Beginner's Guitar Crash Course

Master guitar picking by exploring pick sizes, holding technique, and how to use picks for strumming and single-note playing, with emphasis on angle and relaxed grip.

Practice alternate picking on a single string with downstroke and upstroke at a comfortable tempo, using a metronome at 60 bpm to build right-hand technique.

Practice pick strumming by alternating downstrokes and upstrokes with a metronome at 100, starting on the sixth string, adjust pick angle to sweep across all strings.

Start your fingerstyle journey with a foundational intro to basic techniques and arpeggios. Learn the 1-6-2-5-1 chord progression and build playable skills by the course end.

Learn the right hand mechanics for fingerstyle by adopting a relaxed, straight back position and using the thumb and three fingers toward the palm to pluck the strings.

Apply rest stroke with a relaxed arm on the guitar, placing the middle finger on the second string, index on the third, and thumb on the sixth, so notes ring.

Master arpeggios with the right hand using three techniques—pick, alternate picking, and fingerstyle—while keeping the left hand unused and practicing with a metronome.

Learn simple four-string chords built finger by finger, master left-hand technique and arpeggios in two directions, focusing on clean transitions and metronome-paced practice from G to G7 to E minor.

Learn to play FUNKey chord tones using tab and notation with a metronome at 95 bpm in a beginner-friendly guitar crash course.

Master essential guitar chord tones with tab and notation at 120 bpm in this beginner's guitar crash course.

Master smooth chord transitions in the five basic shapes using efficient finger movement, an alternative A fingering, strumming with thumb or pick, and metronome-guided practice for a full sound.

Master the g chord and transitions to c by moving fingers independently and landing them together, while avoiding dead notes.

Explain how major and minor chords differ by the third of the scale and tone. Show open-position shapes for three core minor chords—A minor, E minor, D minor—for easy strumming.

Explore strumming with fingers, nails, or a pick, weighing volume and finger comfort on nylon-string guitars, and learn to start strumming with your chosen style.

Master strumming across changing chords with a relaxed, constant motion, combining down and upstrokes, using a metronome to build accuracy, speed, and later syncopation.

Jam along with a country rock track using only notes from the scale, aiming for a one-take performance and encouraging you to try.

Jam along with a blues rock track using the pentatonic scale, following a simple example that sticks to those notes and invites you to practice and have fun.

Learn the F chord fingering and the scale that accompanies all chords, then practice the scale on the first three strings from the fifth fret to prepare the song.

Master melody notes on the first three strings over a C chord, using the pinky for fretting on the second string and open strings for smooth transitions.

Master the e chord in this beginner guitar lesson, noting a g sharp outside the key, using first and second fingers to move to the f chord in c.

Step four guides players through the freight train chord progression, with strumming and picking, plus scale-based ear training and finger placements for c, g, g7, and f chords.