How to Play Guitar

Transcript Okay, so we’re talking about waltz time now for strumming, right? So it’s different than all the other strums we’ve done already. It’s got a whole different feeling to it, right? It sound like this. One, two, three. One, two, three. That’s what the music sounds like. One, two, three. Right? So what we …

Transcript Ok, so let’s talk about fingerpicking. This is a big big topic in guitar world. There’s many guitarists that only fingerpick and they can get do a pretty amazing thing with just fingerpicking. But so, were are just gonna introduce a little bit of the ideas here, and so obviously you don’t need a …

Transcript Okay so let’s talk about the 7th chords. 7th chords, sometimes they’re called dominant 7th chords, are chords that draw you to another chord. So for instance, here’s A7, and A7’s whole job is to try to get to D, right? So, uh, let’s learn how to make A7, right? Here’s your first finger, …

Transcript So how about G major? G major can be played several different ways. The easiest way to play it is you’re going to put your 1st finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret; then your 2nd finger on the 6th string, 3rd fret; and then your 3rd finger is going to go on the …

Transcript Let’s talk about B7. B7 is a little bit of a tricky chord because you have to use all four of your fingers. What we’re going to do is we’re going to put our second finger on the fifth string, second fret. Then your first finger is going to go on the fourth string, …

Transcript Ok so let’s make G 7. G 7 looks very similar to G but just a little variation right, so what we going to do here is we going to play the 1st finger on the 1st string 1st fret and then your 2nd finger is going on the 5th string 2nd fret and …

Transcript So let’s talk about C major. C major can be a tricky chord at first to learn. So what you’re gonna do is you’re gonna put your first finger on 2nd string, 1st fret. Then your 2nd finger is gonna go on the 4th string, 2nd fret. And then your 3rd finger is gonna …

Transcript Ok so let’s talk about practicing these open chords you’ve just learned. We’ve learned about 20 open chords, or so. Now what we’re gonna try to do is try to make little songs out of them. When I was a little kid, I learned these chords and I thought they were beautiful sounding, so …

Instructions Step 1: To form D major, place your index finger on the 3rd string, 2nd fret; middle finger on the 1st string, 2nd fret; and your ring finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret. Step 2: Make sure to only strum the bottom 4 strings to get the right sound. Transcript So, how about …

Transcript Let’s talk about F. F is a very hard chord, and in the beginning it can be very frustrating to make. So the first thing you have to do with your 1st finger is you have to play 2 strings both on the 1st fret on the 1st and 2nd string – and that’s …

Transcript Let’s learn D minor. D minor is your first finger, it’s gonna go on the first string, first fret; then your second finger is gonna go on the third string, second fret. And then your ring finger is gonna be a little bit of a stretch, but you’ve got to get it all the …

Transcript So we’re talking about chords. And chords are 3 or more notes played together. That’s as simple as it is. So you might hear 1 note, you might hear 2 notes played together, but those are still not chords, right? A chord is 3 notes played at the same time. All right? So that’s …

Transcript E7, E7 there’s two ways to make it. There’s the hard way and then there’s the easy way. So let’s talk about the easy way. E7 is your first finger on the 3rd string, 1st fret. And then your 2nd finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret. That’s all you need, that E7. Right, …

Instructions Step 1: To form E major, place your index finger on the 3rd string, 1st fret; middle finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret; and your ring finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret. Step 2: With E major, you can strum all the strings. Transcript E major! E major, is‚ your first finger …

Transcript So let’s talk about A major. A major is an open chord. First you’re gonna put your first finger on the 4th string, 2nd fret. And then you’re gonna use your 2nd finger, your middle finger, to play the 3rd string, 2nd fret. And then your ring finger, your 3rd finger, we’re gonna put …

Transcript Now we’re talking about the sad chords. This is A minor. What you’re gonna do is, your first finger is going to go on the second string, first fret. Your second finger is gonna go on the fourth string, second fret, and then your third finger is gonna go on the third string, second …

