Transcripts
1. Welcome to the course: Hey. Welcome to the
guitar Learning Roadmap. Your step by step guide for learning guitar
the right way. Even if you're just starting
completely from scratch. My name is Karim, and I'm a self taught guitarist and
a multi instrumentalist. I created this course because I understand how frustrating it can be to piece things together
from random tutorials, only to feel stuck, confused, or like you're not making
any real progress. I've been there. This class is all about giving
you a clear path. You're going to learn
how music works through simple systems like the major
scale, the number system, and the cage system,
so you can actually understand exactly what you're doing and not just
memorize shapes. By the end of this course, you'll be able to play essential
chords and real songs, strum confidently and in time, recognize progressions by ear, and navigate the
fretboard with freedom. Whether your goal is to play worship music, jam with friends, or eventually go pro, this course will be the
foundation that you need. All you need is your guitar, 1 hour a day, and the
desire to improve. So let's get started. I'll
see you in the first lesson.
2. Class Project: For the class project,
the challenge is simple. Choose a chord progression that we'll cover in this course, like a 145 or a 1564 and record yourself
playing it on your guitar. You can use one of the
strumming patterns that we'll cover in this course, or create your own
strumming pattern or your own rhythm,
your own progression. Now, this doesn't
have to be perfect. The goal is to show
what you've learned, have some fun, and most of
all, build some confidence. Once you've recorded your video, upload your video to
the project section. I'd love to check
it out, provide some encouragement
and some feedback. Remember, progress comes from
doing, not just watching. So grab your guitar, hit record, and let's see what you've got.
3. Anatomy of the Guitar : Before we even begin
to start playing chords and notes and scales
and everything else, let's first get familiar
with this instrument. Here, we have the headstock. On the headstock, you'll
find tuning pegs, which we use to tighten
and loosen the strings. The strings run from the headstock along
the neck to the body. The neck is where
your fret board lies, and the fret board is denoted by the spaces and
these metal pieces which are known as frets. Each space represents a note. Each string also
represents a note. And once you start
to fret the string, you change the note as you continue up or
down the fret board. Here you have the body,
and because this is an electric guitar,
you'll find pickups. You'll find the bridge, the pickup selector switch, the volume and tone knobs. Here I have a Whammy
bar or tremolo bar, and you'll find your input jack.
4. Posture when playing the guitar : Talk about your posture, and this might sound a
little bit boring, but it's really important. You want to ensure
that you sit straight. Your guitar is relaxed, and you do that by ensuring that the guitar sits
on your right leg, if you're right handed, if you're left
handed and you have a left hand guitar
on your left leg, you want to ensure that your
shoulders are very relaxed. And as for your hand, you want to ensure that you grip the fretboard as if you're
gripping a tennis ball. Keep your thumb on
the back of the neck. And keep your fingers
as loose as possible. If you throw your thumb over, you actually slow yourself down, so you want to ensure
that your thumb is, you know, loosely placed
on the back of the neck, which allows you to move up and down and vertically very freely. So the aim here is
comfort and efficiency. Bad habits lead to pain
and poor technique later. So let's build good
habits from the start.
5. Tuning the guitar : Get in tune literally. Tuning your guitar should be
like brushing your teeth. It should be something
you do every single day. Even a perfectly played chord will sound awful if
it's out of tune. Let's go ahead and
detune this guitar, and then we're going to tune up. But before we do
that, let's talk about string numbers and their names because
that's very important. So the strings are numbered
from the ground up. So the closest to the floor,
you have your first string, then your second string, then the third string, fourth string, the fifth string, and
the closest one to your face or to you would
be the sixth string. The names of these notes are E, B, G, D, A, and your low E. And
our easy way to remember this is from the top going down, Eddie
eight dynamite. Good by Eddie. So if you're trying to remember
the names of the strings, Eddie eight dynamite. Good by Eddie. Alright, so let's go
ahead and de tune, and we'll be using an up from the app store to
actually tune or guitar. So to tune your guitar, you can use a clip on
tuner or a tuning up. For this lesson, I'll be using a tuning app that I
found in the app store. However, tuning
is really simple. All you need to do is
play the open strings and adjust your tuning pegs until the tuner says
that you're in tune. So let's find our high E string. So you want to get in
the habit of tuning your guitar every single
time before you practice. You'll train your ear and
sound better every time.
