You will be delighted with the progress you make.

This course is really two courses rolled into one.? It is a music tutorial which will enable you to read sheet music no matter what instrument you play and a guitar tutorial which will have you playing guitar like a pro.? By the end of this course you will be able to play from any sheet music instantly.

The Guitar is a truly magnificent instrument which can bring a great deal of pleasure into your life and it doesn't matter if you have never played before because this course will really work wonders for you.

If you have some experience but are dissatisfied with your progress, be confident that you will quickly experience the vast improvement you desire

Throughout this course there is reference to the "Finale" notepad. Sometimes referred to as the viewer.? This is free software that you can download which enables you to view the sheet music samples provided and listen to the sound examples over your computer speakers.? The Finale notepad is NOT an essential component of this course and if your system will not accommodate the notepad simply work through the course without it.? It is a 2004 upgrade to enhance the course for those people with suitable equipment.

The system requirements for the notepad are:

Windows 98 or 98SE or 2000 or Me or XP?

64 MB of RAM minimum

Internet Explorer version 5.0.1 SP2 or above (this is free to download from Microsoft).

OR Netscape 6.0 and above

A sound card and speakers.

All browser versions need to have Microsoft JVM 5.03167 and above.? (In Internet Explorer, go to the Tools menu, click on Internet Options, click on Advanced.? Scroll down to Microsoft VM and make sure 'Java logging enabled' and 'JIT compiler' are ticked to switch them on).

The Finale notepad is a useful learning tool as it allows you to print out the sheet music examples to play away from your computer.? You can also listen to the examples (sound quality depends on your sound card and speakers).? The notepad allows you to change the tempo so that you can slow it down while learning.? You can even change the key that the piece is written in.

Once you have the notepad you can access a large library of free music from the "Finale" Showcase which is not a part of this course but a useful additional resource.

To download the "Finale" notepad -Click Here.

Your success is assured. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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Because you will learn in easy stages you will find the guitar surprisingly easy to play.? You don't have to understand everything at the beginning.<o:p></o:p>

Thousands of successful players started out knowing as little or less than you.? You don't have to be a genius to play the guitar.<o:p></o:p>

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The guitar with it's rich sounds and many tonal colors, will enable you to paint magnificent pictures of sound in a very short space of time.? The guitar is one of the most satisfying instruments to play because you can express yourself so well.<o:p></o:p>

It is important to develop good habits right at the start so check that your sitting position is good every time you sit down to play.

• Select a chair or stool with no arms.

• The seat height should be level with your knees.?

• Elevate you right thigh with a foot stool in order to rest the guitar on your thigh.? (A couple of thick books works well).

• Back straight but not tense.? Don't slouch

• Hold your arms naturally at your side, then bring your hands to your instrument.? Do not stick your elbows out to the side.

• Do you feel balanced and relaxed?

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If you were learning classical guitar your teacher would suggest you rest the guitar on your left thigh and you would hold the neck higher.? This course does not cover classical guitar.? That is something you progress to after learning the basics in this course.

Maybe you don't intend to sit down but prefer to stand as when playing with a group.? That's fine but before you do that it's a good idea to learn how to play the instrument and you will find it easier to learn sitting down.?? When standing you should adjust your instrument to the same position it is in when sitting otherwise you will find it difficult to play in the same manner.

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The guitar is a versatile instrument which can be played in a variety of ways such as plucking with a pick, sometimes called a flat pick or plectrum, strumming with the pick or with the thumb and fingers. finger picking which requires you to pluck each string individually with your fingers and a combination of these using the pick and fingers.? Obviously there are different types of instrument such as acoustic and electric which require different techniques but learning the basics of how to play a guitar are the same for all.

In this course we will concentrate on plucking with a pick and strumming with the pick or fingers.? In the most part we will concentrate on using the pick in a downwards motion.? This is the simplest way to learn guitar and once you have completed the course you can develop your techniques in the direction you wish but first let us learn how to play the instrument in a satisfactory manner.

First we will concentrate on learning the individual notes and play a tune with single notes.? Then we will learn some chords.? Then we will learn how to combine single melody notes with chords.

