Progress Better By Practicing Guitar Progressions

What we have covered up until now are the basics of playing the guitar. It's very important that you master first the basics before jumping in to advanced guitar lessons and techniques because you simply won't go anywhere if your skill set isn't complete. It's like going to a war without enough ammunition or proper training. The chance of survival is very slim.

Baby soldier crying. Photo Credits

You don't want something like that to happen, don't you?

Easy A: Playing Minor, Dominant 7th, Minor 7th, and Major 7th Barre Chords Based on A

Would you agree with me if I'll say that playing the barre-A chord form is EASY?

A scene from the movie Easy A starring Emma Stone. Photo Credits

In this post, I'd like to talk about the rest of the A-based barre chord forms. I guess, by now, you don't need those technical explanations anymore. Anyway, if you find something hard to understand, feel free to skim through my previous posts.

So, I'll just go ahead and give you the chord fingerings, alright?

And of course, I've provided some progressions too. Practice it before proceeding to the succeeding chord forms.

Okay, here they are...

Playing All 12 Major Chords Using The B-chord Form

A display of acoustic guitars. Photo Credits

Knowing how to play B-chord as a barre chord allows you to play every major chord by simply moving up the neck. You simply need to know the name of the note that you are playing on its root string, the 5th string, to determine the name of the chord that you are playing.

For your quick reference about the notes of the 5th string on specific frets, see the table below:

Playing Major Barre Chords Based on A

In the subsequent posts, I will be introducing to you another major group of barre chords, the A-based barre chords. The A-based major barre chord looks like an open A chord but with different fingering. This group of barre chords takes its letter name from the fret on the 5th string (A-String) at which you place your barre.

How to finger the A-based major barre chord

1. Finger an open A chord, but instead of using the normal fingering of 1-2-3, use 2-3-4.

Playing E-based Minor 7th Barre Chords

Photo Credits

Minor 7th chords have a softer, jazzier, and more complex sound than its chord siblings do. You can form a minor 7th E-based barre chord by simply combining the actions you take to change major to minor and major to dominant 7th. In short, you only need to lift two fingers off a major barre chord and get a minor 7th chord.

Follow these steps:

Playing E-based Dominant 7th Barre Chords

In contrast to major chords, dominant 7th chords or plain 7th chords have a sharper and a more complex sound. Also, switching to a barre dominant 7th chord from a major barre chord is a no-brainer - you just need to lift a single finger.

Playing dominant 7th barre chords is EASY! Photo Credits

Simply follow these steps to play an F7 chord:

Playing E-based Minor Barre Chords

Now it's time to add other chord qualities into your repertoire. Playing a minor, a dominant 7th, or a minor 7th in its barre form is very easy just like playing a major barre. Soon enough, as you continue to practice, you'll notice that everything gets a lot easier.

Minor chords

The following simple steps describe how to play the Fm (F-minor) barre chord:

1. Play an F major barre chord. See my previous about playing major barre chords based on E and learn how to play an F Major chord.

How To Build Confidence In Playing Barre Chords

Confident Guitar Boy. Photo Credits

A good way to build your comfort and confidence in playing barre chords is by practicing a progression, which is a series of chords. The image below shows the exercise. Take note of the correct first-finger fret placement for each chord.

For this exercise, you must only use barre chords. It can be very tiring at first to get all the strings to ring out clearly. Try to release the pressure on your left-hand fingers when sliding from one chord to another. You may sometimes feel that your left-hand is starting to cramp. If you do, try to keep at it and feel the burn in order to develop the stamina and strength you need to play barre chords.

Playing All 12 Major Chords Using The Barre F Chord Form

Knowing how to play an Playing all 12 major chords using the Barre F chord form as a barre chord allows you to play every major chord by simply moving up the neck.

Barred F Chord Form.

That's amazing, right?

To determine the name of the chord that you are playing, you simply need to know the name of the note that you are playing on its root string, the 6th string.