6. The Major scale: That we're in tune, let's
talk about the major scale. The major scale is
a seven note scale, and it's the foundation from
which you learn chords, other scales, and
songs in general. How do you play the major scale? You might have heard growing up, Do reme for solo, Ted. No, that's actually
the major scale, but let's apply it
to this instrument. Let's start with
our sixth string. Now, the formula for the
major scale is simple, regardless of where you start. So from any point, it's two hole steps and
then a half step, then three whole steps, and then another half step. What's a half step? A half step is your next immediate note. So you can go a half step up or you can go
a half step down. Now, in the case of scales, we're always going
in ascending order, and then you can descend
the scales if you wish. However, we build scales
in an ascending order. So first, two hole steps
and two halves make a hole. So from any point, two whole steps then half step. Then three hole steps. And then a half step again. Now, if I were to change strings or start at a
different location, the formula remains the same. What if I wanted to play it vertically instead
of horizontally? Here's the pattern
that you need to know. And you'll notice it stays the same on the sixth string on the fifth string where I'm going in increments
of whole steps. Once I get to my fourth string, it's really a half
step movement. And it's a half step that's right below where I
would start normally, however, slightly over
to the next fret. So in the case or A major scale, seeing that this note is A, I have A, B, C sharp, D, E, F sharp, my final note, which is G sharp, then back to A again. Now, this is just one way of playing the scale as
another pattern would go. Let me go again. Here's
another pattern. All these patterns are movable. So once you start at any point, the pattern really
remains the same until you get to your B string, which is your second
string because the tuning shifts as you
go further down. Mm. Oh
7. The Number System Part 1: So now that we've
identified the major scale, it's time to talk about
the number system. And the number
system is a way to assign numbers to your
notes instead of names. This allows for you to communicate easily
with other musicians. It also allows for you to find exactly where you
are very easily on the guitar and change keys without having to
go through the process of learning the names of every single note
on your fretboard. While the notes are important, the number system is
really a sure fire way and an easy and quick way to avoid the fatigue of
trying to figure out exactly where you are
notewise at all times. For example, let's play our major scale and
assign a note, a number. Back to our A major scale, we have A, B, C sharp, D, E, F sharp, G
sharp, and E again. I mean, A again. So let's assign numbers
starting from one, which would be our root
position or first note, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and the scale
would start over at one again. Now, the number
system is really, really important, and I
can't stress this enough, as it's going to be
the basis for you, not just learning your
skills, but chords, building chords, and again, communicating what's happening
with other musicians. Another quick tip about
the number system in terms of playing your
chords and why this pattern that I'm showing
you is so important is you can now build chords
on each degree of the scale. So my one would be
this two is a minor. M three is also a minor chord, my four a major, my five a major, M six, a minor. And then my seven is half diminished or
a diminished triad. And then back to my one again. In the case of the
scale, though, where the note is here, this would be my seven
chord and back to my one. But we'll get to that in
the next couple of lessons.
8. Knowing the key part 1: In music, a key is a set of notes and chords that a
song is built around. It gives the song its tonal
center or a home base. Each key is built on a scale. And as for scales, the most
common types are major, which you would have just
learned and the minor scale. Now, for example,
in the key of C, C major would be Mm hmm. Now, if you remember
the number system, we have one, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, one again. A minor is also a key. So the key of A minor or a minor scale pattern
would look like this. And no matter where you move it on the guitar, it
would look the same. So songs usually feel
like they resolve or come home when they
land on the root note. And a quick example
of this would be That very last note kind of gives everything I was playing
some sort of resolution. It feels at home. Knowing your key helps you
to choose the right chords. It also helps you to improvise playing melodies and solos and know finally what notes would be right to
play in what context.
9. The 5 types of chords: No, let's talk about cards. Firstly, a chord, by definition, is a group of notes that
are played together. Once it's two or more notes, it's considered a chord. A arpeggio is a broken chord, which means the
notes form a chord, but they aren't played
at the same time. Now, there are five
types of chords. There are major
chords, minor chords, dominant chords, diminished
chords, and augmented chords. And let's go through
each one of those to identify what they look like
and what they sound like. Firstly, here you
have a major chord, and I'll be playing
in the key of C. Now, based on our major scale, a major chord is
really just a one, the three, and the five.
