Progressive Beginner Guitar assumes you have no prior knowledge of music or playing the guitar.

Starting from the types of guitar available and the different styles of playing, you are introduced to:

• Important basic chord shapes and chord progressions.
• Learn to read and play guitar music using standard music notation, easy read tab and easy read strumming patterns and chord diagrams.
• Learn to play the notes on all six strings.
• Learn the melodies and chords of over 20 well known songs and chord progressions including Rock, Blues and Turnaround Progressions.
• Learn basic music theory including time signatures, sharps and flats, major scales, etc.
• Learn the most common open chord shapes in the keys of C major, G major and A minor.

The book also has special sections on tuning and how to read sheet music of your favorite music artists and groups.

All guitarists should know all of the information contained in this book.

The best and fastest way to learn is to use this book in conjunction with:

• Buying sheet music and song books of your favorite recording artists and learning to play their songs.
• Practicing and playing with other musicians. You will be surprised how good a basic drums/bass/guitar combination can sound, even when playing easy music.
• Learning by listening to your favorite recordings.

Also in the early stages it is helpful to have the guidance of an experienced teacher. This will help you keep to a schedule and obtain weekly goals.

Using The Enhanced Features

This enhanced eBook contains video and audio recordings for all exercises. The book explains where to put your fingers and what techniques to use, while the video and audio lets you see and hear how each example should look and sound when played correctly.

Practice the examples on your own, playing slowly at first. Then try playing to a metronome set to a slow tempo, until you can play the example evenly and without stopping. Gradually increase the tempo as you become more confident and then you can try playing along with the recordings.

To play along with the video and audio your instrument must be in tune with it (see Tuning Your Guitar).

A purple bar with a play icon and an exercise number indicates a recorded example like this:

Click the play icon (triangle) to start the video playing and then click the full screen icon (2 arrows) to expand the video to fill the screen. A band is performing with the teacher so you can hear how the exercise sounds when played together with other instruments. Drag the slider to watch different parts of the exercise again. Please note that the video is best viewed in landscape orientation.

Full Page Score

For longer examples, the music score for the exercise is available as a single image for easy viewing. Double-tap the image to open it full screen and then use your fingers to swipe up and down or zoom in and out. Please note that you can have the audio playing and the full page score open at the same time.

Acoustic Guitars

Classical Guitar

The classical guitar has nylon strings and a wider neck than the other types of guitar and is played with the fingers of the right hand rather than a pick. It is most commonly used for playing Classical, Flamenco and Fingerstyles. Generally it is much cheaper than other types of guitar and is recommended for beginning guitarists due to the wider fretboard, making it easier to play and the nylon strings being gentler on beginner fingers.

Know Your Guitars…

The Classical Guitar

As the name suggests, this type of guitar is used for classical music, but it is also commonly used for Flamenco, Folk, and World music. Some of the most famous classical guitarists are Andres Segovia, John Williams and Alirio Diaz. American fingerpicker Chet Atkins used an electric classical guitar.

Steel String Acoustic

The steel string acoustic has steel strings and is most commonly played by strumming or fingerpicking groups of notes called chords. This is the type of acoustic guitar you will hear in most modern styles of music, e.g., Top 40 Rock and Pop music.

Acoustic guitars can be amplified for performances at large venues where the acoustic guitar needs amplification to be heard by using a microphone placed near the soundhole or by placing a portable pickup on the body of the guitar.

Know Your Guitars…

Acoustic Cutaway

As well as the standard acoustic guitar, there is another version called a Cutaway, where part of the body of the guitar is cut back and reshaped along the side of the fretboard. This makes it easier to play notes high up on the fretboard, which is great for playing lead solos on an acoustic guitar. Many players who switch frequently between acoustic and electric prefer to use an acoustic cutaway.

It is important to have a correct approach to practice. You will benefit more from several short practices (e.g., 15-30 minutes per day) than one or two long sessions per week. This is especially so in the early stages, because of the basic nature of the material being studied. In a practice session you should divide your time evenly between the study of new material and the revision of past work. It is a common mistake for semi-advanced students to practice only the pieces they can already play well. Although this is more enjoyable, it is not a very satisfactory method of practice. You should also try to correct mistakes and experiment with new ideas. It is the author’s belief that an experienced teacher will be an invaluable aid to your progress.

Tuning Your Guitar

Before you commence each lesson or practice session you will need to tune your guitar. If your guitar is out of tune everything you play will sound incorrect even though you are holding the correct notes.

Electronic Tuner

The easiest and most accurate way to tune your guitar is by using an electronic tuner. An electronic tuner allows you to tune each string individually to the tuner, by indicating whether the notes are sharp (too high) or flat (too low).

