Learn Guitar The Easy Way!

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Learn Guitar The Easy Way!

Guitar Lesson — How to Deal With Double Sharps and Double Flats

On occasion, you may, as a guitarist, run into a situation where you will run into double sharps and flats. The good news is that it is rare in popular music. The bad news is that you still may run across them now and then, and you may as well learn how to cope with them.

Let’s start this off by talking about keys and major scales in particular.

Recall that major scales have a formula ( 1 + 1 + 1/2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1/2)

There are also rules concerning the construction of these things:

1. You must use every letter of the musical alphabet ( ABCDEFG ). You cannot skip a letter. Ever.

2. You must use the major scale formula.

3. You must never mix sharps and flats in the same scale. A major scale will have sharps in it, or flats in it, or none of either.

So, if I wanted to construct an A major scale, I would start off with rule number 1 — Use every letter.

A B C D E F G.

Now it becomes a matter of whether or not there are any sharps or flats. So let’s apply the formula:

1 step above A is B

1 step above B is C#

1/2 step above C# is D

1 step above D is E

1 step above E is F#

1 step above F# is G#

1/2 step above G# is A

So my A major scale is: A B C# D E F# G# A (There are 3 sharps in this key C#, F# and G#)

Most of your “pop keys” will not have more than 5 sharps, but what if I’m in the key of G#? Let’s construct this headache of a scale:

1. Use every letter. I will start by using G# because I know that that is the key. I also know that I will be using sharps and not flats because I cannot violate the rule that concerns mixing sharps and flats. But at this point I don’t know where these are so:

Rule number 1 — Use every letter. G# A B C D E F G#

Rule number 2 — Apply formula ( 1 1 1/2 1 1 1 1/2 )

1 step above G# is A#

1 step above A# is B#

1/2 step above B# is C##

1 step above C## is D##

1 step above D## is E##

1 step above E## is F##

1/2 step above F## is G#

G# A# B# C## D## E## F## G#

Look at all of the pretty double sharps! What’s up with that and how did they get there?

In truth, these guys are a pain for any musician. It forces even the best and most cultured musicians to “think fast” (as you can imagine). But they are not hard to understand if you know what a sharp (#) really does.

A sharp (#) raises a note 1/2 step. That is the definition of a sharp. So, for example a C## is a C raised a half step twice.

Now let’s look at the Chromatic Scale:

A A#/Bb B C C#/Db D D#/Eb E F F#/Gb G G#/Ab A

Recall that this baby is a 1/2 step scale. That is, the numeric distance between each and every note in this scale is 1/2 step.

Now, what does a sharp do? It raises a note 1/2 step.

That means that if I wanted to (I wouldn’t, by the way) I COULD express a D as A##### (D raised a 1/2 step 5 times)

1/2 step up from A is A# (raise number 1)

1/2 step up from A# is B (raise number 2)

1/2 step up from B is C (raise number 3)

1/2 step up from C is C# (raise number 4)

1/2 step up from C# is D (raise number 5)

Fortunately you will never, ever see this to this extent — it’s too demented even for classical music.

But you will see double sharps on occasion.

So going back to the despised G# major scale

G# A# B# C## D## E## F## G#

A B# is really a C, but because of the rules of major scales it has to be represented as a B#.

A C## is really a D, but because of that rule, it has to be represented as a C##.

A D## is really an E.

An E## is really an F# (This one’s fun!)

An F## is really a G

So, if you have the misfortune of seeing a piece of music in the key of G#, you might run across an E##m7 chord — which is really F#m7!

Now ain’t that special?

Again, you may play for years before you are forced to deal with something like this on a practical level (and certainly not to this extent. A piece of music will be written in Ab rather than G#). But sooner or later you will, so it’s important that you understand what’s going on.

Now dealing with double flats is the same problem — only in reverse. The definition of a flat is to lower a note 1/2 step.Double flats are far less common though. If you can understand double sharps, you won’t have much of a problem understanding double flats.