That's our major chord. A minor chord happens
when you take a major chord and you drop
the third by a half step, or you flatten the third, which gives you this sound. Now, what's a dominant chord? A dominant chord occurs when
you add the dominant seven, and the dominant seven is
actually the flatted seventh. So it's not the seventh
from the major scale, but you simply take
the seven from the major scale and
drop it a half step. So that would give
us this sound. And you'll notice that
while I play the arpeggio, when I'm playing the chord, I'm ignoring that five simply because I'm using my second
string to play the seven. I could drop my five on octave, which means eight notes down. That's an octave
dropping, right? You could also go octave up. But in this case, let's drop our five on Octave so that we have all three notes along
with our dominant seven. Let's see what that sounds like. Mm. No, a diminished chord is really just a stack
of minor thirds. So let's take or minor chord. But instead of keeping or five, we're going to drop or
five a half step to create a minor third between or
flat three and or five. So it's a one, a flat
three, and a flat five. So your diminished
triad is your one, your flat three,
and your flat five. And finally, your augmented
cord is a major cord, however, it has a raised fifth. So all of this again, guys, is your number system. So you go one, three, five, and you're
raising that five. So now you know the five types of cards and you've heard
what they sound like. You might want to watch
this video over again to get familiar with the sounds
of these various cards, and we'll have some ear
training exercises later in this course to help
you to familiarize yourself with the
sound of these cards.
10. 3 Triad Shapes to learn : I want to teach you
three major triads. The first one is one you've
seen me play already. One, three, and five. And here, I'm actually
starting on my tenth foot. So my third finger is in the tenth foot on
my fourth string. My second finger is
in the ft behind it, the ninth foot on
the third string, and my first finger is on the second string
and the eighth foot. And again, this shape is one
that you can move anywhere. Mm hm. So this is the first way
to play a major chord. However, because you have what
we call triad inversions, a triad has two inversions. And what this means is there are two other ways to
order these notes. You can start by playing
the third first. So it would be three, five, and then the one on the top, or you can start
with the five first, and then the one
and then the three. So let's actually play that. Here's what happens if
I start with my three. So this is a three and then
the five, and then the one. Let's go back to or first
position or root position. Let's go down to the five. One, seven, six,
five, one, three. You'll notice I'm barring these three strings
with one finger. So all of these positions, all three positions,
All three positions play the same C major chord, and they consist
of the same notes. The other two triad positions are what I really
want to show you. Just go to 513 here. And this one is really
easy as you're simply just barring the three
strings with one finger. I would have taught
you this one already. So let's go to our
second position with or three on the
top. How do I find it? I start with my
major scale, one, two, three, so I know
that here's my three. This is my five, because
if I go with the scale again, here's my five. And then this is my one. So I'm playing
these three notes. And it's very easy and
comfortable for me to borrow it, but you don't have to borrow it. You could just play I
find it easier to bor, though, because when I'm
borrowing it and I'm trying to move from
one fret to another, it's easier to slide
for me with the bar. But practice makes perfect. So again, efficiency
and comfort. Right. So that would cover the three triad shapes
that you need to learn.
11. 3 Triad Shapes part 2 : Remember earlier, you would
have learned that there are three major chords in each
key. There's the one. There's the four and the five. So we're still in the K of C, and the four for C is F, which you would find in the
same fret, one string down. So C being our root
in the same fret, here's our F. Now, because this is a major chord and you'd have already
learned three inversions, that means you can play
the F from right here. Seeing that one is here, based on the shape that we would have learned where
one is in the middle, you instead of going
all the way down here, you could play this
position here for your F. Back to RC. So I'll use my
third finger to bar the frit when I'm playing
the F chord, my fourth. Because my four is here. And my one is here,
I have a five here. I could play a five
chord like this. But instead of moving up, I want to keep everything in this little box of three notes. So I'm going to play my
five. That's right here. And we already know a position based on
the second inversion. With the five on the top. So all I'm going to do from
my one is move down a half step and play that
second in version, which gives me the five chord
as my funding or root note. So playing all
those three chords together, going to the four, back to the one,
and then the five oh I want you to pay
close attention now. If this is our four chord
with our four in the middle, it also then means that
if I go up a whole step, I can get my five chord
with my five in the middle. Because between the four and the five, there's
a whole step. Let's go over the scale again
just to illustrate that. Here's my one, two, whole step, then half step between the three and
four. Whole step 4-5. Whole step 5-6. Oh so
4-5, there's a holestep. It also then means that if this is my one and I
play my five here, I can bring this
down a whole step. So let's go to ho steps. First one, then here. And this is also my four. So now, we have access to
three chords four or one. The chords, four or four. On three chords, four or five. So by learning your inversions and learning those
three inversions, you'd have just
learned nine chords, and those cards are
going to be really, really important, especially for rhythm and even lead playing. They'll definitely
help you to figure out exactly where you
are and where you're trying to get to
without having to do too much work moving
from here to all the way down here when you
could just move a few notes and find the
exact sound that you want.
