Now that we have gotten the fundamentals out of the way, it is time to focus on some items specific to the acoustic guitar, such as acoustic guitar strumming techniques, fingerstyle guitar lessons, and alternate tunings, and we’ll take peek at some acoustic guitar tabs.

It’s a good idea for a beginner to consider purchasing an acoustic guitar before investing thousands of dollars on an electric guitar and the accessories—cables, amps, speakers, etc—that go with it, only to find that guitar isn’t your cup of tea.

It’s not necessarily easier to learn how to play acoustic guitar than electric, but, aside from being more reasonably priced, they are portable, require less additional equipment, and are quiet enough not to annoy your neighbors. The trick is knowing which type to buy.

Acoustic guitars are used for any and every style of music, even heavy metal and punk. However, they are primarily for use in folk, Country & Western, Blues, and classical music. Different types of acoustic guitars, as we have seen, are for use in different types of music: nylon-string for classical, steel-string for folk and rock, as well as six- and twelve-string guitars for producing different sounds.

All can be used in generally the same way, require basically the same fingerstyle guitar lessons and are used with the same acoustic guitar tabs. But if you’re unsure as to which style of music you intend to play or what kind of acoustic guitar lessons you plan to take, a safe bet is a steel-string, six-string. This is a versatile enough guitar to suit most any musical need, including learning how to play acoustic guitar.

There are also different styles of play for different styles of music. For example, certain guitar strumming techniques might be used for folk music, while others are used for classical. Likewise, different methods of “stopping” the strings are appropriate for different styles of music. For example, most musicians “stop” the strings by pressing them against the fretboard with their fingers, thus forming chords.

This is the fingerstyle guitar lessons cover most often. However, a technique common in Blues music is using a “slide” or a “bottleneck.” This is a metal or glass tube that the player slips over a finger of his left hand, whichever finger he prefers, and plays the strings by placing the slide against the strings at different places along the fretboard to produce different pitches. He doesn’t actually press the string to the fretboard with the slide; all he has to do is simply touch the string with the slide in order to play the note. This is a technique that requires a lot of practice and acoustic guitar lessons, but once it is mastered, it produces a sound that is easily recognizable and uniquely “bluesy.”

Two guitar strumming techniques we have already looked at include the use of a pick and the use of the empty hand. A guitar pick can be a tad clumsy and obtrusive when used to strum all the strings at once. For a more finessed treatment of the instrument and a more controlled sound, using one’s bare hand is recommended.

It is also useful for different kinds of acoustic guitar tabs, including those that require strumming that those that require fingerpicking. Learning how to play acoustic guitar by strumming with your empty hand can feel awkward at first, but you will find that it is the best way to control the volume of your acoustic guitar. The proper technique is to use the tops of the fingernails on the downstroke and the top of the thumbnail on the upstroke.

We have seen, and will see again, the basic guitar chords in the key of C major are as follows: C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am-Bdim. This chord pattern is the same for every major key: Major-minor-minor-Major-Major-minor-diminished.

So in the key of D, the same sequence would look like: D-Em-F#m-G-A-Bm-C#dim. Notice that there are two chords in the key of D that are “sharp.” This is how you can determine that a song is in the key of D: there will be two “sharps” in the “key signature” at the very front of each staff, like this:

These easy guitar lessons will show you that, because guitar chords for songs in the key of G include one sharp (G-Am-Bm-C-D-Em-F#dim), you can identify a song in the key of G by the single sharp on the staff:

This sharp note is F, so you will know, as you’re learning guitar songs, that every single F note in the song will, unless otherwise noted, be an F#.

If you were to play a major scale in the key of A, can you figure out how many sharps it would include? The notes of an A major scale are A-B-C#-D-E-F#-G#. There are three sharp notes, so the key signature will include three sharps:

From what our easy guitar lessons have already shown us, you should be able to figure out the guitar chords for songs in the key of A. Using the pattern of Major-minor-minor-Major-Major-minor-diminished, you should be able to determine that the chords for the key of A are A-Bm-C#m-D-E-F#m-G#dim.

That really is the key to learning guitar songs: know the basic principles and look for patterns. If you know how to play a major scale and can identify the notes and the basic guitar chords, then you know how many sharps or flats that scale, and the associated key, has.

Before we learn how to play guitar chords in some common progressions, let’s say something about minor keys. Every major key has a relative minor. That means that they both use the exact same notes, only they begin in different places.

So, with a C major scale: C-D-E-F-G-A-B, its relative minor, which is Am, contains the same notes, but they start on A: A-B-C-D-E-F-G.