Online Guitar Lessons: JamPlay.com

Music is an important part of our lives – we can use it to change our moods, create an atmosphere, or simply to relax to. Learning to play guitar is not only a great way to experience the music; it is also an enjoyable, useful skill to have. The electric guitar is one of the most popular instruments, and lessons can be found online that will help you learn to play.

The electric guitar is an instrument that can be played with many different styles of music because it has many different sounds. When listening to the radio, you can hear the electric guitar on a hard rock, jazz, blues, country, easy listening, or pop station. You may want to learn the electric guitar so you can play along with your favorite bands, but you just don’t have the money to pay for lessons. The good news is that many websites offer online guitar lessons that can teach you much of what you need to know.

Here is a link to free Sample lessons on the JamPlay.com website:

The one drawback to online guitar lessons is that you don’t have a teacher right there in the room with you to help you place your fingers on the right strings and show you a specific chord. However, there are other benefits to learning from a teacher online. One, of course, is that the lessons are free. Also, many websites offer a section where you can communicate online with your teacher if you have any questions about what you are learning, e.g. at JamPlay.com. Another benefit is that you can take the lessons whenever it is convenient for you, and you can often select what you would like to learn.

Read my JamPlay Review here

There are different styles of electric guitar playing that go along with many different types of music. You can learn to play chords, and you can learn to read musical notation or tablature, which is simply the system that is used to write down a series of notes known as a guitar riff. You can learn that different strumming patterns will give you different effects. The electric guitar can also come with different effects pedals, which give your music a whole new sound when you use them.

In order to find the best free online guitar lessons, you may need to try a couple of different websites, or ask someone that you know has taken lessons before. There are lots to choose from, and once you find the one for you, you’ll be on your way to learning to play like the pros!

How To Select And Buy A Cheap Electric Guitar

If you are thinking about learning guitar, you have to make some hard choices right off the bat. The first one is how much you want to spend. A lot of people think that if you are starting off you should buy a cheap electric guitar, but this isn’t always the case. The problem is that if you buy a lower quality instrument, it will be harder to play and will not sound as good. Many cheap electric guitars are not very well designed. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find one that is. If you know what to look for, you can find a low-cost electric guitar that will still help you shred like a guitar god.

With cheap electric guitars, you have quite a few options. A lot of people assume that the only way to go is to buy an all-in-one beginning guitar kit, but this is not the case. The electric guitar is probably the most popular instrument in America. As such, people buy and sell them all the time. You can find a used musical instrument that is still in pretty good shape. It helps to take someone along who knows what they are doing. You need to understand whether the frets are lined up properly, whether the neck is warped, and a lot of other things that you might not know how to evaluate as a beginner. Pawn shops can be risky business, and used musical instrument stores are not always reputable.

Of course, you can buy cheap electric Guitars without buying them used. A lot of the main manufacturers produce beginner lines that are still pretty good. My personal favorite is the Epiphone LP Special II Les Paul Collection Electric Guitar.

Epiphone guitars are made by the same people who produce Gibsons, but they are a whole lot cheaper. The quality is still good – they just aren’t as fancy. I know some professional players who still use beginner Epiphones, so they are well regarded.

There are a few other strategies to consider when you are buying cheap electric guitars. I have a friend who swears by factory seconds. Factory seconds are new guitars that were somehow slightly damaged in the factory. Usually the damage is simply cosmetic – they have a ding on the body somewhere that looks a little bit ugly. If you don’t mind a bit of cosmetic imperfection, this is the way to go. You still get a new electric guitar, but with substantial savings.

Martin Guitar Strings

For all the advice that I got about buying a guitar for my friends, I learned very little about guitar strings. I had always assumed that the guitar alone determines the sound you get out of it. With an acoustic guitar, the main thing is how the body is constructed and what materials are used. If you had good tone woods, solid construction, and a large enough body to resonate, you would get a brilliant warm tone. With electric guitars, it had to do with what pickups you used. Different pickups would give sharp tones, mellow tones, or hot distorted sounds.

When I had been playing for about a year, I got sick of my guitar, but I didn’t really have money for another one. It wasn’t a very good model, and it didn’t sound great in the hands of inexperienced player. When one of my friends suggested trying some different guitar strings, I thought he was being silly. I had tried a few different acoustic guitar string brands, and had not noticed any difference. He told me to buy myself some high-quality Martin Guitar Strings and listen again. When I did, I was blown away. They really did sound warmer, brighter, and all around fuller.