For your quick reference about the notes of the 6th string on specific frets, see the figure below:

FRET

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

11th

12th

NOTE

F

F#/Gb

G

G#/Ab

A

A#/Bb

B

C

C#/Db

D

D#/Eb

E

"#" symbol denotes a sharp (F# is read as F-sharp)
"b" symbol denotes a  flat (Ab is read as A-flat)

How To Play Major Barre Chords Based on E

1. Play an open E chord, but instead of using the normal 2-3-1 left-hand fingering, use fingers 3-4-2.

2. Lay your first finger down across all six strings on the other side of the nut (toward the tuning pegs).

How To Raise The BARRE Of Excellence

Raising the bar of excellence. Photo Credits

After spending a great deal of time learning the basic open position chords, we move on to the world of barre chords. It is already an achievement to be able to play the open position chords since almost all kinds of songs use them. However, open chords have limitations because you are only confined in playing chords up to the third fret. But there will be instances that you need to play chords which do not include open strings. In these situations, guitarists will often resort to playing "barre chords" or simply "bar".

What makes the blues "Bluesy" and jazz "Jazzy"?

An example of a jazz music sheet. Photo Credits

MINOR 7TH CHORDS

In contrast to the dominant 7th chords, the minor 7th chords are characterized as a little bit softer and jazzier.

Fingering minor 7th chords

Dm7 Chord diagram and left-hand fingering

 

7th Chords: What's Hidden In The Number 7

7up Signage. Photo Credits

In this section, we're going to continue our exploration to the basic(open position) 7th (seventh) chords. Just like the simple chords presented in my previous posts, seventh chords are also easy to play. 7th chords are made up four different notes instead of three, and that's what gives the 7th chords its distinct sound. The different 7th chords (dominant 7th, major 7th, and minor 7th) can make the blues sound “bluesy” and jazz sound “jazzy.”

Let's start with the Dominant 7th chords.

More To See With The Chords In The C Family

Of course everyone knows the happy birthday song, right?

Birthday Party Celebration. Photo Credits

When I was a kid, I was taught by my father to play the happy birthday song in the key of C. Basically, you can play it in any key you like provided that you already know how to transpose the chords. When I grew up, I learned to play the song starting from different keys like D or G.

The last chord family that we will be learning is the C. In musical theory, everything starts with C or the "Do" in "Do-Re-Mi". The key of C is basically the center of the tonal universe and most musicians would agree that it is the easiest key to play in. Maybe, that was the reason why my father taught me to play common nursery rhymes in the key of C including the happy birthday song.

I chose to tackle the C family of chords last because it's so easy to play and it also has lots of chords in its family. But don't worry, you already learned most of the chords when we explored previous chord families (A, D, and G).

Guitar Secrets Revealed - How to become a guitar master

Eric Clapton performing in his concert. Photo Credits

Do you think Eric Clapton woke up an amazing guitarist? NO!
He practiced, and practiced, and practiced. Guitar masters probably practiced hours and hours every day. To become good at guitars, you must pay your dues.

It's very obvious to say that the more you practice the better you’ll get - but it’s the simple TRUTH. And the more time you spend practicing your guitar, the faster you'll get good at it.

Do The Guitar Grooves With The G Family Chords

Original members of the Rivermaya Band

The G family of chords is my favorite. As a young boy, I grew up listening to the nostalgic songs of Eraserheads, Riyermaya, and Siakol. These OPM bands used the G family of chords a lot in their compositions and I've spent a great deal of time learning to play these great songs on my guitar.

Original members of the Eraserheads Band

So far, we have already tackled two chord families, A and D. Some chords in these families also belong to the G family. The basic chords that make up the G family are G, Am, C, D, and Em. If you have been following along with my previous posts, for sure, you already how to play the chords G, D, and Em. That means you only need to learn two more chords, Am and C, to complete your repertoire.

What Makes A Music Piece Unique: Chord Qualities

Babies born with identical physical characteristics. Photo Credits

Can you imagine a world where people, instead of being born with unique characteristics, are born having the same physical appearance, personality and interests?

