Archive for the ‘Beginner Guitar’ Category

I recently saw the movie "It Might Get Loud" featuring Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), The Edge (U2) and Jack White (White Stripes/The Raconteurs). In the movie Jimmy Page digs through his mammoth vinyl collection and plays some favorite songs, one of which was Link Wray's "Rumble". This song was also famously featured in "Pulp Fiction". It is a classic instrumental and a real easy song, ... View Lesson

Most of the first guitar chords we learn incorporate notes from our open strings. These open string chords are some of the easier chords to play yet possess a beautiful, full-bodied sound that bring even advanced guitarists back to them time and again. The following chart should be review by beginning and intermediate guitarists. It includes the typical "cowboy chords" along with some less expected ... View Lesson

Some songs will live forever. Some songs even lived "long ago in a galaxy far, far away". Such is the case with the Star Wars theme! I recently had a private lesson request on how to play the melody to this classic movie theme so here is a quick video and the tab. I have included the notes along with the tab so even piano ... View Lesson

Some lead guitar licks you hear over and over again. These licks are clichés and they are valuable to have under your fingers. Just like their verbal cliché cousins, tried-and-true sayings (such as "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush") these licks can quickly get over used but they get over used because they work. The following 10 Early Rock licks work ... View Lesson

In the following video guitar lesson I show the opening riff and main guitar parts for "Get On Your Boots" from the new U2 album 'No Line On The Horizon'. The lesson includes both full and half speed versions and an explanation of the parts shown. If "Vertigo", the first single from U2's last album, is any indication, get ready to hear this new U2 ... View Lesson

The Minor Pentatonic scale is one of the most widely used scales in improvisation in every musical style so it makes sense to know it well all over the guitar neck. When it comes to moving beyond the first pattern learned (see my lesson on 4 Scales You Should Know) the next step is usually to introduce five overlapping patterns, each staying strictly in ... View Lesson

So you've studied our natural notes on the E string lesson and are left wondering how to name those mysterious blank spaces in between? Well, these are the 'chromatic notes' and we will learn how to name them in this lesson In our natural note lesson, we learned a pattern where between most natural notes there is a two fret distance, or a 'whole-step'. The ... View Lesson

One of the all-time HEAVIEST guitar riffs must be "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. Fill your victims (neighbors!) full of dread by turning your amp up to 11 and playing this Tony Iommi classic! httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nsuf9TilGFo The tabs are in the video (full and 1/2 speed, how cool!) but here they are for your off-video practice. You might also ... View Lesson

When it comes to guitar soloing, there are four scales that can be applied more often than any others. They are the Minor Pentatonic Scale, the Natural Minor Scale, the Major Scale and the Major Pentatonic Scale. Following are the most common patterns for each type. They include an easy-to-find root note on the heaviest (6th) string. These examples are all in the key of ... View Lesson

It's nearly 15 years since the death of guitarist/songwriter Kurt Cobain but the music of Nirvana still influences almost every 'alternative' rock group to this day. Great songwriting, great voice and a great riff writer. This video guitar lesson shows how to play Nirvana's "About A Girl", the MTV Unplugged "Live in New York" version. httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeERl0DhBKo On the video I first run through the parts ... View Lesson