That sound was great for me for a while. I have never had anything but good things to say about Martin Guitar Strings.

The problem was that my guitar was a little bit tinny. The Martin strings were too bright for the particular axe that I was using, So I knew that I had to experiment more. I wanted dark guitar strings with a much mellower, lower pitched sound. I was playing my guitar mostly for accompaniment, so I didn’t need it to project out all that much.

When I finally found the perfect set of acoustic strings, I was absolutely overjoyed. They were made by a local manufacturer who hand wound them. Hand wound guitar strings are a little bit expensive, but if you find really good ones they are more than worth it. Unfortunately, he doesn’t make the strings anymore, but fortunately I stockpiled enough for several years to come. I practice using Martin strings still, but I have my special strings waiting in a case for shows. By saving them and using them sparingly, I should be able to make them last for as long as I need them. By that point, maybe I will have bought a better guitar.

You can learn how to restring an accoustic guitar here.

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Learn How To Tune Your Guitar The Right Way

How To Tune Your Guitar The Right Way

Proper maintenance is important to any technical piece of equipment, all the way from vehicles down to instruments that you play. The guitar is no exception. One of the things that you must do on a regular basis is to tune the strings on your guitar.

Without doing this, they can stretch and the sound will be distorted. Tuning your guitar every so often will help prevent you from looking like an idiot in front of your friends whenever you are trying to impress them with your musical skills.

There is a standard, as there always seems to be, involved in guitar tuning and it is conveniently labeled the standard guitar tuning method. The standard involves tuning the strings from the thickest to the thinnest. The order should be E, A, D, G, B, E.

This method is the easiest methods because it is the easiest for tuning the most amounts of scales and chords. The way to start this method is with the E string. The E string is the thickest, and the least likely to fall short of tuning.

The A string is the next string that you should tune. The way to adjust the A string is to place your finger on the fret, pick the fifth and sixth strings while adjusting the fifth string tuning peg until the two notes sound the same. The D string comes next in line.

The way to find the proper D string note is to find the A string that is located just behind the fifth fret. You then turn the fourth string to that note. Tune your G string to the note that rings when you put the first finger on your left hand just behind the fifth fret.

The B string should sound like when your first finger of your left hand is placed behind the forth fret. You should recognize that the tuning of the B string is the only one in the method that uses the fourth fret and not the fifth. Last is the E string which is where you place the first finger of, you guessed it, your left hand behind the fifth fret on the B string.

There are other ways to tune your guitar, but they can get more complicated. You can use an online guitar tuner. You can customize these tuners or you can use the standard method in order to hear how the note is supposed to sound. There are many sites that you can visit in order to find an online tuner, but when you find a site that you like, you should bookmark it in your favorites so that you can easily find it the next time.

If you don’t have a keen ear attuned to different pitches, you might want to invest in an electric tuner. With this device you can look at a tuning monitor to see how off-tune each string on your guitar is. Then, by following the needle on the display, you can tune each string on your guitar according to the reading given on the electric tuner.

Even if you do have a trained ear, electric tuners can come in handy if you’re trying to tune your equipment just before a gig. Noises and other distractions can keep your ear from creating just the right sound on your guitar strings.

If you’re experienced enough, you can tune your guitar by using piano notes. This is quite difficult to do though, especially if you’re not trained in tuning your guitar with this method. Experts and musicians who have been performing for years can also tune their instruments though harmonies and octaves, but this might only confuse the beginning guitar player.

If you’re unsure about your tuning abilities, it is best to just stick with the other methods, such as an electric tuner, to make sure that your strings are tuned to just the right pitch.