Herd of Zebras. Photo Credits

How about a world where all of the living things such as animals, plants, trees, and flowers are exactly the same? All trees, plants, and flowers have the same size, color, and shape and even the striping pattern on a zebra is the same for all the zebras in the world.

Rolling in the "D - Family Chords"

The basic chords that make up the D - family are D, Em, G, and A. The D family introduces two new chords: Em (pronounced as "E minor") and G. Just like the previous chords presented, Em and G are also called open chords and are easy to play. We already learned the two other chords, D and A, from my previous post about the A family.

A minor chord has a distinct sound from that of a major chord that can be characterized as soft and sad. Always remember that a chord that's named by a capital letter followed by a small "m" is a minor chord.

The following figures shows the fingering the chords in the D-family:

Em Chord diagram and left-hand fingering

  

Guitar Calluses: Obtain Your Badge Of Honor

I have been a guitar player for over 15 years and I am often asked by new guitar players if the tip of my fingers still hurt whenever I play my guitar. I've always had sensitive fingertips and yes, they still do hurt sometimes, especially when my hands are cold.

Playing the guitar can be somewhat painful at first. We are all born with soft fingertips and no matter how tough you look like or how big your muscles are, your fingertips will still hurt when you start playing the guitar. The pain is caused when we press down the strings with our fingertips and this situation is very normal especially for those who are just starting out.

Guitar Calluses. Photo Credits

In order for you to become comfortable playing the guitar, you must first develop nice CALLUSES on your fingertips. Calluses are toughened areas of the skin which has become relatively thick and hard in response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. It may take weeks or even months for you to build up those protective layers of dead skin, depending on how much and how often you play.

Your First 3 Chords: A - Family Chords

The chords that belong to the A-family are very popular because they are very easy to play. Also, the A-family of chords contain open strings - the strings that you play without pressing anything. Chords that contain open strings are called open chords or open-position chords.

The A-family of chords consists of the basic chords A, D, and E. These chords are known as major chords. When you see a chord that's named by a letter alone such as A, D, and E, you call it a major chord.

The following figures show the fingering of the chords in the A-family:

A Chord diagram and left-hand fingering:

The Easiest Way To Play Basic Guitar Chords

I really like it when someone asks me to play my guitar while he or she sings. It feels great! And being able to provide an accompaniment to someone is no small feat. Sometimes, even though my voice doesn't sound that good, I try to sing my favorite songs and play my guitar at the same time. And what I found out is that, one of the best ways to pickup basic guitar chords is to play while someone sings.

A girl singing accompanied by a guitar. Photo Credits

The very first chords that I learned to play were the major chords D, A, and G.
Do you know any song that uses the chords?
Are you familiar with The Lazy Song by Bruno Mars?
Or Here Comes The Sun by The Beatles?
Both of these songs use the D-A-G chord pattern.
Actually, there are a lot of songs that use this chord pattern including the song by Alison Krauss, "When you say nothing at all",  and I bet most of you know this song.

Does it hurt the first time you did it: Playing your first chord

Chords are the basic building blocks of songs. A chord in music is any harmonic set of three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. Chords can be played in a guitar either by strumming or plucking. But you can’t just strike any group of notes; you must play a group of notes organized in some musically meaningful arrangement. For the guitarist, that means learning some left-hand chord forms.

After learning all the stuff about notations used in guitar world, which is very fundamental, you can now play your very first chord. There are a lot of easy chords to choose from but let's start with the E Major chord since it is used so frequently in guitar music. It is necessary for you to learn how to play it with ease and efficiency.

Playing the E Major Chord (E)

1. Place your first (index) finger on the first fret of the 3rd string (G# note).

Uncovering The Mystery: Deciphering Guitar Tablature

Reading music

Guitar tablature (tab for short) is a form of musical notation that graphically represents strings and frets of the guitar fretboard. Tabs shows how you play music over a period of time by indicating what particular string to play on a specific fret. Hopefully, although it may seem complex at first, after reading this, you'll be able to read guitar tabs easily in no time.

