Beginner Guitar Course - Level I

1. Meet The Guitar Teach: When you play music, you're connecting with your heart and your soul. I'm DMU and I'm your guitar teach. I love to teach the guitar. And through teaching and the guitar, I want to help you connect with your heart. Express yourself creatively, and connect with people through your music in a way that you've not done before. Music spin in my life since the very beginning, my uncles used to play and sing at events far and wide, and I was around that all of the time. And their music had this very unique sound and it connected with people deeply connected with me as well. And I think that's where I really got hooked on learning and learning the guitar and playing to sink. It's really never too late to pick up the guitar. The guitar is an incredibly versatile instrument, and with the right teacher, it's easy to pick up as well, whether you're young or old. The guitar is an amazing instrument that I would really encourage you to give it a try. And I promise you that if you have all your fingers, an open heart and an open mind, that you will learn to play the guitar, connect with your heart and soul, and connect with people in a way that you've never done before. Let's find a guitar that's right for you and let's play some music. I'm dN new curve, and I'm your guitar teach. 2. Beginner Guitar Course - Level I: Introduction: Welcome to the beginner guitar, chords and rhythm patterns. Level one. I've designed this course for true beginners with the right blend of guitar basics, open chords, simple rhythm patterns, some foundational theory, and songs to help you apply what you've learned. A complimentary PDF for each of these sections is also included to supplement my video-based lessons. At the end of the course, there'll be a simple quiz to help you integrate what you've learned. And you'll receive a certificate of completion. When you finish the course. There'll be an opportunity for you to do an optional video exchange with me where you will send me a short video of something that you've been working on and some questions. And I'll return to you another video with some guidance and coaching. Know that I'm also working on many other courses to offer you, including Level two of this course, as well as a short course to teach you how to change the strings on your acoustic steel string guitar. I really hope that you'll enjoy this level one, and I'll see you in the course. 3. Section 1 - Lesson 1 - Guitar Anatomy: Well, you should have a guitar by now. And if you don't, I'd like to invite you to check out the bonus guitar resources section, where you'll find some guidance on finding your first guitar. I'll be teaching you on a guitar such as this one. This is an acoustic steel string guitar. And it's called that because it has steel strings. Now if you happen to own a nylon string guitar or an electric guitar, the lessons I'm presenting still apply. Behind me to my left. Isn't nylon string guitar. It's called that because it has nylon strings. You'll notice that it has a softer sound. And in fact, a lot of guitarists that liked to play classical or finger style guitar will opt to use a nylon string guitar. You should know however, that you can still play finger style guitar on an acoustic steel string guitar. To my right is of course an electric guitar. Electric guitars have a solid body and they need to be plugged in in order to be heard. So whether you've got an electric guitar, a nylon string guitar, or an acoustic steel string guitar. The course is going to teach you how to play. Going to go back to my acoustic steel string guitar. Acoustic guitars have a hollow body, their size, their shape, and the hole and the guitar are all designed to make sound. This is why they can be played on their own without the need of amplification. Some guitarists do, however, up to put pickups in their acoustic guitars so that they can be plugged into an amp or a soundboard, then the sound can be projected inherited a much greater volume. My Taylor, for instance, does have a pickup for instances where I'm performing. That means I can plug it in using a guitar cable that plugs in from this end of the guitar and then goes into an app or soundboard. In order to learn the guitar, it's important to understand the parts of the guitar. Most of what I'm going to go over is common to all guitars, regardless of whether you're using a steel string acoustic guitar or nylon string guitar or an electric guitar can be broken down into three main parts. The head, the neck, and the body. We start at the head. The main parts there are the tuning pegs, which are these silver mechanisms. Three running along the top, and three running along the bottom. One for each of the six strings of your guitar. You'll be learning much more about tuning pegs shortly when I show you how to tune your own guitar. This next main piece here is referred to as the neck. There's a white piece that spans between the head and the neck, and it's referred to as the nut. Nut has six grooves on it. One for each of the six strings of your guitar. So again, if this entire piece is referred to as the neck, the front of it is referred to as the fret board. On the fretboard, there are little metal bars referred to as fret bars, that run all the way along the neck. They delineate the frets themselves. And those are the rectangular black shapes that you see also running along the neck. So this would be fret one, fret to fret three, fret four, fret five, and so on. You'll also notice on the fret board that there are fret markers. And these are usually showing up as dots or little emblems on certain frets on the fret board. And they're used to help guitarists map where they're playing as they're playing. This entire piece is referred to as the body. Like a body, it has a waist, which is the narrower piece that you see at the top and also along the bottom. And it's usually the piece that we use to rest on our right thigh when we're playing. The guitar has a sound hole, which is used to project the sound out of the guitar. Then we've got the pick guard, which most guitars have. And it helps to protect the wood of the guitar when we're playing with a pick. This black piece down here is referred to as the bridge. And then the white piece that spans the bridge is referred to as the saddle. Behind the saddle, our pegs known as bridge pigs. And there's one for each of the strings on your guitar. And they hold our strings in place. Now, most guitars, we'll have a little peg at the bottom and another peg at the top of the guitar right here. And those are used to fasten your guitar strap to, if ever, you want it to stand in play. Now there's one last part to the guitar that I wanted to mention that you can't actually see. And it's referred to as the truss rod. And the truss rod is a metal rod that runs along the inside of the neck of your guitar. And it's used to make adjustment to the bow in the neck of your guitar. Now if you need to make an adjustment like this, I would recommend finding a good guitar technician at a music store because this is an adjustment that needs a little bit more experienced with guitar. 4. Section 1 - Lesson 2 - Common Guitar Tools: Now that you know the parts of the guitar, it's an excellent idea to become familiar with some of the common tools you'll be using when playing. Some of these you'll be using right-of-way and others you might not use until a little bit later on. Let's start with guitar case options. Your guitar isn't investment and one that you want to protect. Guitar cases, keep your instruments, say from damage. There are soft cases which are lightweight and offer some protection. These are usually a little bit less expensive. Then there are hard cases which are heavier and of course offer more protection. And you do pay a little bit more for these. The next item that you'll need is a guitar tuner. There are a variety of electronic tuners available, and one of my favorites is a snark because it's quick and easy to use. It clips to the top of your guitar and it has a vibration setting that allows you to tune your guitar with less noise interference from the room that you're in. Let's talk about guitar strings. Given enough time and playing, eventually strings corrode and began sounding DO. Some guitarists who play a lot might change their strings once a month. If you haven't changed your strings and six months, it's likely time. There are many brands and gauges of strings. I like coated strings because they tend to last longer than uncoated strings. Though you do pay a bit more for them. I'll be creating a separate short course on string changing. So definitely keep an eye out for that. When you're seated in playing the guitar, it's best to do so in an armless chair or stool. The armless part is important so that your guitar isn't bumping into things on your right side and your left side. And also so that you can play unconfined. Next is a music stand. There are many styles of music stands. More sturdy stands are a good investment because they won't collapse under the weight of a binder of music. And also they're usually designed to fold up for easy transport. Tar sands are very helpful and prevent your guitar from falling over and getting damaged. You can get guitar stands that hold one guitar or three guitars. And there are a good place to put your guitar temporarily. But the safest place for your guitar is, in its case, many guitarists will opt to use an adjustable footstool when they practice and perform. This elevates the right thigh a bit, which can make it more comfortable to hold the