12. Minor Triad Shapes: That we've talked about the major treads and
their inversions, let's quickly look at the minor threads and
their inversions. And this is really simple. Let's take our root
position here. And if you remember, from
the chord theory, listen, a minor chord happens
when you take the third and drop
it a half step. So here's our third, which
falls on our second finger, and we'll drop it a half step. And that gives us a minor chord. Let's apply this to
the other inversions. So let's look at the
first inversion. We're taking this same approach where we find the first
inversion of the major chard. And because it's a
first inversion, the third is on the top, so we're going to simply
drop it to half step. Back to our root position one. Let's find the second inversion
for the minor position. So here we have
the root position. The first inversion? No, the second inversion happens with the
five at the top. And then you'd have the root and then the third
at the bottom. No, this gives us
the major shape. You know, the minor
shape would be dropping the third
down a half step, and gives us a shape
similar to the E shape.
13. Chord Progressions: Let's talk about
chord progressions. A progression really
speaks to how a song progresses
over chord changes. One of the most common chord
progressions is the 251, and it's probably the most
common chord progression. Another common chord
progression is a 736, which is quite similar to a 251. However, you could consider it a 251 in a minor key, right? And we could get to that
later in the course. You also have a 514, and I'd like to group
all those progressions together and give you one
really long progression. And think of it and memorize it like you would
a phone number. It's literally going to be the single most
important progression, as you can pull small
aspects from it 473 6251. Again, 473 6251. For now, start remembering
that progression, but we'll come to why it's so important later in this course.
14. The CAGED System: Now that we've covered triads. The next important concept we need to cover is
the caged system. The cage system
really stands for the five most
important cards that you need to know in order
to get bar cards right, but also to navigate the
fretboard very easily. These cards are C, A, G, E and D, hence the word caged. Now, I'll be showing
you how to actually create those open
cords and how to apply the cage system to your plane to navigate the
fretboard effectively.
15. Open C Chord: First cord in the cage system is C. And let's focus on
the open cord first. No, to form the C open chord, you're going to use
your third finger on the fifth string
in the third fret. You're going to use
your second finger on the fourth string
in the second fret, and your first finger will be on the second string
in the first fret. You're playing everything
from your fifth string down. You could actually play your open E string as the E
is a part of the C chord. However, we want to
start the chord from its root node being C. Remember, if you hear any form
of string buzzing, it may mean that
you need to adjust your fingers or press down a little bit more
on the strings. Play each string individually to ensure that you're not
getting any unwanted noise.
16. Using the C Shape: As this is the C shape, what the cage system
actually tells us is that you can
start any cord using your third finger on
the fourth string in the second fret and
then your second finger in the first fret of
the second string. What this allows you to do is act as if your index finger, your first finger is the note, which is this thing here, which is barring
all six strings. That allows for the shape
to then be movable. So this C shape here becomes this cord And because I'm using
my pinky finger to start, I have my index finger free where I can
now move this cord, changing the name of the cord. So here we have a C cord. But if I go up a half
step, I have C sharp. Because I've gone
up a half step, I no need to bar the kt, pretending, again, as if my finger is the
knot or a couple. So this would be the shape, and then you can actually bring the shape up
another half step, keeping the very same
positions of your fingers, and then you'd have a D chord, bringing it up a half step, then you'd have a
D sharp or E flat. And you're naming
each chord based on the note that is
under your pinky. Here, you'd have an E chord. Here you have F, here
you have F sharp. After F sharp, you'd have J. After G, you have
G sharp or A flat. And after A flat, you have A.
