So... You Want To Learn How To Play The Guitar

Step 3: Learn Power And "Flower" Chords.

2009-06-05T02:09:00.000-07:00

GO HERE TO START FROM STEP 1 Due to how Blogger is structured, the last post always becomes the front page.
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Chords are the main ingredient of music. As a guitar player, especially a backup or rhythm guitarist, chords should definitely be one of the first things you really try to learn. Not only will learning them first help you with your fret-hand technique, but also with your strumming and even rhythm. It will also put you on the fast track to learning scales and music theory.

"Power chords" are the easiest to learn. All you have to do is learn where your fingers are positioned, and it's the same all over the neck of the guitar.

"Flower chords" are more detailed in their hand and finger positioning, but are still easy to learn. By the way, I call them "flower chords" because they sound all pretty and "flowery."

Scroll Down for a complete list of all 12 Major and Minor Chords.

For me, the hardest part of learning the major chords was training my hands to accurately shift between them and immediately put my fingers on the right strings and the right frets in an instant. If your favored style of music involves playing songs with a sequence of these chords, you will definitely need to practice this.

Power Chords

Like I said, the easiest thing ever:

This is an Open E Power Chord. The Open E string is the root. If you think of an open string as being the "0th fret," then the finger positions on power chords down the strings make more sense.

This is a Power Chord with the root on the 2nd fret:

This is essentially a "3 note" Power Chord with an Open E string involved. In this particular example, I would like to point out that the only reason that the Open E works with this power chord is because the 7th fret is an E note, too. It's just one octave higher than the Open E. I'll discuss this in a later lesson.

In this example, I want to show you both how the 1st and 2nd strings are tuned differently in relation to the 3rd - 6th strings and how you fret them to accomodate:

Flower Chords

These chords are dominant in the guitar world. They also require a lot of music theory to put together and explain, so I will spare you all the boring specifics.

There is actually a pretty huge list of chords, although there is really only 12 root notes. Now remember, roots are the individual notes from which the chord is based on. When you see a chord listed by name, an "A chord" for example, the root is the "A" note.

The types of chords and how they are listed in chord diagrams and in music notation are as follows: (Along with the Flat or Sharp Note Equivalent for A Chords)

Major: A -or- A#

Minor: Am -or- A#m

Augmented: A+ -or- A#+

Suspended Fourth: Asus4 -or- A#sus4

Added Ninth: A(add9) -or- A#(add9)

Minor Added Ninth: Am(add9) -or- A#m(add9)

Fifth: A5 -or- A#5 (These are actually power chords)

Sixth: A6 -or- A#6

Minor Sixth: Am6 -or- A#m6

Sixth, Added Ninth: A6/9 -or- A#6/9

Minor Sixth, Added Ninth: Am6/9 -or- A#m6/9

Seventh: A7 -or- A#7

Diminished Seventh: Aº7 -or- A#º7

Seventh, Suspended 4th: A7sus4 -or- A#7sus4

Major Seventh: Amaj7 -or- A#maj7

Minor Seventh: Am7 -or- A#m7

Minor, Major Seventh: Am(maj7) -or- A#m(maj7)

Major Seventh, Flat Fifth: Amaj7(b5) -or- A#maj7(b5)

Minor Seventh, Flat Fifth: Am7(b5) -or- A#m7(b5)

Augmented Seventh: A+7 -or- A#+7

Seventh, Flat Fifth: A7(b5) -or- A#7(5)

See if you can name the rest of these by comparing them with the chord types listed above:
1. B7(b9) = Seventh, Flat Ninth
2. D#7(#9) = ?
3. A+7(b9) = ?
4. C9 = ?
5. F#maj9 = ?
6. Em9 = ?
7. F#11 = ?
8. Bm11 = ?
9. B#13 = ?

Answers provided below

There you have it. All 30 different chord types and variations. Don't worry though, you don't have to memorize all of them. (most of them don't even sound that good) I'm just going to give you the majors and the Minor chords, which are the popular ones.

