Not Playing Guitar: March 2009

30 March 2009

Bass Run on I-IV-V Chord Progression

This week's lesson continues our series on bass runs over open chords. In previous lessons we saw how bass runs can be created using chromatic movement or the major scale with simple two-chord examples.

This week's lesson takes this knowledge and applies it to a complete three-chord example. The example shows a I-IV-V progression that could be the verse of a song. The example is in the key of A major and uses the A, D and E major open chords.

Time to get picking, so here's the example tab (you can download a print-friendly version).

The example uses major chord runs between the A and D chords in the first four bars. In the sixth bar we walk down the major scale to the root of the open E chord on the sixth string.

The first time around you play the chromatic run shown in the eighth bar to lead back to the A major chord in bar one. You can repeat this run as many times as you wish. At the end of the song, you can finish by strumming the A major chord only once and letting it ring.

The strumming pattern on the chords is kept deliberately simple to focus on the bass runs. Feel free to create your own chord strum patterns between the bass runs to make the example more interesting.

Next week we'll take a look at another complete chord progression using a minor chord. Have fun with this example in the meantime.

More bass run lessons you might enjoy:

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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27 March 2009

10 Best Tips to Learn Guitar

Are you a guitar beginner, or thinking about learning guitar? If you are then the free report 10 Best Tips to Learn Guitar is for you.

This free report from Not Playing Guitar will help you:

Enjoy learning to play guitar
Learn simply and effectively
Find out whether you need a teacher
Focus your time on effective learning activities
Learn how to practice well

Topics covered include...

How to develop an attitude that helps you learn and progress
What a guitar teacher can help you with most
What to spend your practice time on
How to practice and learn new skills most efficiently
The importance of songs in your practice time

You are welcome to download the report for free, distribute it to your friends, post it on your web site, or simply add it to the collection of mostly ignored guitar lessons laying around on your hard disk. The choice is yours, so download it today.

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25 March 2009

10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Buying a Guitar

The Jemsite guitar blog recently posted some interesting ideas on the theme 10 Things I Wish I Knew (Before Buying a Guitar). Never one to turn down a cheap excuse for a list post, I thought I'd offer my list of ten things I wish I'd known before buying a guitar.

My initial list had 22 things on it, but ten is the name of the game so I had to trim this down. After plenty of deliberating, here is the resulting list.

Now of course, I could use this post to make a cheap plug for my new free guitar report, 10 Best Tips to Learn Guitar The Easy Way. So that's exactly what I'm going to do... at the end of the post. Meanwhile, here's my list of 10 things I wish I'd known.

It takes time to figure out what you want to play. Don't sweat your first purchases, get something cheap because you'll change it.
When you learn, practice in very slow motion, not like you see other people playing.
Use a metronome, all the time.
You can always find more lessons and exercises than you have time to practice.
Music theory is easy to read about, but you only really understand what you can play.
Lower your aim - at least for the first ten years.
Play with others, or with jam tracks, as much as possible.
Cheap electrics often sound great through a good amp. The reverse is not true.
You can always download more tab than you'll ever have time to learn and play.
A guitar in hand is worth a couple of hundred on Harmony Central reviews.

That's the list out of the way, so on with the cheap plug I promised you. I'm pleased to announce a free new guide for those beginning, or thinking about beginning, to learn guitar.

The 10 Best Tips to Learn Guitar The Easy Way report aims to give beginner or novice guitarists some hints on how to approach guitar learning effectively. It will be out on Friday this week, so be sure to drop by then to download your free copy. Subscribe by email or RSS reader to be sure you don't miss it.

More lists of 10 Things I Wish I'd Known Before Buying a Guitar from Jemsite:

23 March 2009

Two Chord Guitar Songs – Eleanor Rigby

Two chord guitar songs are a popular topic with reader's of Not Playing Guitar. I've found some more of these for you and I'll be posting them over the coming weeks for those of you hungry for simple two chord songs to play.

Today's two chord song ranked 137 in Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs of all time and should be familiar to a lot of you. Eleanor Rigby is a haunting Beatles' song about loneliness from their 1966 album Revolver.

You can play this song on guitar with just the two chords C and Em.

It could hardly be simpler, so grab your guitar and get practicing without further ado. You might like to stop off at Ultimate Guitar to view the chords and lyrics to Eleanor Rigby, or learn more about the song's story.

I'd love to learn more about the reasons you are looking for two chord songs. Let me know by leaving a comment on this post - click the "Post a comment" link or use the form below.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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20 March 2009

Beginner Guitar Chords With One Finger

Beginner guitar players usually start learning open chords, so called because some strings are left open when you play them. Here's a collection of beginner chord lessons you can find here on Not Playing Guitar.

This series of lessons for the absolute beginner will have you playing your first song with only two fingers. Follow the lessons step by step to learn two one finger chords - G and C - and then learn to play them one after another and play a song.

