August 2011

How to Play G Major on the Guitar - Open Position

Although some people reading this blog may already be comfortable with the major, minor and seventh chords on the guitar, I would like to start with the fundamentals and build up from there. If you do have experience with the basics, I absolutely encourage you to add blog comments with additional feedback or tips for the beginners. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my goal is for this blog to become a deep resource for guitar players. You have to start somewhere, right?

So... let's get going! Grab your guitar (hopefully not a "junky" one), tune up, and we will explore the G Major Chord! There are six strings on a standard guitar and it's important to know how they are numbered.

One way to remember the string numbers is that there is a high pitch E and a low-pitch E (in EADGBE). The high pitch E is string 1. The low pitch E is string 6. Note: I play a right-handed guitar (which are more commonly made), so these instructions will apply to players who have this type of guitar.

The G Major chord can be played in many different positions (each one has a unique sound or voice to it). We will be starting with the open position, since these shapes are often the easiest to learn.

In addition to the six strings there are also frets located on the guitar neck. Frets are the horizontal lines that go down the neck of the guitar. In the first picture shown on the left, the top horizontal line is called the nut, followed by the 1st fret, 2nd fret and 3rd fret. In order to play a fret, you press down on the string behind the fret, not directly on the fret. Basically, your finger will press down on the space in between the frets, and if it's done correctly you will hear a clean sounding note. If you press on the fret itself, you will most likely hear a buzzing sound. Connecting these fretted notes together will give you a chord!

Here is how to play a G Major chord (open position):
* Place your left index finger on the 5th string, 2nd fret
* Place your left middle finger on the 6th string, 3rd fret
* Place your left ring finger on the 2nd string, 3rd fret
* Place your left pinky finger on the 1st string, 3rd fret
* Strings 3 and 4 are used in the G Major chord, but not fretted - they are called "open" strings

Note: The numbers 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 inside the green circles represent what fingers to use when playing a G Major chord (0=open string, no finger needed!, 1=your index finger, 2=your middle finger, 3=your ring finger, 4=your pinky).

A worn pick is a good pick!

Once your fingers are correctly positioned, you will want to strum all six strings using a guitar pick or the fingers on your right-hand. If you are a beginner, I recommend using a guitar pick. Picks are inexpensive and come in different sizes, materials, widths and designs. You typically hold a pick in your right hand between your index finger and thumb, and position the pointed end facing the guitar strings.

Practice *slowly* when learning the G Major chord. It will take time, but try to have each note on the guitar string sound clean. I suggest strumming the entire chord (all 6 strings in one fell swoop) and then playing every note (starting from string 6 down to string 1) slowly. Feel free to practice using this video I made. It will perform this exercise slowly for three times. Play it as many times as you need, in order to get a really good feel for the G Major chord.

If you can reproduce this sound on your guitar, then congratulations! You are on your way to learning how to play guitar!

Do you own a "Junky" Guitar?

If you are truly passionate about learning and playing the guitar, then you want to make sure you have a quality instrument. Given the amount of time and practice it can take to feel truly comfortable with major, minor and seventh chords (and the other amazing things you will learn on the guitar in the future), it's very important to have one that will be constantly reliable for you. If you buy one based solely on price, you may be sorely disappointed!

How do you know if you have a "junky" guitar? One of the main ways to tell is if you constantly have strings that are going out of tune. It can be very disheartening to spend your precious time tuning a guitar, only to have to stop playing in order to tune it back up.

Note: In addition to having a quality guitar, you will want to change your strings every so often to help keep things sounding crisp and clean. This is especially important if you are playing often.

A quality made guitar does not need to be super expensive. I have seen many guitars in the price range of $200+ that sound terrific. My first purchase was an acoustic roundback Ovation guitar. The backs of these guitars are made from a unique material called LyraChord and look great. I loved the powerful sounds it projected and it also stayed in tune much longer than others I had tested at the time. In my opinion, Ovation guitars continue to get better and better over time (some newer acoustic/electric models have tuners built-in!). In addition to Ovation, there are lots of quality guitar makers out there, so take your time to select a good one.

Bottom Line: If you are serious about playing guitar, my suggestion is to definitely go for *quality* over price.

21 Chords to Success!

21 seems to be a manageable number to me. It's not tiny, yet it's also not an enormous number. Over the years or playing guitar, I am continually surprised at how many famous songs almost always come back to only a handful of these 21 chords. I would estimate at least 70-80% (if not more!) of the songs you know and love can be played using these chords!

If you are a beginner, there are three main groupings of chords that are essential to learn: Majors, minors and sevenths. The chords begin with A and end with G (A, B, C, D, E, F and G).

Major chords have a "happy" sound.
Minor chords have a "sad" sound.
Seventh chords have a "jazzy" sound.

For example, when you play an A chord, it can be expressed an a A major (A), A minor (Am) or A seven (A7). This formatting applies to chords B through G. Seven main chords with three variations (major, minor and seventh) for each chord. 7 x 3 = 21.