17. Open A Chord: Now, let's talk
about the A chord. And this, to me, is probably
the easiest one to learn, as you simply need
to bar your fourth, third, and second strings. The actual shape would be
something like this where you have your first finger on the fourth string
in the second furt, your second finger, again, second fret what
the third string. And your third finger is on the second string,
again, second fret. And you start from
the fifth string. You know, this gives
you the A shape, which is also movable. And if you remember,
from the triads lesson, this shape, let's omit the fifth string and
the open E string. You realize that this shape is actually one of the triad shapes that you
would have learned. However, we simply played
it by borrowing the first.
18. Applying the A Chord: I hope you've already
noticed how to apply this open A shape based
on the child's lesson. You're barring your frit. So you're barring
these three strings, and then you're
going a whole step below and barring the
nut in this case, as this would actually be how you would play the A card
if the not weren't here. You're naming the
cards in this case, the open A string, which
is a fifth string. The moment you move
it down a half step, I now becomes B flat, and it's B flat because, again, you're naming the node based on the fifth
string, bringing it up. Here you have B, then C, then C sharp, D, D sharp, E, F, F sharp, G, G sharp or A flat. And then finally, an
octave off your A chord. The other thing I
should mention is, if you remember the pattern
is actually where you have the five and then the
one and then the third, what you're doing here, if you are getting
more familiar with the major scale is you're adding an additional one
as your root note. So instead of starting on the five by playing
these three notes, you've added the octave
of the one right here. So, no, this pattern gives you
a one here and a one here.
19. Open G Chord: Let's look at the J chord. The open J starts when you place your second finger on the third
fret of the sixth string. Your first finger goes on the fifth string in
the second fret, and your third finger goes on the first string
in the third fret. Again, based on the cage system, if you swap the finger positions
where you start freeing up your index finger by using your third finger
on the sixth string, your second finger
on the fifth string, and your pinky on
that first string, You now have a shape
that's movable. So again, a whole step down from or note here is
where or note would be. So if we were to bring
this up a whole step, no, we have a shape
that looks like this. And this might be a little bit of a challenge for some people. Most times when I
play this card, I ignore my first string, which gives me an opportunity to bar the other strings properly.
20. Using the G Shape: Again, this shape is movable. Firstly, again, free up your index finger so we
can use it to replace the note as a bar to bar all the strings or a few
other strings in this case. And for this specific shape, I opt to ignore my first string simply because I already have the
root on the sixth string, and also, it's a little bit
difficult for me to play. So here we have
our open G chord. Moving it up a half step, we have G sharp or A flat. Moving it up. Another
half step, we have A. Then A sharp or B flat. Another half step
we have B, then C. And then C sharp, and then D. And then
D sharp or E flat. And finally, EEgin. Well, in this case, we would go back to
G. So F F sharp. And then the octave G.
21. E Shape: Plane or E shape, we
can start by placing our second finger on the fifth
string in the second frit. Or third finger goes right below that in the same frit
on the fourth string, and our first finger
goes on the third string in the first furt Because
this is an Echord, you're playing from
your open E string. This is one of the
easiest shapes to learn. And again, the shape
is also movable.
22. Using the E Shape: Mmm. So in applying the cage system to
that E shape, again, we're going to change our
finger position so that our first finger becomes
free to bad frit. So instead of starting
with the second finger, we're going to start
with a third finger on the fifth string in
the second frit, or pinky goes right below
that on the fourth string, and then our second finger goes on the third string
in the first frit. So here we have an Echord. But because this finger or
index finger is now free, moving it up a half step, barring all six strings
we have or F chord. Then we have F sharp. Then we have a G, G
sharp or A flat, A, A sharp, B flat, B, C, C sharp or D flat. D, D sharp or E flat and
back to or E chord again.
23. The D Shape: The final shape in the cage
system is the D shape, and the D shape is played by placing your first finger on the third string
in the second frit. Your third finger goes in the third frit on
the second string, and your second finger goes back to the second frit
on the first string. You're playing from
the open D string, which is a fourth string.
