Welcome to the first of my series of lessons for the beginner guitarist. Hopefully you have the guitar on your knee, in tune (if not sort it out at TB-001 Tuning Your Guitar) and you are ready to start playing. :) Make sure you have read my intro lessons on practice too, so that you work on the right things...

 

Lesson 1a - Reading Chord BoxesThe first thing that you need to know is how to read chord boxes. These show you where to put your fingers on the fingerboard. The six vertical lines represent the six strings, the one furthest left is the thickest string. The two close together lines at the top of the box represent the nut (the plastic, bone or metal piece that the stings go through on the headstock) and the rest of the horizontal lines represent the frets.

The dots represent the places where you must put your left hand fingers, and they are numbered to show which finger to use. Number 1 is the index finger, 2 is the middle finger, 3 is the ring finger and 4 is your pinky. If you have played the piano make sure you don't get confused because the piano finger numbers are completely different (guitar players don't use their left hand thumbs).

Notice the X or O above each string too. These show weather to play the string or not. The O means that you play the string with no fingers on it and the X means that you should not play that string. Be careful which strings you pluck.

1b Holding The GuitarSorry but that is too hard to explain in text, and there is no YT vid for it - have to see the Beginners Course DVD...

 

1c Holding Your Pick
OK. Nearly there...just make sure that if you are using a pick that you are holding it correctly. I recommend using a pick when you begin and learn fingerstyle later but it is up to you. Hold the pick so that it comes out of the side of your thumb and hold it with the tip of the first finger, see the pictures below.

 

1d - Left Hand Finger PlacementTry and get your left hand fingers as near to the fret as possible without touching it. See the DVD for more information on that one... I am not trying to do the big sell on the DVD to you... just some things we filmed extra just for it so they are not on the YouTube vids... pretty much all of the rest of the course is though!

 

Onwards and upwards :)

Once you have your guitar in tune, your pick ready and you understand the chord boxes, it is time to move onto your first chords!!

Here we go.... BC-002 • Your First Chord (D)

 

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