Now remember, there are 12 notes. 7 of which are the "letter notes" (A-G) and there are 5 sharp/flat notes between the A#B C#D#E F#G#A. Refer to Step 1: Tune Your Guitar for that information if you need to.

Here are the Major Chords for all 12 Notes

Here are the Minor Chords for all 12 Notes

Remember that "0" is an open string, and "X" are strings that are not picked

Here's a video where I show you the 7 Major Chords, and link them together to show you how to make a song.

There you have it, folks. Chords are actually pretty easy.
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Answers.
2. Seventh, Sharp Ninth
3. Augmented Seventh, Flat Ninth
4. Ninth
5. Major Ninth
6. Minor Ninth
7. Eleventh
8. Minor Eleventh
9. Thirteenth

Step 1: How To Tune Your Guitar

2009-05-25T08:38:00.000-07:00

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**More Content Will Be Added Very Soon. I am in the process of making (and remaking) some more videos to help you learn. By Doing this, I can get more content posted faster than writing alone and have some videos on individual steps before explaining them in further detail. View these videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/UtopianTMG and subscribe to my channel there, and follow my blog here.***

If you have already purchased your guitar, chances are you have bought a tuner. If not, go and get one! (Don't forget the batteries!) Most come with microphones and guitar jacks so they are perfect for both Acoustic and Electric guitars and even bass guitars. They are cheap, running as low as $15 dollars and they last a very long time and have very low energy consumption with auto-shut off features, so batteries last a long time.

Understanding The Basics

In the guitar world, there is a standard tuning. It goes like this in string order:

1: E - High E (Remember, this is the thinnest string)
2: B
3: G
4: D
5: A
6: E - Low E (The thickest string; 2 octaves lower than the High E string)

Each of the letters represent musical notes. Now in the music world, there are technically only 12 notes, but there are what are called higher "octaves" of the same notes. If you have a guitar with you now, hit any open string, then press down on the 12th fret of that string and pick it. You'll notice that it's the same note, just a higher pitch or "octave" of the same note as the open. (A guitar with 24 frets spans 4 octaves.)

The 7 major notes are represented by the letters A-G, and the other 5 are "sharps" and/or "flats."

I say "and/or" because these 5 notes are "in between" notes (a note between A and B, for example) that you can consider either the higher pitch of a note such as A#, or the lower pitch of a note such as Bb. Now what this means is that an A#(sharp) is actually the same note as a Bb(flat)!

These sharps and flats are actually the black keys on a piano.

Now why am I telling you all this stuff? Because even though the standard is "E B G D A E," not all songs, especially in today's newer rock music, are tuned to standard.

Just about every Guns n' Roses song is tuned down a half step. A "half step" is one fret, and can be considered just another fancy name for "flat." You're just effectively tuning down by one note. A whole step is two notes.

In case you're wondering, one of the benefits of tuning down is strings are easier to bend because of less tension. This is especially useful if you're a hardcore solo junkie with delicate girl fingers that cringes at the thought of sore or callused finger tips. Some other reasons a song may be tuned lower is to perhaps set a different tone or mood of a song, or even as simple a reason as a particular singer's preference or vision for a song.

Some musicians like Rob Zombie and Ozzie Osbourne usually always tune down even further than a half step, ranging from a whole step to even 2 whole steps down which give them a deeper and darker sound.

Drop D tuning is extremely popular, and is used by Creed, Godsmack, Rob Zombie and many many others. In all honesty, just about all new rock that comes out is in Drop D tuning. All the classic "hair" metal bands are pretty much strictly normal tuning, but may be tuned down a half-step or more. (E B G D A E)

All you do with Drop D tuning is tune your 6th string (the thickest string) down a "whole step," which is effectively 2 notes, or "2 flats."

(You can learn more about "steps" in my String Bending Tutorial.)

In every tablature book, tuning information goes in the circled area in the upper left hand page of a song's title page. So what does it mean if nothing is there? Standard Tuning! Most of the time, song books usally tell you the standard tuning in the same format as the other pictures. But when they don't, it's simply because it's the standard guitar tuning and you are expected to know that. So now you do ... You're welcome.