The plectrum, or pick, is available in various grades or thickness from supple to quite firm.? It is recommended that you get yourself a handful, they are very cheap, and try the various grades.? It is best to start with medium, say .73mm,? until you have decided what suits your style best.? You will find that the softer pick, say .38mm,. will give a crisp, bright sound, bringing out the higher frequencies on an acoustic guitar and the harder pick will give a more rounded, mellow sound.? The softer pick is easier to use if you get into heavy strumming particularly with both down and up strokes as it slides over the strings more easily.?

To hold the pick correctly hold your hand out straight, side on, then close your fingers into a loose fist until you can place you thumb? on your first finger between the tip and the first joint.? Slide the pick in between you finger and thumb till the pointy bit is showing by about 1/8th to 1/4 of an inch.

You will adjust your hold to whatever feels comfortable for your hand and your style but this is the starting point.? You could ball your hand into a loose fist or leave the other fingers open which is fine provided that you don't touch any other strings accidentally.?

The very tip of the pick is used to pluck the string down.? This is why you only need a little bit showing.? You do not want to bury the tip 1/2" past the string because you will have trouble plucking it.

Now pluck all of the open strings one at a time until you feel that your movement is smooth and all open notes have the same volume.? In other words you are not plucking one string harder than the others.? Make sure that you do not obstruct any strings with your right hand.? It is very easy to accidentally touch a string with the palm of your hand so watch for this.? The pick should slide smoothly over the strings in a downwards motion and not pluck the string outwards.

It is necessary to make sure that your guitar is in tune with itself before you start to play.? By this I mean that each of the 6 strings are in tune with each other.? If they are not in tune your music is going to sound a bit off and you will be unhappy with the result.

It is a good idea to get a reference tone from another instrument such as another guitar which you know is in tune or a keyboard.? You can buy simple tuning devices which will give you the correct pitch.? A simple guitar pitch pipe which will give you the correct tone for each string costs only a few dollars.

Midi sound files for tuning are provided with this course, along with a host of other examples and to view them it is necessary to first download your FREE "Finale" notepad So that you can view the examples provided and listen to the sound files as well.? click here to download "Finale" notepad now.??

Once you have installed your viewer click here to download the library of examples used in this course including the sound files for tuning.?

The file is in .zip format so you will need to unzip it at your end.

You can then save all of the examples to your own hard drive and retrieve them whenever you wish using the?

"Finale" Notepad software.? It is suggested that you save the files in the same folder as the other course material so that you can find them easily.?

There is reference to the different examples throughout the course so whenever you see such reference you simple open the folder where you have saved the examples and click on the referenced item.? It will launch automatically in your "Finale" program.

Once you have installed your examples click on Tuning.MUS to view the Tuning sample - sheet music and sound files.

You can also tune your guitar to itself in the following manner:

Firstly get a reference pitch for the low E string which is the top or 6th string (the thickest) and tune it to match the reference note.

Tune the string up by tightening it rather than down by loosening it.? If you go too far ease it off a bit and try again.

That part of your guitar where you do all the tuning is called the headstock.? The tuning mechanism is called the machine.? The knob you turn is called the machine head and the spindle round which the string is tightened is called the capstan.? Another part of your guitar which is referred to regularly is the nut which is where the headstock joins the neck and the strings enter the fret board.

Once you are satisfied that you have got your E string in tune you can now begin to tune the other strings to it.? You do this by placing your index finger of your left hand close behind the 5th fret of the 6th string.? Pluck that note and then pluck the open 5th string.? They should sound the same.? If not adjust the 5th string until it sound exactly the same.? Play the two strings together and you should here only the one note which indicates that they are in tune one with the other.?

Now play the 5th string with your finger on the 5th fret.? This note should be the same as the 4th string played open.? If not tighten the 4th string up until the notes match.? Again, when played together it should sound like one note.? If not slacken the 4th string off and try again.

When you are happy with that play the 4th string with your finger on the 5th fret again.? This note should be the same as the 3rd string played open.? If not tighten the 3rd string up until the notes match.