To determine a key’s relative minor, look at the sixth degree of the scale. Therefore, in the key of G major, the sixth degree is E, so the relative minor of G is Em.

Guitar chords for songs in minor keys are the same as with major key, except, like the minor scale, they simply start in a different place. So chords in the key of Em are Em-F#dim-G-Am-Bm-C-D.

You can see that Em has the same number of “sharp” chords as the key of G. Therefore, as you will continue to see while you’re learning guitar songs, minor keys always use the same key signature as their relative major. So, Em has one sharp, F#m has three, Bm has two, and Am has none, just like its relative major C.

Okay, let’s look at some chord progressions. In the last lesson we discussed blues guitar chords, which nearly always include the first, fourth, and fifth chords in a key, that is, the I-IV-V. These three basic guitar chords are in nearly every Rock & Roll, Country & Western, Rhythm & Blues, Reggae, punk, and heavy metal song known to man, regardless of what key they’re in.

You already know from these easy guitar lessons that, in the key of C, these chords are C, F, and G, and, if you’ve been paying close attention, you have figured out that these chords in the key of Am will be Am, Dm, and Em (or i-iv-v).

Can you figure out how to play guitar chords of this progression in other keys?

Now let’s look at some guitar chords for songs with a slightly more complex progression:

I | vi | IV | V |

Try to play this chord sequence in the key of C based on what you already know about the chords in a major key. Now try it in D and then in G.

Now try this one:

ii | V | I |

Play it once in each key. Now we’ll put them all together:

I | IV | V | I | vi | IV | V | ii | V | I |

Playing basic guitar chords in a given sequence isn’t very difficult once you figure out what you’re doing. Try this one from a minor key:

| i | VI | III | VII |

Try to play it in Em, then Am, F#m, and Bm.

Sometimes you’ll need to know how to play guitar chords that switch keys. Some songs sound like they start out in a minor key and then switch to the relative major during the chorus. Here is an example of such a chord progression (play it so between each vertical line is four beats):

Verse: vi | IV | vi | IV | vi | IV | V | V |

Chorus: I | IV | V | V | I | IV | V | V |

You can see that, although the verse is in a minor key, and the chorus is technically in a major key, they are relative to one another and would therefore have the same key signature.

Becoming a good guitarist, whether you’re learning how to play electric guitar or acoustic guitar, Blues or Rock, Classical or speed metal, requires being able to identify basic guitar chords in a progression simply by sound. In other words, learning how to play guitar chords, not by what you see printed on paper, but being able to step up on stage with a group of musicians you’ve never performed with before, and being able to play, simply by what you hear the others playing; Basically being able to play the guitar chords for songs you’ve never practiced an have never heard, simply by recognizing how a chord progression sounds.

This is a skill that neither advanced nor easy guitar lessons will give you, but that can be achieved only through a lot of practice, a lot of playing, and a lot of commitment. But you will find as you continue learning guitar songs, that it will be very much worth the effort.

As with everything in music, there are, of course, variations to this, but this is the most basic 12-bar blues arrangement. To make things a little more interesting, for example, you might play the first line like this:

And you might play the last line like this:

This progression of blues guitar chords will work with any key, but since we have already looked at the A blues scale, we’ll see what this progression looks like in the key of A:

While the rhythm section, the piano, bass, rhythm guitar, etc, plays this chord progression, the lead soloist, which in this case is guitar, but could also be saxophone, piano, harmonica, or even violin, plays their solo by playing the notes of the blues scale.

Not all introductory blues guitar lessons will show you, but those who really know how to play electric guitar will agree, that a particularly emotional blues song can be played using a minor key. Blues guitar chords in a minor key might look like this:

Notice that the E chord is not minor, but is a “7th” chord. This produces a particularly sharp contrast during the turnaround. A soloist who knows how to play blues guitar could still play an A blues scale or pentatonic scale over a minor blues, or he might consider playing a straight minor scale.

Now let’s take a look at a fun blues technique that you can use. This is a type of left-hand fingering that you will certainly recognize. It works well with a “shuffle” rhythm, which can be in 4/4, 12/8, or, as in this case, 6/8 time.

During blues guitar lessons, I normally try to avoid suggesting which fingers to use with tab or with blues guitar chords, but I will tell you that this technique is best achieved by keeping your index finger on the 2nd fret and lowing and lifting your ring finger on the 4th fret. Although, once you get to the E, you should keep your index finger and your ring finger stationary on the 2nd and 4th frets respectively, while lowing and lifting your pinky finger on the 6th fret. This will take a bit of stretching and will feel uncomfortable at first, but you’ll get used to it. And, as you will see, stretching your reach is a valuable skill to develop as you learn how to play electric guitar.

