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    Learning To Play The Guitar: An Absolute Beginner's Guide
    Learning To Play The Guitar: An Absolute Beginner's Guide
    Learning To Play The Guitar: An Absolute Beginner's Guide
    Ebook150 pages1 hour

    Learning To Play The Guitar: An Absolute Beginner's Guide

    By Anthony Pell

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    About this ebook

    Learning to Play The Guitar – An Absolute Beginner's Guide is a comprehensive book with 21 structured step-by-step lessons covering the following topics to get you playing the guitar:

    - Learn the parts of the guitar, how to tune, guitar practice tips, how to hold the instrument and the guitar pick.
    - Chords – Learn all the main open string chords and be introduced to power chords.
    - Strumming & Rhythms – Learn common strumming patterns and how to practice rhythm and playing in time with a metronome.
    - Arpeggios – This technique is used in thousands of songs sounding great in slow songs and ballads. A great example of an arpeggio on guitar is the introduction to “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin.
    - Scales & Melodies – Learn single note technique and how scales are used to create melodies and guitar solos for a range of songs.
    - Blues & Rock n Roll – Learn the structure of the 12 bar blues and how it relates to rock n roll and other styles of music including rock, soul and jazz.
    - Improvising - Be introduced to improvising on the guitar and learn how to make you own melodies and guitar solos in various songs.

    The book Learning to Play The Guitar – An Absolute Beginner's Guide also features:

    - Extensive diagrams, photos and sheet music examples.
    - 13 Songs to learn and play that include play along backing tracks.
    - 74 audio files and backing tracks allowing you to hear each example written in the book.
    - 30 video lessons showing the guitar techniques and skills outlined in the book.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAnthony Pell
    Release dateMay 4, 2014
    ISBN9781310035159
    Learning To Play The Guitar: An Absolute Beginner's Guide
    Author

    Anthony Pell

    Anthony Pell has taught thousands of guitar lessons and hundred's of guitar and bass guitar students in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia. As a guitar teacher he uses his diverse musical experience and degree in Arts/Music to tailor individual lessons for students of all ages and levels from beginners to more advanced guitarists.Many of Anthony's students are beginners needing help in learning the basics of playing the guitar including chords, strumming, notes and music theory. His extensive experience in teaching beginners has led him to develop materials and tips that he teaches students daily. To help even more beginner guitar students Anthony decided to write a book outlining these materials and tips in structured lessons.Anthony is driven to help people achieve their music and guitar playing goals whether it's strumming through a simple 3 chord song, or learning how to improvise over complex chord changes. He is dedicated to students who are willing to practice guitar and study music as he himself is a practicing guitarist and student of music. To continue to learn and grow as a musician is an ongoing journey that has become part of Anthony's life.Here are some testimonials from some of his students."After playing guitar on and off for 15 years, I finally wanted to get serious. I have made more progress in 5 months than I did I 15 years. His guitar teaching approach is of a relaxed and easy going manner with, well thought out structures and practical lessons to get where I want to be. I highly recommend Anthony" - John"Anthony's style of teaching keeps you interested and motivated from the outset. I highly recommenced Anthony for guitar lessons." - Justin"Anthony has been a great teacher and has helped my guitar playing to improve drastically in the past few months. He also has a great knowledge of music theory and explains clearly how songs and ideas work in various styles of music like blues and rock. I'd highly recommend him as a guitar teacher if you want to get results and improve your playing." - Paul"I have found the way that Anthony has taught me thus far to be extremely practical and supportive. After only a few lessons I have found that I am able to play some basic chords that can sound almost like the song that they are intended to be. I would strongly recommend him" - Nada

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      Book preview

      Learning To Play The Guitar - Anthony Pell

      This book is written for absolute beginners wanting to learn the basics of playing the guitar. By the end of the book you should be able to play many songs using a range of skills required to play the guitar. If you’ve always wanted to learn to play the guitar but didn’t know where to start this is the book for you.