24. Using the D Shape: How I play this shape is
actually by using three fingers. I bar the first foot. Then I would also bar the
bottom three strings. So my first second
and third string. And then I'm using my pinky
on the second string. So for this shape, I'm simply just using my
third finger and my pinky. So this is not a
shape I play often, but it's definitely
good to know. So here we have D sharp. Moving it up a half step, we would have E. Moving it up a half
step, we would have F. Another half step,
we have F sharp. Then from F sharp to
G from G to G sharp, G sharp is also A flat
from G sharp A flat to A. From A to A sharp or B flat. From B flat to B. So the shape continues
just like the others. Again, it's a bit
tricky to play, so it does take some
getting used to. However, that would conclude all five shapes of
the cage system.
25. Things to remember 2: Well that concludes all five
shapes off the cage system, let's talk about some
important things to remember. You realize that going
through the shapes we would have found cords that
repeat multiple times. In fact, all chords
repeat five times. So I can play a C like this, starting on my third fret
of the fifth string. But I can also play a C like
this using the A shape. I can also play a C using the G shape, which
would start here. I can also play a C
using the E shape. I can also play a C
using the D shape, So every single cord
actually repeats five times. And this is great
information to know because it therefore means that if you're moving from
one cord to the other, you actually have five different
options to choose from. And if you were to pair those
options with your childs, that unlocks a whole
lot more cards and cord positions for
you to choose from. Because while this is a C chord, I could remove the bar and just play just the three notes. I could also add the fifth here, which would be in the same
fret above my root note. And remember, I have three
versions of my C cord, which you will also
realize are based on the cage system, as well. So practice moving
between your cage shapes, as well as practice your triads, and that really
unlocks the fretboard for you and allows you to play all the cards you need at various points
on the fretboard.
26. Chord Transitions: This lesson, we'll be talking about one problem that beginners tend to face switching
between cards smoothly. Now, it's one thing to
play individual cards, but it's the transitions that really make or
break your playing. Sure, it's totally
normal to make mistakes and feel
clumsy at first. That's a part of the process. Well, here are some
quick tips to help you smoothly switch
between cards. The first thing we need
to do is slow down, identify the two cords that
you want to switch between. Let us say we're moving
from a G to a C cord. So let's pick two
chords and begin. Let's look at our G chord and our C chord and how we would switch between
them smoothly. The first thing we need
to do is slow down. Let's identify what that
G chord looks like. Now, let's identify what
that C chord looks like. Mm. You want to be able to play both of these
chords without any unwanted buzzing or
strings ringing out. Once you have the cords being played as
cleanly as possible, the next step is
really to slowly move between them and do not
focus on the timing so much. Just focus on
getting comfortable moving from one
cord to the next. Now, here's step two. Let's
talk about anchor points. Notice that your third finger actually stays within
the third fret, where for the G cord, it's on your high E string. However, for the C chord, it moves up to the fifth
fret on your A string. You can use that as a marker
to help you to switch fluidly between those two cards as your finger remains
in the same fret. So another tip for
smooth core transitions is what we call the
pivot technique. And this is where one finger actually moves last
to guide the rest. For example, again,
between G and C, my finger that's pivoting
is my index finger where it's the last
finger to move as I transition from the G to the C. And finally, you want to try to repeat these movements
without strumming. This ensures that you know exactly what the finger
position is like, and your main focus is indeed that finger position moving
from G to C. And finally, once you have this
repetition done, you can start strumming. Remember, clean is
better than fast, and speed comes with repetition. So focus on getting clean cards, and speed will come
with practice.
27. Intro to strumming : Talk about one of the
most important skills in your guitar journey. Strumming. No, you can know
all the cards in the world, but if your strumming is off, then your music
won't feel right. It may feel robotic
or weird or strange. Strumming is what brings
your rhythm to life. It's how you feel the music
and not just play it. So the question then
is, where do we start? Music follows what
we call beats, and one of the most common beats is a four, four time signature. What that really
means is that in every measure or bar of
music, you're counting four. So you could simply tap
your feet or clap, one, two, three, four, one,
two, three, four. Now, the first strumming
pattern that I'll show you will be based
on that 44 rhythm, where we're going
to be hitting down strums on every single beat. So grab your guitar
and let's go. I'll be staying in the key of A, where we'll be counting, and then after the
first count of four, we'll hit Done strums
on all the beats. One, two, three, four. Let's do it again.
