Hi guys!

Great meeting you today, Ronan! Here is what to play this week.

Everything I’ve assigned here is to be done with a guitar pick.

G chord

This is the version of the G chord we played in class today. — I was saying use finger 3; but I’m changing that to finger 4.

  • LH (Left Hand) fingers: index = 1, middle = 2, ring = 3, pinky = 4
  • I’ve labeled each string with its letter name
  • The horizontal lines here are the frets. The metal things on the guitar neck. — When holding the guitar, they are actually vertical to us
  • The blue dot represents the finger you hold down a fret with
  • The white dots represent “open strings;” that is, strings with no frets held down
  • The X’s represent strings you don’t play
  • Play this chord. Strum down and up repeatedly
  • The High E string is often written as a lowercase “e,” like I have it here — This one is closest to the floor

Frets 1 & 3 of the High E string

The frets are the vertical metal things on the guitar neck.

  • Remember, we speak upside down in guitar; High E string means closer to the floor but higher in pitch
  • Play each fret individually. One by one. — Strumming a full chord like above needs more of a swing in your hand and arm. For single notes like this, you need a smaller push down with your thumb. Think of it not as a strum, but rather as an instant  push-down through the string; like your pick is already on the other side of the string the moment you start your plucking motion. — It sounds ridiculous, but this is a way to start getting the feeling for picking (that is, plucking with the guitar pick) single notes
  • Have your fingers curled onto the frets. Be nice and strong on the strings
  • Have the fingers directly to the left of the frets
  • When in doubt about holding down frets properly, feel free to lean the top of the guitar body onto your chest and see if you’re doing everything right. Then adjust it back to your usual posture. See my notes on posture below

Memorize the string names

  • E A D G B E — Lowest to highest
  • “Eat A Darn Good Breakfast Everyday”

Posture

Here is the order of things to pay attention to when positioning yourself in good guitar posture.

  • Sit down with your body slightly slanted; that is, your knees pointing left (I forgot to describe this step, I apologize)
  • Put the guitar with the body on your right thigh
  • Have the guitar head pushed somewhat forward from your left side — The idea here: have your wrists as straight and as free as possible to be able to move around and play things with plenty of space for both arms to do so

Stretching & Rest

Make sure to follow these directions too. Trust me, this is more important than most people realize.

Rest

  • Rest your during and after a guitar playing session — 30 seconds to a minute is a fair amount of time for a break
  • The fingers are more delicate than other muscles in the body so do not overwork them

Stretch

  • Here is a video describing the main stretches to do during and after a guitar playing session. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1XsLRQFV7rY — You don’t have to do so much during a playing session; just do it when it feels like it would be a comfortable moment for it. It’s a little more important to rest during and after the session
  • Also do the other ones I described: Neck stretches & circles (don’t go too fast with these; you don’t wanna hurt yourself), hip circles (take your time with these ones too), body, arm, and leg stretches — again, primarily after a session

Additional tools

  • When time and resources allow, please get a guitar strap. Wearing this most if not all the time will help ensure that you maintain good posture
  • Get a tuner — There is a free app I use to help me tune my guitar; it’s called Tuner T1. You generally want to tune the guitar before every new playing session

I recommend at least ten minutes of playing everyday.

Have fun with this, Ronan! Looking forward to our lesson in a week!