guitar. Sometimes it feels like the guitar might be slipping off the right thigh, and this helps to prevent that from happening. Flat picks, also known simply as picks, are used for strumming chords and plucking individual notes on the guitar. They come in a variety of thicknesses. I often point students toward medium gage picks because they offer the greatest versatility. Some pics are generally used for finger style guitar playing, and they also come in a variety of thicknesses and links. For myself, I prefer a shorter tip on my thumb picks. Guitar straps are mostly used for when you're standing and playing. They can be used when you're seated to, they're really not that necessary. And they fast into the strap pigs, which are found at the top and the bottom of your guitar. A metronome is a device that makes a sound at a regular interval. And they can help students practice keeping on time and playing on a steady beat. This is an important and often overlooked part of becoming a good musician. Now there are a variety of styles, including apps that you can download on your mobile phone. If you live in a dry climate like I do, a guitar humidifier is going to be very important. There are a variety of styles available and all are designed to be filled with water and gently humidify the wooden your guitar so that it doesn't warp, crack, and cause damage. And I think it's important to preserve the investment that you've made in your guitar by using a guitar humidifier. Guitar cables are an essential item in a guitarist toolkit. They fast into the neck of your guitar. And they're inefficient way to change the musical key that you're playing in. 5. Section 1 - Lesson 3 - Tuning Your Guitar: The more you learn to tune your guitar, the easier it gets. I want you to be able to detect when your guitar is out of tune and actually learn to dislike the sound of your guitar when it is out of tune. This is going to take some ear training to understand what a sharp or a flat note sounds like. But it will come. And remember it only takes one of the strings on your guitar to be slightly out of tune to make the whole instruments sound off. This means it might take some micro adjustments in your tuning every time you sit down to play the guitar. Now the first step in tuning your guitar is remembering the note names of the open strings on your guitar, as well as their string number. Let's start with this string number. The strings on your guitar are numbered one through six. The thinnest string closest to the floor is string one. And the thickest string closest to the ceiling is string six. So they go string one, string two, string three, string for string phi. And strings six. The open note names of each of the strings going from the ceiling to the floor. Our E, a, D, G, B, E. Now, there are a few clever things to help us remember this. And one of them is every adult dog growls, barks, eats. Or again, E, a, D, G, B, E. The most common way to tune your guitar is by using an electronic tuner, like the one that I have clipped to the top of my guitar right now. These tuners will tell you what note you're playing and whether it's too high, also known as sharp, or too low, also known as flat. And on my tuner, if the node is too low, it will light up in the red part of the tuner. And if the node is too high, it will light up as yellow, which I will show you here shortly. But when the note is right in tune, it will light up green at 12 o'clock on the tuner. Let's go through the strings of my guitar and see how in tune it is. We're going to start with a low E, which is the thickest string closest to the ceiling. First, I'm going to turn it on with this button. And we're going to start with the low E string. You see that it is basically lighting up at 12 o'clock, which tells me that it is in tune. Let's move to the a string, which is string number five. Also showing up at 12 o'clock, which tells me it's in tune. Let's do the fourth string, which is D. That looks in tune to me. Third string, g, 12 o'clock. So that tells me it's in tune. Okay, the B is in the red zone, which tells me it's flat. It needs to be tightened. I'm not turning it too much actually to get it back in tune there. Okay, we're back on track. These now in tune. And the last string, E string at the top. Also in tune. So that's how you use an electronic tuner to tune your guitar. Another method of tuning your guitar is called the relative tuning approach. This method only works if one of your strings is tuned to standard pitch. If your ear is trained well enough to hear what a sharp or a flat note sounds like. Let's say you knew that your low E was in tune because he'd compared it to the e note on a piano or a tuning fork. You knew this string was in tune. The low E. What you would do from here is put your finger on the fifth fret of the sixth string and compare it to the open fifth string. They should sound the same. And to my ear they sound pretty darn close. Then you move to the fifth string and put your finger on the fifth fret and compare it to the fourth string open. That's not in June. The fourth string is flat compared to the fifth string, so I need to tune that up. Okay, That is much closer. I'm going to call them. Now we move to the fourth string, fifth fret. Compare that to the third string open. That sounds in tune to me. Now when we get to the third string, you actually have to backup to the fourth fret to compare to the second string open. That sounds Intune to me. And lastly, we're going to move back to the fifth fret of the second string and compare to the first string open. That first string sounds sharp. Needs to be loosened just a bit. Okay, again, that sounds like an Intune guitar to meet their relative tuning approach. 6. Section 2 - Lesson 1 - Overcoming Challenges: There are a few challenges faced by all new guitar players when first learning how to play the guitar. Some of them are physical, some of them are psychological, but they can all be overcome. One of the first physical challenges faced by all new guitarists is sore fingers on the left-hand menu, new guitar players experienced tenderness on their left hand fingers. And this is because the process of developing calluses on your left hand fingers is just beginning. Some discomfort during this time period is to be expected. And this could last a few weeks or even more. Now the best strategy that I've arrived at is for students to play for short periods of time. So that might look like playing for ten minutes or even five-minutes, and then taking a break, setting the guitar down and returning 30 minutes later or an hour later. And again, playing for a short period of time. This is the fastest way to develop calluses on the left-hand fingertips. And in a few weeks you should be able to sit and play your guitar for an hour or more with no discomfort. Let's talk about nails on the left hand. Unfortunately, we cannot play the guitar with long fingernails on our left hand. And that's because we need our fingertips to be able to press properly into the strings and get it crisp and clean sound out of our guitar. And this just isn't possible when we have long fingernails on our left hand. Long fingernails on a right hand are okay, however. And in fact, some guitar players will opt to keep longer fingernails on their right hand because they play styles such as classical or finger style. The third physical challenge faced by all new guitar players is strength. As with all new tasks, it can take some time to develop the strength to do the job. With the guitar. This might mean that your arms, your hands, or your fingers tire at the beginning. And this is just to be expected. It will take a little bit of time for your body to adjust and for you to be able to sit and play your guitar for longer periods of time. But please have patients because it won't take long at all before you're able to play the guitar and enjoy yourself or longer sittings. I think in some cases, the psychological challenges faced by new guitar players is even greater than the physical ones. Many of us believe that we just don't have what it takes or that we're not talented enough. The truth of the matter is that this just isn't true. If you have a love of music and your arms, your hands, and your fingers work normally. You can do this. This is the same process that all great guitar players have gone through. My encouragement to you is to cultivate a dedication to play, have an open mind and an open heart. And this is something that you can do. The most important thing, of course, is to enjoy the journey as we go. 7. Section 2 - Lesson 2 - Holding The Guitar Properly: You can play the guitar seated or standing. The key is to get the right position seated and then to approximate that same position with a strap for standing. Now when you are seated, the easiest way to play the guitar isn't an armless chair or stool. With the waste of the guitar resting on your right thigh. The armless chair or stool part is important so that you're not bumping and knocking into things on your right and left side when you're trying to play. Now some guitarists opt to use a footstool, which raises their right thigh a little bit and helps to prevent the guitar from sliding off the thigh. It helps to keep the guitar in place. And I do use a footstool from time-to-time when I'm playing. It's not necessary to be able to stare at your fretboard at all times when you're playing. And honestly it's best to not get into that habit. The neck of the guitar is going to be slightly tilted towards you in any event. And eventually your fingers are going to learn