Your First Guitar Chord
Your Second Guitar Chord
Putting Two Chords Together
Your First Song

To learn more chords and songs you'll need to understand chord diagrams and how to learn chord changes effectively. Set yourself up for easy chord changes with these two lessons, then learn how to play more beginner chords.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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18 March 2009

Acoustic Blues - Land of A7

Here's another great acoustic blues guitar lesson from Marty of Next Level Guitar. Marty is offering some great lessons for anyone who loves to play acoustic blues guitar (Thanks Marty! And love the hat). This one shows you a great way to spice up your bluesy A7 chords.

You'll learn some nice A7 chord shapes you can play up and down the guitar neck. It gives your playing movement that will really make your ears stand up and listen.

View acoustic blues lesson.

Enjoy more video lessons from Next Level Guitar.

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16 March 2009

G and C Chord Major Scale Bass Runs

Last week's bass run lesson introduced you to the use of the major scale to create bass runs between open chords. In this lesson you'll learn another major scale bass run example in the key of G. The lesson will give you some practice with open G and C chords whose root are not on an open string.

Here's the tab for the example, it's described in detail below (you can download a free PDF version of the lesson with easy to read tab).

If you followed last week's lesson you'll remember that notes in major scale bass runs are separated by whole or half steps according to the major scale formula:

Whole step, whole step, half step, whole step, whole step, whole step, half step.

In the example the 2nd and 3rd of the G major scale lead to the root note of the C chord (the 4th in G major). The major scale formula for these notes gives us whole step, half step.

On the first C to G chord change you walk back down the 3rd and 2nd notes to the root G note at the start of bar five. The descending formula gives us a whole step, whole step here.

For the second change from C to G in bar eight we walk up to the G note, using the 6th and 7th of the major scale. Notice that the formula is the same – whole step, half step – as the one on the 2nd and 3rd notes leading to the C chord.

As usual, practice the example slowly and focus on playing accurately.

That concludes this lesson on easy beginner bass runs. You can download a free PDF version of the lesson with easy to read tab and an extra bonus example.

Next time we'll take a look at how to construct bass runs on more chord changes. In the meantime, you can catch up on other bass runs lessons by following the links below.

13 March 2009

Why You Needn't Learn "Must Know" Guitar Songs

Must know guitar songs is a topic that occurs regularly on guitar forums and sites. But I'm here today to tell you why I think there is no such thing as a must know guitar song.

These must know list usually consist of a few of the most well known songs in a particular style. But why limit yourself to these?

There are many thousands of great songs in the world, most of them undiscovered by most people. So find and play some that YOU really love.

Image by Waka Jawaka.

Music is a creative activity where you have an opportunity to express yourself. Your playing shows a little of your unique self when you choose songs that reflect your own tastes and preferences.

By all means, you might want to learn some popular songs, you might even love them yourself. But remember that there is a world of difference between learning a popular song because you love it, and learning it because someone says you just have to.

So treat these "must know" song lists with care. Some might be fun to learn, widely liked, or offer some interesting learning challenge. Before you rush off to learn the songs because you were told to, take the time to listen to them. Decide if you like them or not, and learn them only if you really enjoy them.

Beware of filling your play list with songs other people enjoy. Make sure your list is full of songs YOU love and enjoy playing. You'll have more fun with them and you'll transmit more of your enthusiasm to your audience.

Setting out to learn "must know" guitar songs can lead you to boredom or frustration if those songs don't really inspire you. Learn the songs you love and enjoy playing and you'll be more motivated and have more fun from your guitar. Remember, the only songs you have to play are those you choose to play.

What about you? Let us know what do you think of "must play" guitar songs in the comments.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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11 March 2009

CROW Your Guitar Goals

Wondering how to set useful guitar playing goals for yourself?

It's easy when you use the CROW goal formula. Find out more by reading my guest post How to Set Effective Guitar Goals on Jemsite today.

Thanks to Ava for welcoming my guest post.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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Acoustic Blues Lead Guitar Licks

Here's a lesson for all you acoustic blues guitar fans. I love the blues, and playing acoustic blues guitar is one of my favourite pastimes. Many people immediately hear screaming electric guitar sounds when they think of blues lead guitar. But you can create some beautiful sounds and solo licks on acoustic guitar too.

Here's a video lesson that shows you how, using some licks on the E blues scale in open position. You can jam for hours with licks like these and a few E, A and B chords thrown in.

Enjoy the lesson, and have fun jamming with the techniques it shows you.

See more blues guitar lessons from Next Level Guitar.

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9 March 2009

Open Chord Major Scale Bass Runs

In this lesson we're going to look at bass runs that use notes of the major scale. We looked at open chord chromatic bass runs in part one and part two of this series.

Chromatic bass runs are easier to play because you simply follow the frets one at a time. To create bass runs with the major scale you must move one or two frets at a time according to the major scale formula.