One, two, three, four. So essentially, that's your
first strumming pattern. And if you were to apply this to a chord progression
like a one, four, five, we could do something like this where each chord
gets four cones. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, So keeping that same 44 rhythm, we're going to replace
two of those down strums, the two and the
four with upstrms. So instead of going
for four downstrms, we'll do two downstrums and
two upstrms alternately. So let's go one,
two, three, four. Let's switch, one,
two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one,
two, three, four. Now, let's apply this
to our 145 progression, staying in the key of A.
28. Strumming pattern DD DUDUD: That we've done the most
basic pattern possible. Let's go into a more interesting
pattern where it's done, done, done, up, down, up done. So follow on the screen as
we go through this pattern. Once you have both strumming
patterns under your belt, you can actually
incorporate both of them at the same time where
maybe for one card, you're playing downs strums. Or you could even keep the strumming simple for one and four and then add
the extra notes on the five. 44.
29. Strumming pattern D U D U D: Final strong pattern that I want to show you
in this section of the class is really a
done up down, up down. So it's really an
alternating pattern, and it goes something like this. We'll be in the KF G, and the progression is
one, five, six, four. So you'll notice I'm really simply just alternating between my downstrms and my
upstrms for this pattern. It might take some
getting used to, but learn these three
patterns and you should be good to go for
basic strumming. Next, we'll dive a
little bit deeper into some chord progressions like the ones we've
just covered.
30. Chord progressions cont'd: No, it's all about
chord progressions. And what's a chord progression in case you don't remember, it's really just a
sequence of chords that are played together
in a specific order. These make the backbone
of pretty much any song, and chord progressions vary
from one song to the other. No, some common chord
progressions will be a 251, a 736, 15, four or 15, six, four, a 6251. And the list goes on and on. Again, it varies per sum. However, learning some really
fundamental progressions really will help you not
just with your ear training, but with figuring out a lot
of these popular songs. So let's go over some of the most popular progressions
that you'll find in music. Before we dive deep
into progressions, let me remind you of
the number system. And we're going back in the
key of A to illustrate this. Remember our root
is our one note, so that would be or A or second, a whole step away or third, another whole step away, or fourth is below or
one on the fifth string. Or fifth is a whole step away, six, another whole step away. Go to the sixth fret
on the fourth string, and then the seventh fret, a half step up, back to the one. Now let's play the
entire major scale and call the numbers as we play. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and
back to or one again. Remember, your first, your root, you one, your four. And your five are
all major chords. You're two, your three, and your six or minor, and your seven is a half diminished or a
diminished triad, depending on the situation
that you find yourself in.
31. 1 5 6 4 chord progression: Another progression that we
can look at is the 15, 64. Again, these numbers
are so great, the keys don't really matter. So let's find the 15 and 64
in the key of D. Let's go. So in the key of D,
you know, again, your root is the D chord, we're playing the A shape
based on the cage system. Then the five. Same fret, six string, E shape, a whole step over to your
six, which is a minor, and then your four,
which is a major, which is a whole
step down from the five. Back to the one again. So let's give this
card progression some feel and some rhythm by
adding or strumming to it. Mmm. Let's actually take off the strumming completely
and play the chords as naturally as they sound or
as naturally as they come. Five, to the six, and
then to the four. So, again, you can play some triads for this instead of playing full on bar chords, and that, again, allows you
to do a whole lot more. So if you want to play
the triads, in this case, we could play the A shaped triad here seeing that we're already on our A shape for
the cage system. To or five, or six, two or four. So you notice that
I used two fours. I use the root position four, which is a whole step
down from the five. But I also use the
first inversion of the four where the
third is on the top, simply because I
was at my six here. And the only
difference between the six and the four is this note. So again, have fun
with this progression, and I'll see you in
the next lesson.
