L E V E L I
Module I
In this module, you’ll get an introduction to the fretboard, learn how to hold the guitar and the pick, tune your guitar without a tuner, and play your first a song. These are important foundational lessons, so don’t rush through them!
Lesson
1
Holding Your Guitar
FIRST, learn how to hold your guitar properly here. There’s a lot more to learn in this article than just holding your guitar correctly. All of it is important, so you’ll want to refer back to it often as you progress.
THEN, watch me play. Look at any of my videos in the Virtual Studio or on YouTube to see how I hold my guitar while I’m playing. If you’re unsure of your posture or of the position of your guitar in your lap, send me a picture or short video and I’ll help you make adjustments. (Put “V.S. member” in the subject line.)
FINALLY, analyze and adjust your position by using a mirror or taking selfies. It may take several weeks of frequent posture checks to correctly ingrain the way you hold your guitar, but stick with it. You’ll be rewarded with a lifetime of comfortable and limitless guitar playing!
Lesson
2
Three Chords and a Song
START by learning the A chord. Practice going to it on the fretboard without referring to the chord diagram until it’s easy to do. When you’re able to do that, follow the same procedure for the D and E chords.
The first song in Getting Started uses the A, D, and E chords and is ideal for…getting started! Alternately, you can download The World Still Needs These Songs for free and start with the songs that have the fewest chords.
MAKE SURE you can go to the chord shapes from memory and you know their names. See the chord shape in your mind’s eye. Download this page of blank fretboards and practice writing your chords on it.
If you have trouble placing your fingers properly or quickly enough when you change chords, it’s because you don’t know the chord shape well enough—even if you feel sure that you do. The secret to guitar playing is that your fingers follow your mind!
FINALLY, put the chords together for your song. Strum one downstroke per beat for your the first songs you learn. Keep the beat steady and your right hand strumming, even if you don’t feel your left hand is ready at a chord change. If you have pauses in between the chords in spite of knowing them well, slow the strumming down to a tempo that allows you to eliminate the pauses.
REMEMBER THIS: Before you start playing any song, make sure you can sing it. It’s important that you learn to sing the melody of the song while you’re strumming the accompaniment, even if your guitar goals don’t include singing. You don’t have to sing beautifully, but you do need to understand music and how the parts of a song go together. Find out about that in this article and learn how to do it here.
Lesson
3
Reading a Chart
WITH SO MANY TAB’s available, it’s easy to skip learning how to read a chart. It’s foundational knowledge, though, so don’t let that happen!
Lesson B5 How to Read a Chart will show you everything you need to know at this level and help you navigate more complex music, as well. This is another lesson to bookmark for future reference!
IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY downloaded it, now’s the time to get The World Still Needs These Songs. Go through the whole book, looking at the way the chords and melody fit together and deepening your understanding of written music as you go.
Lesson
4
Finding Notes on the Fretboard
USE LESSON G3Fretboard Familiarity through 3:30 to learn how to find notes on the guitar. You don’t need to be able to find all of the notes quickly at this point, but you do need to practice the lesson enough to understand how. Once you have completed Module I, you’ll find the remainder of the instruction in the video useful. I’ll direct you to return to it and complete it at that point.
CHOOSE ONE RANDOM NOTE daily and find it on every string of your guitar. It won’t take long until you get faster at that. When you do, increase it to two notes daily on each string.
Once you’re comfortable with finding notes this way, feel free to finish the fretboard familiarity video—or save it for later, if you prefer. In it I show you a quicker way to locate notes and learn the fretboard.
Lesson
5
Tune Your Guitar!
TUNING WITHOUIT A TUNER is a valuable skill. Read this article to understand why you need to practice it, and follow the instruction in this video to learn how to do it.
IT’S NEVER ENOUGH to understand something in guitar—you have to practice it! Make this a part of your daily routine and you’ll find your understanding of the guitar improves as well as your ear. (Don’t worry—it won’t take long to get fast at it.)
Lesson
6
Hand Position
THE CORRECT LEFT HAND POSITION can help you move easily and efficiently and ensure clarity of sound. Study this video and go back to it often to understand how to consistently achieve the best position for playing both chords and single notes.
PRACTICE achieving your best hand position for all the chords you know, analyzing them one at a time. As you learn single note exercises (next module), keep the principles in mind. Stay diligent and in time it will become second nature!
Lesson
7
Playing Single Notes with a Pick
LEARN TO USE A PICK for more than just simple strumming with this lesson: T5Pick Technique – Single Notes Practice it daily until you can play the patterns correctly with a metronome.
ADD CHORDS to your practice. Choose one of the patterns and use it while you’re holding down a C chord for two measures, alternating with a G chord for two.
Lesson
8
Notes on the Staff
WHETHER YOU PLAN TO READ MUSIC or not, it’s important to be familiar with the staff. Take a few minutes to memorize the lines and spaces and practice finding and writing notes on them with this lesson: ET10 The Staff
KEEP SOME SONG BOOKS or sheet music on hand and spend five minutes a day for the next month naming notes on the staff. You can use the Getting Started book, The World Still Needs These Songs, or any sheet music that’s written on the treble clef.
Wow, you’ve come a long way and you’ve learned some important things that a lot of people never discover! Congratulations!
Ready to go on to Module II? Click here!