where they need to go through muscle memory. Let's talk a little bit about your left arm and your left hand position. Your left hand needs to be free to be able to play on the neck. And you're not really holding the neck up with your left hand so much as you're gently cradling it. Your left arm and your left elbow should be just resting in a natural and comfortable position. Since you're playing with your fingertips, your left hand needs to be in a little bit of a concave position so that your fingers curl around and your fingertips can meet the strings. Your thumb is going to gently rest at the back of the neck and offer some counter pressure for you to be able to press your fingers into the strings. But not all of the power to play your guitar is coming from your left hand alone. Some of it is coming from a gentle pulling back with your left arm. Though this is a fairly subtle action. While we're on the topic of the left hand, I wanted to share some information on proper finger placement. When you press down on a string, you're going to be pressing down with the very tips of your fingers. You're going to want to press down firmly, but also avoid placing your finger on a fret bar. Now the fret board, as we talked about earlier, these are the metal bars that run up the neck of the guitar and they delineate the frets on your guitar. And so the reason we want to avoid placing our finger on a fret bar is that it actually produces quite an annoying, buzzy or muted sound. Now you'll notice if I back my finger off of the fret bar a little bit, so I'm on the black space. And now I pluck that string, I get a much cleaner and brighter tone. The other thing that I want to mention about the left hand is that our fingers are actually numbered. So the index finger is fingered one. Then we have finger to finger three. And the pinky finger for this all becomes important when you start to learn how to read a chord chart. I'd like to talk a little bit right now about your right arm and your right hand position. Whether you use a pick or you're playing finger style, your right arm and hand position are basically the same. For me. I like to rest the inner joint of my elbow along the top of my guitar so that the inside part of my forearm is flushed with the guitar. Together. My forearm, my wrist and my hand, or my sound making machine and my volume control. And I use both my forearm and my wrist to make sound, such as when I'm streaming. I also have options in terms of where I'm strumming. So if I'm strumming directly over the sound hole, I will get a slightly softer tone. I can opt to back things up and strum closer to the bridge if I'm looking for a brighter tone. So it all depends on what you're going for. 8. Section 2 - Lesson 3 - Reading Chord + Song Charts: Being able to read and understand a chord chart is a really important step when learning how to play the guitar. Chord charts are a depiction of the guitar fretboard. And they help us to understand where to place your fingers in order to create a chord. Typically, core charts are a representation from the nut, which is right here, down a few frets. So really core charts or like an image of this part of our guitar. Now the vertical lines on the chord chart represent the strings of our guitar. So there's six of them. Then the horizontal spaces going this direction represent the frets on our guitar. The black dots that you see on chord charts tell us where to place our fingers. And then the numbers inside of the black dots are a suggestion for what left-hand finger to use when playing the chord. Now, I'll be using Song charts to present the featured songs in the lessons. And in some cases, I'll be using strumming charts to offer suggestions for rhythm patterns that should be played on any given song. Now there's some information that's just better depicted using diagrams and images. And so I'd like to refer you to the PDF components of this section because they act as a complement to the video-based lessons. There you're going to find much more information on how to read chord charts, how to read Song charts, as well as strumming charts. 9. Section 3 - Lesson 1 - Quick Review: Let's do a quick review. There are few things that you can do to make your practice session so much more enjoyable. One of the first is defined yourself and armless terror stool to practice in so that your guitar isn't bumping up against things on your right and left side. And you can practice unconfined. Maybe you want to find a footstool that raises your right thigh a bit so that your guitar sits comfortably as you practice. Finding a sturdy music stand is a great idea. And for those times when you're practicing and learning on the screen, setting things up at eye level can be very helpful. You'll also want to have the common tools within arm's reach, such as your flat pick, your guitar tuner, and a metronome. A great next step is to check the tuning of your guitar if you're practicing and even a couple of your strings are a little out of tune, it can make the whole session less enjoyable. And it really doesn't take that long to check the tuning of the strings for your guitar and you will love your session so much more. Remember some of the great things about video-based lessons are that you can pause, you can repeat sections, and you can stop and return to a lesson when time allows. And during these early stages of learning the guitar and practicing, it's a good idea to practice in short intervals. Practicing for five or ten minutes at a time. And then stopping and returning 30 minutes to an hour later is likely to produce the best results for you in terms of developing the calyces on your left hand fingers and absorbing the material itself. As we move along in these lessons, you're going to be developing a common music and guitar vocabulary. And this is a good thing because it's going to help you and I communicate. For now. The important things to remember are the string numbers, the fret numbers, and the numbers assigned to your left hand fingers. So let's start with the string numbers. The thin string closest to the floor is string one, string two, string, three. String for strings and strings, since the frets or the black rectangular shapes that you see following all the way up the neck. This is fret one, fret to fret three, fret four, and so on up the neck. The numbers assigned to our left hand fingers again are our index fingers, Finger, one, finger to finger three and our pinky finger for. These basics are important. For example, when I share with you how to play chords, which is what we're going to try right now. So if we have a look at the C chord chart, it tells us to place our first finger, or index finger on the second string. First fret. Then we're to place our second finger on the fourth string, second fret. And our third finger on the fifth string, third fret. We take our pick and we strum from the fifth string down to the floor. So from the fifth string to the first string, these are the kinds of instructions that I'll be sharing with you. And it's why it's very important for us to have a common vocabulary. 10. Section 3 - Lesson 2 - Learning Chords: Let's play some chords. First of all, a chord is three or more notes played together in harmony. There are four simple steps that I'm going to walk you through right now to help you remember your chords and also get the best sound from them. The first is to determine the left-hand finger positions for that cord. To do this, we're going to look at the chord chart because it tells us where to place our left hand fingers and also what fingers to use. And remember, we're playing with the very tips of our fingers. Let's have a look at the C chord chart. It tells us that our first finger needs to go on the second string, first fret. Second finger needs to go on the fourth string, second fret. And our third finger needs to go on the fifth string, third fret. The second step is to play each of the notes separately and try to get the cleanest sound from them. Now when I use the term clean sound, I'm referring to a crisp and bright tone as opposed to a muted or buzzy sound. If we play the first finger on the second string, first fret, it should sound like this. Now if I accidentally had my finger over top of the fret bar, I would get a buzzy or a muted sound. Hearing that I'd have to back the finger off to the correct position and try again and get that clean sound. The second finger goes on the fourth string, second fret. Then the third finger goes on the fifth string, third fret. The third step is to play all the notes of the chord together. So I take the pick and start from the fifth string and strum down to the floor, or down to the first string. Now when you Strom, if you're still getting some buzzes or muted sounds, it may be that you need to adjust your left hand fingers so that you're playing more on the tips of your fingers. So there's no interference between your fingers on your strumming. The fourth step is simply to strum this cord several times in a row, maybe five or ten times. To repeat that several times a day. Four-step exercise is going to be a really excellent way for you to remember your chords and also get the best sound from them. 11. Section 3 - Lesson 3 - G, C + D Chords: G is a really fun cord and one that so many guitarists love to play. And I love to sing in this key as well. I'm going to show you three different versions of an open G chord right now. The first one has our first finger going on the fifth string, second fret. Our second finger going on the sixth string, third fret, and our third finger going on