Guitar for Beginners

Become familiar with the anatomy of your guitar and essential techniques for holding the instrument, playing notes, and using either a pick/plectrum or fingers.

You’ll learn how to read guitar tablature (tab), standard notation, and rhythm notation and strum. You’ll also explore essential, commonly used major and minor chords, plus some easy versions of much trickier chords and helpful chord transition tricks.

Slides, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs and vibrato – you’ll learn all of these intermediate techniques and give a much more “polished” sound.

You’ll expand your abilities as we introduce barre chords and the CAGED system, which allows you to learn all the chords, scales and arpeggios across the neck using just 5 chord shapes, along with how to use this system to take your first look at the pentatonic scales and improvise guitar solos. We’ll also look at the chords that work well together and how to write chord progressions and melodies.

For those looking to progress further, the course covers advanced techniques, namely two-handed tapping, sweep picking, and harmonics. We’ll also look at career opportunities for guitarists, should you take your learning and playing to the next level.

By studying this course, you will:

• Follow written and illustrated explanations and video and audio demonstrations, and play along to background tracks
• Understand the correct way to hold and play the guitar
• Learn how to read guitar tab and notation
• Practice chord playing and composition
• Explore beginner, intermediate, and advanced guitar playing techniques
• Discover how to improvise guitar solos

This course is for complete beginners and those who have played before and wish to return to learning with a structured and accessible course. It’ll take you from the very beginning, with explanations on how to hold the guitar and play notes, to explaining and demonstrating intermediate and advanced level techniques for those who wish to progress further and show off their skills.

Just like most creative pursuits, playing the guitar is a learned skill, not an innate talent that a lucky few possess. Anyone can learn – you just need to take it at your own pace and practice consistently (little and often is better than one gruelling session) and you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve. This course is your beginner’s roadmap to becoming the guitarist you want to be.

Furthermore, playing an instrument is not only fun but has proven to lower stress levels and help to keep your brain active.