Detailed Lesson Descriptions    This page is under construction 6-25-09

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With each of the lessons, try to play through all of the exercises, one after the other, and stay up with the video from beginning to end. This insures a good, productive workout and ear-training session. It's a good idea to watch each video closely for a few seconds, and listen to the part. This also gives you a break between each video exercise. Most videos last from 45 to 90 seconds, or about a third of a real song. This simulates the experience of playing with a real song, and allows you to transition to playing with real songs, or with other players, more easily.

The Beginner's Lesson Series consists of 35 lessons, and is a complete lesson program for beginners. HoustonGuitar is producing its Intermediate Lesson Series which will expand on techniques from the first lesson series.

Lesson1 - Beginner's Warmup Lesson – Part 1

In this lesson, we assume you have never played a guitar before. You'll locate the first five frets on the highest string on the guitar. You'll try fretting notes with your left hand for the first time. Practice alternating back-and-forth between two notes on the highest string, a fretted note and the open (un-fretted) string. Then, practice this movement in time with the video demonstrations. The ability to play along with these first five videos is a good indication that you can work your way through the rest of the program.

This is also a good time to try to decide whether your guitar is the right guitar for you, identify any problems you have with your guitar, and what you can do to make your guitar easier to play.

Lesson 2 - Beginner's Warmup Lesson – Part 2

This lesson is optional. If you're comfortable with what you did in Part 1, then you can go on to Lesson 3. If you'd like a little more warmup practice, try this lesson next. We'll repeat the same movements you saw in Part 1, but this time on 2nd highest string. You'll play single notes at each of the first five frets. Like you did in Part 1, you'll alternate between open string and fretted notes. This gives you a little more time to get used to fretting notes, and playing in time with the videos.

Lesson 3 - Open E Minor Pentatonic – Part 1

This is the first lesson that uses tablature to describe the parts. There is an explanation of tablature on the website, but chances are you can just follow the videos like you did in the Beginner's Warmups. This chapter has helped many people get used to reading tab, because the parts and the tabs are very simple, and you see them side-by-side. I've been using a shorter version of this lesson with my students for years, and it has consistently worked to help my beginners play simple single-note sequences over all six strings, and on the first three frets.

This lesson introduces a scale that is used in many songs in all styles. This scale position consists of each of the six open (un-fretted) strings, and one fretted note on each string, for a total of 12 notes. This lesson is a natural progression from the Beginners Warmups, because it starts with alternating open and fretted notes on one string at a time. If you were able to play in time with the warmups, then this lesson should be easy.

From there, we move into note combinations that appear in numerous songs, especially in rock, blues and country. This is an important introduction to basic lead-guitar techniques and shapes. If you someday want to play lead guitar, it starts here. In a later lesson, we will play the identical patterns in position with all fretted notes.

Lesson 4 - Open E Minor Pentatonic – Part 2

This lesson expands on Part 1. This is the first time you'll alternate between two fretted notes. Then you'll play sequences based on three notes per string. These three notes are an open string and two fretted notes on the same string. Finally, you'll cross strings to link these together in longer phrases. These exercises will help you to play your first simple but recognizable lead guitar patterns. In a later lesson, we will play the identical patterns in position with all fretted notes.

Lesson 5 - Open E Minor Pentatonic – Part 3

The lead patterns shown in this lesson also double as open chord-melody patterns. Notes can be played individually, creating interesting arpeggio patterns. Or the notes can be allowed to ring over one another, creating more of a chord-melody effect. This lesson focuses on the high side of the scale.

Lesson 6 - Open E Minor Pentatonic – Part 4

This lesson focuses more on the bass side of the scale. Pentatonic-based lead patterns on the bass strings.

Lessons 7 and 8 are being reorganized, and will be available soon.

Lessons 7 and 8 are a continuation of the open E Minor Pentatonic. In these lessons, we will look at more complex note orders using an expanded form of the E Minor Pentatonic. We will also look at how to do 'hammers' and 'pulls' with notes from this scale. In later lessons, we will play the identical patterns in position with all fretted notes.

