chords
rhythm
ear training
pentatonic scale
the blues
Learn basic chords all over the fingerboard
Sounds like a big challenge. Fortunately there are only a few different basic chord shapes. There are 5 basic shapes and they are based on the open position chords C, A, G, E and D. This system of chords is often called the [...]
Tune your guitar with this online tuner. Tune up every time you pick up your guitar. For best results, buy an electronic tuner.
To hear a string, click on the controller next to its letter, or number if you know them by number. If you don’t know which is which: E, or the [...]
Music Theory - Intervals
Just as atoms are the smallest building blocks of matter, we can consider intervals the smallest building blocks of music. We need to know:
What an interval is
Where did it come from
What it sounds like
How to play it
It all starts with the major scale, remember this thing with the notes C, D, [...]
This lesson drills you on your knowledge of the fingerboard. It will ask you to find a note on a certain string. All you have to do is click on it with your mouse. You should also find that note on your guitar. In the earlier lesson you learned where the [...]
Learn the location of every natural note on every string by doing this drill. What is a natural note? Its one that has a name like G or D; contrast that with notes like G-flat or D-sharp: those are not natural because they have accidentals in their names. There are only 7 [...]
Many of my guitar students often ask me “what is the circle of fifths.” I took me a while to figure out how I could explain my understanding of it and also make the circle useful to their musical studies. Apologies to music theory purists who might read this; I tend to simplify [...]
Do not bother getting all the notes right if the rhythm is wrong. In fact the wrong notes played in the right rhythm will sound better than the right notes played out of rhythm. This is fact. Read that again!
Counting is not part of music
Many people are taught to count the beats [...]