the first string, third fret. We can play all of the strings on our guitar with this chord. So it's a nice full sounding chord. The second version is basically the same thing, just using different fingers. So in this case we would be using our second finger on the fifth string, second fret, third finger on the sixth string, third fret and our pinky or fourth on the first string, third fret. The third version of the G chord, which I'm going to show you is this first finger, fifth string, second fret. Second finger, sixth string, third fret. Third finger is gonna go on the second string, third fret, which gives us a denote. Then our pinky or our fourth finger goes on the first string. Third fret. Again, we can play all six strings. A little bit more of a powerful sounding chord, a little bit more of an inch to the chord. You'll find that a lot of bluegrass players or country players will opt to play this version of g because of that extra full sound and gives those are three different versions of g. I would invite you to try out all three of them. Practice with them, see which one you like the feel of the best, which one do you like the sound of the best? And always know that interchange. All three of these open, geez. We've reviewed the C chord in an earlier lesson, but I do want to go over it one more time and also throw at you two other versions of an open C chord for you to try out. So let's start with the first version that I showed you, where we place our first finger on the second string, first fret, second finger on the fourth string, second fret. And our third finger on the fifth string, third fret. With this version of C, we strum from the fifth string to the first string or from the fifth string to the floor. We have to avoid the sixth string because it just doesn't sound right as part of this chord. Doesn't blend well. So that's why we only play from the fifth string down. Now there is a second version of the C chord, which I actually like quite a bit. In this version, again, we place our first finger on the second string, first fret, second finger on the fourth string, second fret. But now our third finger goes to the sixth string, third fret. Your pinkie goes to the fifth string, third fret. So in this case, we can play all six strings of the C chord. And it gives it a more full bodied sound. And it also avoids the problem of accidentally hitting your sixth string with that earlier version I showed you. Because with this version you can play all six strings. Now, the third version of the C chord that I want to show you is exactly the same as the first version. Except now we're going to take our pinky or our fourth finger and place it on the first string, third fret to include that G note in the chord. So it's going to sound like this. So once again, we can play the sixth string with this version of C. But we do get that additional G ringing out within the C chord. Just gives it a slightly different flavor. Which may be quite pretty uncertain songs. So again, we have this version, the first version, the second, which is a more full bodied see where you can play all six strings. Then the third version, we're, we're including that genome or Pinky's on the first string, third fret. I'd like to invite you to try all three of these chords out. See which one feels the best. See which one sounds the best. Practice away. We're going to learn the D chord. Now. It happens to be a chord that goes very well with G and C. First of all, you're going to take your first finger and place it on the third string, second fret. You're going to take your second finger and place it on the first string, second fret, and your third finger goes on the second string. Third fret. Play this from the fourth string down, or from the fifth string down. Either option works really. It does take a little bit of accuracy. I would invite you to practice with your right hand, trying to be accurate about playing from both strings, either the fourth string down or the fifth string down. 12. Section 3 - Lesson 4 - Changing Between Chords: Changing between chords is also known as transitioning. And it's a huge step in a guitar student's journey. You might ask yourself, how is it that an experienced guitar player can change between chords so quickly? The answer is simply time, patients and repetition. There is really not a shortcut for this. There's something that an experienced guitarist develops over time called muscle memory, which enables them to move between chords without having to think about it too much. And so what I'd like to do is offer you an exercise right now that's going to begin to develop your muscle memory when remembering your chord transitions. And that will help you eventually to move between your chords more quickly with less thought. The exercise goes like this. You place your left hand on your left thigh. You close your eyes, you think of a chord and then you tried to reach her that chord. So I'm going to close my eyes and try to reach for my G chord. And here I go. Okay, So I was successful in reaching for my G chord. Now, don't expect to get this right away. You might find at first, you're off, maybe you're off by a string, or maybe you're off by a fret or two. But the point is, is that you keep trying. It's like a little game for yourself. So we can do it again with the D chord. I'm going to close my eyes and I'm going to try to reach for my D chord. Now you might find that you're off by a threat. Like I said, a string. Just keep practicing this method and it will come, it's simply going to be repetition for you. And this is the way that experience guitar players have learned muscle memory and it will help you with your core transitions. This is a great core changing exercise and it's going to help you learn to change between two chords efficiently. The first step is to pick two chords that you want to change between. So let's pick G and C. Now the trick here is that we're going to strum the G chord four times and then the C chord four times, and then repeat over and over again. You're going to want to strum to a steady beat. So strum at an even pace with the same speed and duration. And we're going to count out loud or in your head and it's going to count like this, 12341234. And putting the hands between all our accounts, including the fourth beat is important and I'll show you why shortly. It's going to look and sound like this. Now you'll notice that you're actually changing on the end after four watch for. And so it's the amount of time that it takes for you to say and after for that, you have to actually make your transition. Now you may find it first that it takes longer than that to actually get to your subsequent cord. That's a natural step in the process, so don't worry about it. Eventually when you continue to practice this exercise, the time it takes for you to change your chord is going to reduce and become more efficient. So you will be able to make that core transition on the and after. For now, I would encourage you all to practice the same exercise but using a metronome. So you have like a steady beat to actually play two. And we're going to practice that here shortly. The point is to be strumming on the beat. So when you hear a click, that's when your strumming. And you can actually record yourself to see how well you're doing. Because sometimes it's a little tricky to know if you're playing on the beat or not. If you record yourself or have somebody listen, they can tell you whether you're playing on the beach or not. We're going to try to play on the beat right now. I've chosen 50 beats per minute. Now this might be too slow for you or too fast for you see you can find your own metronome and set it to a beats per minute. That works well for you. Find something that you can change smoothly to before you speed the tempo up. An important principle in practicing guitar is that you always start slowly and master it at a slower tempo before you, before you increase the tempo. So we're going to try this at 50 beats per minute and see how it goes. 12341. And you get the idea, this is an exercise that you would do over and over again. And every time you mastered at a certain tempo, you then increase the tempo a little bit and a little bit more and a little bit more. Now, another thing I want to mention about changing chords is this. I want you to think about where there are some efficiencies in terms of moving your fingers. I find that a lot of students at the very beginning believed that they have to take all of their fingers off the fret board in order to change and get to the next chord. And that's just not true. And in fact, we want our fingers to not be coming off of the fretboard that far really. They can just come off ever so slightly in order to get to the next chord. So that's one efficiency. But the other efficiency is where students to think about whether the fingers need to move that far. And in some cases, fingers are not that far away from where they need to go to get to the subsequent cord. I want you to examine your fingers in your chord formations and see where you have those efficiencies when you're moving to subsequent courts. And the third thing I want to mention is that sometimes you can select one of your fingers as a lead finger or an anchor finger. So take for example, if I'm playing G, in order to get to see my first finger needs to go from the fifth string down to the second string. So if I think of that finger as a lead finger or an anchor finger, if I know where that finger needs to go off in the other two fingers will fall into place. So I've got my G. Here's my first finger. And that first finger now needs to go to the second string, first fret. That finger neat, knows where to go. Then oftentimes the other two fingers will just fall into place. There's your core changing exercise for two chords and a few tips on efficiencies when changing between chords. 