Guitar Fundamentals With Lisa: Course 2

 

Chapter: 1: All About Power Chords

In this chapter you will learn to play power chords. You'll get a lot of opportunities to put them to use, playing them in songs! You will use power chords to learn about accidentals, called sharps and flats, to flesh out your knowledge of the musical alphabet.

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In this tutorial, you'll learn a whole new kind of chord, one which is actually moveable! Your fingers learn only one chord shape, but with that shape you can make any major or minor chord you want. No wonder they call it a Power Chord!

Published: 10/14/2015 Upgrade

By learning the songs and chords in this tutorial, you are not only opening up your ability to use power chords to play nearly any song you want - but also, building on an essential foundation that will make understanding the neck of the guitar much easier as we go forward.

Published: 10/09/2015 Upgrade

Now that you have learned a very important set of power chords by name, let's have fun helping you to make them second nature by playing some fun grooves and songs. Oh yeah, and a spelling bee!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Let's build on what you've learned about power chords, with some essential music theory concepts every musician needs to know. In this tutorial, you'll learn all about how sharps and flats work in music, and on your guitar. And, how to play EVERY power chord possible, rooted on the 6th string.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Chapter: 2: Intro To The Major Scale

In this chapter you will learn how to play the major scale in several keys and why it's such an important concept. You'll also get a lot of opportunities to put the scales to use playing them in songs!

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Learning to understand what the Major Scale is all about will open up exciting new doors to you as a guitar player! The Major Scale is a common language amongst all instruments, not just the guitar. In this tutorial, we'll learn what makes the Major Scale 'tick', and why.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

In this set of lessons, we'll learn a pattern of notes to play that will allow you to easily play the major scale, in any key you want. This streamlined system makes playing major scales super easy, and is the gateway to playing melody, riffs, and improvisations up the neck of the guitar.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Major scales that relate to the major chords you already know are an important building block for making your playing more interesting and fun. Use the notes of these scales to work towards playing melody, riffs, and improvisations, right in the context of a song with chords. Expand your sound, big-time!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Trick yourself into practicing your major scales by playing along with the grooves in this tutorial. We will use what you've learned about major scales, and build on it to create real music. Get ready to have a blast, and, come away with a fluid and solid grasp of several essential major scales.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Chapter: 3: A-String Power Chords And The Amazing Magic L

In this chapter you will learn a concept called the Magic L which is a means of understanding chord progressions and how they relate to key signatures. You'll also get lots of opportunities to see how the Magic L makes it easier to understand music and play songs!

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In this tutorial, we will build upon your understanding of Power Chords, and reveal how a very simple and predictable graphic pattern on the neck of the guitar can be used to find the likely chords in any key.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

In this tutorial, we will learn how to name Power Chords whose root note is on the 5th string. Get ready to learn two new songs, written especially to help you memorize these chord positions: 'Can't Do Everything', and 'Frank Gets Angry!'

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Now that you can name your Power Chords with 5th and 6th string roots, let's see what the 'Magic L' can do for us when we turn it upside down. Suddenly, you'll open up a whole new set of options for how and where to play a song on the guitar!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Now that you've learned all about Power Chords and the basics of the 'Magic L', let's take it one step further, and use the 'Magic L' to tell us even more information about our chord options for playing in any key. No more counting on fingers - it's all right there in the pattern!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Chapter: 4: What Is A Chord, Really?

In this chapter you will learn all about chords, what they are and how they work and interact with each other. You'll also learn how to embellish chords to get new exciting sounds and use them in songs.

Recommended Songs

With the skills you have learned so far, you are ready to learn these songs: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Made Easy), Sweet Home Alabama (Made Easy), Runaway Train (Made Easy),

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The Major Chord is made up of a very specific and simple formula of notes. This formula applies to all major chords, no matter what instrument you play them on! Let's learn the formula, and put it to the test, to discover what every major chord has in common.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

The Minor Chord follows a very similar formula to the Major Chord, with only one tiny difference. Let's learn about how to build a minor triad, and a minor chord, and listen for how this completely changes the mood of the music!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Going beyond straight-up major, and straight-up minor, is how we begin to add even more flavor, mood, and nuance to the music we make on the guitar. Let's explore adding additional notes to our basic chords, and listen for how this changes up the mood and creates motion in a song.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

The 'Dominant 7th' chord has a very distinct sound and mood, all its own. Let's learn the formula for constructing this chord, and then explore how it sounds and functions in two different musical contexts, with play-along tunes.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Chapter: 5: Getting Started With Barre Chords

In this chapter you will learn barre chords and why they are such an important step forward. You'll get lots of opportunities to practice and use barre chords in songs. There will also be more chord change strategies to shore up any problem areas in your technique.

Recommended Songs

With the skills you have learned so far, you are ready to learn these songs: More Than A Feeling (Made Easy), Thing Called Love (Made Easy), Watching The Wheels (Made Easy), Woman (Made Easy), When Will I Be Loved (Made Easy),

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Barre chords are not always easy to make, but they do make a lot of sense, musically. Understanding barre chords will enable you to play ANY major or minor chord that exists, plus add lots of new textures to your guitar playing.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

The key of D is a super-popular key in contemporary music, and yet, 2 of the minor chords likely to appear in this key are best played as barre chords. Let's integrate a minor barre chords into an easy song in the key of D. Don't let the occasional barre chord scare you away from great songs!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

When you place your barre chord root note on the 5th string of the guitar, you can create any major or minor chord that exists, using barre chord theory. Heads up: The major ones are tough to make, but the minor ones tend to fall into place more easily. Either way, it's important that you understand the concepts, even your tone has a ways to go!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

The key of G is super-popular in contemporary music. The most likely minor chord to appear in the key of G is a Bm, which is best played as a barre chord. Let's get comfortable playing an easy song in the key of G, and easing that Bm barre chord right into the mix.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Let's become fully barre-chord-literate, and learn a powerful set of tips and tricks for navigating your way in and out of these chords with ease.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Big concepts are coming together and paying off here, as we learn how the 'Magic L' will tell you exactly what major or minor chords to play for most any song, with ease and predictability! This is powerful stuff for jamming, songwriting, and playing tons of great music.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Chapter: 6: Intro To The Minor Scale

In this chapter you will learn how to play the minor scale in several keys and why it's such an important concept. You'll also get a lot of opportunities to put the scales to use playing them in songs!

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Let's learn the foolproof 'recipe' for constructing a Minor Scale, and then listen to how that relates to the sound we get when we learn some essential minor scales, in open position. These scales are really pretty, and fun to play!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

In this tutorial, we'll begin to make the connection between playing an open minor scale, top to bottom, and, using the notes within that scale to create melody and solos. In other words, now that you've learned some scales, let's make some music!

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

The 'Grid-Style' minor scale allows us to play any minor scale that exists, using a consistent and moveable pattern. Learn this grid, and you can instantly play ANY minor scale that exists, just by placing the grid at different points on the neck of the guitar.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

In this tutorial, we'll have some fun with some challenging practice exercises for the minor scale. Get ready to put your minor scale chops to work, with these very musical scale practice exercises. Who said practicing scales should be boring?

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Chapter: 7: Intro To Reading Music

In this chapter you will learn the basic of reading music and why it's such an important skill. You will get a lot of opportunities to put that skill to use by playing songs!

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Every good boy does fine, right? Right! Let's learn how to read notes in standard musical notation, and how to play them on the guitar. Tablature is easy, but for guitar players only. Standard musical notation is the universal written language of music.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

Knowing which note to play is great, but we also need to know how long that note should last. This is the basis of rhythm, as notes move one to the next throughout a piece of music. Let's learn how the physical shape of the note indicates its timing.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

In this tutorial, we'll combine the skills of reading notes on the staff, plus, interpreting their time-value based on their shape and appearance. We'll do this by learning a strange little song, aimed at getting you to read notes from the staff, and play them in the proper timing.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade

So far you've learned how to read music, one note at a time. But now, let's take a classic melody, and add not just one, but TWO harmony notes, sprinkled throughout the piece. You'll see how this will add up to a beautiful solo guitar piece you can read and play.

Published: 10/01/2015 Upgrade