Transcript Let’s talk about B minor. B minor is usually a barre chord, which is a very hard chord, and we’re going to do that later. But what we can do now, is play a shortened version of that. So what we’re gonna do is, were gonna play the first finger, on the first string, …

Transcript C7 looks a lot like C so, in fact, let’s put C down, right? Here’s your first finger on the second string, first fret. And then your second finger is gonna go on the fourth string, second fret. And then your third finger is gonna go on the fifth string, third fret. So that’s …

Transcript E minor. E minor. Everybody loves E minor. It’s a simple chord. So, what we’re gonna do is put the first finger on the fifth string, second fret. And then, just one more finger. It’s your second finger. It’s gonna go on the fourth string, second fret. And that’s it. It’s easy as can …

Transcript Okay, D7. So D7 looks a lot like D. To me, it’s D backwards. I’m gonna put my first finger on the second string, first fret, and then I’m gonna put my second finger on the third string, second fret. And then my third finger is gonna go here on the first string, second …

Transcript OK, so one last chord for you from open chords. There’s many more open chords, but this will get you pretty far. This is called G with B in the bass. So how is that written? G slash B. Alright, so it is just like what I said. It is G, the chord G, …

Transcript There is many ways to tune your guitar. Maybe your home and you don’t have anyway to get a note to tune. So we’re going to tune the guitar to something close alright but the guitar itself is going to be in tune. That is called relative tuning. So, how do I know my …

Instructions Step 1: Tune your guitar using the open D tuning method by first matching the 6th and 1st strings, which are E, to the 4th string (D). Step 2: Next, tune the 2nd string to match the 5th string (A). Step 3: Finally, your 3rd string needs to be in F sharp. To do …

Transcript Let’s talk about E flat tuning. This is a little tricky to do. A lot of groups tune to E flat in order to match the singer’s voice a little bit. I can think of Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eddie Van Halen: they like to tune to E flat a lot. This is …

Transcript Okay, let’s talk about using a pitch pipe. This is a pitch pipe here, and you can buy this at your local music store. It’s like a little harmonica, and it gives you the exact notes for your strings on the guitar – and they’re labeled. So here’s E-6. That’s going to correspond with …

Transcript Let’s talk about restringing an electric guitar. when you but the guitar strings, some of them come in independent sleeves for each string, but some of them are just grouped together like this, and then on the back of the package, they’re color coded. Here, I’m gonna change the 6th string, the low e, …

Transcript So talking about alternate tunings, another very popular one is open G tuning. The Rolling Stones use them, Black Crowes – lot of groups use this. What I’m going to do here is I’m going to drop my 6 string down to D. So same as before, I’m playing the 4th string open, which …

Transcript This is how you will tune a guitar if you have a piano in the house right. The note that you might ask for or you might play on the piano is note E right, this is that string here so lets here that note. Lets tune to that note right, and then from …

Transcript Okay, let’s talk about how to restring a nylon string guitar. It’s actually a little trickier because you have to actually tie the string onto each end. If you notice on these strings you don’t know which end is up. It doesn’t really matter – you can use either end. And I’m going to …

Transcript Let’s talk about removing the string on a steel string guitar. Sometimes you might break a string, so you’re going to need to change it of course. And then sometimes the guitar string just gets old. It gets rusted and corroded and you would need to change it, right? I change my guitar strings …

Transcript Let’s talk about using an electric tuner. It’s probably the best way to tune. It’s the easiest, but a little more expensive. Right? We have a little guitar pedal here. And this is probably about 100 dollars at your local music store, so that’s quite an investment. But you can use this when performing …

Transcript This is how you restring a bass guitar, and this is very similar to an electric guitar although a little bit different on this end. At any rate, we have our string here. I’m just going to flip it over. I want to bring the string through here. I didn’t take off any of …