13. Section 3 - Lesson 5 - Making Chords Sound Better: This may seem like an obvious point, but one of the ways that we can help to make our chord sound better, to be aware of which strings to strum and which strings to Nordstrom. And we know this by looking at our core charts. On the core charts at the top of every string, you will see an X or an O. The O tells us to play that string open, and the x tells us to not play that string in the cord. If we have a look at our C chord, the first one that I showed to you. You'll notice that there's an x above the sixth string telling us to not play that string when we strum the chord. So it should sound like this from the fifth string down. Now if I happen to play from the sixth string down, it will sound like this. That lowing just doesn't blend well with the cord. If we have a look at our D chord, you'll notice that there's an OH over top of the fourth string. And in the second version there's an OH over top of the fifth string. So we can play either from the fourth or fifth string down. But it does have an X over top of this sixth string, just like the C chord. Because if I were to play this sixth string on the D chord, it sounds like this. Again, just doesn't blend that. Wow. This is really an easy way to make your chord sound better, but it's also good practice for our right hand. This takes some finesse with our right hand to be able to land on the right string and strum from that string down. In the case of d from the fourth or fifth string down. And in the case of C from the fifth string down. So I know we've been talking a lot about muscle memory with a left hand, but now this takes a little bit of muscle memory with the right-hand. 14. Section 3 - Lesson 6 - Goals and Practice: At these early stages and learning to play the guitar, your goal should be this, to develop the calyces on your left hand fingers so that you can play comfortably. Then to also develop the muscle memory in your left hand so that you can get to your chords efficiently and also transition between your chords efficiently. You also want to develop the muscle memory in your right hand a bit that you know what strings to Play when you're playing your chords. And important and often overlooked principle in practicing is to start slow. Often new students will rush to play things at faster tempos. And the result is frustration. All great guitar players when they're learning a new technique, have started at slower tempos and mastered their technique at a slower tempo before increasing to a faster tempo. And this is my advice to you. Don't be in a rush when you're practicing and playing songs start at a slower tempo. Once you've mastered it at that slower tempo, than increased by a small increment, like a couple of beats per minute or maybe four beats per minute. Then mastered at that new temple before you move onward and upward. Honestly, this will be the fastest way for you to be able to master and play it faster tempos eventually. 15. Section 3 - Lesson 7 - Lesson Feature Song: We're going to play a song now that many great artists have covered from Jimmie Davis to Johnny Cash and more recently, a lovely version by a group called Music travel love. The song is You Are My Sunshine. I place this song here because it features the chords that we've been working on so far. And that's G, C, and D. There are many more intricate rhythm patterns that I'll be sharing with you as the lessons progress. But at this early stage, I want you to focus on a simple downstream and playing on the beat. Your goals for this song are to remember your chords, to transition between your chords as smoothly as you can and to strum on the beat by following along with my strumming. The temple that I've selected for this song is 100 beats per minute. But if this is too fast for you, by all means you can slow it down. And you can do this by changing the playback speed found in the settings feature for this video. Now you'll notice that I've added a second panel for this video, where I've added a simple melodic line and an additional vocal. And this was simply to add some musical layers and make it more enjoyable for us to play along with. But you will be following my guitar strumming found on the top panel of the video. The song chart can be found in this section three PDF that complements the video-based lessons. Let's play some music. One, 234. Hi guys. No. 16. Section 4 - Lesson 1 - Rhythm + Counting: There are three main components to music, melody, harmony and rhythm. And the cool thing is that we can do all of these on the guitar. Melody is when we're playing a number of notes together in a musical or melodic sort of way. Harmony is when we're playing, three notes are more together to form a chord. And rhythm is when we're strumming chords or plucking notes in a rhythmic way. One of the first steps in becoming good with rhythm is the ability to count. While most of us know how to count, It's another thing to be able to count and play to a steady beat. So this is a really important skill set for all of us to develop. One of the most popular musical times is 44, which means you'd have to have the ability to count it for antiarrhythmics sort of way. So this might look like a combination of downstreams and upstreams. All to account for. One. Often will place an and between the beats as we count them. So if we're doing a piece in 44 time, this might sound like 12341234. And which means that we have four beats in a measure. If the musical piece is in 34 time, which is also known as waltz time, we'd be counting to three instead of four, and it would sound like 123123 and with three beats in each of our measures. In this early stage of learning the guitar, it's really important for you to either count out loud or silently in your head so that you can develop this ability and this skill set where rhythm is concerned. So up until now, I've been focusing mostly on downstreams. And that's drumming from ceiling to floor or from the lowest string to the highest string. Soon however, I'm going to be introducing you to some new rhythm patterns, which will offer you a combination of downs and ups drums. So when you're Song charts, when you're looking at the strumming, the symbol to denote a downstream will look like a tiny table. And the symbol to denote an upstream will look like a V. 17. Section 4 - Lesson 2 - Changing Between Three Chords: Changing chords on the beat is a foundational skill. It's important that you spend the time needed to develop the proper muscle memory to enable you to change your chords on the beat. This is only possible through repetition and patients. And it's the same process that all great guitar players have followed. We're going to do three exercises now to help you change between three chords on the beat. Since we've been working on G, C, and D, will use these three chords. However, I'd love for you to return to these exercises and substitute new courts you've learned so that you can practice your muscle memory on these new chords as well. So using a metronome started a slower tempo that you can keep up with when you're making your chord changes. Maybe this is 30 or 40 beats per minute. And as you master the core changes at that slower tempo, then increased by two or four beats per minute. And then as you master the core changes at that increased tempo, then move onward and upward from there. You should expect to do these exercises several times in a week to help you begin to develop your muscle memory. Now at the early stages, you might find that you need to pause between core changes to find your fingering. And this is a perfectly normal and natural step of the process. Have patients, you're going to get it. As we discussed in earlier lessons. I want you to look at your finger positions and see if there are any efficiencies that are to be gained when you're shifting from one chord to another. Secondly, the other method that you can employ is to see if you can use one of your fingers as a lead finger or an anchor finger so that once that lead finger has planted, the other fingers can drop into place more easily. So let's start with the exercise. Exercise one. For exercise one, we're going to be strumming G4 times than C4 times than D4 times and repeating, I want you to count out loud or in your head. And remember that for this exercise we're going to be changing on the end after four. So it will look and sound like this one and it will repeat. So I've selected 50 beats per minute for this exercise. But when you're practicing at home, you may find that you need to start a little bit slower. So practice with whatever tempo is comfortable for you at the beginning. So let's give this a try. 1234. And so you would repeat it in a circle numerous times in a row. So that was just an example for you. Let's try exercise two. For exercise two, we're going to again do G, C, and D, but now we're only going to strum them two times each. This time you'll be changing on the end after two. So I would like you to continue to count out loud or in your head and it will sound like this. Now because we're making the changes more quickly instead of force terms, it's not two streams. You might find that you need to reduce the tempo a little bit for this exercise. So let's try it at 50, 1212, and would repeat this in a circular