The Ups And Downs Of Playing The Guitar

Do you know what rhythm slashes mean?

Music class. Photo Credits

Rhythm slashes are slash marks (/) that simply tell you how to play rhythmically or in a systematic pattern over a period of time.

Dissecting chord diagrams

Few years ago, I had a classmate who was very interested to learn how to play the guitar.
Without second thoughts, she immediately bought a brand new guitar from the nearby music store.
Her guitar came packaged with a few song books.

A girl playing the guitar while reading the songhits. Photo Credits

However, when she opened the books to learn how to play the chords, she didn't know how to read the diagrams and she became very frustrated.
Hopefully, after reading this you won't be confused reading chord diagrams and be on your way to start playing the songs you like.

Guitar Notations: You Don't Need To Read Music To Play The Guitar

Way back in high school I had a friend who took formal piano lessons.
Often, I was able to come with him in his class.
I found out that learning to play the piano is actually harder than learning to play the guitar.

WHY? Because, you need to learn how to read music first before you can start to play.

At first, they were taught where the notes should fall on the staff and how long they should hold the notes. After a couple of weeks, they eventually moved on to practicing scales and so on...

Every time they play, they always follow a piece of paper or a book with musical stuff written on it.
My friend and I found it very difficult to understand.
Slashes, even more slashes, bars, dots, weird symbols... Shocks!!!

One afternoon, I came in his class and heard him playing a weird sounding piece.
I asked him, "What's the title of that song?" and he answered, "I don't know!"
That's because they were just instructed by their teacher to practice song after unrecognizable song that they didn't even wanted to play.

On the other hand, I can say that guitar notations are easier to understand and playing the guitar actually does not require you to know how to read music. Thanks to those early musicians who, through the years, developed a way to communicate basic ideas such as chord construction, chord progressions, rhythmic figures, and song structure in a much simpler manner.

And that's what I am going to share with you.

In my next posts, I'll be showing you how to read the following:

- Guitar chord diagrams
- Guitar rhythmic slashes and strumming symbols
- Guitar tablature (tabs)

It has been said that many great guitarists don’t know how to read music, and many who can read music learned to do so after they learned to play the guitar.

Proper Hand Positioning

Left hand position (Fretting hand)

Getting your hands into the correct position is fairly easy. Simply follow the steps with images below:

1. Extend your left hand with your palm facing upwards.

2. Make a loose fist, placing your thumb roughly between your first and second fingers.

The best positions every guitarist should know

Balancing a book. Photo Credits.

Do you still remember those times when your parents would frequently remind you not to slouch when sitting on a chair or to keep both of your feet straight with your breast out when standing? Our parents tend to become very strict about this because they simply don't want their children to develop bad habits. Just like a parent, I don't want you to develop bad guitar playing habits that will eventually lead to muscle strain and fatigue which can prevent you from progressing further on your guitar. This topic might be boring to some of you but you must pay attention to it.

Get Ready Get Set But Not Yet

Hey guys! How are you?

I was away for a week to do some stuff but here I am back again.

Guitarist fingering a chord. Photo source

How's your tuning going?

I do hope that you already mastered tuning your guitar using the relative tuning method, at least.
Anyway, you can easily review my previous posts about tuning if you are having problems getting your guitar in tune.

After learning how to tune, you are almost ready to start learning how to play your guitar.
Sounds exciting, right?

Tune In To This Blog: Free Online Guitar Tuner

A girl having a hard time tuning her guitar. Photo Source

What If you don't have a piano, a pitch pipe, a tuning fork, or an electronic tuner?...

Worse, what if you still don't know how to tune your guitar to itself using the relative tuning method?...

Well, I have a good news for you.

"YOU CAN STILL GET YOUR GUITAR TUNED"

How?

