Part 1: The Basics

Terms to Know

Neck: The long, thin part of the guitar that extends from the body. It has the frets and is where you press down on the strings to change their pitch.

Headstock: The end of the neck where the tuning pegs are located. It holds the strings in place and helps to tune the guitar.

Tuning Pegs (or Machine Heads): Small knobs located on the headstock that you turn to adjust the tension of each string and tune the guitar.

Frets: Metal strips embedded along the neck. Pressing the strings down just behind these strips changes the pitch of the notes.

Fretboard (or Fingerboard): The flat part of the neck where you press the strings. It's covered with frets.

Strings: The thin, metal wires or plastic (classical) with varied thickness stretched along the neck and body. They produce sound when plucked or strummed. (The strings (starting at the top with the thickest string) are tuned to the notes E-A-D-G-B-E. You can remember these notes with the phrase (from top to bottom) Every American Dog Gets Big Elephants OR (from bottom to top) “Easter Bunnies Get Down After Easter.”

Bridge: A grooved part on the body (near the soundhole or in the middle of the body) where the strings are anchored. It helps transfer the vibration of the strings to the body of the guitar.

Nut: The small piece at the end of the fretboard, just before the headstock, that holds the strings in place and maintains their spacing. The sound comes from the strings vibrating from the Bridge to the Nut.

Pickups: (For electric guitars) Magnetic devices located under the strings that capture the vibrations and convert them into electrical signals to be amplified.

Soundhole: (For acoustic guitars) The hole in the body that allows sound to project from inside the guitar.

Pickguard: A protective plate on the body of the guitar that guards against scratches from strumming or picking.

Controls: (For electric guitars) Knobs and switches that adjust the volume, tone, and pickup settings.

Capo: A device one attaches on the neck of the guitar, across all six strings of the guitar that uniformly raises the pitch (sound tone) of all six strings on your guitar.

Pick: Either a plastic or nylon thin striking piece, used in strumming and picking.

Strum: Stroking the strings with a "pick" in a rhythmic manner to create sound.

The Strum

Speaking of the strum. We begin our guitar playing by learning how to have a proper strum. There are dozens of strum patterns. We are going to use one that is simple and can be used in most songs. Once you have this strum perfected, you can experiment with others. Since the guitar is a rhythm instrument (it keeps the beat like a drum set with the strum), you can vary your strumming according to the song's rhythm.

You begin by placing your left hand (if you are right-handed) over the strings on the neck so as to muffle them. Position a pick in your right hand, between your thumb and index finger, pointed toward the strings. You will then need to move your right hand over the strings in an even motion without touching the strings. This motion needs to be even, like a pendulum. You will want to keep your wrist partially stiff and move your arm with just a gentle twist of the wrist. Eventually, the wrist will do most of the strumming. But that will come after a sense of rhythm has been established. 

As you move your hand over the top of the strings, without touching the strings, you will want to move closer to the strings so as to touch them at selected times. If you never touched the strings, you wouldn't have any sound at all. If you touched the strings on the down motion as well as the up motion all the time, it would sound mechanical and loud. So we are going to learn when to touch the strings and when to miss the strings.

The basic strum pattern is DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP. The motion of your hand will be going in a constant and even horizontal swing (DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP, etc.) Imagine your arm is the pendulum of a grandfather clock (only horizontal). You can’t stop or you will stop the time of the clock. The same with guitar. Without stopping you begin by touching the strings going DOWN, but miss them as you come UP. Keeping the same motion without stopping, you will then hit the strings DOWN, and then strum them as you move UP. You will then miss the strings as you go down but touch them as you go back UP. Finally, you will touch the strings as you move both DOWN and UP. That is one strum segment. 

I will illustrate this by bolding and capitalizing the strum that you touch the strings, and lower case and normal font for the times you don't. 

