Regular Folks Playing Guitar: Build a major chord from the 5th string

It’s handy to be able to build chords from the 5th string! Let’s talk about C in the first position as an example.

When you make a C chord – usually this is the first way we learn how to play it- the notes that make up the chord, just using the 4 inside strings are C, E,G and C again. “CEG” spells C major because those are the 1st 3rd and 5th notes of the C scale. We can play those notes in combination in lots of places on the neck of the guitar and another way to do it allows the shape to be “portable” – that is, we can use the same chord shape anywhere up and down the neck.

Start with your first finger on the 3rd fret of the A string – That’s your C. now 2nd finger on the 5th fret of D gives you a G, the 5th note of the C scale. 3rd finger on the G string gives you a C again, and pinkie on the 5th fret of B gives you and E note now you have four fingers, one […]

Practice

Practice Regimen

A “regimen” is a behavior that’s organized according to a system. A practice regimen is exactly that, but for us, it’s a way to formalize our guitar practice; it can help get the maximum benefit from the time spent practicing. Your own practice regimen can be whatever you decide it should be but at minimum I would suggest practicing 3 times a week, 20 minutes at a time. If you can do that you’ll see your guitar playing improve measurably.

I’m also a big fan of the 80/20 rule which says that 20% of the effort produces 80% of the results. With regard to practice, I think 80% of the time should be spent having fun- playing the things that make you happy. 20% of the time however you might focus like a laser beam on things that are hard to do or more challenging. Remember this is supposed to be fun! We can work hard just a little bit and see ourselves moving forward as guitarists… and this is very satisfying!!

Of course the more you practice the faster you will get better! Just remember to have fun while you are doing it, and carve out some time to focus on difficult […]

History of the guitar: where the heck did this thing come from?

There’s a pretty comprehensive article on the history of the guitar: https://www.mi.edu/education/guitar-history-how-the-guitar-has-evolved/

The history of the guitar can be traced back over 4000 years. The first signs of a guitar-like instrument appeared in Asia Minor and the Middle East around 3400 years ago. The oldest known representation of an instrument with the essential features of a guitar is a 3300 year old stone carving of a Hittite guitar found in Turkey.

The first instruments that we might recognize as guitars are thought to have originated in Spain during the 15th Century. These early guitars had four “courses” of strings, or sets of two strings tuned to the same note to give the guitar resonance. The instrument was actually called a “vihuela”, and consisted of four double-strings (paired courses). The world’s oldest guitar is a vihuela, which was created by Belchior Diaz around 1590. It has ten strings and is widely regarded as the predecessor to modern guitars.

The exact origin of the word “guitar” is a mystery, but t

Why play guitar?

There’s a pretty good article by Mike Duffy on the Fender website that talks about some of the real benefits of playing music. Fender consulted Daniel Levitin, author of “This is your brain on music” who stated that, “Playing an instrument can… improve a person’s overall well-being. Playing even five minutes a day can lead to a range of physical, mental and emotional benefits.” According to Levitin, after 60, playing an instrument can help you retrain and remap neural circuits that are inclined to atrophy, which sounds to me like it almost certainly helps you to stay sharp! Plus, playing guitar is just plain good fun.

What about guitar lessons for kids?

Well, learning to play an instrument teaches patience, focus,

Goals for guitarists: short, medium and long-term

We might consider both “entertaining millions” and “knowing how to play any song I want to learn” to be “long-term” goals. You’ll met those some time in the future. Long-term goals are great because they define a possible endpoint of your path, and they’re far enough away that we can move toward them if they change, which they probably will. “Playing any song I want to” could easily morph into “playing finger-style guitar in the style of Django Reinhardt ” as you progress in your ability, understanding and appreciation of your instrument. Of course, it’s also a good idea to have medium and short-term goals too, so you can make sure you are on track to that farther-off goal (of entertaining millions, perhaps?).

One way to look at guitar-playing medium-term goals is to think ahead 6 months or so. Let’s say you found a pretty good guitar teacher and you’ve been studying together for the last 6 months. How does that look, guitar-wise? Do you know how to play maybe a half-dozen songs you couldn’t play before? Do you have […]

First I’d like to say that you probably already know quite a bit more about playing guitar than you think you do! Regular Folks Playing Guitar is aimed at a wide range of players from pure beginners to the fairly accomplished guitarist who may be in a rut with their playing and want to break out of it. Whatever level you play at now, if you can hum a tune recognizably – or even a lick from a tune, you already have a sense of timing and melody. We just need to trick your brain into sending musical notes to your hands instead of your mug! I’ll show you how to do that and have some fun at the same time. A lot of what we’ll be doing has to do with ear training which we’ll discuss in some detail.

I once had a student who, when asked the question “why do you want to play guitar?” answered “to entertain millions of people around the world”. Well, that’s not for everybody- or for most of us, in fact. And if that’s your aim, sorry- I don’t really know how to help you with that. Sad face emoji.

It is pretty important to be clear in your mind about what you want from lessons and what you expect “success” might look like […]