Guitar

Here we are. The guitar page. There are a few lessons below to teach you...

Ok, lets start with the basics:

There are 6 strings. You will notice that the strings vary in thickness. The bottom string (which in technical terms for the guitar is called the top string) is the thinnest and the top string (which in technical terms for the guitar is called the bottom string) is the thickest. The notes of the open strings on the guitar on the strings are like this:

e string (top string in technical terms)

B string

G string

D string

A string

E string (bottom string in technical terms)

Remember the string names from this simple rhyme:

Every Alien Deserves Good Breast Extensions!

Kinda weird, I know, but I learnt it after hearing it once! 

There are many important parts, accessories and terms for your guitar that you need to know about:

BEFORE YOU START THE NEXT LESSON YOU WILL HAVE TO READ ANY LEARN THE GUITAR DICTIONARY!

GUITAR DICTIONARY:

Amplifier - This is a loudspeaker which you plug you electric guitar into to amplify or make - louder the sound.

Chord - Many notes played at the same time to form a sound.

Distortion - This is the fuzzy sound that you hear in rock songs. It is a very heavy sound.

Distortion Pedal - This is a pedal with many different distorted sounds that you can use. You just press a button on it with your foot and you get different sounds. You can even make your own sounds! (See "Distortion")

Fret Board - (Also known as "fingerboard" or "neck") This is the board or stick which sticks out of the guitar head. You have all the frets here.

Frets - These are used to divide the notes so that there are many notes on our guitar. You have to press down on a fret. Frets are divided by metal pieces.

Lead - This is the plug used to link you guitar to the amplifier.

Peghead - This is the piece at the end of the fret board that holds all the tuning pegs. (See "Tuning Pegs")

Pick - This is what is used for "strumming" and playing chords and power chords.

Pickups - You will have 1 - 4 of these on your guitar under the strings on the head. They are used to pick up the vibrations and send them to the amplifier.

Scale - A series of notes played one after the other to form a tune.

Solo - An intermission in a song in which the lead guitarist plays a tune over all of the other instruments. It is the climax of a song.

Sound Hole - This is only used in classical guitars. It is used to amplify the sound since it is not meant to be pugged into amplifiers.

Strap - This is what you wear over your back to stand up and play guitar. It is a strap which is connected to the guitar.

Strap Button - This is the button that connects the guitar to the strap. (See "Strap")

Toggle Switch - This changes your guitar sound from treble to bass.

Frets:

     What is a fret? If you look at your guitar then you will see that on the long stick (this is called a fret board) there are many metal pieces to divide the fret board. These metal pieces are called frets and help your playing. “Playing on a fret” does not mean that you push down onto the metal, but you finger should be pushing just before it. For example, when you want to play the 5^th fret, then you have to push you finger down just before the 5^th metal piece (the 5^th metal piece from the far end of the guitar.) Do not push to hard or the pitch of the not will become a bit higher and do not push too softly or the sound will not come out! See the picture too see how to play a fret.

Tuning:

     Now onto tuning, tuning is a very vital, yet easy part of guitar. If your guitar is out of tune, then the song that you play will sound completely wrong. You can be playing the song on the right frets, yet it will sound completely wrong. This is how to tune:

Step 1: Play the 5^th fret of the low E string (low in pitch that is) and at the same time play the 5^th (A) string open. They should sound the same, if not; turn the knob of the 5^th string until the sound is equal.

Step 2: Play the 5^th fret of the A string and at the same time play the 4^th string open. They should sound the same, if not; turn the knob of the 4^th (D) string until the sound is equal.

Step 3: Play the 5^th fret of the D string and at the same time play the 3^rd (G) string open. They should sound the same, if not; turn the knob of the 3^rd string until the sound is equal.

Step 4: Play the 4^th fret of the G string and at the same time play the 2^nd (B) string open. They should sound the same, if not; turn the knob of the 2^nd string until the sound is equal.

Step 5: Play the 5^th fret of the B string and at the same time play the 1^st (high E string (high in pitch)) string open. They should sound the same, if not; turn the knob of the 1^st string until the sound is equal.

See the picture below for a picture on tuning.

Notes:

     A note is a sound with a pitch. It can be a high note (high in pitch/frequency) or a low note (low in pitch/frequency.) We have already learned the names of the open strings but now we need to learn the notes that you can play on different frets. The larger the numbers of the fret, the higher the pitch, so the 10th fret on a string has a higher pitch than the 5^th fret on a string. But what exactly are the notes on each fret of each string. This is shown on a diagram below of a guitar. You will notice that the guitar is upside down in the picture, so the low (in pitch) E string is at the bottom.