Lesson 9 - Open Power Chords - Part 1

Open power chords are important for several reasons. First, they are used in many famous recordings, especially in rock. From The Who to Skynyrd to AC/DC, these chords provide a fuller sound and allow for a smoother transition than movable power chords, which we will look at in later lessons. Many teachers regard these shapes as 'beginners cheats,' but the fact is they are absolutely necessary to reproduce the sound of many rhythm guitar parts you hear on hit rock songs old and new. You can't get those sounds any other way, no matter how good you are.

Each video exercise is based on alternating between two chords. Each shape gets a single down-strum. After the strum, you make the next chord shape and wait for the beat.

These chords are usually easy for beginners. That's why these shapes are often used by unscrupulous teachers, including me, as 'beginners cheats.' Because your hand isn't conditioned yet, you will tend to mute strings anyway, which is exactly what we want. As your left hand gets better conditioned, you'll be able to make the full chord shapes we'll see later. But you don't want to forget these variations on the open chords. (Experienced players sometimes have a hard time learning these shapes because they've been conditioned not to mute strings, so they have to go back and deliberately practice 'bad' technique.)

These chords are the basis for the nine common open chord shapes we will see in the Alternating Open Chords lessons, and in the other open chord strumming lessons. Getting the sound from these chords requires that you mute certain strings, and you may not always be able to do that at first. Allow your hand to get used to the shapes before you try to fine-tune your technique.

These shapes sound great with distortion, and are played with distortion on many rock songs. With a clean guitar sound, these compact voicings cut through the other instruments without overpowering the arrangement.

For People With Large Hands -- These chord shapes are also important for people who have large fingertips. People with very large hands, especially at the fingertip, have to make some changes to the way they do some things on the guitar. If you have large hands, and you can't form the 'complete' open chord shapes, try these chord shapes as alternatives. Some of these phrasings sound more like low power chords, and some sound more like the 'full' chord. Experiment with these shapes before you give up on open chords. Once your hand is conditioned, you can experiment with ways to form full chords.

Lesson 10 - Open Power Chords - Part 2

A continuation of the previous lesson.

Lesson 11 - Alternating Open Chords - Part 1

This lesson introduces the nine most common chord shapes, along with a few common variations in open position. There are thousands of songs in all styles that are based on these chord shapes. Each exercise focuses on two chords. We'll start with a one-finger chord, then move to two-finger chords, then to three-finger chords. Each chord is strummed one time, then you move to the other chord and wait for the beat. These exercises give a very realistic simulation of playing chord progressions to real songs. When you combine these left-hand shapes with different right hand strums, you start to get into real guitar parts.

You may not be able to get the sound you want out of these chords at first. Allow your hand to get used to the shapes before you try to fine tune your technique. Think of these as 'exercises' and not 'music.' Your hands can adapt after only a few short sessions with the videos. Turn up the volume on your computer, and don't pay attention to the sound of your guitar. Plan to spend a little time with these exercises. They're crucial, and they're great conditioning for things we'll do later. Just give them a little time to work, and most of your problems will work themselves out.

Teaching live students, I don't spend time trying to fine-tune beginners' technique. If they just keep playing with the tracks (videos in your case) then most problems fix themselves quickly. Your hands have their own 'intelligence,' learn to trust it, take the time to experiment with it, and you'll succeed.

Lesson 12 - Alternating Open Chords - Part 2

More examples of alternating chord pairs in different combinations.

Lesson 13 - Open Chord Bass-Down Strumming - Part 1

For each of the chords we saw in the Alternating Open Chords lessons, there is a string that you can separate out as a bass note. This lesson lets you practice playing the bass string separately, then strumming down over the rest of the strings in the chord. This allows you to hold a single chord, which is good exercise for the left, while you concentrate on the movement in your right. This technique is used in every style of music.

