The Guitar Thing: Grade 1

The Guitar Thing
Grade 1
(Audio available for download at www.TheGuitarThing.com/Grade1)
All audio lessons composed, written, performed, recorded, engineered & produced by
Chandresh Kudwa at TheGuitarThing Studio.
Cover Design & Book Layout - Monil Vakharia
Copy Editing - Vivek Sampat
Proof Reading - Mihir Devle, Monil Vakharia & Vivek Sampat
Cover Photo by Kerry Monteen
Publisher - TheGuitarThing
www.theguitarthing.com
Foreword
Welcome to the 1st Grade of TheGuitarThing! This book is aimed at an absolute beginner. It
gives me great pleasure to have completed this book and the very fact that I can share my
knowledge and experience via this book is incredible.
Playing music is very similar to telling a story. In order to tell a story, you would need
thorough knowledge of how to form sentences, the grammar, a good vocabulary of words
etc. Overall, an excellent command over the language is required. Similarly, music as a
language has certain prerequisites, which, when you have a good knowledge of, will help
you play music well.
Consider the lessons in this book as your alphabets, grammar, words etc which when you
have a good command over, will help you play songs on the guitar.
Songs are nothing but fragments of different techniques combined together to form an aural
image, pretty much like how an artist would paint a beautiful portrait using several different
paint brushes, colours and strokes.
This book you will help you develop basic co-ordination between your fretting and picking
hand, enable you to learn chords, give you ideas on how to play chord progressions & give
you a low down on strumming. Ensure that you learn all the lessons well and practice them
on a regular basis.
Upon completion of this book you should be able to play easy listening acoustic songs like
Knocking On Heavens Door (Bob Dylan), Let it be (Beatles), Time of your life (Green Day),
Yellow (Coldplay). Even Bollywood songs like Chura liya, Dum maro dum, Pani da rang,
Roobaroo, Allah ke bande etc. will be well within your reach. (However, you may need to
refer to a transcription.) It doesn't mean that these are the only songs you will be able to play,
but any songs that use basic chords and do not have too many fast & difﬁcult chord changes.
You will be able to play songs that I mentioned, only if you are dedicated constantly and are
able to perform each lesson at the tempo that's mentioned at the beginning of each lesson
multiple times!
Always have patience, practice hard and you will reach your goal. There goes a saying -
Rome was not built in a day and neither was a Guitarist!
Chandresh Kudwa
Table of Contents
Guitar Anatomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Major Scale - Open Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Minor Scale - Open Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Harmonic - Open Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chromatic Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Exercises Based on Open Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Major Chord - Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Minor Chord - Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chord Progressions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Strumming Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Barre Chord - Shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Barre Chord - Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Arpeggiated Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Exercises with Alternate Bass Notes, Passing Tones &
Strumming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Fretboard Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Tablature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Manuscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
www.theguitarthing.com
Guitar Anatomy
Headstock
Tuning Keys
Nut
Neck
Fretboard Frets
Position
Marker
Sound
Hole
Bridge
Saddle
Body
www.theguitarthing.com 1
Basic Information
Holding the Guitar
Hold the Guitar rmly between your body and your arm. There is a tendency for the guitar to tilt
down towards the oor, especially at the fretboard end. Ensure that this does not happen. You
should be able to balance it without using your fretting hand.
Holding the Pick or the Plectrum

Hold the Pick rmly between your thumb & your index nger. Make sure your wrist is not
locked while picking.
Picking Hand Position

While picking, your wrist should rest on the bridge of your guitar. This acts as an anchor
enabling you to pick the strings with precision, using the movement of your wrist. But keep in
mind that you do not slide your wrist on to any of the strings as this will kill the note that you're
picking.
Fretting Hand Position