Modern blues guitar lessons will emphasize the need to know how to play electric guitar, but equally as important as the mechanics of the blues guitar scales for understanding the Blues, is knowing something about the origin of the blues music itself.

The Blues is a form of music that, like jazz, has its origin in pre-twentieth-century African American music like spirituals and work songs. The Blues, therefore, was created in the context of hardship and toil, and the very best and most properly executed blues will draw on the emotion of these qualities. When someone is said to “have the blues,” what is meant is that they are sad or melancholy. Likewise, true Blues music will also be sad and melancholy.

The Blues is a uniquely American style of music. Over the past hundred years or so, different regions of the country have developed distinctive approaches to the Blues. Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Memphis, New Orleans, and other American cities all have their own particular sound. They all use the same blues guitar chords and the same blues guitar scales, but they all put a different spin on the Blues that gives each city’s take on the Blues a particular feel.

For the first half of the twentieth century, the Blues was confined primarily to the African American community. However, beginning in the early 1950’s, when popular artists learned how to play blues guitar, the Blues entered the mainstream American music and became intertwined with Rock and Roll. Today, the Blues has an enormous influence on the music of nearly every Rock and Roll musician.

Blues guitar lessons will show musicians that, when they play the Blues, they can use any scale they feel is appropriate, whether it is a major scale or a minor scale. Players who are very experienced with how to play blues guitar can switch rapidly between different scales multiple times within the same song. However, there are two very popular blues guitar scales that are used most often with the Blues.

They are the “pentatonic” scale and the “hexatonic,” or “blues scale.” The pentatonic scale, as its name suggests, is a scale with five notes. As anyone who knows how to play electric guitar will tell you, these five notes, unlike the major scale that we have learned, should be played beginning with the index finger. A pentatonic scale in the key of A looks like this on the neck of the guitar:

…and like this in tablature:

The difference between the two blues guitar scales is simply the addition of the note in between the third and fourth step. So, when playing a “blues scale” in the key of A, that means the addition of the D-sharp, like this:

In tablature it looks like this:

Of course, someone who really knows how to play blues guitar well will utilize the entire neck of the guitar like this:

As you learn how to play electric guitar, you will, too.

Have you ever tried counting along to the beat? You may notice that different songs place the pulse on different beats, or that some songs have a different number of beats in between pulses than others.

That is because different songs often have different “meters.” The meter of a song relates to the number of beats in each measure. For example, a song in “4/4 time” has four beats in each measure, whereas the measures of a song in “3/4 time” each have three beats.

As you learn how to play rhythm guitar, you will see that the vast majority of music in this world is in 4/4 time. Musicians pronounce it “four four,” or they might call it “common time,” and it is written like this:

Or, occasionally like this:

The “4” on the top, as we have seen, tells you how many beats are in each measure, while the “4” on the bottom tells you that each beat is a quarter note. Therefore, each measure of this song has four quarter-notes in it, like this:

Now, if you know your math, you will know that four quarters is equal to two halves, and that two halves is equal to one whole. The same is true in music:

In our beginner guitar lessons, we will see that the same concept applies to songs in 3/4, or “three four,” time, except that the divisions aren’t quite as neat and tidy when you start using half-notes. That’s because there are three quarter-notes per measure, so there can only be one half-note along with the equivalent of a quarter-note per measure:

Even if you plan to be the next Jimi Hendrix, you will need to know how to play rhythm guitar. That is because, in order to be an effective lead guitarist, you must know how to follow a rhythm. So, every lesson will, in some sense, be a rhythm guitar lesson.

Here are some examples of other time signatures. The ones at the top are more common than the ones below.

These last two meters, 5/4 and 7/4 time, are a bit more difficult to count and are used far less often than the others, but you will see them again during your musical career outside of these online guitar lessons. Occasionally, some Asian or Eastern European music will have much more complex meters with eleven or even thirteen beats per measure. Some jazz artists who know very well how to play rhythm guitar in complex meters, will venture into elaborate rhythms, like this, but these meters are very rare in western music, and so we will not be dealing with them during our beginner guitar lessons

Simple Rhythms

Now, let’s continue our rhythm guitar lesson by discussing how these beats are counted.