Mix up these 21 chords in different ways and you can be playing all sorts of great songs in no time! Now, it may not be exactly how an artist plays a particular song, but you can definitely play a decent version of a song using these 21 chords. It is very important to memorize these chord shapes on the guitar and be able to move easily between them. I will be introducing all of these chords, along with some fun exercises, in future blog posts.

If you become frustrated with your playing, keep in mind the power and simplicity of 21! It works for the game of blackjack and it can work for your guitar playing.

Update: I now have free YouTube videos to help with practicing Major, Minor and Seventh Chords! I recommend turning on "shuffle mode" in my playlists so that you can practice these chords in different order.

How to Tune a Guitar in Standard Tuning (EADGBE)

It's so important to tune up your guitar before playing! You are putting time and effort into playing, so why not take a minute or two and make sure your guitar sounds great first?

Personally, I love the sound of an acoustic guitar. Although I own an electric too, I find myself drawn into the natural sounds resonating from inside the body of an acoustic guitar. I also prefer to play in standard tuning which uses the open strings EADGBE.

Most song tablature and lessons that I have come across are for standard tuning, although there are a wide varierty of other interesting and useful tunings. For now, let's focus on basic tuning. So there are 6 strings on a guitar, and from left to right the notes are EADGBE.

A close-up of the headstock from my Ovation acoustic guitar

In order to tune your guitar, turn the machine heads (or tuning keys) either clockwise or counter-clockwise until it is in tune for each string.

How do you remember the strings EADGBE?
Here are a few funny neumonics that I have come across on the web:

* Eddy Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddy
* Easter Bunnies Get Drunk After Easter
* Every Acid Dealer Gets Busted Eventually
* Eat All Day Get Big Easy
* Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Early

I created the below video to help quickly and accurately tune up your guitar:

Try and remember to tune your guitar before you start to play. It will be music to your ears.

If you have any other EADGBE neumonics, please feel free to add a comment below, although I reserve the right to *not* post it if it's too raunchy! =)

The Importance of Setting Goals

There are so many different things to learn and accomplish on the guitar! Think about why you wanted to start playing guitar in the first place. Was it to impress a girl (or a guy)? To play a song you absolutely love hearing? To create and express your own unique material? As you continue down the road of playing more guitar, I strongly suggest that you set goals for yourself. Having specific goals will help keep you on track when you feel discouraged or perhaps want to quit.

Over the years of playing, my personal goals for the guitar have changed. Here are some of the big early goals I set for myself:

* Learning how to tune a guitar
* Learning how to play the major chords (the happy sounding chords)
* Learning how to play the minor chords (the sad sounding chords)
* Learning how to play seventh chords (the jazzy sounding chords)
* Feeling comfortable switching between these chords
* Learning how to play barre chords
* Playing some easy famous songs using the basic chords I have learned
* Making up my own songs using these basic chords
* Performing songs at an open mic night in front of a crowd

Sometimes you can reach a level of playing where things seem to level off. It can be rough... I remember being stuck with only being able to play open position chords for many years. However, once I felt more comfortable with barring chords, the rest of the guitar neck slowly opened up for me and led to all sorts of new interesting discoveries. Be patient with your playing and keep focused on your goals. Your guitar (and your future self) will thank you for your efforts.

Welcome to FoundMyPassion.com!

Hello! I'm Josh and I love playing guitar! My preference is playing acoustic, and it's nice to experience the natural sounds produced from this wonderful instrument. I bought my first Ovation guitar in 1998 when I was heading over to Seattle from the Boston area for a 6-month work assignment. Around this time (the late 1990's), the sounds of west-coast grunge music was alive with amazing bands. In particular, I really enjoyed hearing the "MTV Unplugged" type of acoustic versions from Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden! The ability to perform a popular song in its raw form with only an acoustic guitar and vocals was awesome and it inspired me to want to learn how to play the guitar and ultimately a few of these tunes along with the way.

It was a rough beginning! My two roommates at the time often joked around at my lack of talent, but they ultimately become more supportive as I slowly (very slowly!) began to pluck away at individual notes on the guitar and try to piece together my rough attempts at strumming chords. Although it was a difficult start, I soon became more experienced in my guitar playing by teaching myself through a variety of sources. I started with guitar tablature back in the "old" days of the Internet, before video lessons became more much commonplace.

I wish YouTube was created back when I started to play guitar. Now, there is so much fantastic content online now. Lots of great lessons and access to music from all over the world, available at your fingertips within seconds. It's really unbelievable! However, sometimes it can seem like a little too much information at times! Where do you start? What resources are available? What does success look like? I don't claim to have all the answers, as I still have lots to learn myself, but I'm happy to share what has worked for me.

I want FoundMyPassion.com to be a resource for aspiring guitar players to learn and share their knowledge with others who love the guitar. I feel so fortunate that I truly have found my passion for playing guitar, and I hope that this blog inspires others to become as excited as I am to pick up their guitar and play (every day, if possible!).

Want to learn how to play guitar? Visit my page with free video tutorials!

If you love to play guitar too, please join my e-mail list below to receive free update and also access to my Top 5 Chords eBook!

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