How To Tune Your Guitar With An Electronic Tuner

The skill of tuning a guitar is the most important thing a guitarist needs to learn. It does not matter how good you play a piece of music if your instrument is out of tune, it will sound bad. Tuning the guitar is usually very difficult for a beginner and it will take time and patience to master it. Thus, I would certainly recommend using an electronic tuner, most especially if you are just starting out with a guitar. This is perhaps the quickest and most accurate way to get your guitar in tune.

How an Electronic tuner looks like. Photo Credits.

How does a tuning fork work

Have you tried tuning your guitar to a tuning fork?

Okay, a tuning fork actually looks like this:

Tuning fork.Photo Source.

Well, at the time of this writing, I still haven't tried tuning my guitar to a tuning fork. The truth is, I haven't seen anyone yet using this kind of tuning method. The local guitar stores doesn't seem to have this one on stock.

I did a little research over the Internet about how to use this thing. It's fairly simple once you are good at discerning pitches. A tuning fork only offers a single pitch tuning reference commonly known a the "A-440 Pitch".

Get It Right With The Pitch Pipe

Have you seen a pitch pipe?

Here's how it looks like:

An example of a pitch pipe. Photo Credits.

Yes. You can use that weird little thing to tune your guitar.

The first time I saw a pitch pipe, I never knew what it was meant for. I just stared at it for quite some time and I thought that maybe some kid must have left it there since its shape resembled a puzzle or lego piece. Out of curiosity, I grabbed it and took a closer look. When I saw the labels written on the pipes, I realized that it was some sort of a musical tool or something like a tuner.

Having fun tuning your guitar to a piano

Photo credits

Tuning your guitar to a piano is a pretty simple thing to do. A piano is a great tool because piano holds it pitch so well. Unlike guitars, a piano only needs to be tuned once or twice in a year.

Tuning to a Fixed Source

As I've said in my previous posts about relative tuning methods, tuning the guitar to itself has its limitations. The guitar will only sound great by itself but not when it is played with other instruments tuned to the standard pitches. The standard pitches are followed by all musical instruments in order to have uniform tuning rules and sound in harmony with one another.

Let me share with you my experience...

I was just a kid back then when I watched the movie "The wedding singer" which starred Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler on our VHS player together with my siblings. I really liked the movie especially the scene where Adam Sandler played the song "Grow old with you" inside the plane.

Proper hand movement when tuning your guitar

TIP: When you tune in the normal way, you use your left hand to turn the tuning peg. But after you remove your finger from the string that you’re fretting, it stops ringing; therefore, you can no longer hear the string you’re trying to tune to (the fretted string) as you adjust the open string. However, there’s a way to tune the open string while keeping your left-hand finger on the fretted string. Simply use your right hand! After you strike the two strings in succession (the fretted string and the open string), take your right hand and reach over your left hand (which remains stationary as you fret the string) and turn the tuning peg of the appropriate string until both strings sound exactly the same.

Relative Tuning: 7th-Fret Method

Aside from using the 5th-fret method to tune your guitar, you can actually use another relative tuning method which is called the 7th-fret method. The 7th-fret method derives its name from the fact that you tune your guitar in the said fret. But, instead of starting from the 6th string down to the 1st fret, you actually do it in reverse order.

Relative tuning

Photo Source

Among the different guitar tuning methods, relative tuning or the so-called "5th-Fret Method", is perhaps the most common and fundamental. If one string of your guitar is in tune, it's possible to tune the other strings in relation to it. That's why it is called relative tuning - being able to tune the guitar in relation to itself. Relative tuning is good because it is easy to get the guitar in tune.

How To Tune Your Guitar

Photo Source

Often, new guitarists will have a hard time tuning their guitar. Learning to listen to pitches very closely, then fine-tune them, is a skill that takes practice. One of the reasons why most new guitarists sound bad is because their instrument isn't in tune. Knowing how to tune your guitar is simply a MUST for guitarists.

