, let’s look at your fingers.
Each playing finger is numbered so we can then match it on the chord diagram (see below).
And now, let’s look at a full chord diagram. We will use the example of the A major chord:
Chord Diagram - A Major Chord
In the chord diagram below you can see that the A major chord uses fingers 1, 2, and 3. Take note of how this chord diagram looks - we will use this style from now on.
The A major chord is constructed of the notes A, C# and E. We will cover notes a little later.
Note that there is a red dot marking the 6th string on the above chord diagram. The red dot tells you that you are not to play that string. The sixth string of the A major chord is not played, but you play the rest.
Throughout this lesson series, every chord diagram will be accompanied by a picture of the chord being held on the fret board and video of the chord being played for you to check with. Pictured below is the A major chord being played and you will find the video further down the page.
Exercise: Playing the A Major Chord
Position each finger with care, according to the above diagram. Make sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret. Firstly, pluck across the strings one by one with your right hand, checking that each string rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing.
Now that we’ve looked at chord diagrams, I want to move on to strumming.
Introduction to Strumming
In a strum there are two types of guitar stroke. They are up stroke and down stroke.
With either an up strum or down strum, brush the strings with your pick, mid way between the bridge (where the strings are pinned) and the end of the neck of the guitar. When strumming a chord make sure you play all the required strings and take note of the strum indication -
up or down.
Exercise: Strumming the A Major Chord
- Carefully position each finger according to the A major chord diagram above.
- Place each fingertip behind the fret.
- Pluck the strings 1 by 1 with your strumming hand.
- Check that each string rings clear and is not muted or buzzing.
- Practice strumming the A chord with single down strum as indicated below:
Try counting an even 4 count as you strum as this will get you used to playing in time.
Tip: You can watch a video example of the above exercise to see and hear it for yourself.
Try your best to start your strum from the fifth string each time you strum. A major, doesn’t sound bad if you accidentally hit the top string, although if you want your music to sound professional, you’ll want to play this chord properly. Remember to stay relaxed. Your fingers may hurt a little but they will get stronger.
Now that you are playing the A major chord properly, let’s take a look at strumming another chord...
The D Major Chord The D Major Chord is constructed of the notes D, F# (F sharp) and A and is played using fingers 1, 2 and 3:
As with the A major chord: try strumming the D major chord in downward strokes with your right hand.
Video - D major chord
Note: The top two, or fifth and sixth, strings are not played in the D major chord. Make sure that you start your stroke from the forth string each time you strum D major, it doesn’t sound bad if you accidentally hit the fifth string, although as with A major above, if you want your music to sound professional, you need to play this chord properly.