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10 Easy Ways To Improve Your Guitar Playing Today

One of the most frustrating aspects of playing guitar is when you reach the point where you are not improving. Whether you are a novice or a seasoned musician, we all face the same problem when we learn guitar and ask the question, “Why am I not at the level I want to be and how can I get there?” To add insult to injury, we see our guitar heroes in magazines and on TV everyday and it seems as if they are constantly inventing new tricks and improving their skills. When we read about them in Guitar World to try to emulate their skills and learn their tricks only to leave more confused. Becoming the ultimate guitarist is far harder than it looks. So what is the key to success? While there is no one answer that can solve everyone’s problem, there are a number of concepts and theories that can help you break through the barrier that keeps you from reaching your full potential to learn and master your guitar. The one thing that you need to realize is that you don’t need to be a genius to become a great guitarist. The two key things you need to have in your possession are interest and commitment. You’ll never meet a great guitarist who isn’t passionate about music. They didn’t get to the level that they are at by being apathetic and lazy. They took the initiative to go out and try to learn something new. The guitarist who dares to challenge himself takes the risk of failing. This is where many musicians lose their battle with low self-esteem and quit. It’s not that they didn’t take the risk, rather, that they failed and couldn’t pick themselves up again. If you realize that failure is a part of growth and that it takes many jam sessions to get some tricks down, you have just acquired the first skill you will need to become the ultimate guitarist. I have compiled a list of concepts that I believe every guitarist should try out. Unlike other articles you will read, these short and simple steps ask you to do, rather that simply read. Thoughts and attitude are important but in the end it’s what you do that counts to your audience. Let’s get started with the top ten things you can do to obtain maximum results as a guitarist. Top 10 tips for success… Learn something new - Educating yourself is the first step to becoming a better guitarist. Whether you choose to believe it or not, there’s always something new to learn and master. If you are currently studying music in a conservatory, at school, or in college, you will find that learning will come more easier to you. If not, I highly recommend that you get in a program. While I believe in teaching yourself, I also know from first hand experience that motivation and encouragement from a teacher is priceless. Once you conquer the subject that you were learning, push yourself to learn something that you’re not quite comfortable with. Learning within your comfort zone often results with you running around in circles. Make your time count – Practicing does not make perfect, it makes permanent. That makes the time you spend playing your guitar all the more important. Don’t waste your time fiddling around on your guitar. Dig in and learn something that will aid you on your quest for musical success. Set goals and work towards achieving them. Whether it’s technique, tricks, or a new song, you can become better just by using your time more wisely. Listen to more music - The more music that you are exposed to, the better guitarist you will become. Listen to the bands that you enjoy most and draw inspiration from them. Take note of what the musicians are doing in their songs and make a list of the techniques you want to learn. This can be the motivating force that gets you to play your guitar more often. Surround yourself with excellence - When you play your guitar with people who are better guitarists, you not only learn from them but feel motivated to push yourself to keep up. At first this idea seems obscure. Why would you expose yourself to that kind of stress? Let’s face it, if there’s one thing that will make you get motivated quickly it’s the fact that people are counting on you. Don’t play with musicians who are arrogant and rude. Embarrassment doesn’t foster self-esteem and will only get you down. The people you want to learn from are patient and understanding. Eventually you will find yourself at their level. It happens faster than you might think. Ask yourself what will you do when you obtain the skills you want – What do you want to do with what you learn? Perhaps you want to make a CD or join a band and play at some local venues. Start planning for it now and use what you currently have. This ties into setting goals but is not to be underestimated. Knowing how you want to use your talent is important. Create a vision and use goals to act on it. Whether you want to play for others, or to the wall in your bedroom, the choice is yours. Teach someone how to play guitar - To teach is to learn. If the only chord you know how to play is a G chord, show someone that. Why? Because it reaffirms what you know and solidifies your knowledge. I can tell you from personal experience that I have learned more through teaching than I ever learned through being taught. It forces you out of your comfort zone and when questions are asked, you need to know the answer. I’m a firm believer that anyone can teach someone something if they want to. Give it a shot and see the results for yourself. Believe in your ability - Yes, I know how cliché this sounds. However, you need to hear it. You can do anything you put your mind to and if you choose to play guitar well, chubby fingers or not, you can! Don’t listen to what others say and be true to yourself. This can be hard seeing as we live in a critical society that doesn’t realize how much words can hurt. Keep at it and surround yourself with supportive people. More of a life lesson than a guitar lesson, but as far as I’m concerned music is intertwined with daily living. You are incomparable - In case you haven’t picked up the hint yet, you are the ultimate guitarist. There is no one like you and there will never be anyone who even comes remotely close to being like you. Integrate who you are into your music and you will never have a shortage of material. Your music will soon form into your own tone and style. Learn what worked for others - Whether you research your favorite guitarist or talk to your guitar teacher, ask others what worked for them. I don’t claim to know all the answers but when everyone puts their heads together, some really neat ideas start to flow. Networking allows you to give and receive at the same time. Crush your weakness - We all know where we lack the most in the guitar realm. For me it’s in technique and finger picking, for others it’s something different. Whatever it is, don’t ignore it while enjoying your recent victory. Keep attacking your weak points and you’ll soon see improvement. The secret is that you never stop seeing problems and you continually get better over time. You’ll never be stuck without something to do. Take out a sheet of paper and write them down. Then find the resources you need to help you destroy them. It’s not unlike a war, but in the end you always win. Don’t Believe The Popular Myths You may be surprised to hear that a lot of the common advice distributed amongst guitarists couldn’t be farther from the truth. There are myths and tokens of advice that get passed along and guitarists like yourself use them. Try as hard as you like, but you’ll end up realizing that what meets you at the end of the road is failure. To avoid that, let’s look at some of the most common myths floating around: All good players can play all styles: While great in theory, it doesn’t work out in practice. Throughout the history of this newsletter, I have consistently pushed trying various genres of music and becoming a more cultured guitarist. However, no where will you ever hear me, or any other teacher, say that you should be able to master all of them. The fact is that it takes a lifetime to master one style. Some take up two genres that mix well together, such as blues and rock, but those genres are the exceptions. You will never hear a neoclassical shred guitarist play country. Many jazz musicians take decades to perfect their craft and even then they still see areas that need improvement. If you want to be a great guitarist, take the genre and style that you’re passionate about and focus on it. Don’t get distracted with other music. Your guitar heroes are heroes because they mastered a genre. Very few will ever play outside of their specialty and that’s just the reality. You either have “it” or you don’t: Let’s face it, some understand music more easily than others. That doesn’t mean that you can’t be as good as them. Everyone can play guitar, it just depends on the effort and time you want to put in. There are dozens of specialties within music and no one knows all of them from the time they are born. Perfect pitch is developed, as is technique and originality. Look at where you started from as opposed to where you are now. Would you say that you are just as original as you were when you first picked up the guitar? I know I’m not. While things may come easier to others, remember that we all have our own struggles within music and that we are in it together. To sound good, you need the best gear - The best gear is nice, and yes, you do sound better. However, it’s unnecessary for those who aren’t interested in professional music or are just starting out. Beginners love to see the rack of guitars at their local music store and say, “I want the $2000 one.” That was me for years but the truth is that a guitar of that caliber is useless to someone who can’t play it. Learn on something modest and work your way up. Not only will the experience be more rewarding, it’s also nicer on the instrument and your self-confidence. In the end, the guitar is only as good as the person who plays it. I have heard crappy guitars sound half-decent when played by someone who knew what they were doing. The same applies to you. For those who can afford $5,000 guitars, my advice is go for it. For the rest of us, I say save your money and work towards being the ultimate guitarist. Think about it, if you sound good on a crummy guitar, how much better will you sound on something that can really produce a good tone? You need to be the most talented to succeed- All too often, as mentioned above, we tend to compare ourselves to others. The ultimate guitarist is you meeting your goals and making progress. There will always be others who sound better in certain areas but who cares? Be the person you want to be and music will be far more enjoyable. Success is measured on a personal level, not n how many CD’s you sell. The famous musicians in today’s society often find themselves wishing they weren’t so pressured by record labels. They want to be in your shoes where they have the choice to do what they want to do. Enjoy yourself and the rest will fall into place. See how fun & easy teaching yourself to learn and master guitar really is with the help of Guitar Secrets. Did you know the reason why most beginner guitarists put learning guitar in the “too hard basket” is because they choose lessons without structure. These beginner guitar lessons cover the basics and move into more intermediate topics in the correct order. This article is courtesy of http://www.guitartips.com.au

