Does your playing lack a driving rhythm? Or maybe you suffer from always playing too fast or slow? When learning how to play songs, your first Guitar Lesson should be about Strum patterns . All songs use strum patterns for the rhythm playing. Sometimes they’ll change during the song, and sometimes the pattern is quite hard to hear.

In my ebook Guitar Method Beginner Book 1, I show you 6 strum patterns that can be used to play thousands of songs. I specifically created this book for the beginner guitarist. By learning some simple techniques, anyone can start playing the guitar immediately! It just takes a little practice.

From these six patterns I’ve developed, a wide variety of songs can be played. Let’s take a look at one of them. This strum pattern consists of playing 2 quarter notes, and four eighth notes. You will strum down, down, down up, down up. Count 1 2 3& 4&

This Strum pattern can be used to play many songs such as “Times like These”, “Brown Eyed Girl”, and many others. Strum patterns will put a consistent rhythm in your playing that you may have been lacking. Practice these everyday with a metronome, and you’ll be on your way to playing all your favorite songs. For more info on strum patterns please visit my website, Learning Guitar Now.

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Are you in need of some soulful music? Isn’t everyone these days. When you’re having one of those days, or when things aren’t just going your way, one thing that can uplift your spirits is the sound of a good tune.

A former student of mine Michael Mann of Radiolucent, just wrote a great song. I filmed him singing and playing this song and I think it’s a fantastic song and I want you to check it out. Watch the video now!

I’m also running a contest with this song, “Honky Tonk Heart”. Name 2 artists that have one of their song titles mentioned in the song “Honky Tonk Heart”, to be put in a drawing to receive a FREE Slide guitar DVD. To participate, go to Michael Mann Youtube video and make a text comment. In that text comment, name 2 artists that the names of their songs are used in the lyrics of the song, “Honky Tonk Heart”.

On March 2, I will have a drawing of all the correct entries and the winner will be chosen. It’s that easy!You’ll get my new Slide Guitar Method 1 Open E Tuning DVD valued at $24.99! This is 80 minutes worth of instruction, 7 pages of PDF tab, downloadable Quicktime video bonus, and 2 backing tracks to play with.This is your chance to start learning slide guitar now!

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Just an announcement of my guitar lessons in Athens, GA. If you live in the Athens Georgia area and are interested in private guitar lessons please contact me. I have a limited number of openings, so it’s first come first serve.

If you’ve always dreamed of playing the guitar, I can help you achieve this goal. While it does take some practice, there are some specific things you can do to improve your success, when learning the guitar.

Whether you’re a total beginner, or a pro looking to pick up some new tips, I can help you achieve whatever you want to do with your musical goals. Playing guitar takes practice and commitment. I can eliminate the wasteful practice time, and give you a focused approach that will give you the knowledge you need to start playing the guitar like you want to.

Here’s a couple videos I put together to give you an example of my teaching style.

I look forward to talking with you.

John W. Tuggle

This is a question I find many people asking.  This does make a big difference if you don’t know.  One thing to keep in mind is that you need to hold the pick lightly when strumming.  If you don’t you will get a very stiff awkward sound.  To get a smooth sound, you need to hold the pick lightly, and let the pick give in to the string as you strum.

Thin picks will give you a thinner sound and produce a nice strum effect.  Medium gauge picks sound better for electric.  The medium gauge picks also work well when using acoustic guitars.  I find the thin picks sound good on Acoustic guitars as well, but not so much for electrics.

Thick picks work when you really want to dig in on an electric guitar, especially for power chords and rock soloing.  Using thick picks on acoustic guitars will give you a big duller sound, which may sound good depending on what you’re going for.

Here’s my suggestion to you.  Go to your local music store, and buy one, of each kind of pick.   Now play each kind of pick on acoustic, and then electric.  This will help determine what you like best for each kind of guitar.  This is crucial.  YOU need to find out what YOU like.  Music is a great thing.  One, because it allows individuality, and there are no steadfast rules, just basic guidelines.  This means that you can use a thin pick on electric for power chords, and it won’t be wrong because I said to use thick picks earlier in this article.  I’m telling you to use thick picks for power chords because I have tried it, and find it sounds better for power chords.

W hen learning the guitar, don’t worry about learning something wrong, and don’t be afraid to try something new.  I find that out of failure comes greatness.

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This is a question many people will ask during the course of this year, and while there is no definitive answer about what you should learn on the guitar first, there are certain things to learn that will make the guitar easier. I created Learning Guitar Now and from my experience, here are 3 things you can start practicing the first day that will make learning guitar much easier.

1. D, Cadd9, G These three chords are fairly easy for the beginner, and you only need to move 2 fingers to change through the chords. One thing that makes it easier is that the 3rd finger remains still while you change all the chords. You NEVER have to move your 3rd finger. There are plenty of songs that use these 3 chords as well. Learn these first and you’re good to go.
2. Chromatic exercise This is good for developing the coordination between the left and right hand. You simply play the 1st fret with your 1st finger, then your 2nd fret with your 2nd finger, 3rd fret with your 3rd finger, and the 4th fret with your 4th finger all on the Big E sting. Now do this for every string. Also, don’t forget to go down then up with the pick.
3. Strum patterns Practice these, and you’ll be on your way to strumming songs in a matter of no time. A good starter pattern when learning the guitar, is 2 quarter notes, then 4 eighth notes. So you’ll play down, down, down up, down up with the pick. For more info on these lessons, sign up for my newsletter at LearningGuitarNow.com for complete video lessons on how to do these techniques.

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Does your guitar playing lack that spice, and energy of favorite guitarists? Well one way to put more spice in your playing, is to use Hammer ons and Pull offs.

First let’s talk about how to perform a Hammer on. It’s pretty easy really. Pick one note and now “Hammer” to a note above that one to create the new note. For example,

Pick the note on the 2nd fret of the G string. This is an A note. Now after you pick the note, “Hammer” to the note on the 4th fret of the G string, which is a B note. Pretty simple huh. Here’s an example.

Now let’s talk about the Pull Off. This is exactly the opposite of the Hammer on. So now pick the 4th fret of the G string, which is the B note, and Pull off to the A note on the 2nd fret. One thing to note when performing the Pull off. If you pull your finger down slightly, you will get more volume out of the note.

These two techniques are used in thousands of songs. They should be practiced on the guitar everyday. Learning guitar is not that hard if you stick to practicing the same techniques everyday.

You’ll find these techniques in many popular songs. Here’s the short list:

1. Sweet Home Alabama
2. Over the Hills and Far Away
3. Crazy Train
4. Fire and Rain
5. Simple Man
6. Hey Joe
7. Mama I’m coming Home

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To learn the guitar as fast as possible, you only need to do 2 things.

1. Decide what you want to learn.  This is a big one, and you really do need to decide.  It doesn’t have to life altering.  It can just be “I want to learn how to play whatever song.”  Now you need to find out what chords are in the song.  Does the song have a solo?  Do you want to learn that too?  When these questions are answered, you can pinpoint exactly what you want to learn, because to play the song contains all the elements that need to be practiced. Now find out what chords are in the song, and practice these everyday till you have them perfect.  If you want to learn the solo, then find out what scale is in the song and practice that scale everyday until you have it down.
2. Repetition  Now that you know what it is that will allow you to play the song you want to learn, GO practice it EVERYDAY until you got it.  I said this above, but I’ll say it again.  You must practice till you have these techniques perfect.  I know it is no fun practicing, but look people, anything worth having is gonna take some work.  If the guitar didn’t take any practice, everybody would be playing.  Dedicate some time everyday to learning the instrument.  Skip TV and practice guitar.  It’s all about priorities.  If you really want to learn the guitar, you will, but it is going to take some practice.

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It really depends on what you want to play. Most people say you have to learn the acoustic first, which is a complete lie! Actually, learning the electric guitar, is far easier to start on, because the strings are smaller and easier to push down.

Although if you really want to play the acoustic guitar, play the acoustic guitar. I would recommend to put smaller strings on it such as martin extra lights. This will make it much easier to start out on.

I usually recommend the electric to everyone starting out just because it is a lot easier to play. In the beginning it’s hard enough learning the guitar, and a really cheap hard to play acoustic, will drive most people away very quickly.

One more thing about the electric guitar, make sure it is set up properly. I had a kid start taking recently that brought in a guitar that had the strings about a half inch off the fretboard! This is pretty high, and will make it extremely hard to play. If you don’t know to set it up, take it to your local music store. You won’t regret it. For more info on learning the guitar, visit my website, Learning Guitar Now.

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So what chords do you learn to start playing the guitar immediately? Everybody has their opinions, and they’re all great, but I think in general there are 5 that stand out in my mind, as crucial to learn in the beginning. This is the one of the first guitar lessons I teach to any beginner.

So what are they? Keep reading and all will be revealed.

Let’s go ahead and state that I’ m talking about pop music here. Things may change for different musical styles, but I don’t think too much. Basically for blues, classic rock, and pop, these are the ones I recommend.

• D
• Cadd9
• G
• Am
• Em

You can play all these songs with these 5 chords.

1. Brown Eyed Girl
2. Sweet Home Alabama
3. Good Riddance
4. Times like These
5. Can’t You See
6. Wish you were Here

I recently put together a video lesson on how to play these chords. You can check it out here Strumming video

Learn these chords, and watch the magic happen. Learning how to play the guitar is not really that hard. It’s basically a matter of practicing the correct techniques that will help you to progress in your guitar playing.

For more info check my website Learning Guitar Now

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