Guitar Music Theory

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Getting Started On The Guitar

Sitting
Positions

There are two sitting positions for holding
the guitar; classical and casual.

1. Pick up the guitar and make sure that
the guitar body is supported by your leg.

2. Position yourself at the edge of your chair.

3. Ensure that your back is relaxed but straight.

4. Lean the guitar back towards you slightly.

Standing Position

1. Pick up the guitar and place the strap over your shoulder.
Adjust the strap so that the guitar is positioned mid-body.

2. Use your left hand to support the neck of the guitar.

3. Rest your right hand over the bridge of the guitar.

Hand Positions

It is important that you relax your wrists
and hands. Straining them can cause injury.

Warning! Make sure that you never
position your hand like this:

Your thumb should never be placed this
low on the neck of the guitar as it puts

unneccessary strain on your wrist and thumb.

Fretting

When you play the guitar, you use your left hand fingers to press
down the strings on the fret board of the guitar and use your right
hand to pluck or strum the stings at the bridge end of the guitar.
Using your left hand to press the strings on the fret board is called
fretting. Here are some tips you will need to know:

1. Short fingernails are essential.

2. Use only the tips of your fingers to press the strings.

3. When making a chord, be sure that each fingertip is placed directly
behind the fret.

We will cover chords in lesson one.

4. Check each string that it rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing.

As a beginner guitarist, it may hurt your fingers to play. This
is normal. Every guitarist starts this way for the first couple
of weeks. With practice, you will develop guitar fingers (hard skin
on your fingertips).

Holding the Pick

Position the pick between thumb and index fingers like in the diagram
below:

Time to take a break. Well done, you've just completed the first
part of this free guitar lesson. Next you are about to learn about chords
and by the end of this lesson you'll have learnt the A Major chord.

Don't forget, for the ultimate guitar learning kit which includes
step-by-step written lessons, video lessons, audio lessons and sophisticated
software games, visit Jamorama.com

Now you are ready to start your first lesson.
Your aim in this lesson is to learn the A and D major chords and
to introduce yourself to reading guitar tablature. This lesson is
very important, so I want you to really focus.

Remember! It is more beneficial for you to practice
multiple times during a week than to practice for one long session.
This is because your brain processes information in chunks at a
time and it can only hold a certain amount in short term storage.

For example, with phone numbers, it is very difficult to remember
any more than 7 digits at a time. Yet if you give yourself time
between practicing, even if it is just 10 minutes, you’ll
find that your brain is much more efficient at turning your short
term practice into long term knowledge. More information on effective
learning is contained in our Jamorama product at Jamorama.com.

To start
with, I want you to have a look at the guitar neck diagram below
and make note of all the relevant pieces of information.

Note: Each string on the guitar is numbered. When
you hold your guitar as you would when using the casual playing
position, the 1st string is at the bottom and the 6th string is
at the top.

Notice also the term, ‘Tuning’ at the bottom of the
above diagram. Tuning refers to the notes that the guitar strings
are tuned to. In the above diagram, I have given a very common tuning
called standard E tuning that consists of the notes E, A, D, G and
B. Strings 1 and 6 are both tuned to the note E. The open 6th string
is called low E. The open 1st string is called high E as it is two
octaves higher than the 6th string open E. I will explain notes
and octaves to you in a later lesson, but for now, you only
need to know the names of the notes in standard open E tuning.

Now make sure that your guitar is tuned to open E tuning (the
most common tuning). If you don't know how to tune your guitar,
then download my free guide to tuning your guitar from: http://jamorama.com/tuning/howtotune.pdf.
Or if you are already a member of Jamorama.com, you can use
our guitar tuning software to help you tune your guitar.

**Note: To open the above tuning.pdf file
you'll need a copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. You can download
a free copy of this from: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

We will stick to standard E tuning throughout this lesson,
but you can find other tunings to play with in our member’s
area at www.jamorama.com.

Introduction to Chords

Now we are going to look at guitar chords. Guitarists use many
different chords to make progressions or riffs that can then be
used to create songs. If you are not familiar with some of these
terms, it’s ok. We will cover everything that I am talking
about in good time.

A chord is defined as a combination of 3 or more notes played together.
To examine this, I want to take a look at chord diagrams. Chord
diagrams are used to illustrate how a chord is played. They are
very easy to use because they look very much like the neck of the
guitar, in fact, the Jamorama chord diagram is a guitar neck.

As stated above the Jamorama chord diagrams are going to be pictures
of an ‘actual’ guitar neck so it’s easy to make
the connection between strings and fingering. There is also a picture
of the type of chord diagram that appears in most other Guitar learning
guides. I want you to be aware of that form of ‘standard’
chord diagram because you may want to use it when writing up chords
on paper at home.

So, now that you know what a chord diagram looks like and how it
matches with the neck of your guitar, it’s time to come back
to what I said earlier about a chord being a combination of 3 or
more notes played together. Finger placing symbols are added to
the chord diagram so we know which notes to play. To start with,
let’s look at your fingers.

And now, let’s look at a full chord diagram. We will use
the example of the A major chord:

Chord Diagram - A Major Chord

In the chord diagram below you can see that the A major chord uses
fingers 1, 2, and 3. Take note of how this chord diagram looks -
we will use this style from now on.

Note that there is a red dot marking the 6th string on the above
chord diagram. The red dot tells you that you are not to play that
string. The sixth string of the A major chord is not played, but
you play the rest.