When we’re looking at a measure of four quarter-notes, we count those beats simply as “1, 2, 3, 4.” Each of those counts falls directly on the beats they are counting:

But if we have two half-notes in each measure of 4/4, we count them like this:

That is, we count only the beats that the notes fall on, while keeping track of the silent notes. So we count whole-notes like this:

If we mix quarter and half-notes, it will count something like this:

Simple, isn’t it? If the rhythms in these beginner guitar lessons were as complex as rhythm got, music would be very easy to play. And very boring. Fortunately for us, music gets much more interesting than this, which you will see as you learn how to play rhythm guitar. Those quarter-notes we just looked at divide into eighth-notes, which divide again into sixteenth-notes, then thirty-second and then sixty-fourth-notes.

It sounds complicated, and it certainly can be, but, for this part of our rhythm guitar lesson, we will concentrate only on the eighth-notes.

Now, if a measure has four quarter-notes in it, can you guess how many eighth-notes it will have? If you said eight, you’re right, and they look like this:

So now you’re wondering how these are counted. It’s simple. Just add “and” in between each number. Like this:

It starts to get tricky when we mix the eight-notes with quarter-notes and half-notes:

It’s very important during beginner guitar lessons to learn how to read rhythm, because even if you decide that you will only play chord charts or tablature, it is very likely that you will see rhythm notation applied to those same chord charts and tablature. Even the most basic guitar chords can still be played against very complex rhythms.

Here is an example of the type of thing you might encounter:

For this introductory rhythm guitar lesson, this is going to be the most complex rhythm we will look at. In future lessons, however, as you get more familiar with how to play rhythm guitar, we will get more in-depth.

The first set of guitar playing techniques involves the use of a “pick,” which is a flat piece of plastic, vaguely triangular in shape. Using a pick is one of several guitar solo techniques that guitarists use. When one learns how to play lead guitar, it is usually with a pick. But a pick can also be used to strum a guitar, although it is very easy to break a string when strumming a guitar with a pick if you’re not careful. For this reason, using a pick with a nylon-string guitar is strongly discouraged, as it is very easy to damage the delicate nylon strings.

“Shredding” is a picking technique, common in heavy metal music, where the soloist runs the pick back and forth across the strings rapidly, producing a chaotic sound.
One of the most common guitar techniques is called muting. This is accomplished by plucking the strings while you gently rest the back edge of your hand (the part you would use to “karate chop” something) on the strings where they meet the bridge. It will take some patience to learn how to play lead guitar with this technique, but you’ll get the right sound when the notes no longer ring, but you can still hear them clearly. This is one of those rhythm guitar and guitar solo techniques that you will use all the time.

Two more common and useful guitar solo techniques are the pick squeal and the pick screech.

The pick squeal is usually not covered right away in guitar lessons for beginners because it is a difficult technique to master. Hold the pick so that the tips of your fingers are down close to the tip of the pick. There should be just enough of the pick showing to make contact with the string. As the tip of the pick strikes the string, lightly glance the string with the edge of your thumb. If you do it right, it will make a high-pitched harmonic sound. It is called a “pick squeal” because, in the hands of a professional guitar soloist who really knows how to play lead guitar well, a guitar can be made to sound like a dying barnyard animal. But this move, like many guitar playing techniques, takes a lot of finesse, and of course a lot of practice, to get it down precisely.

The pick screech is one of the guitar solo techniques that will make the guitar sound like a howling banshee. To achieve this sound, simply press the edge of the pick against the strings, and scrape it all the way down the neck of the guitar as if you’re scraping paint off the strings. You’ll see immediately why this technique is called the “pick screech”.

Fingerpicking is a technique that is used primarily with classical guitar. However it is one of those guitar techniques that can be used with any musical style, from folk to heavy metal. Fingerpicking is, as its name suggests, simply the technique whereby one picks the strings with the fingers. It sounds simple, but it’s not. Guitar lessons for beginners will introduce you to this technique, but it takes a lot of practice and patience. Usually, the thumb is used to play the bass notes on the low E or A strings, while the index, middle and ring fingers pick out melodies that can be very beautiful and complex. The pinky finger isn’t usually called for, but some guitarists do use it. It’s a matter of preference.

Here are the opening measures of a piece by Fernando Sor called Op 6 No 8 in C. See if you can play it. Keep in mind that the lowest notes, in this case, the ones on the A and D strings, will be played with the thumb:

Some very dedicated classical guitar players grow the fingernails of their right hand long so they produce a more crisp sound when they play. To achieve more volume, Blues, folk, and Country & Western guitar players use finger picks while they play. These are small pieces of light metal that are shaped to fit on the tips of the fingers and thumb.

Some guitarists and bass players just use a thumb pick. Both of these guitar techniques are used extensively.

There are some more unusual guitar playing techniques that guitarists use, and that you won’t usually see in guitar lessons for beginners, but may see occasionally as you learn how to play lead guitar. These include the use of a pick attached to the bit of an electric drill. This produces an extreme “shredding” sound that sometimes mimics the sound of a giant dentist drill.

There are other guitar solo techniques also make the guitar sound like anything but a guitar. Jimmy Page, the lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin, was known to play his guitar with a cello bow from time to time. This would produce a ghostly, other-worldly sound that can also be produced by using a device called an E-bow. This is a hand-held gadget that uses electronic impulse to activate the strings. This device can also make the guitar sound like a bagpipe.

Some guitar soloists, most notable Eddie Van Halen, use a technique called “tapping” there the player uses fingers from both hands to hit notes rapidly on the fretboard, it produces a very colorful, energetic sound.

Tapping and “slapping” are guitar techniques that are somewhat similar. The latter is used mostly by bass players, but a few guitarists use a modified version that looks like tapping. In this technique they use the right hand, not to press the string into specific frets as with tapping, but to slap the strings against the fretboard, producing an open, ringing sound.

Your guitar lessons for beginners are a good place to learn standard right-hand techniques, but you will see as you learn how to play lead guitar, that guitar playing techniques are limited only by your imagination.

That is, in the key of C, the chords will be: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim.  These are the beginner guitar chords, but an experienced guitarist who knows how to play chords on a guitar will know that other chords, like G7, Fmaj7, or Dm7b5 will also often find their way into a song in this key.

All guitar chords can be shown in several ways.  First, they can be shown as notes on a musical staff:

This, as we have already seen, is a C major chord.  Musical notation of this kind is the most common and ultimately the most useful, but it can be very difficult for beginners to learn how to read guitar chords with this method.

That is because learning to read beginner guitar chords with this system basically requires you to learn a new language.  Once you get comfortable with reading notes on a staff, though, it will come in very handy for playing all guitar chords, scales, arpeggios, melodies, and more.

Another method we have already looked at is tablature.  In today’s musical world, it is vitally important to know how to play chords on a guitar using tablature.  No method will ever replace traditional musical notation for flexibility and versatility, but tablature is a good way to become acquainted with beginner guitar chords.  Here is how the above chord is rendered using tablature:

You can see how tablature, unlike traditional notation, is useful for telling you how to play guitar chords by indicating exactly where to place your fingers on the fretboard of the guitar.  Even so, it takes some time to get used to knowing how to read guitar chords by identifying the numbers on the tablature, which is why it’s worthwhile also to get used to reading chord charts.  Again, here is a C chord as shown in a chord chart.

This method is nice because it gives you a graphical representation of how to play chords on a guitar and displays the neck of the guitar, showing exactly where your fingers need to go.  Some chord charts use numbers to indicate which finger goes where, which is useful when learning beginner guitar chords.  But others, like the chord chart above, just give dots where fingers go and leave it up to the guitarist to determine which finger to use on which string.

However, once a guitar player knows how to play chords on a guitar, all that is really necessary is to tell, rather than show him or her what chord to play.  That is done by placing chord names above a staff or a tablature, like so:

One very interesting system of notation is called the Nashville method.  This system doesn’t specify the chords used, or even the key the song is in, but rather it assumes you already know how to read guitar chords by reading the degrees of a scale (I-ii-iii-IV-V-vi-vii) and can apply them to any key. In the key of C, as we have seen, the chords are C-Dm-Em-F-G-Am-Bdim.

Nashville notation doesn’t use Roman numerals, but Arabic numerals: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7.
So, using the Nashville method, a chord progression like 1-6-4-5-1, played in the key of C would be: C | Am | F | G | C. This system of numbers can be applied to any key, so the same progression in the key of G, for example, would be: G | Em | C | D | G. See how easy that is?

Each number represents an entire measure of music.  But when there are two chords in a single measure, parentheses are used: 1-6-4-(5-4)-1

A “7th” chord is written like this: “5 7th” or “1 7th” and “major 7th” chords look like this: “4maj7.”

Once you know how to read guitar chords with the Nashville method, you’re ready to hit the bar circuit.  Nashville notation was devised by, and for, Country & Western and Blues bands, who use very straightforward chord progressions, so all guitar chords in this system are likely not to be very complex.

Trying to write out a jazz composition using Nashville notation would be a difficult task indeed.  The Nashville system is not for more “formal” music.  It is intended as a quick, albeit crude, way to write out music in a hurry.  If you’re reading Nashville notation, it’s most likely scrawled on a napkin in a smoke-filled bar.

Now, see whether you can play this chord sequence in the key of C.  Then try it in other keys, like D or G, or A.  Remember: each number gets 4 beats each, unless they’re in parentheses, then they get two beats each:

2-4-1-5-2-4-1-(5-5 7th)

Power Chords

As we have already learned, all guitar chords must have three notes, the “triad,” to qualify as a chord.  Guitar power chords, therefore, aren’t technically “chords” in the strictest sense.  Rather, music theorists call them an “interval” or a “dyad.”  That is because guitar power chords consist of only two notes: the root and the fifth, which is why they are sometimes called a “5” chord.  In other words, the chord shown here might be called a C5 chord:

You will see that in this case, the “chord” consists only of the C note and the G note.  If it were a real chord, it would also have an E note, right?

Guitar power chords therefore, have no “third” tone, so they are extremely flexible because they aren’t quite “major” and they aren’t quite “minor.”
Power chords are used most often in Rock & Roll and heavy metal.  Here is a brief example from “Battery,” by Metallica:

You can see here that these guitar power chords are made by playing the root, the fifth and the octave, which we already know is the root note again.  When this song is written out in traditional notation, it is shown as being in the key of Em, but by listening to it, it is difficult to determine whether it is in a major or minor key, because none of the chords include a “third.”

Sometimes, the “fifth” is played on the string below the “root” as with “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple:

You can see here that the notes on the G string (G-A#-C) are the roots, while the notes on the D string (D-F-G) are the fifths.

These are just two examples of the hundreds of songs that use power chords.  No doubt you will encounter many more during your guitar career.  But keep in mind that playing power chords is fun, but they should never be used as an excuse not to learn to read and play beginner guitar chords.

The vast majority of guitar music, from the most complex classical guitar piece to the most hassle, free easy guitar songs for beginners, is available in tablature. This lesson will show you how to read some easy guitar tabs, and introduce you to some fun and important guitar tabs for beginners to learn.

As we have seen, a musical staff consists of horizontal lines and spaces that represent musical notes.  Tablature also uses horizontal lines, but these lines represent the strings of the guitar.  The spaces between tablature lines are not used, so ignore them.

The lowest line of tablature represents the low E string.  The next one up is the A string, and so forth like so:

Typically, tablature doesn’t include labels identifying which string each line represents, but assumes that the reader already knows how to read guitar tabs.  Therefore, all the tab throughout the remainder of this lesson will likewise not include labels.  Don’t let this worry you, they will all be easy guitar tabs. At first.

On the chord charts we have already looked at, we used numbers to show which finger to use on each string.  With tablature, however, the numbers on each string show, not which finger to use, but what fret you’re playing.  It’s up to you to decide which finger to use. As you become more familiar with how to play guitar songs, you will know right away which fingers to use. So, when we see this…

…we know that we are playing the A string at the 3rd fret.  That, as you will remember, is Middle C.  Now, knowing what we have already learned, it’s probably a good idea to play this note with the middle finger, right?  That is because chances are pretty good that the next note will be one of the other notes from the C major scale. In fact, while we’re at it, let’s take a look at what the C major scale looks like in tab:

Now, keeping your fingers in the same position, try to play this simple tune using tab:

Certainly you recognized this tune right away, didn’t you?  This is one of many easy guitar tabs that we will be looking at during our lessons.  Like many guitar tabs for beginners, it is a very simple melody, but, as you continue to learn to play guitar, you are likely to encounter many very complex tabs, so it’s a good idea to practice as often as possible.

There are many sources online for free easy guitar songs for beginners.  It would be to your advantage to seek them out and learn as many of them as possible.  Becoming familiar with a wide variety of music is the best way to learn how to play guitar songs.

When first learning how to read guitar tabs, it is also important to become familiar with how they represent guitar chords.  As we have already seen, chords are shown on a staff by stacking three or more notes vertically on the staff.  This signifies that these notes are played simultaneously rather than one at a time, as with a scale.

Likewise, on guitar tablature, the numbers are stacked vertically in order to show that they are to be played together as a chord.  Here is an example of the C major chord we have already learned:

At this point I will repeat that the numbers on guitar tablature do not represent the fingers you use to play the chord.  They represent the frets.  This is the most important element of guitar tabs for beginners to remember.

On this particular chord the fret numbers happen to correspond with the fingers used, but you will see as we continue to learn how to read guitar tabs that this is not always the case.  Here is another example:

This of course is an A minor chord.  You will notice the (0) on the low E string on both of these chords.  The parentheses indicate that this string is optional.  If there is not a number on a string, that means that you do not play that string, as with the F major chord:

Here we see that the Middle C is optional, but the low E is not played at all.  Avoiding this low E string can be achieved by “muting” it with your thumb.  We will learn how to play guitar songs using this technique when we get to our blues guitar lessons.

Sometimes, you will see easy guitar tabs that require you to form a chord with your left hand, but play the notes individually.  More often than not, the name of the chord will be shown above the tablature, so you can get your fingers in place quickly.

Some books that include guitar tabs for beginners will also include a musical staff above or below the tablature, showing the corresponding notes. Here is an example:

This tab tells you that you are playing the notes of a C major chord one at a time.  This is called an “arpeggio.”

Okay, now let’s have some fun.

We already know how to form the chords from the key of C major, and we know how to read guitar tabs.  But we haven’t spent any time moving from one chord to another.  Let’s try that now.  Here is a simple, and very common, chord sequence:

Before we get to some easy songs to play on guitar, let’s take a look at something else. Here is the very same chord progression, however, instead of playing the notes of each chord all at once, we will be playing them one at a time.  But beware: these notes are not in order as with an arpeggio:

It’s a bit challenging isn’t it?  In fact it is one of the simplest and most widely-used guitar chord progressions in the world.  As far as easy guitar tabs go, this is among the easiest. It is important, however, when learning guitar tabs for beginners to become comfortable with this exercise before progressing to more complex ones.

We will be covering some easy guitar songs, but the difficult ones require much hard work. So practice it, and practice it again.  Learning how to play guitar songs takes discipline and dedication, and hours of practice.  As mentioned earlier, there are plenty of ways to find free easy guitar songs for beginners, so take advantage of them, and get comfortable playing a variety of music.

In our previous lessons we played C major scale, in this particular scale the D is the “second,” the E is the “third,” and so on until you reach the “seventh,” which is the B, and then, of course, the “octave.”  The notes we are presently concerned with, and the three notes that are always required to make a major chord, are the root, third, and fifth.

In the key of C, these notes are Middle C, E, and G, which, as we have already seen, are these notes:

When these three notes are written as a chord, rather than as part of a scale, they look like this:

Notes that are stacked up like this indicate a chord; that is, the notes are intended to be played simultaneously rather than in sequence as with a scale.

Positioning your hand to play basic guitar chords like this one is also different than it is with guitar scales.  There are many ways to play a C major chord, but the easiest is the “open position.”  This simply means that some of the strings are allowed to vibrate openly without being touched by a finger, and is a style that is particularly common in acoustic guitar chords.

In standard guitar notation, the fingers of the left hand are given numbers.  It’s easier to identify them this way than to call them “index finger” or “pinky finger.”  It’s a very simply system: the index finger is 1, the middle finger is 2, the ring finger is 3, and the pinky is 4.  It’s that easy.  With that in mind, this chart should make perfect sense:

This is a chord chart for the C major chord.  You should recognize right away that the positions of Middle C and E are the same as in the scale you just learned.  The other notes may not look familiar just yet, but don’t worry, they will soon.

The letters below the chart represent the actual note being played.  So, with your “3” finger (that is, your ring finger) in the position indicated, you will be playing Middle C.

When your fingers are firmly in place, lightly strum  the strings with your right hand. That is a C Major chord.

You will see in this chord, that there are certain strings (the ones with the circles above them) that are not being pressed down.  These open strings play notes that happen to belong to the C major chord (C, E, and G) so it’s okay in this case to leave them open. The low E is optional, as indicated by the circle with an “X” in it, and can be played or not.

When a musician sees that a song is in the Key of C, he immediately knows, not only what scale the song is based on, but also what chords belong in that key.  Of course, a song that is “in C” can theoretically include dozens or hundreds of different chords, but there is a standard set of chords that are constructed using the C major scale, and that are used in the Key of C more than any other chords.

These basic guitar chords are C major, which we have already seen, D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor, and B diminished.  On a musical staff they look like this:

Every major key, whether it’s C, F-sharp, or A-flat, will have this identical chord sequence: major-minor-minor-major-major-minor-diminished.  They will all begin with the “root” chord, and they will include all the notes, and only those notes, that are part of its major scale.

If you look closely, you will see that all the chords shown above only contain notes from the C major scale.  Likewise, all the chords from the key of E-flat major, for example, will only contain notes from the E-flat major scale.  Are there exceptions to this rule?  Of course.  But in general, this is how guitar scales are structured; this is how guitar chords are built, whether they are electric or acoustic guitar chords; whether you are playing Spanish Flamenco or Norwegian death metal, this is the starting point for all your guitar playing.

Before we move into the next lesson, take a look at the other chords from the key of C below.  Try them out.  You will notice right away that making guitar chords feels very awkward at first. Don’t let this discourage you; as you learn to play guitar, these chords will begin to feel quite natural with practice.  Take some time also to get comfortable with switching from one chord to another, and keep these things in mind:

The primary goal of anyone who wishes to learn to play guitar is to understand how musical notes become guitar scales and basic guitar chords.  This is true regardless of the style of music the student intends to play, because electric guitar chords are identical to acoustic guitar chords.  The goal of this first lesson, therefore, will be to learn how scales and chords on paper translate to fingers on the fret board.

Before we begin, it is important to identify the guitar notes on the musical staff as well as the notes on the guitar fret board.  A standard musical staff contains five lines and four spaces. Each line and space represents a specific note.  Additional lines can be added above or below the staff when necessary, as seen here:

How to Identify the Guitar Notes on the Fretboard

The notes on a guitar fretboard are played by using a finger to hold a certain string against a particular fret.  In other words, pressing the E String (the thickest string) against the first fret will produce an F note. The following chart represents the notes on the guitar fretboard.  You are not expected to memorize it just yet, but may want to refer back to it from time to time as we progress through our lessons.

Beginner Guitar Scales

When you first learn how to play guitar chords, or any musical instrument, you will find very quickly that every piece of music, whether it is by Bach or the Bee Gees, is built around scales.

A scale is simply a series of musical notes that are used to create the chords, melody, and harmony within a song.  All electric and acoustic guitar chords, including the basic guitar chords we will be covering in this lesson and the more complex ones we will deal with later, are based upon scales.  The very essence and character of any piece of music is founded on the scale, and only when you understand what a scale is and how it works, will music make any sense at all.

There are many kinds of guitar scales, but for the purpose of this lesson, we will be interested only in major scales for guitar. Minor scales will be covered later.

When musicians identify the scale that is used in a particular piece of music, they use the word “key.”  In other words, when someone says that a song is “in the key of C,” what they mean is that the song is based on a C major scale.  This is a good scale to start with because it contains no sharps or flats, and is therefore the easiest to understand.  Here is what a C major scale looks like on paper:

The first C in this scale, the one on the left, is known as “Middle C.”  You can usually identify Middle C because it has a short line through it.  In this scale, Middle C is the “root.”  That is, it is the first note in the scale, and the note from which the scale gets its name.  You will notice that this scale also has a C at the end.  This second C is called the “octave,” which means “eighth,” because it is the eighth note in the scale.  This second C is the first note, or the “root,” of the next scale.  The “octave” of that scale is the “root” of the scale after that, and so on.

Now, let’s take a look at what this scale looks like on the guitar:

This guitar scale chart represents the neck of the guitar as it would look if the guitar were propped up on a stand in front of you, not as it looks while you’re playing it.  In other words, the vertical lines are the strings, the horizontal lines are the frets, and the top of the diagram is where the head of the guitar is.

This may seem awkward, but it’s how all scales and basic guitar chords, both electric and acoustic guitar chords, are represented.  So, as you learn to play guitar, it’s best to get accustomed to it right from the start.

You can see that Middle C is located at the intersection of the A String and the 3rd Fret. The next note up, the D, is on the same string, but is at the 5th fret.

When someone first learns to play guitar scales, it is best to play the “root” with the middle finger of their non-dominant hand.  In other words, if you are right-handed, position your left hand so that its middle finger is on the A String at the 3rd Fret.  This will allow you to hit all the notes in the scale easily without having to reposition your hand too much.

When your hand is in position, press down with your middle finger on the A String at the 3rd Fret, and lightly pluck that same string with your right hand.  That’s Middle C.

Now, while keeping your hand as stationary as possible, press down on the same string with your pinky at the 5th fret and pluck the string.  That’s the D. (While you’re doing this, you can lift your middle finger off the fretboard to make it easier.)

Now, use your index finger to press down on the D String at the 2nd fret—that’s the E note.  Then make the F at the 3rd fret with your middle finger, and make the G at the 5th fret with your pinky.

On the G String, make the A note with your index finger at the 2nd fret.  Then, use your ring finger to make the B note at the 4th fret, and finally, use your pinky again to make the octave at the 5th fret.

You have just played the C major scale!

Becoming comfortable playing guitar scales like this is a vital skill for anyone who wishes to learn to play guitar.  Once you have mastered this sequence of strings, frets, and fingers, you will be able to move your hand up and down the fretboard to play any major scale in exactly the same way.  In order to play a D scale, for example, you do exactly what you just did, only with your hand positioned two frets up.

But we’ll get to that later. For now, we’ll use what we just learned to figure out how to build chords for guitar.