Playing Guitar, the 1st few months, Part 01

ok this is for those new players who knows some basic chords, tab reading and fret knowledge and want to improve their finger speed and accuracy (both left and right fingers)

1st of all i'm not a good player at finger-style AKA plucking. so don't lose your pick if you want to read future posts :)

let's go :D

As a beginner, your fingers will be slow when you change chords and sometimes making you off beat, that happens to everybody.
there are many ways to make this slow fingers improve. this is my personally experienced lesson from my 1st guitar tutor ( yes he's from myanmar)

Playing 1 2 , 2 3 , 3 4 , 1 2 3 , 2 3 4 , 1 2 3 4

step 1. place your index and the F-U finger on the 1st and 2nd frets of the 6th string (the thickest one :D) [not pressing]

step 2. grab your pick and play the 1st fret and keep pressing it.

step 3. play the 2nd fret with your f-u finger (ok i'll use finger #1 #2 #3 #4 :P )

step 4. move your two fingers to the 5th fret , repeat step 2 and 3 and till you hit the 1st string

so the tab will look like this and try to come back to the 6th string in the reverse mode
______________________________________________________
E|-----------------------------------1--2---2--1---------------------------------
B|------------------------------1--2--------------2--1---------------------------
G|------------------------1--2--------------------------2--1---------------------
D|------------------1--2--------------------------------------2--1---------------
A|------------1--2--------------------------------------------------2--1---------
E|------1--2--------------------------------------------------------------2--1---

so at 1st try to pick the strings down, you can try alternate picking (up&down)
when you have gained some speed from this easy lesson :)
remember that the important thing is to play all the notes with your pick and a clear sound must be produced.

okay. so you can guess which comes next... #2 and #3s turn

replace the above tab with 2 3 But you must not use #1 anymore. this time it's your middle finger and the ring finger (#2 and #3).
your fingers will look weird but this really helps with your left fingers' speed and your picking accuracy.
so do the down picking only first then move on to alternate picking.

once again you have guessed the next one and probably will hate it.

Replace the tab's 2 3 with 3 4 ! (use ONLY the ring finger and the pinky)

ok u tried it and it's really sad to see your pinky cannot keep up. it's okay, my pinky was just like yours :D
you don't need to gain extra speed for your pinky in this lesson, just try this one so that you use your pinky.
later when you all are ready to rock, you can check back on this blog and you'll see the pinky's special exercise :)

now let's move on to the next one, same stuff :P

now it's 1 2 3 , go on. try it with down picking 1st and finger #1 #2 #3
alternate picking will be a bit tricky but worth giving time for this :)
so it's gonna be
down-up-down change string up-down-up change string down-up-down.

the next one will be 2 3 4 (no index #1) , and then 1 2 3 4 which rocks for alternate picking :D

Remember this, this simpler than simple exercise is the best for warming-up. so play this useful exercise before you play those chords :)

and for those who have tried this exercise till this very spot. you have some presents :)

A Minor Pentatonic Scale remember that this is at the 5th fret!
it looks like the tab i just wrote for you !

______________________________________________________
E|-----------------------------------5--8---8--5---------------------------------
B|------------------------------5--8--------------8--5---------------------------
G|------------------------5--7--------------------------7--5---------------------
D|------------------5--7--------------------------------------7--5---------------
A|------------5--7--------------------------------------------------7--5---------
E|------5--8--------------------------------------------------------------7--5---

+1 to Scale Library ! :)

those who wants to play rock songs, please master this scale!

oh and yes if you want B Minor Pentatonic, just play the same pattern at the 7th fret :D

this is the fretboard, print it out and at least memorize the first 12 frets of the E and A string :)
remembering the notes on those 2 strings will help you a lot in playing rhythm guitar :)

REMINDER: Playing Guitar is a journey, YOU have to walk to move on from one point to another. Practice your ass off and you'll surely surpass me :D

feel free to ask questions :)

take care

Matt