Now, just when you thought you had got the idea a change takes place.? To tune the 2nd string you do not play the 3rd string with your finger on the 5th fret.? To tune the 2nd string you must put your finger just behind the 4th fret and tune the 2nd string to this note.

Once you are happy with the tuning of string 2 go back to the original method and place your finger at the 5th fret of the 2nd string to tune the 1st string to it.

Your guitar is now tuned to the follow notes:

1st string???? =??? E??? Thinnest
2nd string??? =??? B
3rd string??? =??? G
4th string??? =??? D
5th string??? =??? A
6th string??? =??? E??? Thickest

Now is a good time to overcome some confusion which is often caused by a guitarist referring to the top or highest string and the bottom or lowest string.? As you sit looking at your instrument the top most string physically? is the 6th or thickest string and the bottom most string physically is the 1st or thinnest string.? When a guitarist refers to the top string he is talking about the highest sounding string and when he refers to the bottom he is talking about the lowest sounding string.? So your top string is the 1st or thinnest string and your bottom string is the 6th or thickest string.? You can be forgiven for thinking that your guitar is upside down!

Similar confusion is caused when referring to your hand position up and down the neck.? Because the notes sound higher as you move your hand towards the main body of your guitar you are said to be moving up the neck.? As the notes sound lower as you move towards the nut you are said to be moving down the neck.? It is no different than referring to a piano keyboard where the player is said to play up and down the keyboard when in fact the keyboard is flat!

The little red C on the keyboard indicates "middle C" to a keyboard player.? Do not tune your guitar higher than this diagram as you will break your strings

Tuning is not that easy for the uninitiated and it may take some practice to get it right if your ear is not accustomed to it.? It is necessary to train your ear by repetition and trial and error.? Eventually you will get a feel for it and tuning will become automatic.? To achieve exact tuning, if you are having trouble,? you can buy little electronic gadgets that help you tune your guitar perfectly by showing a little light to indicate if you need to tune up or down.? These are a great aid but you should still practice tuning by ear.

You can be assured that this course will make it easy for you.? If you have never learned music you may be bewildered by the mystical signs and patterns.? So let us first cut through the mysticism and get you started on your first step towards a lifetime of playing pleasure. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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With the help of this simple, easy to follow, step by step guide you will soon discover how enjoyable and interesting music really is. <o:p></o:p>

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^{There seem to be so many notes to learn that at first your task may appear a little daunting, so you will be very pleased to learn that you only have to know 7 of them.? (We said it was going to be easy.) <o:p></o:p>}

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^{You see the truth is that learning an instrument is much like learning your ABC because music is made up of the first seven letters of the alphabet.? ABCDEFG.? But what about all the other notes?? It's easy.? When you reach? the G at the end of the 7 letter string you simply start again at A.<o:p></o:p>}

The following diagram represents your fret board with the 6 strings going up and down.? You can tell this because the 6 open string names which you have already learned are shown along the top.

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You notice that the 5th fret position is left blank as this is the same as the next string played open.? The next note after G# on the 6th string is A, which is played open on the 5th string..? You discovered this when learning to tune.<o:p></o:p>

This may look confusing at first but don't be put off.? It will all become clear as we go along.? The important thing to learn at this point is that each fret position is a half note, called a half step or semitone.? You now know that there are only 7 letters in your musical alphabet but each of these letters has a half tone known as a sharp, indicated with #, or a flat indicated with a little "b."?? The sharps and flats are the same as the black keys on a keyboard. If you have a look at the keyboard chart above you notice that the black keys are in groups of 3 and 2. There are no black keys between the notes B and C or E and F.? This is because the musical space between B and C or E and F is half a tone.? (In other words C is the same as B sharp and F is the same as E sharp.? Comparing your fret board chart above you can see that there are no sharps or flats between these notes.??<o:p></o:p>

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Forget about this in the meantime and let's concentrate on the whole notes which correspond to the white keys on a keyboard.<o:p></o:p>

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For the "Finale" note location charts open your folder and click on Location.MUS<o:p></o:p>

The following diagram represents your fret board with the 6 strings going up and down.? You can tell this because the 6 open string names which you have already learned are shown along the top.