      The book is divided into 21 lessons covering a range of guitar techniques to get you playing. The best way to use this book is to work on one lesson a week or until you have mastered the lesson’s exercises and songs before moving onto the next lesson. You may find that that some lessons require more time or you may move faster through some lessons than others. This all depends on how much you practice.

      Here is an overview of what the lessons in the book cover.

      The Guitar, Practicing & Picking – Lessons 1- 3

      This is all about learning the parts of the guitar, essential accessories and practice tools. You will also learn how to hold the guitar, finger numbers, how to hold a guitar pick and practice with picking exercises. To improve and maintain your guitar skills regular practice is essential so practice tips are included here.

      Chords & Strumming – Lessons 4-10

      You will learn the main chords used in thousands of songs, how to change between them and strumming patterns to suit a range of music styles including rock, pop, folk, blues and country.

      Arpeggios – Lessons 11-12

      Arpeggios are simply chords played one note at a time. A famous example of this technique on guitar is the start to Led Zeppelins Stairway to Heaven. Arpeggios can make simple chords sound more interesting and they sound great in slow songs and ballads.

      Scales – Lessons 13-17

      Single note / lead guitar playing will also be looked at with an introduction to scales and how they're used to play melodies and guitar solos.

      Blues & Rock n Roll – Lessons 18-20

      All the previously covered skills will come together as you are introduced to the blues which is the foundation for rock n roll, jazz, soul and rhythm and blues music. The blues is also great fun for jamming with other guitarists and musicians and is an essential style to learn for any aspiring guitarist.

      Improvising – Lesson 21

      Tips to improvise are given here with all the songs used in the book listed with their matching scales and links to their backing tracks to practice with.

      Mp3 Audio Samples & Video Lessons

      To help you learn to play the guitar the book features many photos, diagrams, exercises and songs.

      The exercises and songs also include links to mp3 audio samples so you can hear what they sound like as you progress through the book. There are also numerous video lessons that compliment the lessons in the book. Look out for the Mp3 Track and Video icons and links to these audio and video files.

      For those of you reading this on an eReader such as a Kindle you may have to use a PC or Mac to download the audio files and view the video lessons. These can be all found here – http://www.learningtoplaytheguitar.net/audio-samples/

      Thank you for downloading this book. I hope that you find this book to be helpful in learning how to play the guitar.

      So let’s start learning to play the guitar!

      Back to Table of Contents

      Parts of the Guitar - Main Types Of Guitar - Guitar Accessories & Practice Tools - Holding The Guitar – The Notes Of Music - Tuning - Finger Numbers - Holding The Pick

      Parts Of The Guitar

      Before we start playing it’s a good to get familiar with the parts of the guitar. While there are differences between various types of guitars all have the same main parts. The picture below is of a steel string acoustic guitar.

      Main Types of Guitar

      There are 3 main types of guitar, nylon string acoustic (classical), steel string acoustic and the electric guitar. Each has their own pros and cons and differences in tone that makes them suit different styles of music.

      Nylon String Acoustic Guitars

      The nylon string or classical guitar is traditionally used in classical, flamenco and folk music. The sound of this guitar is much more mellow and rounded than a steel string acoustic and tends to sound better played with the finger tips verses being played with a pick.

      The advantage for beginners is that the nylon string guitar is much easier on the fingertips than steel strings because nylon is a much softer material than steel. Also the cost of a reasonable quality nylon string acoustic guitar is fairly cheap and is often less than an equivalent quality steel string guitar.

      Steel String Acoustic Guitars

      Steel string acoustic guitars are more often used in rock, country, blues and also in folk music. The sound of this guitar is much brighter and louder than a nylon string acoustic and generally is more suited to strumming chords or playing with a guitar pick than the nylon string guitar.

      One disadvantage for beginners with the steel string guitar is that it’s tougher on the fingers with the steel strings being much less forgiving on beginner’s fingertips than

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