fashion. So the third exercise, as you may have guessed, is to play the chords only once. So they do increase in difficulty as we move to exercise three. So this one is going to look and sound like this. Like I said before, you might find that you need to slow this down because now we're only strumming once between changes. I'm going to keep it at 50, however. And so as I mentioned before, I'd love for you to return to these exercises as you learn your new chord so that you can return and practice your muscle memory and core changing with your new courts as well. Good luck. 18. Section 4 - Lesson 3 - More About Rhythm + Feature Song: We're going to do a bit of a song right now that I wrote called where the hills are made of clay. It features the chords G, C, and D. So the same chords that we've been working on so far. And it's written in 44 time, which means that it will count out like this, 12341234. And now I've done three different versions of this song to offer up three different styles of rhythm patterns that we can practice on together. The first one is rhythm pattern one, which is the same rhythm pattern that you've been working on so far. And it will look and sound like this. So simple downstreams from ceiling to floor. The second version of the song will feature rhythm pattern too, which is going to give us some practice with an upstream. It's going to look and sound like this. You'll notice that when I'm streaming, I'm actually using my forearm, but I'm also using my hand. So this joint is engaged, but also my wrist joint. And so I want you to be mindful when you're practicing this at home, that you're actually using your wrist a little bit as well because it takes both. Just watch again. So the third version of the song that I'm offering will use rhythm pattern tree, which is really just a combination of rhythm pattern one and rhythm pattern to. The first two beats will be simple downstreams. And then the third, fourth beat will be down, up, down, up. So if the string it altogether, it looks and sounds like this. Now, if the temple that I've selected is too fast, remember that you can go to the settings feature in the video and reduce the playback speed. Also for these videos, you'll notice that there are two panels, an upper and a lower. It's the upper panel that I'm going to have you follow because that's where I'm featuring the strumming styles that you're going to follow in practice. Along with the panel below, it is simply there so that I can add a melody line and some more interesting musical layers. And that will just make it a little bit more enjoyable for us to play. So let's play some music. One 234, One, 23, 1234. 19. Section 4 - Lesson 4 - Lesson Feature Song: The next song that we're going to do is called, I give you music by Dennis Atkins. It also features G, C, and D. So more practice with these three chords. And it's in 44 time. So it will count out like 12341234. And the rhythm pattern that I'd like you to practice for this song is rhythm pattern three. Remember that this is a combination of rhythm patterns 12. So the first two beats are simple downstreams. The third, fourth beat, or down, up, down, up. So strong altogether, it looks and sounds like the strumming for this song is a bit faster. If you need to slow things down. Remember that you can go to the settings feature in the video and reduce the playback speed. You'll also notice that there are two panels and the video, once again, it's the upper panel that I'd like you to follow because that's where I'm going to be playing. Rhythm pattern three. And that's what I'd like you to follow along with. The panel below, it has some additional musical treatments simply to make things a bit more interesting for us to play along with. So let's have some fun with, I give you music. One 234. Dan's name. Like my daddy. Daddy. My dad. He's dead. 20. Section 5 - Lesson 1 - A + E Chords: We're going to learn two new chords right now, a and E. And they happen to go very well together in tunes, which will show up a little later on in this section. But let's start with a. I'm going to show you three different versions of a. And the first one goes like this. You take your first finger and place it on the fourth string. Second fret. Second finger goes on the third string, second fret. And your third finger goes on the second string, second fret. You strum from the fifth string down. Now the second version of a is exactly the same as the first, except that we strum from the sixth string down. With a. You can really get by with streaming from five or six down. The third version of a is exactly the same. We're just going to use slightly different finger positions. For this one, we take our second finger and place it on the fourth string, second fret. Our first finger goes on the third string, second fret. And our third finger goes on the second string, second fret. Again, we can strum from the fifth or sixth string down. So I would encourage you to experiment with these different versions of a and see which one feels the best to you. Some of my students do use version three, while others use version one. I myself tend to use version one. Let's look at the E chord. He's a very full bodied sounding chord. Like a powerful chord. Fingering looks like this. Our first finger goes on the third string, first fret, second finger goes on the fifth string, second fret. And our third finger goes on the fourth string, second fret. We play all six strings. There's your E chord. So I would encourage you to go back to the lessons that we've already covered, such as the four-step method, where I showed you how to get the best sound from all of your chords. So returned to that four-step method and practice with your a and your E. I would also like you to go back to the lesson where we changed between two chords and then changed between three chords using a metronome. Returned to those exercises and start practicing by substituting a and E into those lessons. And let's see how you do with your two new chords. Let's have some fun with a and then. 21. Section 5 - Lesson 2 - Methods to Write + Read Guitar Music: Guitar music can be presented a few different ways. It can be written as standard notation, slash notation, or tablets or notation. And it's sometimes common to see these different forms of notation stacked on top of one another when guitar music is presented. And this is so that you have options in terms of what method you want to choose to read and play guitar music. Let's have a closer look at these three different ways that we can read and play guitar. Let's look at standard notation. Standard notation for guitar is written on a five-line staff with a treble clef at the beginning. Bar lines divide the staff into equal parts called Measures. Measures are always filled with a certain number of beats. You know how many beats in each measure by looking at the time signature, which is also at the beginning of the music. For example, a time signature of 44 means there are four beats to every measure. Slash notation is commonly used when guitarists are focused on strumming chords. The songs I've presented so far have been written out using slash notation. Bar lines and measures are used in slash notation. Just like standard notation. Instead of presenting notes, as is done with standard notation. There are little symbols called slashes that show you when and how to strum. Tablets or notation is often referred to as tab. Tab uses a six line tab staff. One line for each string of the guitar. The thickest string, the low E, or sixth string, is on the bottom. And the thinnest, or the high E, also known as the first string, is on the top. Numbers on the lines indicate which fret you should play on each string. A 0 indicates the strings to be played open or unthreaded. For example, a three would mean that you're to play on the third fret of that particular string. When you see note stacked on top of one another in a vertical line. That means there to be played at the same time, because these are chords. In upcoming courses, we're going to be diving much more deeply into reading and playing tablature or tab. 22. Section 5 - Lesson 3 - Time Signatures + Notation Values: In this lesson, we're going to look at time signatures and notation values. Time signatures are important to understand because they set the rhythm for a piece of music. Notation values are important to understand because they tell us how long to hold a note or a chord for. And also how long silence is to be held for in a piece of music by looking at the rest values. Let's start by looking at time signatures. The time signature for a piece of music is always found at the beginning. It tells us how the music is to be counted and how the measures are to be divided. The top number tells us how many beats and every measure. And the bottom number tells us the type of note receiving one beat. The most common time signature in popular music is 44 time. So in this case, the top number tells us that there are four beats to every measure. And the bottom number tells us the type of note receiving one beat. In this case a quarter note. Some of the most common time signatures are three for time and for, for time. All of the music that I've presented so far in this course has been in 44 time. And all of the rhythm patterns that I've shown you are also good for, for, for time. So if we have a look at rhythm pattern three, which I'll play over an E chord which we've just learned. It will look and sound like this in 44 time. Rhythm pattern three works with 44 times. 