Now if you ever want to play along to any recording, you have to tune exactly the way they do, and you will sound exactly like they do. It truly is an awesome feeling to really learn a song and play along with it on the radio, a CD, or an MP3 file.

Watch this video here to help put things in persepective and explain a few more extra things you need to know.

Don't Have A Tuner? No Problem!

If you need to tune your guitar right now, use the tool embedded on the right section of the page --------->

The "5th Fret Method" Used To Tune Your Guitar To Itself

For those of you who don't have a tuner, here is the best way to tune your guitar to itself. Meaning that even if you're not exactly tuned to the specific "E B G D A E" notes, you can still tune your guitar so that the strings are tuned in relation to each other thus making your guitar in tune with itself.

With this method, you will start by pressing and holding the 5th fret on the 6th string and pick the 6th string and the 5th string at the same time. After strumming both strings at the same time and they are not in tune, let them ring and quickly reach up with your pick hand and begin tuning the 5th STRING until both strings sound EXACTLY the same in perfect pitch. You should be able to tell which way you'll need to tune (higher or lower) by the sound of the 5th string's pitch in relation to the 6th string.
You'll know it is in tune when both strings sound like a single string was picked.
Continue doing that down the line as shown in the picture until you get to the point where you are tuning the 2nd string to the 3rd string. You'll notice that the 4th fret on the 3rd string is held down as indicated by the pink color code. This is the note that you need to tune the 2nd string to.

When that is done, use the 5th fret method again to tune the 1st string to the 2nd string.

TIP: Never tune the string you are holding down with your finger. With this method, you'll always be tuning the open string below the particular string you are holding the 5th fret down on.

Here is the video tutorial:

As a bonus, I will show you how to tune to Drop D tuning and back to standard again in just 3 seconds by ear.

Congratulations. You Are Now Ready To Learn Tablature!

Now that you know how to tune your guitar, you can learn to play tablature. Once your guitar is in tune, you'll look and sound like you know what you're doing when you start playing the tablature.

Click Here To Go To Part 2: Learning Tablature

Step 2: Learn How To Read Tablature

2009-05-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

Now that you have learned how to tune your guitar, you are ready to learn how to read tablature. Upon learning tablature, you can get started right away playing your favorite songs without putting forth all the time and effort of learning how to read sheet music.

But don't be foolish. If you want to get very far in the music industry, you will need to learn how to read music. Tablature alone won't cut it forever as far as music careers go.

The chances are good that you don't know how to read music. I'll be the first to admit that even I didn't know how to read sheet music when I first picked up a guitar. But that never stopped me from becoming really good thanks to the awesome guitar learning tool called tablature. Let me show you how it works:

(Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N' Roses)

The LINES in the Tablature represent the strings.
The NUMBERS represent which fret to press.
Playing Tip: Never press on the fret bars! (The vertical stripes you see on the fret board) Always press between the fret bars! I've seen a lot of people I teach start out by thinking they have to press on the bars to sound the notes.

The guitar is actually "upside down" in the above illustration because the bottom string (the thinnest string) is actually the 1st string, and the top string (the thickest string) is the 6th string. The tablature represents this.

In this video I walk you through a real tablature sheet and show you some important details you need to

To put this into perspective

As an analogy, hold a book directly in front of you with your arms extended. Now take that book and lower your arms so that the top of the book points directly at the ground. See how the top is now at the bottom as you look down on it from above?

Now take your guitar and hold it in the regular playing position. Now grab it by the body and flip it so that the strings are facing you, then extend your arms. Now do what I told you with the book analogy and you will see that it all makes sense.

Now, since you don't know how to read music, but still want to play along to your favorite song, the only advice I can give you is to listen to the particular song over and over. If you have bought a tablature book, you can open it up to the song you're listening to and follow the tablature visually as each note is played which will give you a sense of timing, rhythym, and also learn some of the music symbology as you go. (Guitar hero is also another good way for learning this.)

This video puts it all in perspective and with more details.

This Video teaches you how to read chord diagrams and how they are listed in tablature and music sheets.