COPYRIGHT 2010 TortoiseGuitar.com A.R.R. Essential Beginner Guitar Theory Get the free Guitar Theory Videos with this e-Book at: www.TortoiseGuitar.com - You are welcome to share this book with your friends - 2010 Tortoise Guitar | www.TortoiseGuitar.com | How to play guitar better sooner! 1 The Theory of Learning Guitar There are 2 sets of skills: Physical skills: training your hands and fingers to be able to pick and strum, play chords, scales, solos - fluidly and effortlessly. Head skills: Music theory knowledge, fretboard knowledge, application of simple physical skills to achieve unexpected results. Head skills are the most important skills in the long run. Knowing what to do - and when - with what you have taught your fingers to play. PHYSICAL SKILLS Foundation Physical Skills & Technique Development Left Hand = fingering chords, scales and playing solos. Right Hand = strumming & picking. Dexterity and coordination between both hands takes time to achieve. Thats because you are training the muscles in your hands and fingers to do things they havent done before. It takes a while before it all becomes automatic and you dont have to think about where your fingers are going and what they are doing. But when it is automatic, you can then start focusing on what youre playing rather than how to play it. So its important to start with the best possible technique to avoid bad habits Basic Playing Technique = holding guitar, correct and efficient use of hands and fingers for economy of movement, relaxed and easy playing style, dexterity, 2010 Tortoise Guitar | www.TortoiseGuitar.com | How to play guitar better sooner! 2 coordination, speed and accuracy. Proper strumming and picking technique. Learn how to get these basic foundation techniques down first and always apply them to ALL your future practice and playing. This ensures you develop an easy, relaxed playing technique without limitations and bad habits. Advanced Physical Skills & Technique Once you have mastered these basic foundation skills you are ready to start developing advanced skills. These include playing patterns which are simply groups of things such as: Chord patterns, scale patterns, arpeggio patterns, triad patterns, pentatonic patterns, licks and riffs etc. These patterns are always applied over a series of chords in a sequence known as a chord progression. And this is where the majority of your future practice will provide the fastest progress possible for years to come Professional musicians are always practicing playing over chord changes, or, chord progressions in ALL KEYS. You should too, if you want to develop a command over your instrument. Style Technique You will also need to discover style and the techniques associated with it. Such techniques include: Vibrato, slides, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, trills, harmonics, slurs etc. So you start with foundation techniques and build on them to develop advanced techniques. These are not that hard to learn but you need to ensure you develop them correctly to get the best possible sound you can. 2010 Tortoise Guitar | www.TortoiseGuitar.com | How to play guitar better sooner! 3 Taking your time (like the Tortoise) to get these right, will pay huge dividends down the line. But once you get them - and have them programmed into your sub-conscious and your muscle-memory - you will always have them and be able to use them at will without having to think about it. All on auto-pilot. Head Skills Basic Music Theory Understanding simple music theory gives structure and purpose to what you are learning. The most important theory to learn is: 1. How scales are made 2. How chords are made from the notes in a scale 3. Chord progressions how chords are used together in songs you want to learn How Scales Are Made Im not going to go too much into this here. If you want to know more about how scales are made, you can download my Guitar Chord Secrets pdf that discusses scales and chords in more detail. Instead, I want to focus on the Major Scale and the Chords within it. 2010 Tortoise Guitar | www.TortoiseGuitar.com | How to play guitar better sooner! 4 Chords of the Major Scale There are 7 notes in the major scale. For each of those 7 notes we build a chord. Therefore, there are seven chords in the scale, or, key. When you play songs, you play them in a certain key which uses a scale as its basis. “Scale” and “key” are almost interchangeable terms. - There are 12 Major keys/scales and 12 Minor keys/scales Q: “What key are we playing this song in?” A: “C Major.” Next logical question Q: “What are the chords in C Major?” The C major scale has the notes C D E F G A B and there is a chord for each note The seven chords for C Major are: C major, D minor, E minor, F major, G major, A minor, B diminished. Each chord is named after a note in the scale. If you were to play in the key of G (major) for