Beginner Guitar Course

The first thing we need to learn is how to fret an open position G chord.

In the video lesson, I’ll reveal how there are more than one way to fret this simple chord.

Let’s learn the first chromatic exercise.

By moving up and down the neck like this, you will gain control over your picking technique as well as develop fine motor skills in your fretting hand.

In this lesson, we are going to strum new chords in the same way as you did when you played a G.

We simply apply the same pattern to Em, D, and Cadd9.

When you learn a song there is one thing you must always do and that is to break it down into smaller chunks.

In this lesson we do just that.

This is a great exercise for warming up. You will improve your left hand’s finger dexterity as well as your right hand’s picking technique.

Put together, what we really work on is the coordination of the left and right hand.

Last time you played this song, you strummed the chords, today it’s time to pick them instead.

Practice all examples along with the loop and you’ll be able to play this song on your own soon.

In the last few lessons, we’ve slowly built up to playing Talking About A Revolution.

In this lesson, we play the entire song from beginning to end.

Today we’re going to learn how to change key, apply a capo and create a 2nd guitar part.

To change key from G to C means we’ll also learn new chords.

The simplest variation we can develop for the chromatic exercise is to simply start high up the neck and move down the fretboard instead.

This concept can be applied to all future chromatic exercises.

Today we start looking at another acoustic classic in Redemption Song by Bob Marley.

Before we look at all the different chord progressions, let’s first establish what chords are available in the key.

Today we take a look at how to mute when you strum. You’ll discover how different chords will require different muting techniques.

Use the chords G, Em, Am, C, and D over each example as demonstrated in the video.

Today we play the more exact parts of Redemption Song.

The intro and outro need to be done like on the record, the guitar break is down to you to design.

In chromatic exercise 2, we play using 16th notes, which means 16 notes in a bar.

In practice, this means that if you can play the first exercise at 100 BPM, you can automatically play this exercise at 50 BPM.

Let’s have a crack at Redemption Song in all its glory, from beginning to end.

Simply play along with me in the video, keeping one eye on the chart.

Today we learn how to construct a 2nd guitar part for Redemption Song.

This means you can soon join me and the singer, which is what happens in the final step.

You don’t have to follow the patterns I showed you in the last step perfectly.

Since the first guitar is so consistent, you as a 2nd guitarist, can afford to be a bit more experimental.

To ensure you can clearly see the difference between 8th notes and 16th notes, let’s practice all examples shown in the video lesson to a metronome.

Being able to read rhythms is an essential skill. Ensure you fully understand everything in this step.

Today we start working on a song that contains a new slash chord.

We touched on this as you played Redemption Song with the G/B, today we learn a D/F# as we play the verse from Robin Hood.

When playing chromatic exercise 3, we play three notes per beat, but four notes per string.

This means that the weight of the downbeat will start to correspond with different fingers.

Today we keep exploring how to play Robin Hood by taking a close look at the chorus and turnaround which are more complicated than the verse.

We also look at the outro.

Today we put the three chromatic exercises together.

Practice all exercises as the TAB describe before you start combining them in an improvised way.

Today we play Robin Hood with a singer from beginning to end.

To make it easier to follow along, I’ve included a rhythm chart for you.

Today we create a 2nd guitar part for Robin Hood by changing the key to C and placing a capo on fret 7.

You’ll get TAB and loops for everything to set you up for the final step.

Keep that capo on fret 7 and join me and the singer to play Robin Hood.

There’s a chart that you can keep an eye on as you strum and pick your way through it, in an improvised way.

The chromatic exercises are great for developing left and right-hand coordination, improve accuracy and speed.

It’s also a great exercise for warming up, so let’s start with that.

Today we start working on a new song in One More Cup Of Coffee.

Only four chords are used in this song. Instead of feeling at home with chord I, we find our home in chord VI as this song is “in minor”.

Decide for yourself how you want to practice this concept. Do you play all string pairs before you change the BPM, or just one?

It would be a good idea to play at a tempo where 100% accuracy is achieved as speed is a consequence of accuracy.

Today we look at a bunch of chord variations you can use when playing One More Cup Of Coffee.

These are not necessarily what you’d hear on the original recording but put in place to make the arrangement work better on just one guitar.

Today we develop last lessons string pair concept for the chromatic exercise by skipping strings, this makes it much harder!

You decide what tempo is right for you. Focus on 100% accuracy.

Today we play through One More Cup Of Coffee from beginning to end.

Simply play along with me and the singer in the video. You don’t have to use the same extensions or exact rhythms.

Today I’ll show you how you can construct a 2nd guitar part for One More Cup Of Coffee.

We’ll do this by switching key from C to G and then placing a capo on fret five.

In our final study of One More Cup Of Coffee, it’s time for the four of us to sound more like a band.

I’m playing the big chords, you got your 2nd guitar part, Barry is on violin and Miss Al Brown sings.

Today we start revising everything you’ve done in the first half of this beginner course.

First, we see if you can play along with the first three chromatic exercises at the tempo I do in the video.

Let’s go back and play Talking About A Revolution and Redemption Song again.

As we do, let’s try all the things we discussed, picking and strumming, with and without a capo.

Use this as a warm-up for no more than twenty minutes. Remember to stop and stretch your arms, shoulders, hands, and fingers regularly.

As you stop and stretch, increase your BPM with 2!

Let’s play Robin Hood and One More Cup Of Coffee again.

Try all picking and strumming parts, with and without a capo.

Today we start looking at a new song in The Verve’s monster hit The Drugs Don’t Work.

The chords are all from the key of C. Let’s start by looking at the chord progression and how we can extend the chords.

Let’s take a look at the strumming pattern for this song. We are dealing with a 16th note pattern at a slow pace again.

It’s the same pattern for all chords, even when there are two chords in one bar.

Today you’ll learn a bunch of 2nd guitar part ideas for The Drugs Don’t Work.

These parts are picked one note at a time.

In this last step, we fit a capo on fret five and work on playing picked and strummed parts as if in the key of G.

This then becomes a more creative 2nd guitar part that you can use when playing along with me and the singer.

Today we start looking at a completely new way of playing the chromatic exercise, we now travel across the strings in a sweeping motion.

We do this in preparation for playing a new song.

Let’s start learning Time Of Your Life.

As the pattern is pretty fast, take your time. It’s much better if you can play it well at a slow speed, than fast but not accurately.

How many times do you play the looped pattern before you stop for a break and increase the BPM?

Perhaps 20 seconds playing, 10 seconds resting is a good idea.

It’s time to look at the chorus for Time Of Your Life. It’s only a few bars long.

Practice this exactly as the TAB show, very slowly at first.

Today we move on to the next sweeping exercise.

Just like when we developed the first chromatic exercise, we now change to 16th notes.

In this lesson we play Time Of Your Life using a strumming pattern.

This is much more difficult than I assumed, it’s fast!

Just like with the chromatic exercise, we can fit a triplet rhythm to the sweeping exercise.

And just like before, the downbeat will now start corresponding with different fingers.

The time has come to create a second guitar part for Time Of Your Life.

The easiest way to do this is to use the same pattern but change the key and therefore chord shapes and apply that capo.

Today we look at reading and playing a bunch of 16th note strumming patterns.

This is something you will do a lot of when playing the guitar so learning how to read and play them well is imperative.

In this step, we play the progression of Wonderwall with and without extensions.

This will enable you to more clearly hear the difference the extensions make, once we add them.

Let’s look at how to play the strumming pattern for the verse of Wonderwall.

By practicing these you will realise the difference between what makes you sound like a beginner vs an experienced player.

Let’s take a look at some more 16th note strumming exercises.

These are not very musical, but they’re great for your strumming technique.

In this step, we practice the bridge of Wonderwall.

Just like we did when we played the verse, let’s play the chords like a beginner before we start breaking the patterns up.

In this step, you’ll learn how to strum the chorus for Wonderwall.

Since this is so easy, we quickly move on and play the complete song as well.

The time has come to create a 2nd guitar part for Wonderwall.

Learn this and you can play with me and the singer, rather than just playing the same thing as me.

In this step, we revise the 16th note strumming patterns you’ve been working on lately.

As we practice these, we push the BPM!

Today we start working on a new song as we learn Rewind by Paolo Nutini.

In this step, we focus on the chords and the progression. Just like in One More Cup Of Coffee, chord III has become IIIx.

OK, let’s challenge ourselves with some difficult 16th note rhythmical exercises.

Practice these and you will find playing Rewind much easier.

To play this song using the same strumming patterns as me, practice along to the individual TAB loops.

If you practice all these, playing the entire song will become easy.

In this step, we play the complete song from beginning to end.

To help you along there’s a chart and a video of the complete song to play along with.

In this step we remove the capo and find a 2nd guitar part using Dsus2 and Gadd9 for the verse.

When you play this along to the video with me and the singer(s), we’ll sound like a band.

In this final step we play yet another 2nd guitar part, this time using a capo on fret 5.

After trying each section to the loops, play along with me and the singer(s) again.

It’s time to learn our first fingerstyle song.

The Beginner Guitar Song is a nice meditative little loop that you can play for ten to twenty minutes or so without getting bored.

Today we learn how to group strings depending on the chord shape.

There are some basic rules like this when playing fingerstyle guitar. Let’s investigate and practice them.

Today we look at another Etude.

Remember, it is always best to practice using a metronome, playing the examples at different tempos.

Today we start working on the last song of this course as we play Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers.

This is a modern standard, expect it to come up in many jam sessions and gigs.

Let’s play the complete song.

As this can be done using the same two patterns on a loop, it’s easy!

Today we continue to work on Ain’t No Sunshine.

In this final step, we look at some alternative parts you could use when playing the song.

In this final step of the beginner course we play through all beginner songs in a row, just like if we played a gig together.

I’m not giving you any TAB as this is a test to see if you can play all these songs.