Instructions Step 1: When restringing a steel-string acoustic guitar, make sure you have the correct string for the one you’re replacing. Step 2: Unlike nylon strings, steel strings have a distinct ends — make sure the ‘ball’ end goes up the bridge pin with the channel facing toward the neck of the guitar. The other …

Instructions Step 1: To tune your guitar with a tuning fork, tap it on a soft surface to make it vibrate and press the bottom end to the body of your guitar to hear the note — or you can hold the fork up to your ear. TIP: The most common tuning fork is the …

Transcript Okay, so what we’re talking about are alternate tunings. And uh, lots of different groups use alternate tunings. It can make the guitar more exotic sounding. Some groups like Led Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, uh Muse, some bluegrass artists, folk music, country music, the list is endless, right? One tuning they could use, …

Transcript Let’s focus in on the strings. Uhm, you have six strings on a guitar. Uh, this highest one here the thinnest string you have is the first string. Uh, this one is called E. Uh, the second string is called B. The third string is called G. The fourth string is called D. Uhm …

Instructions Step 1: In terms of where to buy an electric guitar, the internet is probably the cheapest option but you can also go to local or chain music stores. Step 2: Additional accessories to take into account with electric guitars are a cable and an amp. Look into kits, which will include everything you …

Transcript All right, so playing the guitar standing up. All this time you’ve been practicing sitting down, and now maybe you want to perform somewhere and you want to stand up while you play. So obviously you need a guitar strap. And for me I like to keep it about the same height that I …

Transcript Let’s talk about playing a new guitar. You know when I was a kid, there were two types of guitars. Very very good guitars and very very bad guitars and of course the very good guitars are very expensive ans very bad guitars are very cheap and there were no, there was no sort …

Transcript So when you buy an acoustic guitar – this one happens to be a steel-string; your basic American folk guitar – just like electric guitars, there’s the whole range. So this is a very good brand; this is a Taylor – very well known, Taylor and Martin are very good steel-sting acoustic guitar companies. …

Transcript Let’s talk about the left hand. How you play the guitar is like how you play notes on a piano. Except on the piano, there’s a key you push. On the guitar, you’re doing twice the work. Your left hand is playing an actual note and your right hand is going to be the …

Transcript Hello, my name is Ivan Max, and I’ve been playing guitar for 30 years. I’ve been teaching guitar for 20 years. And you know a lot of the things I’ve learned, I’ve learned by myself on my own, through the books that I could get my hands on or the magazines that I could …

Transcript This is how you hold the guitar while sitting, you want to put it on your right leg and it goes right in this little crease here, that’s why its made like that, and I like a nice sturdy chair, maybe a kitchen chair or a nice stool. You don’t really want to be …

Transcript Okay, so this is an electric guitar, a little different than an acoustic guitar. Obviously you recognize all the pieces that the acoustic has, right? But uh, this time we have electronics. We have these things, these here are called pick-ups. What they do is they pick up the vibration of the string, turning …

Transcript Buying a used guitar is a great way to get started because you get a lot of value for your money, right, it’s been used. You’d be surprised, a lot of these chain stores that sell brand new instruments also sell used guitars. That’s a good way to save money. They’re fully guaranteed at …

Transcript This is a capo here. You’re going to want one early on. It’s great for raising the key of a song so that maybe if you have a higher voice and you want to sing it in a new key. That’s normal, right? And then, you’ll see the difference right away with the guitar …

Transcript This is a guitar pick. This is a weary simple average one. In fact, they come in different thickness. This one is medium. Some come heavy, they call them heavy or soft‚ you know, or thin. But this is the plain old regular. And it’s got a little point to it. That’s the‚ that’s …

Transcript Let’s talk about the parts of the guitar. Right, this is an acoustic guitar here, and it’s very simple. We have a body, right? This whole area here is called the body. Then we have the neck, all right?. This is called the head. These little pieces here, these are called the tuners. This …