Beginner Acoustic Guitar Lessons

Learn how to play beginner songs on one acoustic guitar!

The songs you learn here in 'Beginner Acoustic Guitar Lessons' use chord analysis in order to explain how a song works harmonically.

You will learn how to turn a chord name like C into a roman numeral like I, or an Am into a VI.
By using this type of chord language you will learn how music works rather than having to remember a letter combination.

You will soon find similarities between songs and towards the end of the studies here at ‘Beginner Acoustic Guitar Lessons’ you might even be able to ‘predict a chord’ by just listening to the melody.

The SWS helps you finding out what number a chord has, study this carefully, compare all songs to each other using the roman numerals.
Wonderwall use a device called a Capo to get in the same key as the original recording. If you do not own a capo, just play it using open position chords.

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Beginner Guitar Chord Lessons

All songs have chord lessons that demonstrate how you could arrange a song for just one guitar.

Some of the songs are unique Spytunes arrangements, some are note for note replicas. Most of them are somewhere in between, like 'Wonderwall' shown here on the right, for example.

Your aim when learning these songs should be to understand them on a higher level than just repeating memorized patterns.
Make sure you think of a D chord in G major as a V chord, listen to it as a V chord.
In 'Redemption Song' for example, the D chord is a V, can you hear how G has the same function in the song 'The Drugs Don’t Work' which is in the key of C?

To get somewhere with this you need to read The Guitar Conspiracy and start using its DIY TAB system.

Together with the video lessons you find here at Spytunes.com they will teach you the language of music on the guitar.

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Beginner Rhythm Guitar Lessons

Every song also has a rhythm guitar lesson, like 'Ain't No Sunshine', shown here on the left.

Using both finger style, strumming, picking and combination of strumming/picking arrangements you should after learning all songs be able to arrange any song that use open position chords.

The E-book ‘Fingerstyle Basics’ demonstrates how a pattern can be applied to any chord, if you want to get into arranging your own songs then this is the book for you.

To get started with the lessons: pick a song form the list below.