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You notice that the 5th fret position is left blank as this is the same as the next string played open.? The next note after G# on the 6th string is A, which is played open on the 5th string..? You discovered this when learning to tune.<o:p></o:p>

This may look confusing at first but don't be put off.? It will all become clear as we go along.? The important thing to learn at this point is that each fret position is a half note, called a half step or semitone.? You now know that there are only 7 letters in your musical alphabet but each of these letters has a half tone known as a sharp, indicated with #, or a flat indicated with a little "b."?? The sharps and flats are the same as the black keys on a keyboard. If you have a look at the keyboard chart above you notice that the black keys are in groups of 3 and 2. There are no black keys between the notes B and C or E and F.? This is because the musical space between B and C or E and F is half a tone.? (In other words C is the same as B sharp and F is the same as E sharp.? Comparing your fret board chart above you can see that there are no sharps or flats between these notes.??<o:p></o:p>

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Forget about this in the meantime and let's concentrate on the whole notes which correspond to the white keys on a keyboard.<o:p></o:p>

?<o:p></o:p>

?<o:p></o:p>

For the "Finale" note location charts open your folder and click on Location.MUS<o:p></o:p>

As you pluck each open string, from the 6th to the 1st string, the notes sound higher.? In printed music the higher a note sounds, the higher it is written.
The lower a note is written, the lower it sounds.

Sounds that go up are called ascending and sounds that go down are called descending.? The same as going up and down a ladder.? In fact the word 'scale' in music simply means a ladder of sounds.

Our ladder has 5 rungs, with 4 spaces and we will give each rung and space a letter, in alphabetic order.? As we have already identified our 7 letters as? ABCDEFG? let's see where the letters fit on the ladder and thus create a ladder of sound.

The first or bottom rung is called E.? Then we have a space called F.? Then the next rung called G.? and so on until we reach the top of our ladder, a rung called F.? Note that because we have only 7 letters in our musical alphabet, after the rung called G we start again with A.?

The bottom of our ladder is where we find the low notes and the top is where we find the high notes.?

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If you understand this simple illustration you will have no trouble understanding the musical stave or staff as it is sometimes called.?<o:p></o:p>

The stave has 5 parallel lines with 4 equal spaces between them.???

The Stave:

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The lines and spaces of the stave are counted upwards from the bottom:?

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1st line??? is E.? (at the bottom).? Play 4th string - 2nd fret<o:p></o:p>

2nd line?? is G.? Play open 3rd string<o:p></o:p>

3rd line??? is B.? Play open 2nd string<o:p></o:p>

4th line??? is D.? Play 2nd string - 3rd fret<o:p></o:p>

?5th line??? is F.? (at the top).? Play 1st string - 1st fret

The names of the 5 lines making up the stave can be remembered by thinking of the phrase:-? Every Good Boy Deserves Favor.?

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1st space ?is F. (at the bottom). Play 4th string - 3rd fret<o:p></o:p>

2nd space is A.? Play 3rd string - 2nd fret<o:p></o:p>

3rd? space is C.? Play 2nd string - 1st fret<o:p></o:p>

4th space? is E. (at the top)? Play open 1st string

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The names of the 4 spaces making up the stave can be remembered by thinking of the word F A C E.

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The names of the notes are determined by a CLEF which is shown at the beginning of every stave.? You are only concerned with two clefs.

Forget the Bass Clef for the time being and let's concentrate only on the Treble Clef as we want to learn things in easy stages.?

The Treble Clef is sometimes called the G Clef because it starts its twirling form from the 2nd line up which is called - What??? It is called G isn't it.?? And that happens to be your 3rd string played open which is a good reference point.

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Whenever you have a stave of music with the Treble or G Clef at the beginning, as illustrated, the 5 lines are always named like this.

As these notes are placed so that the line goes through the note, they are called line notes. The note has the name of the line that runs through it.?<o:p></o:p>

Now lets deal with the 4 spaces between the lines.? Note how these notes rest in the spaces and are called space notes.