While fretting a note, make sure to place the nger close to the fret to get the cleanest sound
possible. Placing your nger on the fret will cause the note to buzz. Placing the nger in between
the fret will not give you clarity of sound. Your thumb should act as the anchor here and should
move up and down depending on the string you're fretting. Remember, never to touch the palm
of your hand to the back of the fretboard as this will increase the friction between your hand and
the fretboard, causing a hindrance to the movement of your hand.
Fingering
The following is how ngering of your fretting hand is indicated…
Thumb – T, Index Finger – 1, Middle Finger – 2, Ring Finger– 3, Little Finger – 4
String names
There are six strings on a standard acoustic and electric guitar. Each string has a particular pitch
or a name. Remember on the guitar you start counting strings from below. The thinnest one
would be the rst and so on. Following are the string names...
1st – E, 2nd – B, 3rd – G, 4th – D, 5th – A, 6th - E
Fretboard
The fretboard or the ngerboard is where notes are fretted or pressed to sound a particular note
or chord.Frets are the metal strips hammered into the neck of the guitar, which are placed at
specic intervals so as to get specic notes when the strings are pressed against them.A standard
guitar consists of 21 to 24 frets. The metal bar before the rst fret is called the Nut.
Remember, you start counting the frets from the nut.So the 1st fret would be the closest to the nut
and the 24th fret the furthest.Open string or (0) is when you do not fret a note or a note is sounded
on any string without pressing any of the frets.
Tuning
There are several ways of tuning the guitar. However if you're a beginner, the best possible
solution is to use a chromatic tuner. For standard tuning make sure that your string corresponds
to their respective pitches and you're done! There are different methods you can choose while
tuning the guitar, if you do not have a tuner handy. But, you will denitely need to have a good
ear to do so.
Method 1 – Play the 5th fret on your 6th string and then the open 5th string. If you feel the pitch of
the open 5th is lower then raise the pitch by tightening the tuning key and vice-versa. Eventually
they should both sound the same. Repeat this for all groups that is the 5th & 4th, 4th & 3rd, 2nd &
1st. For the 3rd and 2nd string, play the 4th fret of the 3rd string and tune the 2nd string open to
match the pitch.
Method 2 – Play the seventh fret on the 1st string and tune the 12th fret of the 2nd string
accordingly. Repeat this for all groups of strings except for the group 2nd & 3rd. For this, fret the
8th fret of the 2nd string and accordingly tune the pitch of the 12th fret on the 3rd string.
Note Values
Note values determine how long a note or a rest (silence) is to be played (in beats).
Whole Note - 4 Beats indicated by ( ) & Rest ( )

Half Note - 2 Beats indicated by ( ) & Rest ( )
Quarter Note - 1 Beat indicated by ( ) & Rest ( )
8th Note - Half a beat or 2 notes in one beat indicated by ( /
3
) & Rest ( )
3
8th Note Triplet - Three notes in one beat indicated by ( ) & Rest ( )
16th Note - 1/4th of a beat or 4 Notes in one beat indicated by ( / ) & Rest ( )
Whole Step/Half Step

The distance between 2 frets is commonly indicated in Steps. A Whole Step would mean the
distance between 2 notes is Two Frets. And a Half Step would mean the distance between 2 notes
is One Fret.
How to read Tablature