DOWN, up, DOWN, UP, down, UP, DOWN, UP

DOWN, up, DOWN, UP, down, UP, DOWN, UP

DOWN, up, DOWN, UP, down, UP, DOWN, UP

Let’s practice

Step one: With your left hand (right hand for lefties) muffling the strings, start the pendulum motion with the strumming hand, moving up and down, and not touching the strings. Now with the pick, strike the strings on a down motion, make a muffled sound AND KEEP GOING WITHOUT STOPPING THE EVEN STRUMMING MOTION… UP, DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP, ETC. It will look like this:

Down – strike the strings

Up – pull back, do not touch the strings

Down - pull back, do not touch the strings, etc

Up – pull back, do not touch the strings

Down - pull back, do not touch the strings

Up – pull back, do not touch the strings

Down - pull back, do not touch the strings, etc.

Do that several times and learn to strike the strings only on a downward motion, leaving 5-6 up-down motions in between.  

Step two: Keeping the down-up pattern smoothly moving, now strike the strings as follows: 

Down – strike the strings

Up – pull back, do not touch the strings

Down – strike the strings

Up – strike the strings

Down - pull back, do not touch the strings

Up – pull back, do not touch the strings

Down - pull back, do not touch the strings, etc

Replicate that motion and pattern, AND KEEP GOING WITHOUT STOPPING THE EVEN STRUMMING MOTION in between when you strike the strings … DOWN, UP, DOWN, UP, etc.. Keep it moving!

When you have practiced that pattern, without stopping, then add the final segment of a full strum pattern.

Step three: Keeping the down-up pattern smoothly moving, now strike the strings as follows: 

Down – strike the strings

Up – pull back, do not touch the strings

Down – strike the strings

Up – strike the strings

Down - pull back, do not touch the strings

Up – strike the strings

Down - strike the strings

Up – strike the strings

You need to practice this with the strings muffled until it is natural and you can do it without thinking about DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP. Sit in front of the TV, talk with people, walk through the house, etc. You need to get to the point where you can strum without even thinking about it! 

Watch the video of me doing it. Practice along.

Remember, the motion must remain constant so that when you add chords and start playing a song, it will be a smooth rhythmic sound instead of sounding like a teenager first learning how to drive a car with a stick shift! To a deaf person watching you, they should not be able to tell when you strum the strings and when you do not.

Don’t get too stuck on this one strum pattern. You will need to develop new patterns depending on the beat of the song you want to play. Listen to songs, muffle the strings, and try to strum the beat of the song. The main thing is to keep it smooth. Keep your hand steadily moving up and down and strike the strings with the beat. 

Now, go practice strumming for a while before moving on

The Five Basic Chords

There are Five Basic Chords that we will learn for the first part of this course. We will be able to play several songs. They are in the key of G (more on what a key is later). The chords are G, C, D, Em, and Am. Below are descriptions and pictures of where to place your fingers. 

0 = open,1=index finger, 2=middle finger, 3=ring finger, 4=pinky, X=don't play

Download this worksheet. Place a dot in the frets where your finger go.

When you first place your fingers on the fretboard to form a chord, you need to be sure you are just behind the fret (the raised metal strip) so a good sound will be made. Position your fingers so the tips are pushed down on the strings to create the chord. Yes, this will be very painful and awkward for a while. In fact will feel like the 1st string (the littlest) is a cheese cutter on your ring and pinky finger! But it will get easier and feel more comfortable the more you practice. Build up those calluses. 

Go ahead and position your fingers on the G chord. Take your pick and pluck each string to see if you are making the proper contact with your fingers. Beginners typically do not make proper contact because the fingers are not used to stretching in such weird positions. Just like you have to do exercises and stretches for your body, your fingers require a little training, too. Your fingers may get in the way of another string's sound. It’s okay for now. (You will eventually want to keep playing that chord until you can make a strong sound on each string..)