If you have an electric guitar you can plug it directly in to the tuner. If you have an acoustic guitar, the tuner should have an inbuilt microphone. There are several types of electronic guitar tuners but most are relatively inexpensive and simple to operate.

Tuning using other methods is difficult for beginning guitarists and it takes many months to master, so we recommend you purchase an electronic tuner, particularly if you do not have a guitar teacher or a friend who can tune it for you. Also if your guitar is way out of tune you can always take it to your local music store so they can tune it for you. Once a guitar has been tuned correctly it should only need minor adjustments before each practice session. To learn to tune the guitar using other methods see Guitar Tuning Methods.

How to Hold the Guitar

Sitting

The sitting position is best to use when you are first learning to play the guitar.

When playing sitting down:

• Sit up straight on the front part of the chair as shown in the photo.
• Raise your right leg by crossing it over your left leg or by placing your right foot on a footstool (as shown in the photo). Then place your guitar on your right leg.
• The guitar should be close to your body in an upright position with the neck pointing slightly upwards.

The main aim is to be comfortable and have easy access to the guitar fretboard. A music stand will also be helpful.

Standing

The standing position is particularly good for playing electric guitar (but can also be used with an acoustic guitar) and is essential if you plan to play in a band. Once you are comfortable with this position, try moving in time with the music as you play.

When playing standing up:

• Use a wide guitar strap and adjust it to a comfortable length. Let the strap take the weight of the guitar. This will keep your hands free to play rather than having to support the instrument.
• Make sure your weight is balanced evenly between both feet.
• The guitar should sit comfortably against your body in an upright position, with the neck pointing slightly upwards.

Right Arm Position

The correct position for the right arm is illustrated in the photos. Notice that the forearm rests on the upper edge of the guitar, just below the elbow. Be careful not to have the elbow hanging over the face of the guitar or your hand too far along the fretboard.

 

Right Hand Position

When you are playing single notes, support your right hand by placing the second and third fingers on the body of the guitar. If you are playing an acoustic guitar, pick the strings over the sound hole as this makes the best sound.

 

If you are playing an electric guitar, pick the strings between the pickups, as shown:

If you are strumming a chord, do not support your right hand with your fingers on the body of the guitar but still rest your forearm on the upper edge of the guitar.

Using the Pick

The right hand is used to play the strings by plucking them with a pick. A pick is a piece of plastic shaped like a tear drop or triangle. Hold the pick lightly between your thumb and first finger and use the tip of the pick to play the string.

Left Hand Position

The correct placement of the left hand is illustrated in photos A and C. Be careful not to allow the thumb to hang too far over the top of the neck (photo B), or to let it run parallel along the back of the neck (photo D).

Photo A: Correct

Photo B: Incorrect

Photo C: Correct

Photo D: Incorrect

 

When playing notes and chords your fingers should be on their tips and placed just left of the frets (not on top of them) as shown in the picture.

How to Read Music

There are two methods used to write guitar music. First is the traditional music notation method (using music notes, ) and second is tablature. Both are used in this book but you need only use one of these methods. Most guitarists find tablature easier to read, however, it is very worthwhile to learn to read traditional music notation as well. Nearly all sheet music you buy in a store is written in traditional notation.

Tablature

Tablature is a method of indicating the position of notes on the fretboard. There are six “tab” lines each representing one of the six strings of the guitar. Study the following diagram.

When a number is placed on one of the lines, it indicates the fret location of a note, for example:

This indicates the open 3rd string (a G note).

This indicates the 3rd fret of the 5th string (a C note).

This indicates the 1st fret of the 1st string (an F note).

Music Notation

These five lines are called the staff or the stave.

The Treble Clef

This symbol is called a treble clef. There is a treble clef at the beginning of every line of guitar music.

The Treble Staff

A staff with a treble clef written on it is called a treble staff.

Music Notes

There are only seven letters used for notes in music. They are:

These notes are known as the musical alphabet and indicate the pitch of the note to be played. Musical notes are written in the spaces and on the lines of the treble staff:

The Quarter Note

This music note is called a quarter note. A quarter note lasts for one beat.

Bar lines are drawn across the staff, which divides the music into sections called bars or measures determined by the time signature. A double bar line signifies the end of an important section of music, while a final bar line is written at the end of a piece.

The Four Four Time Signature

These two numbers placed after the treble clef are called the four four time signature. The time signature tells you there are four beats in each bar. There are four quarter notes in one bar of music in time.

Notes and Rest Values

There are many other types of time signatures, notes and rests values used in music that you will learn as you progress: