Some students will already have some guitar experience. This is ok. The notes contain much more than beginner material, so there are many things to learn.
Learning Principles / Goals
Low pressure.
No need to be perfect but try to be correct
No need to learn everything I present.
Everyone learns something.
Guitar is for you first.
You will need to have your own guitar. Let me know if you have any questions about the guitar you have, or if you need help selecting a guitar.
At the top of the site are various links to songs/song books
Each unit has a pdf file that you can print or download, and also audio and video files of some of the songs/techniques. There is also a link to a file that has all the lessons in one file.
There is a link to recordings of one session which was online on Zoom:
[Click] Recordings of online course (Spring 2021)
Below are some topics I cover in my beginner guitar course. There are many things to learn.
It is important that you treat these as extra and not worry if you are not ready to strenghthen them. I do want you to be aware of these
and try them so you will remember them when you are ready to practice them in earnest.
Chords and strums
These are discussed in Lessons 2-6. The first three classes are spent primarily on chords and strums. Chords and strums form the basis for other parts of the course, and if an absolute beginner just learns a few of these and uses them to sing songs, I consider it a success for them.
Here are some strums from the lessons (lessons 3 and 9)
After the first three classes, I introduce other things, including:
Bass runs
These are individual notes played when switching from one chord to another. They add variety to your playing and are the first step to playing melody on the bass strings (Flat Picking Melody - Lesson 11)
[Click] Bass runs in "When the Saints go Marching In"
Transposing and use of the capo
This allows you to change the key of a song so that you can play with different chords that you know. You use a particular chord shape at a different
place on the neck to yield a different chord. For example, if you
have a song with chords fot the key of D, you can transpose to the
key of G by putting the capo at fret 5. now the D shape chord
becomes a G chord, A7 becomes D7, etc .....
Tablature notation
It is not the same as standard music notation, but instead shows a "staff" which is the six strings of the guitar and the actions are shown on the strings.
Scales and playing with single notes on the guitar neck
Scales are introduced and played at a given position on the guitar neck. These are then used to play songs notated with tablature. Here is an example of scale playing:
My Beginner Guitar Course
Guitar class description