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10 Most Important Things When You Learn Guitar

1. Get a good guitar that will not impede your learning ability. Make sure the action (distance of the string to the neck) of the guitar is good and that it is correctly intonated (the bridge adjusted so the strings are the correct length) or you will have tuning and playing problems. Also learning on light gauge strings is advised to stop finger strain. It is worth paying a few extra dollars to have the guitar ‘set up’ before your start to play. Here is a more comprehensive guide to selecting a good acoustic guitar.
2. Get a good teacher or a good Guitar Lesson DVD or software or a great Learn Guitar Online Course that explains the methods of learning in a simple and easy manner and will ensure you are playing songs or at least riffs within the first couple lessons. Avoid learning boring scales and exercises that will just de-motivate you! You will have to learn these too, but it can be done later.
3. Practice every day for at least 15 minutes, and always practice what you cannot play yet rather than playing what you already know or you will not progress. Try to learn simple versions of songs you know so you can sing along even if it’s just in your mind with the song.
4. Learn a mixture of chords, single notes, scales and riffs even at the first stages of learning. This is important to develop your technique and strength in the finger and wrist.
5. Have the guitar, if possible, in a place where it is easily accessible, so you will want to pick it up often. If it’s in a case in your closet you will forget about it.
6. Know how to tune your guitar. Always have a tuner to ensure you are in tune otherwise you will sound horrible. If you don’t have a tuner you can use our free online tuner.
7. Use a metronome (click to download free metronome software!) so you can stay in time and develop a sense of rhythm. This is one of the most neglected areas of learning and often the biggest cause of bad habits later on in a student’s progress.
8. Try to learn to play songs you enjoy and play a style you like. Don’t play Bob Dylan if you like AC/DC. However its not a bad idea to learn new styles but stick to what you know and like at least when you are still Learn To Play Guitar Fast.
9. Take a recording device (your MP-3 player e.g.), record yourself and listen back to it. No matter how awful it may sound it will improve both your desire to learn guitar, and your ability to play better. Also if you want to play lead guitar, play over a recorded rhythm part so you have a musical backing to play to. This will improve your solo ability dramatically.
10. Set a stopwatch or timer for 3 minutes and continue to play without stopping. Sounds too easy? Try it! It is a lot more difficult than you think. Most students play on average for about 30 seconds before stopping and starting again!

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Don’ts When You Learn To Master The Guitar

You are having a midnight beach party. You have the spirits flowing, the barbecue steaming and the moonlight for company. What more could you ask for? An acoustic guitar, maybe. There is something about the acoustic guitar that makes it the most popular musical instrument in the world. If you have ever seen a great guitarist, then you must surely have wondered at least once what it takes to play like that. The question is ‘Why can’t you play like that?’

What does it take to easy learn the guitar? Does it require extremely fast fingers? Or maybe a musical ear is what you need? Is your friend gifted with some special powers that the ‘guitar genie’ from the lamp bestowed upon him? Not really. The fact is that just about anyone including you can learn guitar easy provided you are willing to put in the time and the effort. However, the reason most people are unable to easy learn guitar is because they unknowingly pick one of the ‘five golden don’ts’ of guitar learning. These are mistakes that almost every one of us can make and yet, they can very well end your aspirations to be a good guitarist.

Number 1: Trying to self learn guitar without a well structured guitar learning program: Are you bitten by the do it yourself bug? I love the do-it-yourself bit too. But there are certain things that require the special and skilled hands of a teacher or a disciplined training, and the guitar is one of those things. There have been and will be self learners. For the rest, there is the safer and saner option to learn the guitar. All the free guitar lessons floating around the internet cannot replace a well structured guitar course it you want to learn guitar easy. So, if you have been dabbling with the thought of self learning with free online lessons, then drop it and find an effective guitar learn program.