Throughout this newsletter series, every chord diagram will be
accompanied by a picture of the chord being held on the fret board
and video and audio of the chord being played for you to check with.
Pictured below is the A major chord being played.

Exercise: Playing the A Major Chord

Position each finger with care, according to the above diagram.
Make sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind the fret.
Firstly, pluck across the strings one by one with your right hand,
checking that each string rings clearly and is not muted or buzzing.
Play the first Audio or video example to hear how the chord should
sound.

Now that we’ve looked at chord diagrams, I want to move
on to strumming.

Introduction to Strumming

In a strum there are two types of guitar stroke. They are up stroke
and down stroke. Throughout this book these strokes will be notated
as follows:

When you play a stroke, you strum across the strings just in front
of the bridge of the guitar with the pick in your left hand. When
strumming a chord, make sure that you play all of the necessary
strings in the chord. The stroke direction will depend on which
stroke is indicated; up or down as shown above.

Exercise: Strumming the A Major Chord

Position each finger with care, according to the A Major chord diagram
(above). Make sure that each fingertip is placed directly behind
the fret. Firstly, pluck across the strings one by one with your
right hand, checking that each string rings clearly and is not muted
or buzzing. Once you are sure that you are holding the A major chord
correctly, practice strumming the chord in single downward strokes
as indicated below:

While you play this, see if you can say out loud an even 4 count.
Another option if you are a Jamorama.com member is to use the jamorama
metronome - it will help you to stay in time.

Tip: You can download a video or audio example
of the above exercise to see and hear it for yourself. The download
links are below (right click on the link and select "save as"):

Try your best to start your strum from the fifth string each time
you strum. A major, doesn’t sound bad if you accidentally
hit the top string, although if you want your music to sound professional,
you’ll want to play this chord properly. Remember to stay
relaxed. Your fingers may hurt a little but they will get stronger.

Now that you are playing the A major chord properly, let’s
take a look at strumming another chord...

The D Major Chord

The D Major Chord is constructed of the notes D, F# (F sharp) and
A and is played using fingers 1, 2 and 3:

As with the A major chord: try strumming
the D major chord in downward strokes with your right hand.

Tip: You can download a video or audio example
of the above exercise to see and hear it for yourself. The download
links are below (right click on the link and select "save as"):

Note: The top two, or fifth and sixth, strings
are not played in the D major chord. Make sure that you start your
stroke from the third string each time you strum D major, it doesn’t
sound bad if you accidentally hit the fifth string, although as
with A major above, if you want your music to sound professional,
you need to play this chord properly.

Hints for Buying a New Guitar

Whether you’re buying your first guitar, upgrading or simply adding to your collection, your first priority is to do your homework. There are many different resources available and you should endeavor to use them all. Guitar magazines are a good place to find out prices and specifications on different models of guitar. You can get similar knowledge from browsing at your local instrument shop. Another great tool is the internet – you can check for the most competitive prices, get some information on the manufacturers and search for other guitarist’s reviews and opinions.

You really need to arm yourself well before you try haggling with your local guitar salesman.

Often you can find online auctions where guitars sell for incredibly low prices; however, I wouldn’t advise you to take this option. As a rule you should always play before you buy so that you get a chance to gauge performance.

Once you’ve got the background knowledge that you need on the guitar of your choice the next task is to set yourself a budget and stick to it. Don’t let salespeople talk you into spending more money than you anticipated.

Testing out new guitars in the shop can be an intimidating task for beginners. It is important to remember that you are not there to showcase your playing ability – you are there to discern whether your proposed buy is a good deal or not. Check the frets for buzzing by playing each one. Make sure that the neck is not warped by looking down it as if you were sighting a gun. Check that all of the volume and tone switches etc. are in good working condition.

It is a great idea to take an experienced guitarist along with you when you are looking at a possible purchase, so see if you can persuade a teacher of friend. Not only will they be able to offer helpful advice – they will be good moral support when it’s time to pick up the guitar and test it out in public.

This free lesson is brought to you by Jamorama - The Ultimate Guitar Learning Kit

How would you like to pass the music from your brain to your fingers without stopping to think?


Scales are your raw material, and you need them there when you're ready to play!


You know what scales are, right? You know that any given scale is in many different places on the fingerboard waiting for your fingers to arrange them in new and interesting combinations so that you and anybody within earshot will turn around and go "Whoaa!!!"


To play like that is possible, but it takes something more than gritting your teeth and learning the scales in all positions like a kid learning the times tables. You need to stop thinking. You need a new approach. You need some air!


If you start learning scales, and have some success in improvising with quite likely you'll tend to stick with what you've practiced so far, and maybe be a little reluctant to press on with widening your knowledge.


Scales are made up of notes. You've seen the diagrams that show you where to put your fingers to play a certain scale in a particular position. It's easy to learn scales this way, so you see the patterns of notes all over the fingerboard, but you're not able to use all the other kinds of relationships between the notes because your knowledge of the guitar neck is not fluid enough.


Okay, you can impress your non-player friends with what you can do so far, but you know it's not enough!
Some guitarists have approached these kinds of problems by practicing fifteen hours a day. Some deliberately don't over practice, hoping the adrenalin rush of flying by the seat of their pants will give their playing what it lacks.


Is there some other direction you can go in to add the "Whoaaa!!!" factor to your playing? Read more