34. Time is where we would have three beats in every measure. It counts out 123123. And a little later on in this course, I will be showing you a rhythm pattern that we'll go with 34 time. But I'll give you a little sneak peek right now. Again, I'll play it over an E chord and I'll count it out. It looks and sounds like this. So that's a little insight into time signatures. And now let's have a look at notation values. As I mentioned before, musical note and rest values are important to understand so that we know how long to hold notes and chords for. And also so that we know where silence is to be placed in a piece of music based on where the rests are placed. I'd first like to go over some of the most common note and rest values as shown in standard notation. And then I'd like to show you what these look like in slash notation. In standard notation, I want to go over what a whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note is. And also what the corresponding rest looks like. At the top of this diagram is a whole note and it's worth four beats all by itself. Its corresponding rest looks like an upside down hat on a staff line. Next is a half-note. It looks much like a whole note, but with a stem, it's worth two beats. And its corresponding rest looks like a right-side-up had on his staff line. The third note is a quarter note. It looks like a half note, but with the note shaded in black. It's worth one beat and its corresponding rest is shown to the right. The fourth note value is an eight node. It looks like a quarter note, but with a tail at the end of the stem. It's worth a half a beat, and its corresponding rest is shown also to the right. It's important to note that when there are 2 eighth notes side-by-side or paired, they are commonly shown with a beam connecting them. As I mentioned earlier, it's important to understand how note values are depicted in slash notation as well. And this is so that we know how long to hold the chords for when we're streaming them. So below are some diagrams that are going to show us what the notes look like in standard notation as well as in slash notation. The first diagram shows us what a whole note looks like in standard notation. On the bottom. To the top of that, it shows us what a whole note strum looks like in slash notation. We hold this for account for. The next diagram tells us what a half-note looks like in standard notation. And at the top of that, it shows us what a half-note strum looks like in slash notation. We hold this for a count of two. The third diagram shows us what a quarter-note looks like in standard notation. And then on top of that, what a quarter notes drum looks like in slash notation. We hold this for a count of one. And the last diagram shows us what an eighth note looks like in standard notation. And then above that would an eighth note strum looks like in slash notation. This is held for a half a beat. 23. Section 5 - Lesson 4 - Rhythm Patterns: I want to introduce you to a new rhythm pattern right now that we can refer to as rhythm pattern for. It's also designed for, for, for time and is commonly used in traditional bluegrass and country music. There are many derivations of this rhythm pattern, but this first version is a great place to start. So far I've introduced you to three different rhythm patterns. Rhythm pattern one was a simple downstream and it counted like this. 134 and rhythm pattern two, we introduced an upstroke on the ends and it sounds like this. Now rhythm pattern three was a combination of rhythm patterns 12. So the first two beats were downstream. One and the third, fourth beat, or down, up, down, up. So strung together it looks like this one, 41. And now I chose these three rhythm patterns to give you some experience with strumming on the bead. And also to introduce an upstroke. And you're streaming technique. Rhythm pattern for is going to give you some more opportunity to develop the finesse and accuracy with your right hand. It's a bass drum method where for any given chord, you first find the bass note and pluck that, and then strum down from there. Let's have a look at the chords that we know so far, which are G, C, D, and E. For g, the bass note we're going to be looking for is on the sixth string, which is our G node. So it's going to look and sound like this. 123434. For C, the bass note that we're looking for is on the fifth string, which is a C note. And it goes like this, 1234134. For D. The bass note we're looking for is the fourth string open, which is a D node 13134. For a. The bass note we're looking for is the fifth string open, which isn't a node. One. For e. The base note is our sixth string, which is an E one. And now in later lessons I'm going to introduce you to a more complicated version of this, where we introduce upstroke on the end. But for now, let's start with this first version and master it, and then we can move on from there. For practice. I would suggest that you go through all of your chords and strum to rhythm pattern for first without a metronome. Then repeat again. But now with the metronome at a tempo that is comfortable for you, then you can increase the tempo by two or four beats per minute and move on from there. So let's have some fun with rhythm pattern for. 24. Section 5 - Lesson 5 - Lesson Feature Song: We're going to do a traditional tune right now called Devil's dream. And you're going to have the chance to practice your two new courts AND as well as your new rhythm pattern. Rhythm pattern for Devils dream is an old traditional fiddle tin plate, either as a jig or real. And it dates as far back as 1834 in New England. And it's actually one of the very first traditional tunes that I learned to flat pick on my acoustic guitar. And I thought I'd place it here so that you have a chance to practice your two new chords and your new strumming style. Let's start with a review of rhythm pattern for when played over a. You pluck your fifth string open and then stripped down from there. When counted, it looks and sounds like this one. When you play E, you pluck your sixth string open and struck down. Counted it looks and sounds like this. One. You'll notice in the Song chart that there are a couple of measures where E and a shared the same measure. So again, when E has a full measure of its own, it looks and sounds like this. Similarly, when a has a measure of its own, it looks and sounds like this. But where they share a measure, It's going to look and sound like this. I'll do that again. Have a lookout for those measures where the two chords share a measure and practice those changes because they are quicker. And do that a few times before you launch into practicing the song. So get your courts ready and your rhythm pattern ready. And let's do devils dream. 25. Section 6 - Lesson 1 - F, B + Am Chords: So far in the course, I've introduced you to five open major chord, a, C, D, E, and G. In this lesson, I'm going to round things out for you by also adding in F and B, as well as your first minor chord, a minor. So by the end of this lesson, you will know seven open major chords, a, B, C, D, E, F, and G, and one minor chord, a minor. So your versatility is increasing. Let's start with F. I'm going to show you two different versions of f. The first one looks like this. You take your first finger and place it over the first fret of the first second string. Your second finger goes on the third string, second fret. And your third finger goes on the fourth string, third fret, you strum from the fourth string down. Now some guitarists at the beginning have some difficulty with getting a clean sound from their first finger because you are covering two strings. I'm going to give you a couple of tips. The first one is this hug that first fret without actually covering it. You still get a clean sound. It will be easier to press down at that location. The second tip is this. Rather than press down with the fleshy part of your finger, I actually angled my first finger outward a little bit so that I'm actually pressing down with the more bony part of my finger. I can apply more pressure that way. The second version of F goes like this. The first finger is exactly the same. We cover the first fret of the first second string. Our second finger is on the third string, second fret. But our fourth finger hops up to the fifth string, third fret. And our fourth finger, or pinky, goes on the fourth string, third fret. You can strum from the fifth string down for this version of F. So a more full bodied sound with this F. Have patients with F. It can be tricky with the first finger, but do experiment and you will get it. Let's look at B. I'm going to be showing you one version of B. There are other versions of B, but they involve borrowing your chords. And I will be showing you bar chords in upcoming lessons. So right now, this is the B I will be showing you. You place your first finger on the first string. Second fret. You prep your second finger on the fourth string. Fourth fret. Third finger on the third string, fourth fret. Fourth finger on the second string, fourth fret. You strum from the fourth string down. Let's have a look at your first minor chord now. A minor. In upcoming lessons, I will be going over in more detail the difference between major and minor chords. But for now I want you to pay attention to the difference in their sound. A minor. I'm going to play for you now, a major or a for short, as we like to say. Listen to a. You just learned this chord about a lesson or two ago. Now here what a minor sounds like. You notice a difference in their sound. To my ear, the miners always have a more melancholy sound to them, which gives them their characteristics sound. For a minor, this is how it goes. You place your first finger on the second string. First fret. You place your second finger on the fourth string, second fret, and your third finger on the third string, second fret. You can strum from the fifth or sixth string down. Also a very nice full bodied sounding chord. So at this point it would be a great idea to go back to your court exercises in earlier lessons and go over your four-step method for making your chords sound better. As well as the earlier exercises where you have your 23 chord changing exercises that you do with your metronome. And also don't forget about the memory. Exercise where you close your eyes and test your muscle memory by seeing if you can reach for your courts and get them. So please go back and substitute these new chords with those earlier exercises to help support your learning. Have patients, you can do this. Happy practicing. 