This lesson covers 12 easy and practical guitar strumming patterns that will help you improve your playing. Strumming is an essential part of playing guitar because it’s what connects harmony (the chords) with rhythm. You can use nice chords but without being able to strum properly, your delivery falls short. We’ll first clarify some basic … Read more
Great is Thy Faithfulness is one of the most popular Christian hymns, written by Thomas Chisholm and composed by William M. Runyan. In this lesson, we’ll cover the chords you can use for this song, sheet music for the melody including tabs, and finally look at a fingerstyle guitar arrangement. Grab your guitar and let’s … Read more
If you aren’t sure what to practice on guitar or feel stuck in the learning process, this post will help you see the main areas worth developing. Your exact goals may depend on the style of music you want to play, but skills like chords, rhythm, picking, songs, theory, ear training, and listening all contribute … Read more
This post includes Amazon affiliate links to products I use and recommend. This means I earn a commission if you click the link and purchase the item, at no additional cost to you. When I found myself having to travel more frequently, I decided to look for a mini travel guitar that I could conveniently … Read more
Ode to Joy was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and is formally known as Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus 125. This lesson covers the chords for this song, melody with tabs, and two finger-style guitar arrangements (an easy version and a full version). Grab your guitar and let’s get started! How to read … Read more
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