Very soon you will develop a quick eye for reading music but until you do there is nothing wrong with writing the alphabetic name of each note above or below the notes on your sheet of music.?

There are some extra notes for you to learn which will give you no trouble now that you have mastered the notes within the stave.? In order to cover the full range of musical sounds it is often necessary to write notes above and below the stave.? You will see that these extra notes fall in sequence with the notes you have already learned.

This lower C is played on the 5th string - 3rd fret.

The D is the 4th string played open.

And the high G is played on the 1st string - 3rd fret

The first note, C, is called middle C and you will remember we indicated it's position on a keyboard.? This note is written on an extra, short line below the stave.? This line is called a ledger line and additional ledger lines can be added even lower.? In fact the open 6th string, which is E, is quite a bit lower, but we will cover that later.?

You have already identified one note named C on your stave.? It is situated in the 3rd space up.? Middle C is therefore 8 notes lower than this,? A range of 8 notes in sequence, starting and finishing with the same note name is called an OCTAVE.?

The next new note to learn is D, one OCTAVE or 8 notes lower than the D you have already learned, situated on the 4th line.?

The next new note to learn is G, one OCTAVE or 8 notes higher in? sound than the G situated on the 2nd line.?

So let's now revise all the notes you have learned.? They are shown here in alphabetic order starting with C.

Remember that the higher a note is written on the stave, the higher it sounds.?

It is particularly important for you to memorize the position of each note on the stave before you proceed.? The better you understand this the quicker you will be able to recognize them resulting in much faster progress later.? So spend some time now going over what you have learned until you are confident with the note names.

Now that you know the note names on the stave and where they are situated on your fret board it is necessary to spend a few moments explaining how you use your fingers to play the notes.?

Your fingers are numbered like this:?

first finger (index)?????????????????????????????? =????????? 1
second finger (middle)??????????????????????? =????????? 2
third finger (ring finger)?????????????????????? =????????? 3
fourth finger (little)?????????????????????????????=????????? 4

To help you progress quickly, the finger number for each note will be shown in later examples.? If you use the wrong finger initially it will do little harm as the note will still sound the same.? It is also worth mentioning here that you do not always use the same finger with the same note.? But more on that later.?

Hand Posture.?

Try to form good habits early checking on hand position every time you pick up your instrument.? Soon you will adopt the correct position automatically without thinking about it.? Hands should be positioned as follows:

1.? Hold your hands easily without stiffness.? Keep them relaxed.

2. You will have to bend your wrist to get your fingers round the fret board

3.? The fingers are arched so that the tips strike the strings and do not obstruct other strings

4. Your thumb rests against the back of the neck behind the note you are playing

5.? You press the string behind the metal strip called the fret.? In fact the space between frets is also called the fret

There are no hard and fast rules as every individual will have a different hand shape but the above tips will help while you develop your own style.

Make sure your finger nails are clipped as short as possible.? Some players file them very low to avoid the nails obstructing another string.?

Remembering what has been said previously about how to find the notes on your fret board it should be a simple matter for you to locate all the notes with a little thought.

Firstly find middle C which is 5th string, 3rd fret.? It comes after B and before C#.? Play middle C with finger 1 and say the name to yourself as you listen to the sound.? Now locate the next C.? You will find it on the 2nd string, 1st fret.? It is 8 tones up from middle C.? Play this note.? It is still a C but higher in sound.? It is one octave higher.? Knowing where to find C anywhere on the fret board and knowing that it is always?

after B and before C# will be helpful as you progress..

Now that you know where C is try play notes CDE one after the other with the finger 1. ?Say each letter to yourself as you play the note.? Go slowly, sounding each note for at least a second.? You will have noticed that D is the 4th string played open and that E is the 4th string, second fret.??

Try locating the notes CDE elsewhere on your fret board, playing each note in turn.

When you are happy with your progress locate note F which is 4th string, 3rd fret.? It comes after E and before F#.? This sequence will always be the same wherever you find F on your fret board.

Exercise?

At this point test you skill by picking out the various notes at random:

B? G? D? A? E? C? F? D? A? F? E? B? G? D? A? E? G? B? G? C? E? B? D? G? C?