26. Section 6 - Lesson 2 - Feature Song + Rhythm Pattern 4: I'm going to give you some practice right now with rhythm pattern for, as well as your new chord F. We're going to do an old traditional Gaelic tune called red haired boy, which dates back at least to the early 1800s, and goes by a couple of different names. Little beggar boy and the red haired Irishman. It's a tune that Ray and I used to flat pick and harmony together, which was always a lot of fun. The tune of features, the chords G, C, D, and F. So let's review rhythm pattern for, for these courts. You'll remember that rhythm pattern for involves plucking the bass note of the chord and then storming down from there. So in the case of g, we're looking for the sixth string, which happens to be a genome. So it looks and sounds like this one. In the case of c, we're looking for the fifth string, which is a C node one. And then D is our fourth string open, which is a D node y. And then f fourth string, which happens to be an f node. So that's where the pattern for. You'll also notice in the Song chart that there are a couple of measures were two chords share a measure. In one case there's a G, then a C, and in another case there's a D than a G. So in the case of g then c, it's going to look and sound like this one. I'll do that again. In the case of D then G, it's going to look and sound like this. There are also a couple of measures in the song where a whole notes drum is called for. And so you will see the whole note slash symbol that we reviewed in an earlier lesson. So keep an eye out for those whole notes slashes in the Song chart. And they occur once over and F. Once over a seat. Wherever you see them in the Song chart, you want to strum that cord through all its strings and then hold it for a count of four. So over f it would look and sound like this. 34 and oversee it would look and sound like this. 34. You're also going to notice that there are two panels in the video. Once again, I want you to follow the top panel because that's where I'll be doing rhythm pattern for. And also feel free to slow down the playback speed if you wish. So let's play red haired boy. 27. Section 6 - Lesson 3 - Feature Song + Rhythm Pattern 4: We're going to continue with rhythm pattern for in this lesson. And also give you a chance to try out your new chord B. I've chosen a traditional American tune for this lesson called Forky deer, which dates back to 1839, also goes by a couple of other names, such as hounds in the horn and Bragg's retreat. I really loved this tune because Ray and I used to do a really pretty arrangement of it onto guitars. I've changed the key of this tune on purpose, just so that you have an opportunity to practice your B chord. So the Tune, we'll feature the chords E, a, and B. So let's have a look at rhythm pattern for over these three chords. And we'll start with the E chord. For e, you're going to be looking for your sixth string open and then strumming down from there. So it will look and sound like this. One. For a, you're going to be looking for your fifth string open and then strumming down from there. One. For B, you're going to be looking for your fourth string and then strumming down from there. So that's rhythm pattern for, for E, a, and B. You'll notice in this tune that there are a couple of measures were two chords share a measure. In one instance, even a shares are measured and in another instance be the niche error measure. So in the case of E then a, it will look and sound like this one and do that again. One. In the case of B than E, it will look and sound like this one, and I'll do that again. 12. So there are definitely a few quicker changes in this tune. It might be worthwhile to practice those measures separately before you try the whole tune out. Once again, there's going to be two panels in the video. And I'd like you to follow the top panel because that's where I'll be streaming rhythm pattern for. And that's what I'd like you to follow. And also feel free to slow the playback speed down on the video if you so wish. Let's try for Key deer. 28. Section 6 - Lesson 4 - Rhythm Pattern 5 + Feature Song: In this lesson, I'm going to show you a new rhythm pattern. We're going to have some practice with the new chord, a minor. And I'm going to show you what a cape O is for. But let's start with the new rhythm pattern. Up until now, all of the rhythm patterns that I've shown to you have been designed for, for, for time. This particular rhythm pattern is designed for 34 time. And so it's going to count out like this, 123123. And if I play that over the new chord, a minor, it will look and sound like this. So for this rhythm pattern, the first drum is a downstream on the first beat. One, followed by two beats which are down, up, down, up again. So if I bring this altogether, it should look and sound something like this. 134 time is sometimes referred to as whilst time because it has that characteristic waltz or lullaby feel to it, which is very beautiful. The song that we're going to play this waltz time with this 34 time with is eight. Advise from the movie, The Sound of Music. And it's going to feature the chords C, G, D, F, and a minor. Now the song is written in this key, but it's not quite ideal for my singing voice. And so we're going to use a capo to effectively raise the key by a half step. Now there's many different designs and brands of k pose out there. This is one of the cable is that I have. And I do use it from time to time. However, capable that I prefer to use is this particular Keiko, which is a shopkeeper. And the reason I like it is because it applies more even pressure on the strings, which prevents my strings from going so much out of tune. I do use it. So I find that I don't have to tune my guitar so much when I place this capa one. So it's designed to be clamped on the neck of the guitar, which I'll show you in a moment. It has a rubber bit here. This is the bit that goes against the strings and has a screw it back to adjust the tension that you may need to put on on your neck of your guitar. So minus setup, so that there's the right amount of pressure for the neck of my guitar. And in this case, because we're going to place it on the first fret. It's going to go right behind the first fret bar. I'm going to place this rubber bit right behind the first fret bar, just like that. And I'm going to hold it in place with my finger. And then I'm going to clap it up the back. Just like that. Then I'm going to test out all the strings to make sure there's no buzzes happening. Okay, so I have the right amount of pressure. I don't have any buzzing. So essentially, this is the not have your guitar, which you know already. But when you use a cable, this effectively becomes the new nut of your guitar. So all of your chords and all of your planning will be referenced from this K pole now, as opposed to the nut, you play your chords just as you would. You just play as though this is the nut of your guitar. And now I've raised the key by half a step. In a future course, I will be going over in much more detail what a key is and what it means to raise or lower a key. But for now, just know that this is a cable. We've placed it on the first fret. It's raised the key of the song by half a step, which is going to make it easier for me to sink. Get your cords ready, practice your rhythm pattern, and get a cable if you haven't already, they're not that expensive. You can get them at all guitar stores. And let's play ALL buys. 123123 and hey, hey, oh, hey. 29. Congratulations - You Did It!: Congratulations on completing the beginner guitar. Chords and rhythm patterns. Level one, you did it. And now you have a good solid foundation for us to be able to continue this guitar journey together. I invite you to check out some of the other courses that I'm offering, including Level two of this course, where it will have the opportunity to explore some minor chords, seventh chords, some more involved rhythm patterns and great songs. And I'll continue to add in just the right amount of music theory to help support your guitar journey. Now that you've finished Level one, I want to remind you that there is an optional video exchange that you can do with me if you so wish. It's an opportunity for you to send to me a short video no more than about 15 minutes along with your questions. And I'll return to you another video with some guidance and coaching. I really hope that you'll take advantage of this because I'd love to see how you're doing. You're doing great. You've made it this far, and I'm really looking forward to spending time with you in my other guitar courses. I'll see you soon.