The major scale consists of 8 notes arranged in the following whole step and half step intervals. The whole step intervals correspond to two frets on the guitar, and the half step one fret.

Whole step – Whole step – Half step – Whole step – Whole step – Whole step – Half step.

Major scale bass runs follow these whole or half step movements to walk to the root note of each chord. For example, to walk up to the IV chord's root on the scale's 4th degree you use the root, 2nd and 3rd notes, moving a whole step, whole step and half step as you land on the 4th note.

The easiest way to see how this works is to play an example, so let's get straight into one. This example uses the open A and D chords, you might recognize it as a I - IV progression in the key of A. You can download a print friendly version of this lesson for free.

The first bass run walks up three notes to the root of the D (IV) chord in the third bar. Play this run by releasing the A chord and use your index finger for the B note on the 2nd fret and your ring finger for the C# note on the 4th fret.

This bass run walks up a whole step, whole step, half step as it finishes on the D note of the new chord.

In the example tab I've shown a strum of the D chord on the first beat of bar three. Note that you could also play only the root D note on the open 4th string on this beat and follow it up with strums. I suggest you give both techniques a try to hear their different sound.

On the change back to the A chord we're going to play a descending bass run. This run walks down the major scale to the A chord's root note. You'll notice that you simply play the previous bass run backwards from the D note down through the C# and B to end on the A.

To play this run release the D chord as you pick the open D note on the second beat of the fourth bar. Then walk down the 5th string notes using the same fingers as before: ring finger on the 4th fret and first finger on the 2nd fret.

Starting from the A chord the 5th note is the A, found on the open 5th string. Walking up the major scale following our whole step, whole step, half step formula the bass notes are B on the second fret of the 5th string and C# on the fourth fret of the 5th string.

Again, experiment with both a strum of the A chord on the first beat of the bar and the A root note alone.

Practice the two chord changes in a loop to build fluency with the bass run. When you are comfortable with this major scale bass run try playing the chromatic bass run on some changes to hear the difference.

This lesson has shown you how to play a bass run using the notes of the major scale to lead into the chord. In the next lesson we'll look at some more examples using the major scale to lead up to or down to chord changes.

More bass run lessons you might enjoy:

4 March 2009

Open G and C Chord Chromatic Bass Run

This post continues a series on beginner bass runs started last week. In the first article, Beginner Guitar Open Chord Bass Runs, we learned what a bass run is and introduced the idea of chromatic bass runs.

Chromatic bass runs use notes on adjacent frets. They are an easy way to start as the right notes are easy to find - they are right next to each other.

This lesson is going to give you another example between G and C chords to give you more practice with this kind of bass run.

Two Chord Example

In this lesson you'll play a simple two-chord progression back and forth between the G and C chords. If you are familiar with chord progressions then you will recognize that this could be a I - IV progression in the key of G, or a I - V progression in the key of C.

Right, now on to the example. First off is a tab diagram for the exercise shown below, this example will use eighth notes for the bass run. Count the beats "one and two and three and four and" as you play.

Playing the Example

To play the G to C bass run in the second bar begin by strumming the G chord on beat one.

After the strum start the bass run on the A note of the open 5th string. Play this note on the "two", lift your finger off the 2nd fret to do this.

Now place the first finger on the first fret of this string and pick the Bb note on the 3rd beat.

For the last note of the run play the B note on the the 4th beat with your second finger.

Now change to an open C chord and play a bar of strumming on this chord. Then, after one more strum on the 1st beat of the bar, it's off to the next bass run.

This time the bass run starts on the open 6th string with the E note. Pick this note on the second beat.

Continue to walk up the 6th string one fret at a time on each beat to play the F and F# notes before you change chords and pick the G note on beat one of the next bar.

By now you should be getting the hang of creating chromatic bass runs with open chords. Learn how to play them between all the open chords and work them into the songs you play.

In the next article we'll be looking at some open chord bass runs that use scales to move from chord to chord.

More bass run lessons you might enjoy:

2 March 2009

One Song to Many With Picking Patterns

Today's lesson comes to you courtesy of the good folks of the Rock House Blog.

Today they published a guitar lesson on Changing the Feel of a Song. This lesson shows how a simple four-chord progression that could be part of a song can be turned into four songs in different styles simply by using different strumming or picking patterns.

The lesson is based on some bar chord positions, but if you are unfamiliar with these you can simply substitute open chords instead.

This lesson shows a simple exercise you can use with every new song you learn. Take the song's chord progression and play it in a variety of feels using different picking patterns.

You can often create your own cool arrangements of songs in this way. Not only does it make the song a little more personal it also helps you avoid direct comparison with the original, which is not always a bad thing... ;-)

Thanks to Curt and the Rock House crew for this useful lesson on Changing the Feel of a Song.

Learn acoustic guitar with 153 step by step video lessons, acoustic jam tracks, ear training and music reading software. From beginner through to advanced player with Jamorama Acoustic complete learning system.

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