After you learn how to play songs, its always good to have on hand the lyrics, and where the chords hit just as a refresher when needed. The best resource for chords on the web is ultimateguitar.com. This site has chords for just about any song you could imagine. Here is a link to the site. ultimateguitar.com
The final installment of the teachers series will be about Aaron Gallagher and his website freeandeasyguitar.com. Aaron is another self taught player who used various Youtube videos as his method of instruction. Aaron gives song and technique lessons via Youtube, and also operates the website. The website has some of the same information, but also has chord charts and everything else you could need. Aaron does a good job with his instruction, but not as good of a teacher as the previous two gentlemen mentioned. Aaron has more country lessons on his page than the other two guys, which is a plus for me. Here is an example of his teaching.
The three instructors that I have highlighted have given me great instruction, and taught me all of the songs that I know so far. If you are patient, they can get you where you want to be. Until next time.
For the second part of this series, I will highlight Mojo and his instructional website Threechordguitar.com. Mojo is an instructor and artist from Canada. The premise of his website is to teach novice guitarists like myself how to play a number of songs strictly using three chords. Hence the name of the website. Like Marty Schwartz, Mojo is an excellent teacher who is very detailed and gives clear explanations. Mojo also has other content on his website such as song covers that he has done, and instructional videos on playing the ukulele.
Here is an example of his instruction from a song that I learned from him. Enjoy, and next time we will talk about Aaron Gallagher and his website.
After dedicating many hours of learning and memorizing the basic chord shapes, it is understandable to get bored and frustrated. The process of learning chords and being able to switch between chords is the most difficult part of the learning journey. It takes months of practice to become fluent in basic changes. Once you feel comfortable with chord changes, its time to start learning some songs. After all, being able to play actual songs is why we even pick up the six stringer anyways. There are several popular songs from multiple genres that can be played with simple strummed open chords. In the next 3 posts, I will show you in my humble opinion the best teachers of simple songs and basic playing techniques on Youtube. The best part is, you get top notch instruction for free anytime!
The first instructor that I will highlight is Marty Schwartz. Marty is a extremely talented musician from Southern California. He operates a teaching website called Guitarjamz.com, which is linked on the right side of the page. Marty has over 500 instructional videos on his Youtube channel, with an extremely diverse song selection. Marty keeps his instruction very fun and exciting, while giving clear through explanations. Here is a song lesson that I learned from Marty. Next time I will talk about Mojo and threechordguitar.com.
Now that we have the equipment, and have learned some basics using the Guitarsmith video game, its time to start making some music. Learning chords is the next step to doing so. A chord is a formation made by pressing your fingertips on certain strings at once. It is best to begin learning the absolute basic chords, which are G,C,D,A,E. You can also learn some popular basic minor chords such as Am and Em. Believe it or not, you can play numerous songs just by knowing these simple chords. This link gives some tips for effectively learning chords. Instant Guitarist Top 10 Mistakes When Learning Chords
Selecting a guitar is obviously the first step to learning how to play. The majority of instructors recommend players to start with learning how to play on acoustic. This helps the player build a solid foundation learning chords naturally without effects that are used with electric guitars. I started playing with a Sigma DM-4 that belonged to my Grandfather and was passed down to me while I was in high school and first had an interest in learning. There are plenty of introductory guitars that are available at your local guitar shops for a fair price (Under $200). A great place to look if you like to bargain is a pawn shop. Great deals can be found here if you have patience. If you shop there ensure that the guitar does not have any cracks, major defects, etc.
As I stated in my first post, I used the video game Rocksmith to begin my self teaching guitar journey. This game is made for the Playstation 3 and XBox consoles. The game will require you to purchase an electric guitar, but the cost is well worth the benefit. This game allows the player to plug an electric guitar into the console and play. The game gives detailed instruction for any person who has never played. Instruction on tuning, strumming, chords, and everything else a beginning player needs to know. The game is similar to guitar hero in how it uses guitar interface to teach. Here is a game review that shows a basic idea of how the game works.
This game gives the beginning guitar player a free instructor who will correct you problems at anytime. Its a great bargain for players who cant afford lessons and want to learn on their own at home without being around people. Until next time...
I have always had the desire to play the guitar, but after a couple of failed attempts to learn 3 or 4 years ago I found the desire to try again. I started this journey in the beginning of January 2012, and started with a fresh new method. I found a game called Rocksmith that gave instruction via Playstation 3. 6 months later, I am now successfully playing 15 songs. It has been very rewarding just to get to this point, but I know I still have a long road ahead to get to where I want to be. The point of this blog is to help any other beginning guitarists by giving advice from someone who is in the same position. I am self-teaching myself, so I will be giving tips about what I have learned from the various sources that I use. Looking forward to sharing this ride together, and my next posting will start with beginning basic instruction to get started. Until then.