Do the same for the C chord, and the D chord. Then go back to the C chord and then slide your 2nd and 3rd fingers into the 2nd fret and lift up your pointer for the Em chord. Practice going back and forth between those two chords. Then start again with a C chord and take your ring figure and move it under the 2nd figure in the same 2nd fret. Practice switching between C and Am doing one DOWN strum for each. Work on getting faster and cleaner. Once you have learned the finger positions, you need to practice moving to each chord as quickly as you possibly can. You need to live and breathe these chords until you can do them in your sleep. 

G chord

D chord

C chord

Em chord

Am chord

WHEN you can get these chords down, you’ll be able play a ton of songs. But you have to practice. Remember, those first and second strings are going to really hurt until you get callouses built up. You have to keep at it. You got this.

Practice Skills

PRACTICE SKILL 1: One practice method is simply to strum DOWN one time with your fingers on each chord we have learned so far:

  • Position your fingers on G and strum DOWN one time. Then move to the C and the D. Then start with the C and slide into the Em. Go back to the C and slide into the Am.

  • Then practice going as fast as you can. Strum a G chord and then move to the C as fast as you can. When you have your fingers in the right position (or at last close) then strum. It won’t sound very good, but that is okay. We are just trying to get your brain and fingers trained to move quickly between chords. We’ll work on making it sound better later. Hey, this is just the first lesson.

  • Repeat.

  • Change up the order. Go from G to C to Em to D to Am and back to G. You can go in any order you want; just start with G and end with G. The rest is up to you. Write your own song! That’s how professionals do it.

PRACTICE SKILL 2: Another way to practice is to combine our DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP strum pattern for each chord. This will be rough, but again, it’s okay. Do the grandfather clock motion with your right hand to keep your movements smooth.

  • Form the G chord. Strum DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP. Repeat that several times.

  • Form the C chord. Strum DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP. Repeat that several times.

  • Form the D chord. Strum DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP. Repeat that several times.

  • Form the Em chord. Strum DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP. Repeat that several times.

  • Form the Am chord. Strum DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP. Repeat that several times.

  • Repeat.

  • In fact you can

PRACTICE SKILL 3: The final practice skill that you can work on is trying to get a clean sounding chord. You don’t have to do this skill right now. You could go on to the Playing Your First Song below and then come back to this one.

  • Form a G chord. Then pluck each string. You will probably have some dud-sounding notes. That is normal. Move your fingers, and bend the first knuckle so that you are pressing the strings with the TIPS of your fingers. You may need to stretch your finger farther. Be sure you are just behind the fret. If you are too far away from the fret, it will make that dud or rattle sound.

  • Do the same with the other chords. Be sure you realize that we don’t always play ALL of the strings for each chord. Look at the pictures above again.

    • G chord - Play all of the strings

    • C chord - Do NOT play the 6th string (at the top). It is marked with an x in the picture. You will have to shorten your strum a bit or you can muffle that top string with your thumb (which is hard) or your ring finger.

    • D chord - Do NOT play the 5th AND 6th string (at the top). They are marked with an x in the picture. You only play the bottom 4 strings. You really have to make your strum smaller for this one.

    • Em chord - Play all of the strings

    • Am chord - Do NOT play the 6th string (at the top).

Your goal is now to get faster. You could have someone call out a chord and you have to play it. That will help your brain and fingers to learn to work together.

Now, we’re ready to play our first song. Oh, yeah, come back to these practice skills after you work on the song. We have to get faster and cleaner.

PLAYING YOUR 1st SONG

You are ready to work on your first song. I have chosen Step by Step (print the Songsheet) because it is a slower song that uses the five chords you have been working on. You know all the chords to play this song. Start with your fingers in the G chord position and strum once. Watch the VIDEO OF ME (below) singing the song with the strum and slowing moving through the chords that you have already learned. You can watch the video below as well.)

As soon as you strum down one time making the first G chord, move your fingers to the D position and get ready to strum down once at the second "God". After you strum the D, quickly move to the C and strum the C chord at "I will". Then to complete the chorus, we move back to the G position and are prepared to strum the G chord at the phrase "You". (This song is in 4/4 time. The downbeat of 1 is indicated by the bold words and is the time in the song when the chords should be changed) Note: you must have already switched chords by the time the bold word is ready to be sung. 

