Revision as of 23:57, 3 January 2015

Guitar

This contains all material related specifically for guitar, including lessons, techniques, styles, exercises, gear and setup advice, and reference.

Lessons

Here are the main pages for this site - guitar lessons. These are designed to be digested in order, although some skipping around is possible. These assume you are starting from an absolute void of both guitar and general music knowledge; if you have experience with either, you may find yourself skipping ahead or skimming through the early pages. Please read the Introduction before proceeding.

Beginner

These lessons are designed to take you from knowing absolutely nothing about guitar and music to being able to make basic chord progressions in the key of C Major.

1. Guitar Parts and Functions
2. Holding the Guitar and Pick
3. Basic Technique
4. Tuning and Harmonics
5. Music Theory Basics
6. Position
7. 1st String
8. 1st and 2nd Strings - Intervals
9. 2nd and 3rd Strings
10. 4th, 5th, and 6th Strings
11. C Major in Open Position and Alternate Picking
12. C Major Chord
13. G Major Chord
14. F Major Chord
15. E Minor, D Minor, and A Minor Chords
16. Music Theory - Diatonic Chord Progressions

Intermediate

Here we branch off towards more complex chords and alternate keys, including natural and harmonic minor, as well as expanding the positions on the guitar we can comfortably play inside.

I also encourage you to explore the techniques section below at this point. They will help you gain expressiveness, speed, and a fuller understanding of what it takes to be a good guitarist. They can be consumed independently in any order, although I start with the most essential techniques and move towards more specialized ones.

1. B Diminished
2. Other Open String Chords
3. Music Theory - Minor Keys
4. Harmonic Minor and Augmented Chords
5. Barre Chords
6. Suspended Chords
7. Applying Rhythm to Chords
8. Circle of Fifths
9. G Major and E Minor
10. 5th Position
11. Scales for all Positions
12. CAGED
13. 7th Chords

Advanced

These contain the knowledge needed to gain a full understanding of and master the instrument. I also recommend venturing into the Styles section below.

1. Voice Leading
2. Modulation
3. Chromatic Chords
4. Modes
5. Exotic Scales
6. Solo'ing
7. Extended Chords
8. Odd-time Signatures
9. Syncopation and Polyrhythm
10. Atonality and Serialism
11. Equal Temperament and Alternate Tunings

Techniques

Here are common techniques used when playing guitar. These are technical, not musical. In other words, they are not compositional techniques, but focused on either timbre or efficiency of motion. They allow the guitar to sound differently or can be used to increase one's playing speed, but they won't help you learn which notes to play. It is essential to master most of these to fully express yourself musically.

• Touch, Dynamics, and Accents
• Legato (Hammer-on, Pull-off)
• Bending
• Vibrato
• Palm Muting
• Artificial Harmonics
• Whammy Bar
• Tapping
• Two-Hand Tapping
• Sweep Picking
• Slapping
• Thumping
• Double and Triple Stops
• Finger Picking
• Pick Slides
• Slide Guitar
• Swells

Styles

This section explores different styles of music commonly associated with guitar, noting both compositional and technical conventions.

• Rock
• Blues
• Funk
• Jazz
• Folk
• Thrash
• Djent
• Shred
• Classical
• Flamenco (Spanish)

Exercises

Contains lots of material you can use to practice.

• Warmup Exercises

Technical

These focus on developing your left and right hands, not necessarily within a musical context.

• Basic Technique Exercises
• Advanced Technique Exercises
• Alternate Picking
• Common Scale Exercises
• Rhythm Exercises
• Position-Shifting Exercises
• String Skipping Exercises
• Arpeggio Exercises

Technique Exercises

These focus on perfecting various techniques from a technical standpoint.

• Legato Exercises
• Tapping Exercises
• Harmonics Exercises (natural and artificial)
• Sweep Picking Exercises
• Slapping/Thumping Exercises
• Whammy Bar Exercises
• Double Stop and Chicken Pickin Exercises
• Fingerstyle Exercises
• Slide Guitar Exercises

Songs, Solos, and Licks

Here are actual songs that can be used to practice various styles and techniques, putting all that knowledge to practical uses.

• Beginner Songs
• Intermediate Songs
• Advanced Songs
• Rock Songs
• Blues Songs
• Thrash Songs
• Shred Songs
• Common Lead Licks
• Example Solos

Gear and Setup

Advice on buying/tweaking your gear and setting up your instrument.

• Tone
• Dialing in Distortion Tone
• Strings
• Choosing a Pick
• Choosing a Guitar
• Setup/Adjustments
• Choosing Pickups
• Choosing an Amp
• Choosing a Speaker Cabinet
• Choosing a Modeler/FRFR
• Foot Controllers
• Choosing Cables

Effects

• Noise Gate
• Compression
• Wah Pedals
• EQ
• Modulation Effects
• Delay
• Reverb
• Pitch Shifting
• Boost
• Distortion Effects

Reference

Contains quick reference material, such as chord shapes, scales mapped across the entire fretboard, etc.

• Ref: Common Scales
• Ref: Circle of Fifths
• Ref: Scale Fret Maps for all Major/Natural Minor Keys w/ CAGED breakdown
• Ref: CAGED Chord Charts
• Ref: List of Diatonic Chords for all Keys
• Ref: Mega List of Chord Fingerings/Voicings
• Ref: Modes
• Ref: Counting Rhythm
• Ref: Common Arpeggios
• Ref: Reading Tab
• Ref: Reading Chord Charts, Scale Maps, and Strumming Notation

Recommended Resources

Here are some videos, books, and articles I recommend checking out.

• Ben Eller's Why You Suck at Guitar Youtube Series
• Sevenstring.org Music Theory sub-forum
• Giant tab book of Rock Hits Vol 1
• The Real Book
• Rusty Cooley's Guitar Assylum TV
• Joe Satriani Youtube lessons (particularly the SatchZone series)
• John Petrucci's Rock Discipline
• Steve Vai's Little Black Notes section on Vai.com

Getting Gig Ready

• Equipment Checklist, Setup
• Advanced Tuning
• Surviving Broken Strings
• Calming the Nerves
• Warming Up
• Balancing Playability vs. Performance

DAW/Recording

Most of what you need to know to start home recording.

• DAW Basics
• Interface Setup (incl. Latency)
• Keyboard Macros/Hotkeys
• Popular Virtual Instruments/Plugins
• Reamping
• MIDI
• Virtual Instruments
• Automation
• Tempo
• Synthesizers
• Samplers
• Sequencers
• Editing Drums
• Bounce/Render
• Mixing
• Mastering

Sound

These pages discuss the very nature of sound and how we can manipulate it.

• Transients
• Overtones
• Frequency Domain
• EQ or Filters
• ADSR and Envelope Filters
• Distortion

Musical Skills

Techniques to improve musical skills that relate to detecting and conveying musical information.

• Classical Notation and Sight-Reading
• Sight-Singing
• Ear Training

Composition

• Counterpoint
• Common Song Structures
• Tension and Release
• Meter
• Arrangement
• Writing Melodies
• Mood vs. Key

Glossary

• Glossary

Wiki Stuff

Everything you need to know about posting here.

• Site Policies
• Site Conventions
• MediaWiki FAQ
• Wiki Markup Formatting/Syntax
• Templates