Hello, and welcome to my guitar lesson and home recording wiki. Please see the Introduction for info about me, who these lessons are designed for, and common conventions used throughout this site. Below is the table of contents for all pages on this site. I encourage editing if you find typos and inaccuracies, but please read the Site Policies and Site Conventions before doing so. Also check out Wiki Templates for easier editing. Have fun and get your learn on, and if you find yourself appreciating this site, please consider donating to keep this site ad free.

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.

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.

Advanced

These contain the knowledge needed to gain a full understanding of and master the instrument.

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.

Styles

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

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.

Songs and Licks

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

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 Cables
Effects
- Compression
- EQ
- Modulation Effects
- Delay
- Reverb
- Pitch Shifting
- Boost
- Distortion Effects
- Noise Gate

Reference

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

Recommended Resources

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

Getting Gig Ready

Sound

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

Composition

Some general advice and ideas about composition.

DAW/Recording

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

Glossary

Glossary