Episode 1
In this episode:

How to hold the guitar

How to hold the pick

Article on how to read the fretboard diagrams below

Learn the names of the strings

The notes on the first two strings

Reading music and tab

Repeat after me answers

I’d like to share a valuable technique with you that I often use for myself and my students.

If you notice that you are struggling with a new chord, technique or piece of music, pause for a minute to step back, remove your hands from the instrument and take a deep breath. This will help to change your mindset from struggle to relaxation.

When you are relaxed you will be better able to focus on fixing the problem rather than trying to fight your way through it. At this point, close your eyes and just visualize what it is you are trying to do. If you are trying to play a difficult phrase then picture your fingers doing exactly what they need to do. As you do this keep the following points in mind

Also, try pretending to be someone else as you play. I remember watching a video of an Eric Clapton performance once. After it was over, I grabbed my guitar and started playing. In my head I was picturing Clapton as he was ripping through a solo. I found that I was getting the “vibe” of Clapton’s playing. Some of the energy, tone and technique was finding its way into my own playing. I felt like I was not in control but I was just watching as my body created this fantastic music.

I have used this technique for myself and shared it with my students and it has produced some great results. Your success with it depends largely on your willingness to participate. You might feel silly or childish pretending to be someone else. You need to get over that to really benefit from this technique. If you imagine with all of your ability that you ARE your favorite guitar player you will become a better player for it.

If your playing benefits from it - why not do it? Besides, no one has to know what’s in your head as you play. That space is your own to share or keep to yourself as you like.

Visualization gives you a great way to practice without having access to a guitar. In fact, it’s a great way to practice even if you do have access to one. By eliminating the distraction of actually playing the instrument you can zone in on what needs to go on inside your head to be a successful player.

Left-Hand Finger Exercises for Guitar

Left-hand finger exercises are great for improving your speed, tone and
accuracy. I found that even after I had been playing guitar for years
that simple exercises had a dramatic effect on my playing when I
approached them the right way.

For Beginners: These exercises will help your fingers move in ways that
they are not used to. When you play them, take your time and use as
little left-hand motion as possible

Advanced/Intermediate Players: don’t skip these just because they seem simple. You would be missing a great opportunity. You just need to have the right mental focus. You should focus on playing each note as cleanly as possible with as much tone as you can muster.

By playing a simple exercise you are able to focus more on these important aspects of your playing because the notes are easy for you to play.

|--1-2-3-4-2-3-4-5-3-4-5-6-…etc…-|
|------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------|

Notice that the left hand repeats this pattern: 1st finger, 2nd finger,

3rd, 4th, shift, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, shift….

Play the exercise as high up the neck as you can. Then do the same thing on the rest of the strings.

IMPORTANT: Do not rush through these exercises. That would be a waste of time and could actually result in doing more harm than good. Do notpractice bad habits over and over again. Always play your guitar with focus and intention.

Finger exercises can go a long way towards improving your playing. Play them a few minutes each day and you won’t be disappointed.

This is the first article in a series of guitar finger exercises.

Guitar Chords

This page will get you started with some guitar chords for beginners. These are some of the first guitar chords that most people learn. They are also some of the most common. Once you memorize and are able to play these chords you will be able to strum along with quite a few songs.

These are all open chords in first position. If you need help reading these, checkout the lesson on how to read fretboard diagrams.

This is the first article in a series on Guitar Chords.

This article explains how to play a finger roll on guitar, bass or mandolin.

A finger roll is a left hand technique that is used when playing two consecutive notes on the same fret but on different strings. For example:

|-1------|
|--1-----|
|--------|
|--------|
|--------|
|--------|

In the above example, you would play an F on the first fret of the first string and then a C on the first fret of the second string.

When you play these two notes you could simply lift up your first finger and move it over to the second string but if you did you would hear a little bit of silence in between the two notes. Sometimes that’s ok but most of the time you want to get a nice flowing sound with no “gaps” of sound between the notes. If you use a finger roll you can play these notes without pauses in between.

To play the example above using a finger roll, you need to finger the first note a little differently than normal. Instead of playing it with the very tip of your finger, move your finger over a little so that it just touches the second string. Then when you play the second note instead of lifting your finger off of the first string you can just “roll” it onto the second string.

After rolling your finger, it ends up in about the normal playing position for the second note. The finger never should never lose contact with the second string when playing this example.

This also works in reverse:

|--1-----|
|-1------|
|--------|
|--------|
|--------|
|--------|

If the first note is on the second string and the second note is on the first string then you should start with a nice arched finger on the first note. You should play it with the very tip of your finger as normal. To play the second note just flatten your first finger so that it frets the first string.

You can use this anytime you see two notes on the same fret on adjacent strings. Look for opportunities to use it as you play. Once mastered, the use of the finger roll will help your playing sound more fluid and “professional”.

Pentatonic Scales for Guitar

The pentatonic scale is probably the most widely used scale in many forms of lead guitar including rock, blues and country.  So, if you want to play lead guitar then you have to know pentatonic scales inside and out.

Before we get into actual playing though, let’s take a look at what a pentatonic scale is.  If you break the word into two parts you get penta and tonic.  Penta means five and tonic means notes.  So pentatonic scale just means “five note scale”.

Keep this in mind as you work your way through the patterns below.  If you start playing a root note and play five notes then the next note will again be a root note.

There are a total of five patterns.  I simply call these patterns 1-5.  You should start by learning pattern 1.  After you have that memorized go on to pattern 2.  This will probably take some time so be patient.  The payoff is worth it.It’s important to notice that the two patterns overlap.  In other words, the notes at the top of pattern 2 are the exact same as the notes at the bottom of pattern 1.  You are just playing them with different fingers when you are playing pattern 2.

This is the case with all of these patterns – the bottom of one pattern overlaps the top of the next pattern.  And the bottom of  pattern 5 overlaps the top of pattern 1 so things start all over again.  Pay attention to this!  This is an important key to learning these scales more quickly and to understand how they connect to each other.

Pentatonic Scale Diagrams

Pattern 1

Pattern 2

Pattern 3

 

Pattern 4

Pattern 5

Root Notes

Notice the white dots in each pattern. These notes are the root notes of the pattern. The root notes are the “home” notes of a scale. The scale will sound “finished” if you end it on a root note.

Another way of saying this is that the white notes indicate what key you are in. If you want to play the minor pentatonic scale in the key of A then you must make sure that the white notes are “A’s”. If you know that one of the white notes is an A then the rest of them will be A’s as well because of the pattern.

So if you look at pattern 1, you’ll see that the very first note (on the sixth string) is a root note. You can find an A on the fifth fret on the sixth string. So if you wanted to play A minor pentatonic you could use pattern 1 starting at the fifth fret on the sixth string. So you are using an A as your root note.

Tablature for playing all five patterns in A minor pentatonic are included below to help illustrate.

It’s important for you to memorize where these root notes are in each pattern. Not only will they help you to determine which key you are playing in but they will help you quite a bit when you improvise your own solos.

Tab for A Minor Pentatonic Pattern 1

Tab for A Minor Pentatonic Pattern 2

Tab for A Minor Pentatonic Pattern 3

Tab for A Minor Pentatonic Pattern 4

Tab for A Minor Pentatonic Pattern 5

This is the first lesson in a series on the pentatonic scale. Part 2 will show you the best ways to memorize these scales and get the most out of them.

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