Tabs:

     Tabs are a great way to learn new songs and to play them. They are like music sheets which show you what fret to play, on which string, and when. They are quite easy to learn, but it takes practice to learn to play the songs with difficult tabs. In the “cool links” page you will find some links to websites where you can find tabs to many songs.

Here is a simple tab:

e]-------------------1-2-|

B]------------------1-2------|

G]--------------1-2----------|

D]----------1-2--------------|

A]------1-2------------------|

E]-1-2-------------------|

     The numbers indicate which fret you have to play.

The letters at the beginning indicate the string. You will have to know that the e which is not capital is the high e (high in pitch, thinnest string) and that the E which is capital is the low E (low in pitch, thickest string.) You will also realise that what are seeing are the 6 strings on the guitar, but upside down. The numbers are placed one after the other because you play each note one after the other. If you play many notes at the same time (this is called a chord), then the tab will look like this:

e]-1-

B]-1-

G]-2-

D]-3-

A]-3-

E]-1-

This is a barre chord of F, but you do not need to know that right now! But this is just to give you an idea of what the tab looks like when you play a chord.

(Before learning about chords you will have to read “Tuning, notes and tabs”)

Chords are a number of notes played at the same time to give a multiple-note sound. They are very important for playing guitar.

Open Chords:

The three most important chords for a beginner are E, A, D, C and G major chords:

E Maj  A Maj
e]-0-  e]-0-

B]-0-  B]-2-

G]-1-  G]-2-

D]-2-  D]-2-

A]-2-  A]-0-

E]-0-  E]---

D Maj  C Maj

e]-2-  e]-0-

B]-3-  B]-1-

G]-2-  G]-0-

D]-0-  D]-2-

A]---  A]-3-

E]---  E]---

G Maj

e]-3-

B]-0-

G]-0-

D]-0-

A]-2-
E]-3-

     Ok, these are the open chords. There are a list of more open chords in the picture at the bottom. To read those, simply turn your head sideways to the left so that you are looking at it sideways. The dots indicate the fret (white dots mean no frets, just the open string) and the lines indicate the string. Look at the open chord tabs and look at the open chord chart and match the same chords and you will see how the chart works.

Barre Chords:

     These are harder chords for beginners to play and it is the hardest you will get in the beginner section. There are E String barre chords in which you use the low e and A string barre chords in which you don’t use the low E.

This is an E string barre chord:

F Maj  F Min

e]-1-  e]-1-

B]-1-  B]-1-

G]-2-  G]-1-

D]-3-  D]-3-

A]-3-  A]-3-

E]-1-  E]-1-

Maj (major) means happy sound.

Min (minor) means sad sound.

All you have to do is play with your whole index finger going down the fret board and your ring and pinky on the A and D string and (only if is a major chord) put you middle finger on the G string.

     FOR BARRE CHORDS YOU USE THIS POSITION FOR ANY NOTE ON THE E STRING.

     You can tell what the note is of the chord you are playing by the fret that you index finger is on on the E string. E.g. if you are playing a barre chord with your index finger on the note G, then you are playing the barre chord of G. There is a picture at the bottom showing a picture of the position of a barre chord.

Power Chords:

     These are the simplest form of chords and give a rock sound. They are used often in rock and punk music and are very easy to learn. All you have to do is put you index finger on a note on the E, A or D string and place you ring finger one string down and two frets up, and voila! You have yourself a power chord. The note of the power chord is that of the note where your index finger is placed. If you are somewhat confused about what a power chord looks like then look at the picture at the bottom.

A pentatonic scale is a series of notes played one after the other to make a sound.

Here is the only pentatonic scale you need to know... For now!

e]---------------------3-6-

B]-----------------3-6-----

G]-------------3-5---------

D]---------3-5-------------

A]-----3-5-----------------

E]-3-6---------------------

---------------------6-3-|

-----------------5-3-----|

-------------5-3---------|

---------5-3-------------|

-----6-3-----------------|

-6-3---------------------|

All you have to do is learn it without poroblem. By now you should've taken all the other lessons before on tabs etc... So you should be able to figure this out yourself.

YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE BEGGINERS LESSONS NOW AND MAYBE NOW YOU CAN TRY THE ADVANCED LESSONS IF YOU THINK YOU'RE GOOD ENOUGH. EVEN THE ADVANCED LESSONS ARE PRETTY SIMPLE SO HAVE A GO!

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO GO TO THE ADVANCED LESSONS: