Beginner Guitar Quick-Start Series

• How To Hold The Guitar
• Finger And Fret Numbers
• Parts Of The Guitar
• Names Of The Guitar Strings
• How Use An Electronic Tuner
• How To Tune The Guitar By Ear
• Right Hand Guitar Technique
• Left Hand Guitar Technique
• G and D Major Guitar Chords
• A Minor 7 And C Major Chords
• Putting It All Together
• More Strumming!

How To Hold The Guitar

Learn How To Hold The Guitar! In this beginner guitar lesson we will cover how to hold the guitar. There are two basic ways that you can choose to hold the guitar when you are sitting down. You can hold it over your right leg or your left leg. If you are right handed the…   Read More » 

Finger And Fret Numbers

Learn How To Number Your Fingers And The Frets On The Guitar! Before you can dive in to playing the guitar you should understand how your fingers and the frets on the guitar are numbered. These may seem like simple topics but it is important for you to know which finger to put on which…   Read More » 

Parts Of The Guitar

Learn About The Parts Of The Guitar! It is important for you as a beginner guitar player to learn the proper names for the parts of the guitar. When you talk to other musicians or people that work at music stores it is important for you to be able to communicate with them about the…   Read More » 

Names Of The Guitar Strings

Learn About The Names Of The Strings On The Guitar! As a beginner guitar player it is important for you to know the names of the guitar strings. Once you learn the names of the strings you will use that knowledge all of the time when tuning the guitar and learning new songs. If we…   Read More » 

How Use An Electronic Tuner

Learn How To Tune A Guitar With A Digital Tuner! Now that you know the names of the open strings you can learn how to use a digital tuner.  Once your tuner is on, play your low E string. The tuner should indicate a note, hopefully it is an E. If it’s not an E…   Read More » 

How To Tune The Guitar By Ear

Learn How To Tune The Guitar By Ear! Learning how to tune the guitar without a tuner can be frustrating for beginner guitar players but this lesson gives you all of the tools that you need in order to get good at tuning the guitar by ear. Don’t get frustrated if you aren’t great at…   Read More » 

Right Hand Guitar Technique

Learn How To Strum And Pick Notes On The Guitar! In this beginner guitar lesson you will be learning the fundamentals of how to use your hand to strum and pick the strings of the guitar. If you have never played the guitar, strumming and picking might feel strange at first. Let’s start off by…   Read More » 

Left Hand Guitar Technique

Learn How To Have Great Left Hand Technique On The Guitar! There are many things about your left hand that you should be aware of when you are playing guitar. Relaxing and finger placement are the two main things that we will focus on during this lesson. Many guitarists have their own idea of what…   Read More » 

G and D Major Guitar Chords

Learn Your Open G and D Major Guitar Chords! If you are a complete beginner this will be an exciting lesson for you because you are going to learn two of the chords that you will need to know in order to play “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”. Those two chords are G major and D…   Read More » 

A Minor 7 And C Major Chords

Learn How To Play The A Minor 7 And C Major 7 Guitar Chords! Ok, you have learned your G major and D major chords! Now you need to learn two more chords to be able to play through the chord progression in the next lesson. In this guitar lesson you will be learning how…   Read More » 

Putting It All Together

Put Everything You Have Learned Together! If you have made it this far you have learned your G major, D major, C major and A minor 7 chords. You have also learned how to use your right hand to strum the guitar properly. Now it is time to put all of these things together to…   Read More » 

More Strumming!

Learn A More Complex Guitar Strumming Pattern! The strumming pattern that we will be using is short and simple, but it gives this progression a nice feel. The basic strumming pattern is “Down Down Down Down Down-Up”. Practice that a few times and get a feel for it. Play this pattern once for the G,…   Read More » 

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Hello,

My name is Nate Savage. If you have always wanted to play the guitar but thought it was too difficult, or just never got around to it, you are in the right place.

I designed this quick-start series to give someone who has never even seen a guitar everything they need in order to start playing today. By the end of this series you will have learned everything that you need to know in order to strum your way through a wicked chord progression that you can use to make up your own song.

Once you have finished this series, feel free to go through the mountains of other beginner guitar lessons here on GuitarLessons.com. You can even sign up for my free Practice Routine Generator too by using the signup box on the top right-hand side of the website. Feel free toemail me if you have any questions.

Guitar Justin's Beginners Guitar Course

The Justinguitar.com Beginner's Course

Welcome new guitar player :) This is THE place to start if you are picking up guitar for the first time, or if you been playing a while and want to make sure you have not left any holes in your knowledge. Well over a million people have used this course - and if you need help there are links to the forum on every lesson! Hope you enjoy this new musical adventure :)

Welcome to my beginners guitar course. It starts at the very beginning, and offers you advise about the very first steps that need to be taken (like buying an instrument) and what to expect on this fun and rewarding (and sometimes frustrating) journey that is learning to play the guitar. I know this course works because I have developed it over 20 years with many hundreds of students of ages and abilities, and I aim to start you off on a really well structured, enjoyable and motivating course that will have you playing songs in as shorter time as possible.

There are, of course, many ways to learn the guitar. I'd like to think that my method is the most effective method and fun available anywhere, partly because I continue to refine it as more people ask questions in the web site forum. It has become highly interactive and by asking questions you help me improve the course, and being that well over ten thousand people have used this course already, there have been many small improvements made since it's launch in June 2009.

How To Use This Course
Of course you can adapt it to fit your prior knowledge and personal situation and just pick out lessons as you want them, but I would suggest reading the whole method even if you think you know something already. Make sure you leave no gaps in your knowledge by just watching or reading through all the lessons... you may find a few little nuggets of knowledge that help put it all together for you.

The JUSTIN Method (Just Use Sound To Improve Now)
So what makes this one special? the J.U.S.T.I.N. method! What? Yeah - I managed to use my name to make a silly acronym to define my own method (my middle name is megalomaniac!). Learning to use your ear in the early stages of learning is the thing that I believe will make you a much better player than any other method I have ever seen taught. It leads to the the skill of transcribing. Something that is missing from most methods, but is the way that all the great guitarists of previous generations got so good, and why so many guitarists these days are a bit rubbish.

The JUSTIN training exercises are audio, not video - remember music is about listening, and not about seeing. Skip over them and you will be missing a very important piece of the puzzle that you will most likely regret later.

Learning songs is an important part of this method
My best advice is to go through this beginners course and learn as many songs as you can, the perfect partner is the Justinguitar Beginners Songbook which has songs to match each stage of the course (due for release in March 2011). Also work on the JUSTIN method to help train your ears. Then at the end of this course you should start transcribing as much material as you can. You can always buy books with many songs in it, or use the internet to get free tabs. But be warned, many web tabs are completely wrong, so you need to learn to trust your ears to tell you right from wrong.

Music Theory
Though learning music theory is not an essential part of learning the guitar, many people enjoy understanding what they are doing. My eBook, Practical Music Theory will be very interesting for those people and will help you understand what you are doing and give you many exercises to help you memorise the information. The theory goes way beyond the concepts taught in the beginners course. PMT is not included in the course and must be purchased separately (though it is part of the Beginner's Deluxe Pack).

Got Questions????
If you have any questions you are likely to find the answer them in the forum, please leave the questions there - there are links at the bottom of each lesson page to a specific topic just for that lesson! Please try and leave your lessons in the right topic so they will get answered either by me or another more experienced player. Silly or inappropriate questions just get deleted, and once a question has been incorporated in the main text it is deleted.

Asking in the forum also helps me update the course and helps me answer your questions before you even have them, so ask away - there is no such thing as a silly question - if you don't understand it, I didn't explain it well enough!

Good luck my cyber students, hope you really enjoy it!

Justin 

Products you may like from justinguitar.com

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT THIS SITE RUNS ON PRODUCT SALES AND DONATIONS.
If you like what I do then PLEASE CONSIDER BUYING SOMETHING or making a DONATION.

I have four great beginners products that will help you make the most of this course and for those with sketchy internet connection! ? • The Justinguitar Beginners Songbook is our most popular product and it contains 100 songs arranged by difficulty that perfectly match up with each level of the course. • The Justinguitar Beginners Course Book contains all the text for the course for those that like to scribble in the margins, prefer working from a paper book, or do not have easy access to the internet. • The Justinguitar Beginners Course DVD has all the videos from the course on DVD, which is better quality and you don't have to worry about download limits or slow connection! You can rip the DVDs to watch on your iPad or other mobile device too! • Practical Music Theory is deigned for those that like to know what they are doing and why!! It covers all the basic essential theory in an easy to digest way and puts it onto the guitar! This ebook is incredibly popular - check out the (unedited) reviews on the forum! Before you buy, you should check out the Bundle Packs too - you can save a bunch of money buying a few things at the same time :)

Getting Started...

Before we get started in learning chords and stuff, I want to get you off to the best possible start. This section will really help you get the most of this course so check it out!

BC-101 • Common beginners questions answered
BC-102 • What guitar should you buy?
BC-103 • What guitar accessories do you need?
BC-104 • Guitar Anatomy
BC-105 • Make the most of your practice time
BC-106 • Body Posture and Finger Placement
BC-107 • Picks, how to choose one and hold it
BC-108 • How To Read TAB and Chord Boxes 
BC-109 • Get your guitar in tune

Stage 1

In this first stage we are going to check out three basic chords and how to change between them. We look at the very basics of rhythm and some easy songs that you can play with just these three chords!

BC-111 • The D Chord
BC-112 • The A Chord
BC-113 • The E Chord
BC-114 • Anchor Fingers for A, D and E
BC-115 • 1 Minute Changes
BC-116 • 4:4 all down rhythm
BC-117 • Easy Songs for Stage 1 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-118 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-119 • Stage 1 Practice Schedule

Stage 2

Now we are going to introduce some easy minor chords. We'll be changing between them and listening to the difference between Major and Minor. We'll also develop the changes between the new chords and the ones learnt last lesson. We also have to get our foot working and understand why that is important to become friends with a metronome.

BC-121 • The Amin Chord
BC-122 • The Emin Chord
BC-123 • The Dmin Chord
BC-124 • 1 minute Changes
BC-125 • Introducing the metronome
BC-126 • Foot tapping
BC-127 • Easy Songs For Stage 2 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-128 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-129 • Stage 2 Practice Schedule 

Stage 3

Now we have to get your hand stretching out a bit for a couple of trickier chords. We also introduce the idea of strumming patterns and how to read a basic music rhythms.

BC-131 • The G Chord
BC-132 • The C Chord
BC-133 • Names Of Open Strings
BC-134 • 1 minute Changes
BC-135 • Basic Finger Workout
BC-136 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 1
BC-137 • Easy Songs For Stage 3 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-138 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-139 • Stage 3 Practice Schedule

Stage 4

Now we are going to introduce some new interesting (but not harder) chords. We also introduce the "partial barre" to toughen up the side of your fist finger a bit and talk about counting rhythm, all important stuff.

BC-141 • G7, C7, B7 Chords
BC-142 • The F Maj7 Chord
BC-143 • The A Chord again...
BC-144 • 1 minute Changes
BC-145 • Forcing The Changes
BC-146 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 2
BC-147 • Easy Songs For Stage 4 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-148 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-149 • Stage 4 Practice Schedule

Stage 5

We have finish off learning our open 7th chords, check out a new way to help get your chord changes even faster and also have a look at shuffle rhythms. You will be able to play blues in three different keys by the end of this stage :) cool... and we get a little look at some basic music knowledge.

BC-151 • A7, D7, E7 Chords
BC-152 • The Note Circle
BC-153 • Air Changes
BC-154 • 1 minute Changes
BC-155 • Triplet Rhythms
BC-156 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 3
BC-157 • Easy Songs For Stage 5 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-158 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-159 • Stage 5 Practice Schedule

Stage 6

OK. This is a big stage. Lots of important stuff. You are ready for it... now it's time to tackle the big nasty F Chord. Get ready for a bit of pain and frustration, everyone has to go through this rite of passage. And that is not all. We also have to learn to miss some strums! harder than it sounds... but lots of fun and will sound awesome once you get it!

BC-161 • The Dreaded F Chord
BC-162 • 1 minute Changes
BC-163 • Using a Capo
BC-164 • "Action" and basic guitar set up guide
BC-165 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 4
BC-166 • Picking Individual Strings
BC-167 • Easy Songs For Stage 6 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-168 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-169 • Stage 6 Practice Schedule

Stage 7

Now we have the very basics under your fingers, we can start to look at some more interesting stuff - notes on the neck, some cool chords to spice up your playing and a scale! wey hey...

BC-171 • Notes In The Open Position
BC-172 • Power Chords 1
BC-173 • A Sus2/4 and D Sus2/4 Chords, Esus4
BC-174 • 1 minute changes
BC-175 • Rhythm Guitar Basics 5
BC-176 • Minor Pentatonic Scale
BC-177 • Easy Songs For Stage 7 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-178 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-179 • Stage 7 Practice Schedule

Stage 8

Now we are ready for some really cool fun stuff... A look at some other common ways of playing the G Chord, a 12 Bar Blues and an exercise to help you get your picking skills a bit sharper.

BC-181 • G Chord Variations
BC-182 • 1 minute Changes
BC-183 • 12 Bar Blues Style
BC-184 • Basic Fingerstyle Exercise
BC-185 • Minor Pentatonic Picking Exercise
BC-186 • Power Chords 2
BC-187 • Easy Songs For Stage 8 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-188 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-189 • Stage 8 Practice Schedule

Stage 9

Now we are nearly at the end of our beginners course. Few more things to learn and then it's consolidation time! There is a whole lot of different material here - so take your time, just try and digest one little bit at a time and you'll get there!

BC-191 • Easy Slash Chords
BC-192 • Power Chord Shifts and Palm Mutes
BC-193 • Applied Fingerstyle Patterns
BC-194 • 12 Bar Blues Variations
BC-195 • Minor Pentatonic Pattern
BC-196 • Basic Blues Improvisation
BC-197 • Easy Songs For Stage 9 (Songs are NOT included on the DVD's)
BC-198 • JUSTIN training exercises
BC-199 • Consolidation Test and Practice Schedule

BC-998 • JUSTIN Answer Page

Where to now????

I would suggest spending some time consolidating the Beginner Course. Make sure you are confident with all the aspects of the consolidation lesson (the last one) and can play a bunch of songs with your open chords and generally feel cool with all the stuff we have covered in this course before moving on to my Intermediate Guitar Method.

Big thanks to all the people who bought (and continue to buy) the Beginners Course DVD and those that donate, because their support has meant that I could keep the Intermediate Method free too :)

Hope you enjoyed it and wishing you all the best, J