Tablature is the easiest way of reading and writing music for the Guitar. It might look
complicated with the amount of lines and numbers written all over it but once you go through
this explanation, you will know how to read tablature in no time.
A tab form generally consists of 6 lines. Each line indicates a particular string. The bottom line in
the Tab indicates the sixth string and the top indicates the rst. The numbers placed right in the
middle of the lines indicate fret numbers, which means you need to fret that particular note on
that particular string.
Fingering is normally indicated by numbers in circles. Numbers placed one above the other
indicates that all notes need to be strummed together in one stroke - normally done while
indicating chords.
Chord Progression
Play the following Chord Progressions using 4 downstrokes on each chord. Ensure that you
change to the next chord in the progression without losing a beat.
Key of C Key Of G Key Of D
1. C | F | G 13. G | C | D 25. D | G | A
2. C | G | F | G 14. G | D | C | D 26. D | A | G | A
3. C | Dm | F | G 15. G | Am | C | D 27. D | Em | G | A
4. C | Em | F | G 16. G | Bm | C | D 28. D | F#m | G | A
5. C | Am | F | G 17. G | Em| C | D 29. D | Bm | G | A
6. C | F | Dm | G 18. G | C | Am | D 30. D | G | Em | A
7. C | F | Em | G 19. G | C | Bm | D 31. D | G | F#m | A
8. C | F | Am | G 20. G | C | Em | D 32. D | G | Bm | A
9. C | G | Dm | F 21. G | D | Am | C 33. D | A | Em | G
10. C | G | Em | F 22. G | D | Bm | C 34. D | A | F#m | G
11. C | G | Am | F 23. G | D | Em | C 35. D | A | Bm | G
12. C | Am | Dm | G 24. G | Em | Am | D 36. D | Bm | Em | A
Key Of A Key Of E
37. A | D | E 49. E | A | B
38. A | E | D | E 50. E | B | A | B
39. A | Bm | D | E 51. E | F#m | A | B
40. A | C#m | D | E 52. E | G#m | A | B
41. A | F#m | D | E 53. E | C#m | A | B
42. A | D | Bm | E 54. E | A | F#m | B
43. A | D | C#m | E 55. E | A | G#m | B
44. A | D | F#m | E 56. E | A | C#m | B
45. A | E | Bm | D 57. E | B | F#m | A
46. A | E | C#m | D 58. E | B | G#m | A
47. A | E | F#m | D 59. E | B | C#m | A
48. A | F#m | Bm | E 60. E | C#m | F#m | B
Strumming Lessons
In the following examples, each Strumming exercises contain 8 strokes. 4 Down & 4 Up. The Odd number indicates a Down-
Stroke & the even number an Up-Stroke. The word “skip” indicates when you should “not Strum” the chord. However do
ensure the chord rings from the previous stroke. This gap created by “not strumming” the chord every time you move your
picking hand up & down will help create a rhythm. Using this method and skipping different strokes will help you come up
with different strumming patterns. You can accent (play loud) strokes marked with an asterisk (*) which will help you make
the pattern sound a lot more musical.
Note - Although there are other ways to indicate how long you should be sustaining a note/chord, this particular method seems
to work well with absolute beginners.
Pattern
Down Up Down Up Down Up Down Up
No
1 Play 1 3* 4 5 6 7* 8
Skip 2
2 Play 1* 2 4 5* 6 7 8
Skip 3
3 Play 1* 2 3 5* 6 7 8
Skip 4
4 Play 1* 2 3 4 6 7 8
Skip 5
5 Play 1* 2 3 4 5* 7 8
Skip 6
6 Play 1* 2 3 4 5* 6 8
Skip 7
7 Play 1* 2 3 4 5 6 7
Skip 8
8 Play 2* 3 4 5 6 7 8
Skip 1
9 Play 1* 4 5 6 7 8
Skip 2 3
10 Play 1* 3 5* 6 7 8
Skip 2 4
Pattern
No
11 Play 1* 3 4* 6 7 8
Skip 2 5
12 Play 1* 3 4 5* 7 8
Skip 2 6
13 Play 1* 3 4 5 6* 8
Skip 2 7
14 Play 1* 3 4 5 6 7*
Skip 2 8
15 Play 1* 2* 5 6 7 8
Skip 3 4
16 Play 1* 2 4 6 7* 8
Skip 3 5
17 Play 1* 2 4 5* 7 8
Skip 3 6
18 Play 1* 2 4 5* 6 8
Skip 3 7
19 Play 1* 2* 4 5 6 7
Skip 3 8
20 Play 1* 2 3 6 7 8
Skip 4 5
Pattern
No
21 Play 1* 2 3 5* 7 8
Skip 4 6
22 Play 1* 2 3 5* 6 8
Skip 4 7
23 Play 1* 2 3 5* 6 7
Skip 4 8
24 Play 1* 2 3 4 7* 8
Skip 5 6
25 Play 1* 2 3 4 6 8
Skip 5 7
26 Play 1* 2 3 4 6 7*
Skip 5 8
27 Play 1* 2 3 4 5* 8
Skip 6 7
28 Play 1* 2 3 4 5* 7
Skip 6 8
29 Play 1* 2 3 4 5 6*
Skip 7 8
30 Play 1* 5 6 7 8
Skip 2 3 4
Pattern
No
31 Play 1* 4 6 7* 8
Skip 2 3 5
32 Play 1* 4 5* 7 8
Skip 2 3 6
33 Play 1* 4 5* 6* 8
Skip 2 3 7
34 Play 1* 4 5 6 7*
Skip 2 3 8
35 Play 1* 3 6 7* 8
Skip 2 4 5
36 Play 1* 3 5* 7 8
Skip 2 4 6
37 Play 1* 3 5* 6* 8
Skip 2 4 7
38 Play 1* 3 5* 6 7
Skip 2 4 8
39 Play 1* 3 4 7* 8
Skip 2 5 6
40 Play 1* 3 4 6 8
Skip 2 5 7
Pattern
No
41 Play 1* 3 4 6 7*
Skip 2 5 8
42 Play 1* 2 6 7* 8
Skip 3 4 5
43 Play 1* 2 5* 7* 8
Skip 3 4 6
44 Play 1* 2 5* 6 8
Skip 3 4 7
45 Play 1* 2 5 6 7
Skip 3 4 8
46 Play 1* 2 3* 7 8
Skip 4 5 6
47 Play 1* 2 3 6* 8*
Skip 4 5 7
48 Play 1* 2 3 6* 7*
Skip 4 5 8
49 Play 1* 2 3 4* 8
Skip 5 6 7
50 Play 1* 2 3 4* 7*
Skip 5 6 8
Fretboard Knowledge

The Guitar Thing: Grade 1

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

The Guitar Thing: Grade 1

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

The Guitar Thing

Holding the Pick or the Plectrum

Picking Hand Position

Fretting Hand Position

1st – E, 2nd – B, 3rd – G, 4th – D, 5th – A, 6th - E

Whole Note - 4 Beats indicated by ( ) & Rest ( )

Whole Step/Half Step

How to read Tablature

Potrebbero piacerti anche