Fender Play Acoustic Guitar Essentials

1. Welcome to Fender Play Acoustic Guitar Essentials: Welcome to Fender Play acoustic guitar Essentials. In these courses, you'll learn the fundamental skills needed to unlock thousands of iconic songs. Fender Play Essentials is a guided online learning program with bite size lessons for beginners. Our curriculum is designed the short lessons that will get you playing right away. So in these courses, you'll learn how to hold an acoustic guitar, how to hold the pick, how to play your first notes, how to tune, how to read tableture, and you'll learn how to play five essential chords. Let's get started. 2. Posture: How to Hold the Acoustic Guitar and Pick: And this lesson we'll learn how to comfortably hold the acoustic guitar in a seated position, and then we'll cover how to hold a guitar pick. Let's start off by talking about how to hold your acoustic guitar with good posture. First, you're going to want to sit up straight at the edge of your chair or in this case, a couch. You want your feet planted firmly on the floor. You want to make sure you're in a good chair or couch that's ideally without arms so that you can move around without bumping your guitar. All right, make sure and place the guitar on your thigh where it meets the hip, hug it close to your body, and drape your arm over the top. This is going to help support the instrument. It's very important here that when you're playing guitar, you want to make sure that you're comfortable. One way to do this straighten up your posture whenever you catch yourself slouching. Now that you're holding the guitar body correctly, let's get the guitar neck in alignment. You want to first angle the guitar neck out away from you just about 30 degrees. Next, you want to make sure that the headstock right here is a little bit higher than parallel to the ground and that your elbow is below your wrist but not resting on your leg. This is going to help you play with a straight wrist. Right now, let's take a look at how to hold a guitar pick. You want to make sure and hold it with your thumb and index finger. You can think of the pick as an extension of your index finger. Hold your fingers fairly close to the tip, not too far back. You want to be sure that the tip is pointing straight in line with your index finger and that you create a T across it with your thumb. Make sure and hold the pick firmly, but allow it to move or flex just a little as you pick notes or strum chords. You want to keep your wrist nice and loose, but with pressure steady on the string so the pick doesn't flop around. If you occasionally drop the pick, don't worry about it. Just pick it up, keep playing again. There you go. That's it. Now you know how to hold your guitar and pick. And furthermore, you've got some tips for playing with an excellent form. Time to start playing. 3. Pick a String on Acoustic Guitar: Get more familiar with your guitar strings while developing your strum hand technique. Remember your strings are identified by their numbers, first string to sixth string, which is high E to low E, and by their letter names, E B, G, D, A and E. And if it helps, you can recall a silly sentence like Easter bunnies Get dizzy at Easter. Let's practice picking each string while calling out the note names. It's a little game I like to call say it and play. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to play each string four times like this. We'll play E, E, E, E B, B, B, B, and we'll go through all six descending from the first string to the sixth string. Ready? One, two, ready. Go and E, E E, E and B, B, B, B, GGG D, D, D, D and A, A, A, A and E. E, E. Great. Now let's say it and play it ascending from low E to high E. One, two. Ready, go and E. A, A, A, A, D, D, D, D G, G, G, G, B, B, B, B and E. E, E, E. Excellent. We're not done yet. Let's go descending once more, but this time we'll pick each string just two times. One, two. Ready. Go and E. B. G D. A. E. Excellent. Now let's go ascending. Ready? Go and E. A, D, G, B and E. Playing each string individually will really help you to get more comfortable with your instrument. 4. Get Ready to Tune: Oh. Let's talk about the basics of tuning. In this lesson, we'll cover different types of tuners, string tension and pitch, and how to turn the tuning pegs on your guitar to change the pitch. So what is a tuner? A tuner is a device that recognizes the pitch of each guitar string as it is picked. It then displays this information to show us whether a string's pitch is too high, too low, or in tune. It's important to tune your guitar every time you play to make sure that the notes, chords, and songs you're learning sound right. A tuner is the fastest and most accurate way for you to get this done. There are many different types of tuners out there, but let's walk through three of the most common ones, starting with tuning apps on your mobile device. These use the built in microphone to listen to the sound of the guitar strings. Also very popular are clip on tuners, which attach to your headstock and feel the vibrations caused when you pick the guitar strings. Sound is vibration, and each note vibrates at a different rate of speed. Lastly, built in tuners. Some guitars even come with a tuner already built in. These work the same way as a clip on tuner, but are built right into the electronics of the instrument itself. Regardless of the type of tuner you use, they all do the same thing. Tune. The concept of tuning the guitar is really pretty simple. Each string needs to be adjusted to its designated note or pitch. You'll turn the tuning pegs to tune your guitar, and you can only go in two directions. You'll tighten the string to raise the pitch. Just don't tighten too much or the string may break. And loosen the string to lower the pitch. Ah. It can get confusing to know what is up and down and high and low when working with different guitars. So let's walk through that. We are going to learn how to turn the pegs. The tuning pegs are attached to the headstock, and there are two common types of peg placements, inline and three by three. Pegs all on one side are technically known as inline tuning pegs, like on this Stratocaster. To tighten the string or raise the pitch, turn the knob away from you. This is counterclockwise if you're looking down at the headstock. To loosen the string or lower the pitch, turn the knob toward you. This is clockwise if you're looking down at the headstock. Oh. The direction for tightening and loosening the strings will be the same for all six strings. Pegs on both sides of the headstock are called three by three tuning pegs. Here, I've got an acoustic guitar with three by three tuning pegs. On this type of guitar, the top three pegs turn in the same direction as a guitar with line tuning pegs. But you'll need to reverse the direction on the bottom three pegs. With the top pegs, tighten or raise the pitch by turning the pegs away from you. Loosen or lower the pitch by moving them towards you. With the bottom pegs, it's the opposite. Tighten or raise the pitch by turning the pegs towards you. Loosen or lower the pitch by turning them away from you. The most important thing to do while tuning your guitar is to listen. Be sure to pick the string that you're tuning regularly so that you can hear the change in pitch as you tune. That way you won't go too far in either direction, and you won't necessarily have to memorize which way to turn the pegs. In time, your ears will help guide you. See you next time. 5. How to Fret Notes: In this lesson, we will learn what frets are and the proper finger placement on frets. Frets are the narrow pieces of metal wire laid across the front of the neck of your guitar. This is the nut. The nut is not a fret. The metal wire next to the nut is the first fret. As we move along the fretboard, we will then get to the second fret. Then the third fret, and then the fourth fret, and so on. You may also notice the position markers, which are dots or designs falling between a number of the frets on your guitar. You may also see these on the top side of the neck. These can be used to locate a fret faster. Most guitars have them. They usually can be found behind the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth fret, with a single dot on your guitar. You may see a double dot behind the 12th fret. Now that we know how frets are labeled, let's learn how to fret notes properly. We'll start by going over the names of our fingers we use to fret notes. We have our index finger, which is our first finger, our middle finger, our second finger, our ring finger, which is our third finger, and last our pinky finger, our fourth finger. We won't count our thumb as it usually rests behind the neck, supporting the other fingers. Now, let's look at how to place the fingers to fret and note properly. We'll start on the high E string and use our first finger or index finger to press down on the first fret. Here are some tips to help fret a note. Imagine making an okay sign with your first finger. Now, squeeze or pinch the thumb and index finger together. Bring that okay shape onto the fretboard with the thumb behind the neck and your index finger between the nut and the first fret on the high e string. Squeeze the string down onto the fretboard. Your thumb should be centered on the back of the fretboard, not too high and not too low. Keep the wrist straight and the elbow tucked close to the body. Press down with your fingertip right behind the fret wire, not on the fret wire. If you press on the fret, it will sound muffled like this. And if you press further away, you have to press harder. Keep it right behind the fret to get a clear sound. Try to keep your index finger curled and use your finger tip. Now, let's play the note with the down pick. Now, let's try fretting the second fret with our second or middle finger. Squeeze and pinch your middle finger and have your thumb help balance the support behind the neck. Let's play the note with a down pick. Let's play the third fret with our third or ring finger. Press down with your fingertip behind the fret. Make sure to add enough pressure to get sound. Let's play the note with a down pick. Finally, let's play the fourth fret with our fourth or pinky finger. Our pinky is probably our weakest finger, and it will require practice to develop strength. For now, just do your best. Let's play the note with a down pick. Fretting notes will require some patience, but with a little practice, it will soon become second nature. Until next time, Happy practicing. 6. Read Tablature: What's up, guys. It's your instructor Taylor, G here. And I'm ready to show you something that's going to help you. If you're struggling with reading music. It's called tableture. The six lines represent the six strings on the guitar, and the numbers just indicate where you're going to place your fingers on the fretboard. So the top line is our high E string. Then we've got our B string. G D. A. And you guessed it, we got that low E on the bottom. Now, we read tabs from left to right like this. So we on our high E string. Now, we're taking those fret numbers, the numbers that you see on the tabs, and that's where you're going to place your finger on the fretboard. So let's try an example. If I saw a one on the top line, which is a high Etring, I would take my index finger and place it on the first fret. Okay. Now, if I saw a three on the second line, then I would just take my finger and place it on the third fret of the B string. Pretty simple, right? Now, if you saw a zero, what does that mean? That's an open string. So if I saw a zero on the third line, that would be an open G. So let's try an example. So if you saw a four and it was on the fourth line, which is our D string, you're just going to simply take our index finger and we're gonna place it on the fourth fret of the D string. Now, slide it back to the two, which is our second. Same string. Second friend. Now let's play an open A, right? You see that zero there? Very simple, and it's understood by guitarists and bassist all over the world. So if you were to show your friends this, they could get it, too, and you guys can learn songs together. So, I hope you enjoyed this and you take this along on your guitar journey. I'll see you next time. 7. Strum in Time: Strumming songs on the guitar involves knowing how long to play and when to switch chords. We'll be using a basic one finger G chord, and we'll be practicing whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes. A whole note lasts for four counts. We're going to tap our foot along to the beat and strum a basic G chord on the first count and let it ring out for the remaining three. One, two, three, four. A half note lasts for two counts. Tap your foot along to the beat and strum your basic G chord every two counts. One, two, three, four. A quarter note only lasts for one count. Tap your foot along to the beat with your basic G chord and strum on every count. One, two, three. Now you've learned how to strum in time using whole notes, half notes, and quarter notes. Keep on counting. 8. One-Finger Chords: I'm going to show you how to play some one finger chords. First off, what's a chord? A chord is a combination of different notes that are played at the same time. How do you do that on the guitar? You strum more than one string at the same time. So, for example, I can strum three strings all at once. Some chords require four, five. And sometimes all six. The first chord I want to show you is a G chord. So take your ring finger or third finger and put it on the third fret of your high E string right here. So this is your G chord, and you're going to strum three strings, the three highest sounding strings of the guitar. It sounds like this. So once again, G chord, first string or high E, third fret. The second chord is the C chord. The C chord, we're going to use the first finger on the first fret not of high E, but the next string, the B string. This one is also just strumming three strings. And what happens commonly here is your index finger might relax too much, and you might accidentally mute the first string when you strum. Like that. Just do your best to arch your index finger playing right on the tip of the finger. Keep in mind that okay sign with the index finger tip and the thumb pinching together, thumb behind the neck, of course, and there's our Secord. So let's go back to the G chord. Once again, third fret of the high E string. Three strings. Again, you may accidentally hit four strings, five strings. For now, that's okay 'cause you're concentrating on your fretting hand. And as you practice, you'll get more control of your strum hand. 9. Read a Chord Diagram: Diagram is a way for you to read music based on finger shapes. How do you read one? The diagram has lines that are going up and down and lines going across. The lines going across represent your frets. The top line, the thicker line is actually the nut of the guitar, but the one directly below it is your first fret, followed by the second, third, and the fourth. The lines going up and down represent your guitar strings. So from left to right, E, A, D, G, B, and hi E. The next thing to look for are dots, and the dots on the diagram tell you where to place your fingers. So, for example, your one finger G chord, take your third finger and put it on the third fret of Hi E. That's where the dots located. Right there. Next, look at the top of the diagram for the Xs or the O's. The O's tell you which strings to strum open. So with a one finger G cord, we strum three strings. If you see an X, the xs indicate which strings to avoid. So if there's an X above E, A or D, we won't strum that, so we just stick with the Os and then the dots on the fretboard itself. It's literally as though the guitar is hanging off the wall and you're looking straight at the fretboard. 