Number 2: Trying to learn guitar too fast: I must have heard this a million times. ‘I want to learn guitar easy and fast.’ If you feel that the guitar doesn’t deserve too much of your time, or regular guitar practice is unimportant to you, then you shouldn’t learn guitar in the first place. And thanks to the demand for ‘fast learning’ courses, there are hundreds and thousands of websites and books that are dedicated to such learning techniques. ‘Learn to play the guitar in 7 days’, ‘Learn to play basic guitar tabs in 3 days’. Why I have even seen the extreme in which you can learn to play the guitar in two hours! Absurd is the word to best describe such courses and websites. Be realistic! Do yourself a favor, stay away from these scams. Get a solid guitar learning program, go slowly and steadily through the lessons, and it will be easy for you to learn the guitar.

Number 3: Lack of Practice: The guitar is an instrument that requires immense patience and resilience in order to master. If you learn a new guitar lesson, then you must practice it ‘at least’ once every day until you can play it blindfolded. This is the technique that I successfully used. I have seen people practicing the guitar once a week. Believe me, you are going to find it very difficult to learn guitar if you practice it once in a millennium. Another common problem is that people only practice what they are good at, learning only the easy parts and avoiding the rest. The reason is very simple. If you are good at something, then it obviously sounds good when you practice. But you are limiting your progress by avoiding the difficult parts. So start practicing the worst part before anything else. Slowly, you will learn to play it with equal ease.

Number 4: Jumping to chords: Another trait that is commonly seen in the ‘fast learners’. Chords are the mainstay of guitar music. Yes, they certainly are very alluring. But most people want to jump to chords and start playing songs as soon as they start to learn the guitar. This is extremely difficult, almost impossible. You have to master playing the scales first. Not only will the scales help you to build a musical ear, but it will also help you to spread out your fingers. Finger exercises are an extremely important part of building a strong foundation. And yeah, don’t forget to use that lil pinky.

Number 5: Give up too soon: You are going to be miserable at it for the first 5 to 6 months. Admit this fact and get along with it. It is human to produce those dead sounds at first while learning to play guitar. But do not give up. You have to stick to it. Most people quit when they are nearly there. It’s up to you whether you want to make it or quit midway. Its different strokes for different blokes. Do not be flabbergasted if your friend is learning faster than you are. Work hard, keep practicing and you will definitely be a good guitarist one day.

Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_787621_48.html Author: sanjaynair http://www.sanjaynair.com, Occupation: Freelance Content Writer and Blogger

Sanjay is a freelance content writer and blogger with over 3 years of experience. He loves to twiddle with words and blogs about freelance writing, copywriting and blogging. His articles are informative and make a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience.

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My Gibson’s Learn And Master Guitar Review

Disclosure: The opinions offered here are my own based on my experience. All information is verified as accurate at the time of review. If you choose to visit one of the courses I reviewed on this website and make a purchase I may receive a commission, how ever I do not allow this to interfere with my rating and review process. I never accept paid reviews and each product is thoroughly tested by me. All opinions offered here are my own. I am open to reviewing any guitar-training course – please feel free to email me with your suggestions.

What you get with the Gibson’s Learn And Master Guitar course I learned guitar with the DVD course from Learn & Master and here is my review: When you order Learn & Master Guitar, you get 20 DVDs. Each of the two sessions per DVD is between 30 and 60 minutes long. All DVDs have an on-screen menu, so you can go right to a lesson with your remote. In addition to the DVDs you get 5 audio CDs (each has appr. 12-18 jam-along tracks of about a minute length), plus a 100 page Lesson Book (and a bonus book, if you order the expanded version). These bonus lessons cover the same material as the regular lessons, but in more depth and give you additional information. For example, when lesson #1 teaches you the basics of a guitar and finger exercises, you will in bonus lesson #1 find some neat tips and tricks beyond the basics, like whether you should consider purchasing an electronic tuner, string winder, or metronome. I got a lot of great information from the bonus material. All lessons are both on DVD and in the lesson book so you can watch the videos, and follow the written lessons at the same time, or just flip through the book as a quick reference to refresh your memory later, which is also very handy. The Learn & Master Guitar course has received some educational awards. The guitar teacher guiding you through the course is Steve Krenz. You can read more about the rewards and Steve on the Learn & Master website. I like most that when you watch the videos, you feel you have a real guitar teacher sitting next to you and talking to you. First Steve explains something to you, then he gives you a training assignment as your ‘home work’, and at the end of each session you have to answer a couple questions to test whether you are ready to go to the next lesson. If that sounds too much like ‘school’ to you, let me tell you that it’s not – after all, you set your own schedule and pick what you want to learn. With the course you also get access to the online member section of the website which is kind of neat as you can upload videos (e.g. you playing a song) and ask other members for their input, and you find a handful additional resources there. However, Learn and Master is not meant to be an online course, so don’t expect there to find constantly updated new learning material or thousands of members online.