32. 1 6 4 5 chord progression: This lesson, we'll
actually be going through a very
popular gospel song, how great is O God, and you'll be going through the strumming pattern as well as the chord progression
for this specific song. Now, we'll be staying in
the key of D and we'll be using the cage system
for our chords, where D chord will
be the A shape, and all the chords on the sixth string
will be the E shape. Remember, for your minor chord, all you're doing is removing
your second finger, which flattens the third to
give you that minor sound. Remember, again, for
the number system, your root is major, your second is minor. You third is minor. Your four is major, your five is major, your six is minor. Your seven diminished triad, and back to your one
again, which is major. Now, the progression
for this song is actually one, six, four, five, and it actually stays the same throughout
the entire song, which makes it very,
very easy to learn. Now, let's play
through it a little bit so you can see exactly
what's happening here. Now, that's really
the entire song. And the beauty of the number system is if
I were to change keys, I don't have to think, Okay, my chords earlier were D, and then the six is B, and then the four is
G and the five is A, I just need to remember that the progression stays the same. It's a one, six, five, four. Let's take that to the key of E. The pattern is also the same because of the strings
that we're using, the fifth and sixth strings. So it's one, six, five, four. The names of the notes not as important as the actual
numbers themselves. Take your time. Feel free to run through this progression in
any key that you want. Remember, it's one,
six, four, five. Yes.
33. 1 4 5 chord progression : Let's talk about the
145 chord progression. We're using the cage system
to formulate these ord, so we're using the
bar chord versions. We're using the E shape while
we're on the six string, and we're using the A shape while we're on the fifth string. So for all the cords that will
form on our sixth string, we'll be using that E shape. So our one is a E shape or four being formed on the fifth string would
be your A shape, on our five would be
your A shape as well, just a whole step
away from the four. So let's use one of our strumming patterns that
we would have covered in the previous lessons to
play or 145 progression. And that's it. It's
as easy as that. And you may notice
that sometimes you hear the strings
and they're muted. What's really happening
there is just me gently releasing the pressure
from the strings while keeping the position
in the same place, and that gives you the sound. And that's a really
cool sound to have. So practice muting your string sometimes and playing
the chord just the same. You could even try
playing the progression muted as this might give
you an even nicer rhythm. So while your strumming
pattern remains the same, try muting some of the notes as you play the 145 progression.
34. 1 4 5 4 chord progression: We've covered the 14,
five progression. Let's actually go to
a one, four, five, four progression, and
we're going to change our strummin pattern to
give it a different feel. Remember, it's the
strumming that gives you the feel
when you play. So let's play through
the one, four, five, four progression and
follow the strumming pattern. So you'll notice that
for this progression, the strings are muted after every other dostrm and
it's all downstrms. So the first note or
first chord, rather, is And then the second time
I play the chord is muted. So that's a great
strumming pattern and a great chord
progression to learn. Well let's go again with the actual timing and the
beats as we did before. Oh So that covers the one, four, five, four progression. You don't have to
play bar chords. You could always play triads, and that would give
you a similar sound. And with triads,
you can also add your own embellishments
like slides, hammer runs, et cetera, to make your chords
sound a little bit more interesting rather than
old basic bar chords. Finally, play around
with this progression. Try the different strumming
patterns and have fun.
35. Conclusion: And just like that,
you've reached the end of the guitar
learning roadmap. Let's take a second to celebrate just how
far you've come. You didn't just
learn a few chords. You've built a solid
foundation for playing guitar with confidence
and understanding. By now, you can play a few
essential open chords. You know a few
strumming patterns. You can navigate the fretboard
using the number system, the cade system, and the triads. And finally, you're able to recognize a few chord
progressions by ear. These are all tools that pro
guitarists use every day. Now you have them too. But here, this is really
just the beginning. The real magic happens
when you show up every day just like you've done before and keep practicing. But here's the truth. This is
really just the beginning. The magic starts to
happen when you spend an hour a day practicing everything that
you've just learned. Watch over a few
of these videos. And get comfortable
playing with confidence. Challenge yourself to find
new chord progressions, listen to popular songs
and songs that you love, and try figuring them out, create your own rhythms and
your own style of playing. And if you haven't
done so already, upload your class project
into the project section. I'd love to take a look,
provide some feedback, and see just how
far you've come. If you found this
course helpful, please leave a review
and share it with other guitars or persons
who want to learn guitar. Thanks for learning
with me. I'm really proud of the work you've put in, and I can't wait to see where
you're playing goes next. Now, grab your guitar
and get playing.
Kareem Little, Motion Designer/Musician