Lesson 14 - Open Chord Bass-Down Strumming - Part 2

Part 1 of this lesson uses a 'Bass-Down' strum pattern over different chords. Part 2 uses a 'Bass-Bass-Down' strum pattern common to many songs. It's the same right-hand movement as you used in Part 1, but this time the Bass note is played twice before the down-strum over the chord.

Lesson 15 - Open Chord Alternating Bass Strumming - Part 1

For each of the Bass-Down Strumming patterns in the previous two lessons, there is an alternate bass note. These alternating bass patterns sound kind of 'folky,' but using differnt rhythms from the simple rhythms we use in the exercises brings these patterns to life. Like all of the techniques shown in this lesson series, this movement is very common to hit songs in all styles, old and new.

Lesson 16 - Open Chord Alternating Bass Strumming - Part 2

More complex alternating bass and 'Bass-Bass-Down' patterns over the same chord shapes we've used in the previous chord lessons. These exercises are very beneficial to the right hand. By this time you're getting good at aiming with your pick. These techniques can be applied to just about any open or movable chord shape. We'll practice these techniques with movable chords in a later lesson.

Lesson 17 - Open Chord '3-Strum' Patterns - Part 1

You've heard this strum pattern in hundreds of songs. It's one of the most common strum patterns for 'medium-rock' beats, and came to real prominence in the 1960's and 70's. It's been a mainstay in rock and country ever since. For now, this will be your introduction to the 'upstroke' in strumming. (The next round of lessons in this series will provide warmups and transitions to this technique.)

I can explain the count behind this pattern, but my advice is to listen an imitate. Use any combination of up and down-strokes you feel like at first. But stay with it until you can imitate the 'Up-Down-Up' pattern shown in the right-hand videos. This one takes some getting used to, and I encourage you to experiment with differnt combinations of down and up strokes. Plan to play with each of these several times. Part 1 uses two chords per exercise.

Lesson 18 - Open Chord '3-Strum' Patterns - Part 2

A continuation of the exercises in Part 1. The exercises in this part use four chords per exercise.

Lesson 19 - Power Chord Warmups - Part 1

These next four warmup lessons are optional. I recommend them for younger players, and players with smaller hands. If you decide skip Parts 1, 2 and 3, at least make sure you can play with the videos in Part 4 before going on to the Box Power Chord Progressions lessons.

This is your introduction to 'L-shaped' 2-note movable power-chords. This group of warmups is very beneficial to your left hand. Your left learns to form the 'L-shape,' then you practice shifting this shape on the guitar neck. In real songs, this 'L-shape' is played on either the lowest two strings, or on the next to the lowest two strings. In other words, the lower of the two notes is played on either the low E string or the A string.

The first four exercises are played on the 1st and 2nd (high E and B) strings. The last four exercises are played on the 3rd and 4th (G and D) strings. Each chord is strummed one time.

Movable power chords, what most people mean when they say 'power chords,' are important for a couple of reasons. First, they are the basis for thousands of songs, especially rock songs. Power-chord rock came to prominence in the 1960's and 70's with the advent of groups like The Who and The Rolling Stones, and later with Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and too many others to mention. Power chords are a mainstay of rock into the present day. If you have a command of power chords, you have the technique to play thousands of rock rhythm-guitar parts.

They are also important even if you don't want to play rock because, when you play them with index and ring finger, they set up the posture for the four main 'rhythm barre-chord' shapes. Most rhythm guitar parts in rock, blues, country etc. are based on either open chords, power chords or the four 'rhythm barre-chords.'

Lesson 20 - Power Chord Warmups - Part 2

A continuation of the exercises shown in Part 1. The first four exercises are played on the 4th and 5th (D and A) strings. The last four exercises are played on the 5th and 6th (A and E) strings. Each chord is strummed one time.

