For example, you want to play an A# Major chord, but you don’t know the chord. If you know how to play the Major barre chord with the Root note on the E string,(see below) then simply take the same shape and move it to the 6th fret, which is an A# note. That’s it. Now you will be able to move that barre chord shape and move it up and down the neck to form many different chords. It all depends on what note you are barring.

You now need to memorize all the notes on the Low E String. If you do, you will be able to play any chord within seconds! Think of how fast you will start playing new chords. After you have done this, memorize the notes on the A String, and now you will know how to play barre chords with the root note on 2 different strings. This is awesome!

If you fail to see the significance of this, reread this blog or contact me. You need to learn this to continue to move forward with your guitar playing.

So how do you play these barre chords? Well, below is how to play a Major barre chord with the root on the E string. The 5 on the right tells you that it is to be played on the 5th fret, which is an A note, thus an A chord.

This chord is used in many popular songs including Stairway to Heaven, All Along the Watchtower, Ramblin Man, and many more.

If you would like more in depth information on how to play Barre Chords or beginner guitar, please check out my ebook Guitar Method Beginner Book 1.

For more information about learning guitar please visit www.LearningGuitarNow.com

Now I’m going to tell you exactly how to play anything on the guitar. There is no secret formula, and it will not be easy, but it will be rewarding, challenging, and you WILL SEE RESULTS I GUARANTEE!

Here are 3 things that you MUST do to get any better on guitar.

1. Write down your goals as a guitar player. It may be as simple as learn D, and G today, or maybe learn the Pentatonic scale. Folks this stuff is easy to do. If you do not set goals for your guitar playing, you will simply not get anywhere. Think about it. It you want to play blues lead guitar, and you don’t know the path to get there, then you will NEVER get there. SET GOALS STARTING TODAY OR YOU WILL NOT GET ANY BETTER!
2. After you set your goals and achieve them, write down new goals. You should have new goals being set every week, month, year. If you do this you will get a hundred times better in a year. Whatever it is just do it. Sounds simple, but everyday I see kids and adults not being able to play what they want simple because they don’t even know what they want to learn. You can’t just say I want to learn guitar. There are many styles of guitar and by not figuring out what you want to learn, you will not learn anything.
3. Turn off your TV. People the TV is a bad thing. Am I mad you say? Don’t get me wrong, I like watching TV shows just like everyone else, but I watch them when I want, and set times that I’ll watch TV. For example, the typical person will watch his or her favorite show, and when it’s over, they’ll keep flipping that remonte controlfor hours watching nothing, losing all the time they could have been practicing. You get the picture. I don’t even have cable TV anymore. The TV will eat your time away like nothing else, so stop watching and start practicing.

Well that’s my 3 tips that will have you playing guitar better in 30 days I guarantee. “Now you can put that in your pipe and smoke it.” -Zig Ziglar

For more information on learning guitar vist www.learningguitarnow.com.

[tags]Learning guitar, beginner guitar lesson[/tags]

Well in today’s guitar lesson, I’m going to teach you “how to play the blues” for beginner guitar players.

To play an easy blues guitar riff, you will only need to use 2 fingers. Yes it is that easy. This blues guitar riff has been used in thousands of songs including “Johnny B. Goode,” “Pride and Joy”, “Keep your hands to Yourself”, and “Rock and Roll”. Is that an impressive enough list for you?

Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s learn one of the most used guitar riffs in history. Below is how to play this blues riff in the key of A.

When playing this blues guitar riff, use your 1st finger on the 2nd fret, and your 3rd finger on the 4th fret. Always keep your 1st finger down on the fret, even when you play the note located on the 4th fret. By doing this, you will be able to play faster and cleaner, due to less motion of your hand.

Practice this guitar riff everyday until you can play it perfectly in time with the beat. In my ebook for beginner guitar players, I’ll show you how to do the entire 12 bar blues progression by playing this pattern.

Also check out this blog post for more blues guitar riffs.

For more on learning the guitar please visit www.LearningGuitarNow.com

When I was 16 years old, back in 1990 I think, I was watching Quantam Leap, a show that was really popular at the time, and the episode had a sequence where the main charactar, “Sam”, sat down and played “Imagine” by John Lennon. What an emotional experience! After I heard that, I knew I wanted to be able to take an acoustic guitar, and produce that kind of magic through the instrument.   Also, after hearing Led Zeppelin III, I realized that I must learn the greatest instrument of all time, the guitar!

Well after that, I saved up some money and purchased a Kay electric guitar and a small Peavey amp. As soon as I plugged it in and pressed the saturation button, I hit the Low E string on the guitar and thought , WOW this is cool, I am a guitar player!

I soon began to take private lessons from a small music store in Mobile, Alabama where I learned my first song,”If” by Bread. I practiced everyday after school, until I could at least change through some open chords. I remember thinking, “If I only could change from G to C and D then I would be awesome!”   Those chord changes seemed almost impossible, and forget about lead guitar.

During my lessons at M&S music store, I had been given this thing called the Pentatonic scale to practice, and man was it hard. I did practice my chords and the scale for about an hour everyday after High School.  I kept thinking that someday I might actually be able to play a song in front of someone, but that day seemed so far away.

Eventually I learned how to play some chords and a couple of easy lead riffs, such as Johnny B Goode.  I thought I was awesome now! So I asked my friend to come over and check out what I had learned. He arrived and I sat down and proceeded to play the intro to Johnny B. Goode. I knew I was awesome!   When I had finished I asked him if he knew what song that was, he replied “Uh, I have no idea.” I said, “You know, the song in Back to the Future.”  He was like, “I don’t think what you played sounded like that, but yeah it sounds good.” with a smirk.  I knew that he was not impressed.  Oh well, I guess I needed more practice.

For information on how you can learn how to play the guitar please visit www.learningguitarnow.com

Here are my 5 mistakes beginner guitar players commonly make.

1. They don’t practice with a metronome. Playing in time is so critical in the beginning. I know it is no fun to play to that awful clicking noise. I’ve done it, but I also used drum machines which are just as good. If you can’t take the clicking noise, go buy a cheap keyboard with a drum machine built in.
2. They don’t play on the tips of their fingers. If you want to sound good, you must play on the tips of your fingers. This will allow you to hear all the notes of the chords that you’re trying to play. When practicing open position chords, play each string to ensure that every note is able to be heard. If you can’t hear every note, then you’re probably not playing on the tips of your fingers.
3. They try to play too fast. Playing things beyond your capability is not bad. Playing things beyond your capability at the wrong speed is VERY BAD! When learning difficult things, you must slow them down to where you can play the part without messing up. In reality you can play anything if it is slowed down enough. The fastest guitar runs can be slowed down to where you can play them and practice them to a tempo you are comfortable with. Now each few days, speed them up, and a couple weeks later you will have it. This way works much better than playing it at the regular tempo badly everyday, because you will never actually be able to play it perfect only fast BADLY! You play like you practice is true with guitar playing.
4. They don’t practice what they can’t play. This is critical. If every time you sit down to practice and you reel off everything you can already play well, you will never get any better. This is called playing the guitar not practicing! When you practice the guitar you need to do things that you can’t do well. By setting aside 30 minutes a day of playing things you need to work on, you will improve you’re skills dramatically over the course of a few months. If you just sit down and play everything you already know how to play, you will not learn anything. While this may be fun, you will never learn anything new. For a practice guide from myself sign up for my newsletter and you’ll also receive free guitar videos.
5. They don’t play in front of people. Playing in a room by yourself is safe and comfortable. No one will ever hear you mess up, and no one will ever hear you play that awesome song you’ve been working on. GO FIND SOMEONE TO PLAY FOR! There has to be someone that will listen to you, so go ask them to listen. By playing in front of people, you will notice something different happens. You will tense up, get nervous and become aware of everything that you can’t do. This is good. Magical things happen when we play in front of people, that will never happen if you don’t. There is just something about being in front of someone, that causes people to do exciting things. Performing music is one of the most exhilarating things of this world. Don’t miss out on it because you’re too scared. If you still can’t find anyone to play for, go get the dog. If he starts moving his head sideways, you may want to reread this blog post!

Well that’s it folks for my 5 mistakes beginner guitar players make.. Go start practicing and don’t do the things mentioned above and you’ll be on your way to rock stardom. Check out my E-book on guitar, for everything beginner guitar players need to learn.

For more information on learning the guitar, or guitar lessons from myself, please visit www.LearningGuitarNow.com.

Now that we’ve got that covered, let’s talk about my favorite albums for learning how to play blues, rock and slide guitar. Of course there are many on my list but there can only be 5. I challenge all readers to submit their 5 favorite guitar albums and see where we disagree or agree.
Ok here we go. In no particular order, here are my top 5.

1. Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” You know it, you love it and if you haven’t heard this album, man you are missing out. Beginners can benefit from all the basic chords in such songs as “Brain Damage/Eclipse”, while the blues guys can learn a thing or two about melodic leads from “Time”. I listened to this CD over and over for about 2 years while in college, and it is just fantastic. Get it, learn it, enough said.
2. Jimi Hendrix “Are you Experienced” What can I say it’s Jimi. There are so many cool songs and styles on this debut album that if you don’t learn the whole album, you really don’t know how to play guitar. Yes it’s that good, and yes you will learn it. From the fuzzed out solos of “Foxey Lady”, to the clean R&B scrapings of “The Wind Cries Mary”, no one should be without this album. He really is the greatest guitarist ever. Don’t even try to deny it!
3. Steve Ray Vaughan “Texas Flood” The debut album from the King of the Texas Blues. Listening to this album is like listening to pure perfection of the blues guitar style. I don’t think anyone has been so influential of the blues genre in recent history. The title track does it all, a barrage of notes coming at you like a texas flood. This album feels the blues and the guitar playing is nothing less than legendary. “Pride and Joy” has been covered by more bar bands than I care to mention. All hail SRV. It’s also a fact that this album was recorded live, with only one overdub, in a couple of days. The only reason for the overdub is because SRV happened to break a string!
4. Allman Brothers “Live at the Fillmore East” You’ve already heard my affection for this album, but I’ll say it again, This is the best live album ever recorded period. Bill Graham, Tom Dowd, what else do you need to know. Standouts include, “Whipping Post” perhaps one of the greatest jams ever recorded! It blends jazz, blues, and rock like no other song before it. Their use of the Dorian scale recalls their love of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. This is a must have. Get it and revel in the masterful sounds that come out of your speakers, or ipod buds these days.
5. Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin II” No list could be complete without getting the Led out! Responsible for all rock music as we know it. The Gods of Rock release this monumental album in 1969. Every song on this CD is the stuff only legends are made of. From the crushing solos and power chords of “Heartbreaker”, to the Acoustic strummings of “Thank You”, there is something for all rock lovers. The riff to “Whole Lotta Love” Inspired a whole generation of rockers, while the funky bass, and bluesy guitar solos of “The Lemon Song” proved they were a band that knew how to groove. Buy this album if you truly want ot rock. Without it you are stuck in Kenny G. land!

So there you have it folks, my unofficial top five guitar albums of all time. Let me know you’re top 5. I love to see other people’s opinions.

For more info on blues guitar playing check out my website

Let me give you an example.

I had a 12 year old kid request to learn a song by some aging old southern rock band called 38 Special, no offense. But I never thought the day would come when a 12 year old would want to learn “Hold on Loosely”, and even a song by Eddie Money! And let me tell you this is not an isolated incident. There have been numerous requests for these songs and others, all because these songs are on Guitar Hero the video game.

I think this is a good thing. A lot of songs on this game are very good, and have challenging guitar parts, which in turn will make the student practice and learn these songs, instead of some of the newer songs which don’t really have anything challenging in them at all. I love some of the new rock, but let’s face it, a song by Semisonic, or Breaking Benjamin is far less challenging than learning “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns & Roses.

Here’s a short list of some of the songs that have been included in Guitar Hero.

“More Than a Feeling” by Boston has become the new anthem for the middle school kids. It’s pretty unbelievable how one video game has changed the music industry. What happens when all these kids start writing their own music? In five years or so, the songs on the radio will have been written by kids who grew up with Guitar Hero and learned all those songs. How will this affect the sound of the music in the next 10 years? I believe the classic rock sound, and being a great guitar player will come back into the mainstream.

Even the rockstars of the music industry are taking note. Notice who is in the commercial for this game, and featured inside the game itself. No other than mega rock star, Slash, from Guns & Roses. And look who has a brand new signature Gibson Guitar out now, Slash of course. The biggest guitar manufacture is pushing this as their biggest campaign right now. Every kid now wants to learn how to play like Slash. For many kids, he is considered the greatest guitarist of all time.

Legendary band Aerosmith are having an entire game dedicated to them. You will go through the game performing all of the Aerosmith classics. What does this say about the marketing of bands inside video games as well? Do you think Aerosmith will sell millions of Albums because of this? I would say yes.

There’s no denying Guitar Hero. It could single handedly jumpstart the struggling music business like nothing before. Which is good for me since I teach people how to become a real Guitar Hero!

To start learning guitar from me please check out my website. [tags]Guitar hero, Slash, Aerosmith, video games, learning guitar[/tags]

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. [tags]strum patterns, guitar lesson, guitar lessons, learning strum patterns[/tags]

Learning how to play the guitar like Jimi Hendrix can be a mammoth task, so it is better to take a certain element of his playing, and work on that. After you’ve learned that element, move on to another. Today I’m going to talk about Jimi’s clean rhythm playing. His rhythm playing was fantastic, and reminds me of all the R&B guys from the 50′s and 60′s. You’ll hear this style of playing in “Little Wing”, “Castles Made of Sand”, and “The Wind Cries Mary”.

This lick demonstrates Jimi’s use of 3 reoccurring elements in this style of playing:

1. Major Pentatonic scale
2. Doublestops
3. Hammer ons

This lick is in the key of E Major and uses all the above. Make sure to barre your first finger across the 9th fret on th D, G, and B strings.

Jimi had a vast catalog of licks and styles he recalled from at will. Any aspiring guitarist should learn as much material from Jimi as they can. Learning how to play the guitar is an everchanging thing. There is so much you can learn. It is best to define what you want to learn, and write it down. Now practice this everyday until you got it. Repeat. You’ll get much more accomplished this way. I guarantee you.

To learn more about playing blues guitar please check out my 6 DVD Blues Guitar Course.

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.

When 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.