Play each note after working out the position yourself.? You should be able to play these notes without too much hesitation.? If you can't, stick with it until you are more confident.? A few minutes spent on this now will pay big dividends in the future.

Always think of your fret board as several small groups of alphabetic notes rather than one mass of unrelated notes.

You should now be convinced that there are only 7 basic notes in music named after the first 7 letters of the alphabet.

Remember the numbers we gave to your fingers?? Play C with the finger 3.??

Now lift your finger off and play D, (open 4th string).

Then play in succession ( only one note at a time) E, F and G.

On E you use finger number 2, on F use finger 3 and on G play the open 3rd string

Now use finger 2 on A this time which is 3rd string, 2nd fret.

B is 2nd string open.

And C again is 2nd string, 1st fret played with finger 1.

Play slowly, lift your fingers from one note before you play the next note and don't worry at this point if there is a short pause between each sound.? Just keep playing the notes you have learned until you feel they are even and smooth. C D E F G A B C.

Do not go on until until you are happy with the evenness and smoothness of your playing.

Next try the 8 notes in descending sequence starting with the top C. You use the same fingers as you did for the ascending sequence but in reverse.

Happy with that??? Ok,? Now try at the beginning again from middle C to top C but this time,? without stopping, play from top C to middle C.? In other words play both ascending and descending.? Do this several times until you are comfortable with it.

PLAYING FROM MUSIC.

If you have revised the lesson so far and are sure that you can now recognize the notes on the stave, you are ready for that exiting moment when you actually play from music.

Your first attempt is not an actual piece of music but pleasant enough to listen to all the same.? This example doesn't have any particular timing.? We will concern ourselves more with that later.? Play slowly and aim at accuracy.? Read each note and say it out loud as you play it.? Go back and look at your previous diagrams if you are still unsure of any notes.



Make sure you play only one note at a time to begin with and when you are confident that you can play them in the correct sequence it is ok to speed things up a bit to make it sound better.

Try playing 2 notes together.? Try C and E using fingers 3 and 2.? Then try C E and G with fingers 3 2 0.? Next try E G C with fingers 2 0 1.? Just let yourself go and feel the enjoyment of playing.

When you have had enough of that try the following example.

Make sure you play only one note at a time to begin with and when you are confident that you can play them in the correct sequence it is ok to speed things up a bit to make it sound better.

Try playing 2 notes together.? Try C and E using fingers 3 and 2.? Then try C E and G with fingers 3 2 0.? Next try E G C with fingers 2 0 1.? Just let yourself go and feel the enjoyment of playing.

When you have had enough of that try the following example.

For your first piece of real music it is not necessary for you to know the timing.? If you recognize the tune you will be able to put your own timing to it and so much the better but for now you can practice the notes with any timing just as long as you practice naming and locating the notes correctly. A word of encouragement.? In all pieces of music some note sequences repeat themselves, so by learning only one part of a piece you have automatically learned another.? This makes learning any piece of music a lot? easier than you might have imagined.



There are only 6 notes to learn in this piece and their position on your fret board is illustrated below:

You can tell at a glance if the note after the one you are playing is written higher or lower and this indicates the direction your finger must go to play the next note.? When the note is higher, move to the higher strings and when it is lower, move to the lower strings.?

For example, the 6th note of this piece, the beginning of the word Swanee, is played with finger 3, 5th string 3rd fret, which is middle C.? Moving to the 7th note played with finger 1, 2nd string, 1st fret, which is top C.

Congratulations.? You are now playing the guitar

Lesson 1 is your first step in music so make sure you learn it well.? Don't just be content to read through once only.? Maximum advantage will be gained by repetition.?
You need to play your first piece over and over again until you get the right feeling for it.? Practice here will help you learn other pieces more quickly later on.? Memorize the names of the 7 basic notes, the stave positions and on your fret board.

If you are doubtful about any point, come back to it later on.? You will be surprised at the difference a short rest can make.? A problem that seems insurmountable when you are tired can disappear when you are at ease.? It is often not the problem but your own state of mind which can cause you to be confused.