Strings and Frets

Now that we know the different parts of a guitar and how they work together, we move on to our next topic which is all about tuning.

Guitars, unlike other musical instruments, require you to tune it first before you can actually start playing with it.You can actually distinguish newbies from seasoned guitar players by just simply listening to the tuning of his instrument. Seasoned guitarists are very particular when it comes to tuning and they always make sure that their guitar is in tune before they perform.

How guitars work

Now that we have already learned the different parts of the guitar, we move on to the next part which is understanding how those parts work together.

Photo source

String vibration and String Length

All musical instruments create sound by means of vibration. For wind instruments, the vibration derives from air passing over a mouthpiece, or from lips buzzing into a mouthpiece. For percussion instruments, the vibration comes from striking a surface made of canvas or metal. For string instruments, like guitars, the vibration comes from striking a string, which then vibrates. Of course, the strings would never vibrate if it were not given some sort of force or what we commonly know as tension. When a string is brought to a certain tension and then set in motion by a certain form of action like that of strumming or plucking, it produces a sound or a pitch. The different tones we hear from the strings of the guitar is simply achieved by tuning the strings to different tensions. The greater force or tension a string has, the higher the pitch it will produce.

The parts of a guitar

Hi there Guitarrista!

Today, we will be learning about the parts of a guitar. 

Birds, whether it's a dove, an owl, or an eagle, are considered birds because they share common characteristics like wings, beaks, have only two legs, and so much more. Just like birds, all guitars, no matter what type it is, also share their common physical characteristics that make them behave like guitars.

Guitars come in two basic types: Acoustic or Electric.

Start playing the guitar quickly

In continuation to my previous post, I would also assume that YOU WANT TO START PLAYING THE GUITAR QUICKLY!

Thus, this blog would try to do so without a lot of messing around with technical explanations about reading notes, time signature, clefs, and etc.. Although these kind of things can really help you a lot in moving on to the next level after you have mastered the basics, these aren't really necessary to play basic music.

Moreover, feel free to skip some topics that you already know and jump right to the one that you are looking for.

The Six String

Photo Source

During one summer, me and my family went to Paradise Island, a beach resort in Samal Island, Davao. As we were eating our dinner, a group of musicians came to our table and played pleasing music. All of us were amazed by their performance. Some of my relatives even sang together with them.

Their band was composed of five members. One woman and four men.

The woman was the lead singer and each of the men was holding a different kind of guitar.

One was using an ordinary acoustic guitar just like what we have in our house.

The other one was using a very big guitar taller then he was.

The third one was using a very small guitar and it looks very cute.

The last one was using a unique sounding guitar. The shape of its body was round and it has no sound hole.

I never knew that there are different kinds of guitars way back then.

Few weeks later, I caught sight of the very small guitar, like the one i saw in the beach, hanged on one corner of school's music ministry office. I was very excited to get my hands on it. As it was handed to me, I stared at it for quite some time.  It really got me wondering why it only has four strings. 

"How do I play this thing?", I asked myself.

Seeing the way I stared at the tiny guitar, the office in charge, a nun, then asked me, "My child, so you know how to play a ukulele?"

"What do you call this guitar, sister?", I asked again. "It's a ukulele." She replied with a smile.

I guess, she already knew that i was expecting the six string variety of the guitar.

Knowing very well that I was new to the guitar world, she taught me how to use it.

As there are different kinds of fruit, there are also different kinds and variations of guitar.

It comes in different forms and produces different sounds as well. This blog assumes that you, just like i was before, are new to the guitar world and want to play a guitar, not a banjo, ukulele, or mandolin, and we concentrate on using the six string variety like this one:

Photo Source

In addition to that, this blog also DOESN'T assume that:

• You already have your guitar(I'll talk about how to buy your guitar in one of my upcoming posts).
• You already have a preference on what kind of guitar to use (Electric or acoustic).
• You already favor a certain particular style of playing (Rock, Jazz, or Country).

Stay with me and let's make cool music with your six string!