Acoustic Guitar Basics

It's important to be able to identify the parts of your instrument so in this lecture you will learn the names of the main parts of the guitar.

 0:09 Headstock, Tuners, Nut 

 1:02 Neck, Frets, Fingerboard 

 2:15 Sound-hole, Body, Top 

 2:31 Bridge, Saddle, Bridge pins 

Learn to identify your guitar strings by letter and by number. This is important both for tuning and being able to communicate with other guitarists.

 0:00 Intro 

 0:25 Letter names for the strings 

 1:16 Guitar strings by Number 

 2:00 Conclusion 

Keeping your guitar in tune is going to be really important, learn how in this lecture.

 0:00 Intro 

 0:25 Electronic Tuners 

 1:08 How to tune the strings 

 3:08 How often should I tune the guitar?
 

Learn the correct way to hold the guitar and also some pitfalls to avoid.

 0:00 The correct sitting position 

 1:40 Bad posture 

 2:20 The right arm position 

Let's get you playing your first chord, with tips and advice on the best positions for your fingers and left hand.

 0:22 Review of strings and frets 

 1:53 Where to place your fingers for Eminor chord 

 2:59 Left-hand position 

 5:58 Strumming your first chord 

 6:18 Checking each string to get the best sound 

In the early stages of learning the guitar you will need to keep checking that you are doing the basics correctly. Here are some pointers.

How to read chord diagrams. Also learn the basics of an easy 2 chord song 'A Horse With No Name' by America.

 0:00 How to read chord diagrams 

 0:44 Eminor as a chord diagram 

 1:40 Your second chord D6/9 

 3:50 Changing between chords 

 6:17 Downward strumming 

 8:42 Advice for practising 

This lessons shows you how to expand on the rhythm learned in the previous video.

 	0:19 Explaining how to include upward strums 

 	1:35 Upward strumming 

 	2:40 Upward strumming with just Em chord 

 	3:55 Upward strumming with Em and D6/9 chords 

 	4:35 Some tips on what to watch out for 

Some reminders about what to watch out for when you are practising

Learn 3 new chords in this lesson with some tips to help you change between them easily.

 	0:39 'A Horse With No Name' at faster pace 

 	1:49 The D chord 

 	3:59 Cadd9 chord 

 	5:10 The G chord 

 	6:18 Alternative way of playing the G chord 

 	7:10 Changing between the chords 

In this lesson we are going to take the 3 chords from the previous video and start to turn them into 'Sweet Home Alabama' by Lynyrd Skynyrd

 0:29 The chord sequence 4 beats per chord 

 3:01 The chord sequence with 2 beats for D, 2 beats for Cadd9 and 4 beats for G 

 6:01 Strumming through the chord sequence 

Keep checking that you are doing everything the right way

For some chords we don't want to play all of the strings. This lesson explains how.

 0:22 What strings to play for D chord 

 0:55 What strings to play for Cadd9 chord 

 1:04 What strings to play for G chord 

 1:14 Adding some rhythm 

 2:10 Tips on how to practise for this lesson 

This lesson shows you how to put 4 of the chords you have learned into a song by Green Day, 'Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)'

 0:55 First chord sequence in the song 

 3:08 Bars explained 

 3:45 Strumming the first sequence 

 5:00 Changing between Em and D 

 6:00 Second chord sequence 

 8:21 Third chord sequence 

 10:00 The entire song 

 12:03 Practising slowly 

Learn how to improve your rhythm in this lesson

 0:35 Review of downward strumming 

 1:06 Down and up strums 

 1:22 New rhythm without up strum after 1st beat 

 2:58 Rhythm without downward strum on 3rd beat 

 4:47 Adding this rhythm to 'A Horse With No Name' 

 6:38 Adding rhythm to 'Good Riddance' 

Your next chord is C major, learn where to place your fingers for this chord and add it to Em, G and D to play 'Stand By Me'

 0:00 C major chord 

 1:10 Chord sequence for <em>'Stand By Me'</em> 

 2:00 Changing from Em to C 

 3:08 Changing from C to D 

 4:12 Strumming the chord sequence 

 5:58 Review of the rhythm 

 6:31 Adding the rhythm to the chords 

 7:38 Using a Capo 

 10:26 Strumming the song with capo at 2nd fret 

 11:16 Avoiding the 6th string 

Learn the A minor chord and combine it with G, D and C chords to play 'Knockin' On Heavens Door'

 0:00 The A minor chord 

 1:00 Chord sequence for 'Knockin' On Heavens Door' 

 2:51 Strumming the sequence 

 3:49 Changing from Am to G 

 4:40 The chord sequence with twice the number of beats per chord 

 5:30 Sequence with correct amount of beats per chord 

Well done for completing this course, I hope you enjoyed it. Remember that regular practise is the best way to improve.