Beginner Guitar Lessons

Welcome to beginner guitar!  If you're just getting started with the guitar, you've come to the right place.  In this tutorial section, we are going to cover the basics, including:...

In this section, we will learn how to play a note on the fretboard and finger placement.  We'll cover how to hold the guitar pick and how to pick the strings downward, as well as upward...

In this section, we will learn about chords.  Chords are when play muiltiple notes at one time.  This involves picking multiple strings at once, which is called stru...

Hey Guys! First we're going to look at the basic Pentatonic scale, then how to expand on it over the fretboard. The Pentatonic is the essential lead guitar player's tool for crafting great,...

In this second section, we'll look at how to add "extension" boxes on to the normal box shape we covered in the first section. This will allow you to cover a lot of fretboard quickly, and it...

Hi all! We're going to take a look at what I call "winding" licks. These are simple licks that repeat a short phrase a few times to build tension before resolving to a chord tone. These are...

Hello all! For this lesson I wrote a little rock ballad primarily using the 6/8 time signature. Not sure about time signatures? Check out this lesson. INTROThe intro is pretty basic. When p...

I took the guitars out for the backing track. Enjoy!

First, lets tackle the loose, funky riff that makes the song groove. This is a very simple idea that involves keeping your picking hand loose and consistent on the attack, allowing your fret...

For part 3, we'll use an extremely simple technique to generate the RATM feel. The rhythm is the most important factor here, but the tone is very important as well. Remember to be as precise...

Hi guys! I wanted to do an interview with one of my good friends, Kyle Odell, from the band Failure Anthem. Kyle and I have known each other for several years now. I do all of his tech work ...

Hi all! This month we're looking a some tips for getting a good, clean mix doing your own recordings. In this first example we'll deal with some ways to treat heavy electric guitar tracks. ...

Next lets tweak our bass sound! Bass can be a little difficult to mix into a track, particularly with a really thick sounding track that is drop tuned like our example. Since the low note w...

Now lets address the lead guitar. First and foremost, I like to use a different amp sound to contrast the rhythm guitars. Since we want the lead to sit on top of the mix to show off our hot ...

In this last section, I'll listen through the track and make minor adjustments so that everything is clearly separated. Remember to listen to all the sections of your song back to back, so t...

And here's the demo track!

Hey everyone! This month we're going to discuss some very basic exercises to strengthen your legato technique. These will help build muscle memory that you can apply to scales and muscial p...

Following the previous exercise, this is essentially the same thing but using the whole step, half step combination with fingers 1, 3 and 4. Remember to start slow and only increase the spe...

Now we're going to practice the last "shape" in the form of fingers 1, 2 and 4, but with whole step, whole step intervals. As with the previous drills, start slow and build up the tempo onl...

Now that you feel comfortable with the "shapes" from the first three examples, we're going to apply them across all six strings using a pattern of two steps forward, one step back. These wil...

For the last section, we're going to add to the pattern idea used in the last figure. Now instead of doing two steps forward, one step back, we are going to do three steps forward, one step ...

Hey all! I'd like to show you some basic techniques for taking care of your guitar. As players, we can be rough on our instruments and even the most gentle hands still leave residue on the ...

Hi guys! After having conversations with several of my guitarist friends, I thought it might be prudent to talk a little about gain staging with pedals. I made three videos to demonstrate th...

In part two of this lesson, we're going to talk about overdrive. Specifically, we're looking at the Ibanez Tubescreamer. Arguably the most popular overdrive ever produced, the Tubescreamer i...