Learn And Master Guitar Is For Beginners And Advanced Players Learn And Master Guitar Lessons For Beginners Lessons 1 Through 8 Getting acquainted with your guitar, how to hold and tune it Learn music, read notes and tablatur Finger exercises Chords On the Learn And Master DVD videos and in the printed lessons book Steve will show you hands-on all you need to know to learn guitar. And as nothing beats the joy of jamming with other musicians, five Jam Along CDs provide you that very experience. Learn And Master Guitar For Advanced Players Chances are you have already learned how to play guitar by picking things up here and there, taking a few lessons, reading a book or watching some videos. You are able to play the basics, and now you’re ready to move beyond that. The Advanced Lessons 9 Through 20 Make smooth chord transitions Advanced chords, barre chords Develop “muscle memory” Work on your strum and develop your rhythm Train your ear Techniques such as tapping, bending, sliding Isolate the difficulties you have with a particular song so you can focus on that part in particular Why it is so important that your equipment fits you and how to make a good choice in selecting your guitar (action, strings, neck, etc) and much more I think many people become frustrated because they are trying to learn the chords, changing chords, and keeping time, all at once. As long as your brain and chording hand are working in terms of “finger 1 goes on the ‘e’ string at the third fret, finger 3 goes on the ‘A’ string at the second fret, and finger four goes on the ‘E’ string”, you’re going to take way too long. Once your muscles have learned the correct positioning, all of a sudden you will find yourself being able to put your fingers in the correct positions automatically. In the advanced lessons Steve will give you an insider scoop on how to improve your chord transitions, a lot of great tips for ear training, how to best develop your rhythm sense and much more, so things should start clicking for you at some point. I also didn’t know that it makes such a difference to have your guitar set up correctly. Plus you can always contact Steve in the Learn And Master Guitar discussion board if you have a particular question.

How the Learn And Master DVD course works: At the begin of each lesson you see the estimated time it takes to learn that lesson You learn watching Steve explaining on video (and/or referring to the book) You do your ‘assignments’ after each lesson so you have a plan what and how you need to practice You answer 2 or 3 questions at the end of the lesson to find out whether you are ready to move on to the next lesson

What I liked most about the Learn & Master Guitar DVD Course I like most that Steve Krenz, the instructor, is making the lessons very personal, you feel like you are sitting with a real guitar teacher, and he explains very well. I like the assignments you get after learning each lesson, you know exactly what you should practice and how. It was also very helpful to me that at the end of each lesson, when I was already eager to go to the next one, that there are 2 or 3 ‘are you ready to move on questions’ which sometimes showed me that I was in fact not ready to move on but needed to practice the current lesson some more. The course covers almost every style of music and guitar you can think of, acoustic, electric, classic, blues, etc. Also I liked that the JamAlong audios at the beginning of the course play slow, but get up to ‘real’ playing speed gradually in advanced lessons. I thought I could play along a ‘real’ song right from the beginning, but was I wrong…

What Are The Downsides Of  Learn And Master Guitar? You have to order it and wait until they ship it, no instant download available (but I remember that I got mine within a couple days) There online community is nice, but there are not as many people online as e.g. at JamPlay It looks expensive at first sight (actually I think it’s not, because of the great material you get with the course, and compared to what other websites and courses charge)

How Much Is It?

Click here to see the current price on the official Learn & Master website

I hope this review was helpful to you.

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