Getting into the guitar and playing
Time to Play Guitar!
The very first thing you need to develop is fret board finger placement and a basic picking technique. Whether you are just starting out or you have been playing for years, these exercises help you develop accuracy, clarity, cleanliness and a solid understanding of hand placement, finger placement, and picking technique.
Left hand (Fret Board Hand)
Make sure that your fingers are as close to the front of each fret as you can get them.
Always use all four fingers in a row.
Do not let your palm touch the underside of the neck/fret board.
Finally keep your elbow out and away from your body and your thumb centered in the back of the neck, which will allow you to bend your wrist and roll your fingers out in front of the fret board. Take advantage of the side-to-side motion that you have in your wrist that allows you to get your pinky on the same plane as your first finger.
Right hand (Picking Hand)
Rest your palm on the bridge.
You want as little movement as possible to ensure clarity, rhythmic accuracy, and quality of notes. Once the back of your palm is touching the bridge you can control your rhythm and dynamics.
Begin with a very simple up down pick stroke on your open strings.
Hold your pick with two fingers on one side and your thumb on the other with about ΒΌ inch of the pick hanging out past your finger tips.
1____(smallest)__________________________________________________________
2______________________________________________________________________
3______________________________________________________________________
4______________________________________________________________________
5______________________________________________________________________
6____(biggest)___________________________________________________________
E____(smallest)___________E______________________________________________
B_____________________B________________________________________________
G___________________G__________________________________________________
D_________________D____________________________________________________
A_______________A______________________________________________________
E___(biggest)___E________________________________________________________
Half Steps and Whole Steps
Accidentals
Take note of the sharp (#) and flat (b) symbols. A note played one half step higher then its natural position is sharp. Playing a note one half step lower then the natural position is flat. (A half step is played one fret up or down from your starting position. A whole step is 2 frets from your starting or stopping position.)
On the guitar these twelve notes can be played in order from the open string ascending in half steps (play every fret in order) to the twelfth fret of the same string. The scale goes in alphabetical order so if you start on the open E string and strike each note up to the fourth fret G#, the musical Alphabet simply starts over at A.
Broad fret board view
Finding the "E's"
The detailed view of the fret board
FRETBOARD PERSPECTIVES
Zone
The zone perspective allows that every note in a scale can be played within four fingers or half steps and then laterally thus making it so the wrist can be held completely still.
Zone fingering 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4 1 3 4 2 4 1 2
Three Note Per String
This perspective will allow you to stretch your fingers out a little more and ascend a scale using only three notes per string before moving to the next note/string in the scale. If you practice a scale using the zone perspective and then the three note per string, you can really feel the muscles in your fingers stretch.
Three Note per 1 3 4 1 3 4 1 2 4 1 2 4 1 3 4
Linear
These are the 12 notes in western music.
(American and European Music from before 1100AD through the present)
There are twelve notes in music, A through G
A sharp after each but B and E
A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G#
Bb Db Eb Gb Ab
On the guitar these twelve notes can be played in order from the open string ascending in half steps (play every fret in order) to the twelfth fret of the same string. The scale goes in alphabetical order so if you start on the open E string and strike each note up to the fourth fret G#, the musical Alphabet simply starts over at A.
| 1st String | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | E |
| 2nd String | B | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B |
| 3rd String | G | G# | A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G |
| 4th String | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B | C | C# | D |
| 5th String | A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | E | F | F# | G | G# | A |
| 6th String | E | F | F# | G | G# | A | A# | B | C | C# | D | D# | E |
| FRET | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
The Elements of Music
Whether you play guitar, piano, trumpet, cello, or bagpipes, understanding the elements of music will be vital to your success. This knowledge will affect the way you play, listen to, and practice music. These are the building blocks. When you play music you are in fact combining these 5 elements and simultaneously using any combination of them.
Melody - A musical expression of single pitches arranged and executed in ascending or descending order.
There are two types of melodies.
Conjunct - Little movement or straight intervallic progression
(i.e. Deck' the' halls' with' bows' of' holly'.)
Disjunct - Characterized by lots of movement and wider intervallic distances
(i.e. Oh' ' Say' Can' You' See'.)
A melody can be shorter phrases that repeat frequently, or it can be longer flowing phrases that do not repeat.
Harmony - Supports melodic movement with chords, notes, and timed pitch changes. It also enhances rhythm and provides depth by giving tonality to rhythmic pulses allowing melody to flow and harmonize against these movements.
Rhythm - Musical time, beat, pulse, speed, and sections of time in which melody and harmony are arranged.
Rhythm is a constant. Whether you are playing melody or harmony the action of striking, hitting, or the provision of pitch at all necessitates rhythmic movement. Rhythm allows harmony and melody to move.
Rhythm is the most important of the elements of music. The dispersion of any pitches whether their dissonance or consonance will appear unified and intentional (while improvising) if the Rhythm is properly executed or the "intentional" phrase repeated.
Form - Structure of a composition, song, or musical arrangement. Order of individual sections of music. (ie. Verse, chorus, verse, or A, B, A)
Tone Color - The emotional value given a note, chord, phrase, or style of play. A combination of different physical techniques that vary from player to player. BB King, Mike Einzinger, and George Van Epps can all play a D Chord yet it can sound completely unique from another player using the same.
Some Final Exercises