My guitar is out of tune, and I made lots of mistakes. That's okay. I want to illustrate that you don't have to be awesome to enjoy playing guitar. I am not a good guitarist, but I enjoy playing and you can too. If you practice, you could pass me up in a couple of months. Work hard.

G                   D        C                          G
O God, You are my God and I will ever praise You.

       G                      D         C                         G
O God, You are my God and I will ever praise You.

         Em                   D
I will seek You in the morning,

                 C                              Am 
And I will learn to walk in Your ways,

          G                         D
And step by step You’ll lead me, 

                  C              D            G (G - D - C - G)
And I will follow You all of my days.

(Download and print the song)

Practicing More and More

Keep practicing that over and over until you can move more quickly. 

  • Strum a G, then a D, then a C, and back to the G. Repeat that over and over.

  • Then, try adding the Em - D - C - Am of the verse. Again, a single strum of the Em, then the D, and the C, and finally the Am, which should be an easier switch.

  • After you have mastered switching chords with one down strum, try two DOWN strums. Once you accomplish that, place your fingers at the G chord and use the DOWN, DOWN, UP, UP, DOWN, UP pattern, keeping the motion as smooth as a pendulum.

You can let the song play and focus on only two of the chords, skip one if you have to so you can get your figures shaped to make the next chord.

Practice C - Em - C - Am

  • Start with C (245). Slide to Em (lift your pointer and slide your middle and ring fingers both into the 2nd fret, strings 4 and 5. Don’t lift them just slide them. Go back and forth with a single strum: C to Em to C. Add the DDUUDU strum pattern and switch from C to Em to C to Em to C, etc.

  • Start with C (245) and move to the Am position (bring your ring finger under the middle finger to the 243 position. Practice, like above, going from C to Am to C to Am to C, etc.

  • Then put it all together. Go from C to Em to C to Am to C to Em to C to Am.

Practice On Off On with each Chords

  • Make the D chord. Strum the D chord, then lift your fingers and strum with no fingers on the fretboard. Then without looking make the D chord again. Keep doing that over and over until you can form the D chord without looking at your fingers on the fretboard.

  • Do the same with the G, with the C, with the Em, with the Am.

  • Be sure to play the DDUUDU strum pattern with the above practices once in a while. Start with a single strum but then later add in the pattern.

Practice Consistent Strumming Using the CHEATER Chords

  • Here is another way to get your brain trained to feel comfortable strumming consistently and switching between chords. Use the Cheater Chords of G - C - D - C - G

  • Here are the chord shapes

  • Here is a video explaining how to play these chords

Don’t get discouraged. It will take time to get your fingers to learn how to make the shapes of each chord. You have to train them. The tips of your fingers will hurt. You must keep going. Take a day or two to rest your fingers but get back to it. You can always practice the shapes of the chords without pressing all the way down to make the proper sound. Just move your fingers to the correct spots on the fretboard for each chord without strumming.

Congratulations!

You have taken the first steps to becoming a great guitarist, a musical enthusiast, and maybe even a worship leader. It takes a lot of practice to build up the calluses on your fingers. Watch out for that cheese cutter (that bottom, thin string—the E. I’m telling you, it hurts really badly. BUT DON’T QUIT! Keep practicing. Change up your practicing the 3 practice skills and playing Step by Step. If your fingers hurt, rest, and practice the strum.

Once you get past this point, you will be ready to try other songs. Go ahead and see if you can play some of the other songs in the key of G. Check out this webpage that has 8 worship songs in the key of G. The video tutorials are using different versions of the chords we have learned, but for now, you can use the basic forms of G, C, Em, D, and Am. You can also check out some of the songs in Part 4: Chords & Songs.

The most important part of all of this is… HAVE FUN!