A common question many beginners ask is why the F chord is so hard to play on guitar. If you look up this chord, it might come up as a barre chord on the 1st fret, starting on the 6th string. Admittedly, this is quite a difficult chord for a beginner. However, there are many … Read more
Amazing Grace by John Newton is one of the most popular hymns. This lesson covers the guitar chords, melody with guitar tabs, and a finger-style guitar arrangement of this song. Grab your guitar and let’s get started! How to read the guitar chord charts To clarify how to read the chord charts, the top horizontal … Read more
The blues scale builds on the pentatonic scale by adding one chromatic note that gives it a more distinctive sound. You’ll hear it across blues, rock, jazz, pop, and many other styles. In this lesson, we’ll compare the Major and minor blues scales, see how the added “blue note” changes the pentatonic sound, learn the … Read more
Greensleeves is a 16th century English folk song of unknown origin. The Christmas carol What Child Is This uses the same melody as Greensleeves. This lesson covers the chords for this song, sheet music for the melody including tabs, and a finger style guitar arrangement. Grab your guitar and let’s get started! How to read … Read more
Improvising on guitar means creating musical ideas in the moment. The more clearly you understand the scales, chords, and sounds you’re working with, the easier it becomes to turn what you hear into something you can play. In this lesson, we’ll look at six areas that support improvisation: scales, diatonic chords, modes, playing over chord … Read more
I Surrender All is a popular Christian hymn written by Judson W. Van DeVenter. In this lesson, we’ll cover the guitar chords, sheet music for the melody including tabs, and a finger-style guitar arrangement. Grab your guitar and let’s get started! How to read the guitar chord charts To clarify how to read the chord … Read more
Did you know there are several ways to play the same chord using different bass notes? In this lesson, we are exploring how to play chord inversions on the guitar. Using inversions will give you different ways of hearing a chord. They can also make your chords sound more interesting when you use them to … Read more
Understanding time signatures is essential when reading music, but the numbers can be confusing at first. This guide will show you what time signatures mean, how to read them, and how they organize the rhythm within each measure. Let’s get started. Foundations Roadmap Focus · View Roadmap → Your goal is to understand what the … Read more
Music theory is the foundation of music, and it can help you improve your playing, songwriting, and overall understanding of music. If you’ve been trying to wrap your head around trying to understand music theory but the process seems complicated or you don’t know where to start, this guide will give you an overview on … Read more
The pentatonic scale is one of the most widely used scales in music, showing up in rock, blues, jazz, pop, and many other styles. The word “pentatonic” comes from “penta,” meaning five, because each pentatonic scale contains five notes. Because the scale uses fewer notes than a full Major or minor scale, it gives you … Read more