10. First-Time Chord: D: This lesson, we'll review what a chord is and learn how to play another one of the most commonly used chords, the standard decord. A chord is a group of notes that are played at the same time. On the guitar, we strum multiple strings while holding different chord shapes with our fret hand like this. The Dcord uses three fingers, just like the G and C, but the shape is different. So let's learn how to play this chord. Take your index finger and place it on the second fret of the G string, third string. Your middle finger is going to go to the second fret of the high E string. So there's a string in between, and your ring finger is going to be on the third fret of that B string. You're going to string four strings, beginning with your open D string. Let's look at the decord from another angle. So your index finger is going to go to the second fret of the G string, middle fingers on the second fret of high E, and your ring fingers on the third fret of the B string. Strum four strings down. Now you know how to play the decord. Remember, new chords always take time to get used to, so keep practicing. 11. First Time Chord: Em: In this lesson, we'll review what a chord is, and I will show you how to play the E minor chord two different ways. Accord is a combination of notes played at the same time. To play chords on the guitar, we strum multiple strings while holding various finger shapes in our fret hand. So let's learn how to play an E minor chord. We only need two fingers to play this chord. We'll place our index finger on the second fret of the A string, the fifth string. Then we'll place our middle finger on the second fret of the D string, the fourth string. We'll strum all six strings from the low E to the high E. Be sure your fingers are arched off the open strings and your thumb is pointed up behind the neck so that all the nodes clearly ring out. Let's take our fingers off the neck and try building that cord again. Index finger on the second fret of the A string, and the middle finger on the second fret of the D string. Make sure your fingers are right behind the fret, not on top and not too far back. Strum six strings down. Let's see this cord from another angle. Index finger on the second fret of the A string, middle finger on the second fret of the D string. Sometimes it makes sense to have different fingering options for the same chord. You may want to use a different fingering option depending on what other chords you are also playing. Let's try playing that same E minor chord with a different fingering. We'll use the same frets, but now we'll use our middle and ring fingers. Start by placing your middle finger on the second fret of the A string. Then your ring finger on the second fret of the D string will strum all six strings. Let's take your fingers off the guitar and try building that chord again. Middle finger on the second fret of the A string, and our ring finger on the second fret of that D string. Make sure to arch your fingers and place them right behind the fret. Strum six strings down. Let's see this one from over my shoulder. Middle finger on the second fret of the A string. Ring finger on the second fret of the D string. The chord symbol for an E minor chord actually has two parts. The chord root tells us the note of the chord is built. In this case, an E node. The chord suffix tells us the chord quality, I E major versus minor. Major chords don't use a chord suffix. Minor chords must be accompanied by the suffix lowercase M. That's the E minor chord, keep working on it, and we'll see you next time. 12. First Time Chord: Am: Let's learn how to play an A minor chord. Here's what it sounds like. We'll need three fingers to play this chord. We'll put our first finger on the first fret of the B string, our second finger on the second fret of the D string, and our third finger on the second fret of the G string. We'll strum five strings down from the open string. Be sure your fingers are arched and your thumb is pointed up behind the neck. So now let's take our fingers off the guitar and try building that chord again. So first finger goes to the first fret of the B string, second finger goes to the second fret of the D string, and third finger goes to the second fret of the G string. Make sure your fingers are right behind the fret and not on top or too far back. Strum five strings down. Now, let's look at this cord from over the shoulder, as well. Remember, first finger to the first fret of the B string, second finger to the second fret of the D string, and third finger to the second fret of the G string. And that's how you play the A minor chord. 13. Ear Training: Major or Minor: Hey, everybody. I'm Jensen with fender play. You feel like practicing some ear training with me? Okay, let's go. So you might have noticed by now, but major chords sound happy and bright. Oh, yes. That's A major. Whereas minor chords usually sound darker or sad. That's a minor. So do you think you can tell the difference just by listening? I'm going to strum a few examples and see if you can tell if they're major or minor. Okay? You ready for this first one? Here we go. What are you thinking? Major or minor. That one was major, E major. Okay, let's try another one. Interesting, interesting. Happy or sad. Mmm. That one was A minor. Okay, here's the last one. How are you feeling? Happy or sad. That one was Major. G major. Okay, so how did you do? Now, training your ears to recognize different chords and pitches is an important skill to start developing. Just keep at it and try picking the notes of the ord slowly to really hear the difference. 14. Congratulations!: Congratulations on completing the Fender Play essentials. You've now got the skills to play thousands of iconic songs. But why stop now? Whether you want to play rhythm, lead, learn song, scales, theory, make history, or you just want to make some noise, continue with more learning by downloading the Fender Play app or head over to fender.com forward slash PLA.