Strumming Essentials - A Beginner's Blueprint Course

Strumming Essentials is part of our Beginner's Blueprint Series.

This lesson is where everybody who wants to play the guitar should start, but is not just for beginners. It is full of information on many basic elements of music and guitar playing, and includes clear explanations of some fundamental principles that are not always completely understood by even very accomplished students.

We start at the beginning and talk about proper hand position for both hands, how to place your left fingers on the strings to get a clean tone, how to pluck the strings with your fingers, and how to hold a pick and strike the strings with it. The lesson continues with explanations of note values (half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes), and time signatures (4/4, 3/4). We then learn how the notes are laid out on the guitar fingerboard, where the natural notes (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) are in 1st position, how to read them using tablature, and finish Strumming Essentials I with playing the melody to Norwegian Wood.

The sections continue with strumming patterns and easy songs to work on, including Lucky Man, Who'll Stop The Rain, Dark Hollow and Brown Eyed Girl.

The beginning student will have a solid set of tools after going through this course that will let them branch out to hundreds of their favorite songs.