Lesson 21 - Power Chord Warmups - Part 3

The same exercises as in Part 1, but this time picking each power-chord three time. The first four exercises are played on the 1st and 2nd (high E and B) strings. The last four exercises are played on the 3rd and 4th (G and D) strings. Each chord is strummed three times.

This is good aiming practice for the right hand, and it forces both hands to move faster. Make sure you can keep up with the video for the full length of the video. You should be able to play all 8 exercises in a row without getting tired. Take a minute or so between each video as you work through them.

Lesson 22 - Power Chord Warmups - Part 4

If you skipped the previous three warmups, make sure you can play with the videos in this one before going on. The same exercises as in Part 2, but this time picking each power-chord three time. This is good practice for the right hand, and it forces the left to move faster.

Lesson 23 - Box Power Chord Progressions - Part 1

The Box Progressions are so-called because the roots of the chords form a box on the neck of the guitar. Each of these progressions has four chords. Each of these progressions has been used in hundreds of rock songs. You should recognize some of these progressions. I can't name titles because of copyright issues, but I can name some of the bands whose progressions you should recognize: Nirvana, Ted Nugent, The Who, The Animals, The Cars, Lenny Kravitz, David Bowie and Tommy Tutone are just a few.

These exercises are a logical continuation of the last two Power Chord Warmup lessons. In the left hand, you're already used to forming these shapes, and moving them left and right on the guitar neck. In the right hand, you're already used to the power chord stroke, and you're getting good at isolating pairs of strings, especially on the low strings. Each chord in Part 1 is played one time before moving to the next chord.

Lesson 24 - Box Power Chord Progressions - Part 2

Covers the same progressions as Part 1, but this time with two down-strums per chord and at a slower tempo.

Lesson 25 - Box Power Chord Progressions - Part 3

Covers the same progressions as Parts 1 and 2, but this time with five down-strums per chord and at a still slower tempo. These variations begin sounding a lot like real music.

Lesson 26 - Power Plus One Chords - Part 1

Power plus one chords are not as common as other chord types, but they are crucial to reproducing the sound on particular rock songs, including some new songs. Greenday had a big hit using 'power plus one' chords a few years back. They are also an important step on the path to forming the four main 'rhytm barre chords.' I personally like these chords, and I use them a lot in live performances, especially when there are two or three guitars on stage. These compact 3-note chords can standout without overpowering, and they sound great distorted.

Because these are not barre-chords, and because they are played on the fingertips, you can shift these as fast as you can power-chords. Hopefully, your power-chord shifts are getting pretty fast by now. Shifting barre-chords is slower for most people.

These follow the same progressions in the same order as the Box Power Chord progressions. This time, we have just added a middle finger or little finger note to the two power-chord notes. (Your middle finger was probably hovering right over that note anyhow, just press down a little.) We're using the same right-hand pattern as in Box Power Chords - Part 2.

Lesson 27 - Power Plus One Chords - Part 2

A continuation of Part 1. This time we're using the same right-hand pattern as in Box Power Chords - Part 3. The tempo is also a little slower than in Part 1.

Lesson 28 - Open 'Five-Six' Patterns – Part 1

You will recognize the sound of these patterns instantly. Open '5-6' patterns became prominent in the 1950's, and were probably first made popular in rock by Chuck Berry. These patterns have been used extensively in rock, blues and country ever since. These low rhytm-guitar chord-melody riffs can be mixed with open chords, open power chords, and the open pentatonics. The first four parts focus on just the '5' and '6' notes. ('Five' and 'Six' refer to the scale degrees - a little music-theory trivia for you.) Later parts will use other notes along with the '5' and '6' to form more complex low chord-melody rhythm patterns.

The patterns in this lesson consists of a bass note, and two alternating high notes. Each note is played separately.

You should associate these patterns with the open chords we've seen in earlier lessons. There is a different '5-6' pattern for each chord shape. The bass note in each '5-6' pattern will be the same as the bass note for each chord we saw in the 'Bass-Down' lessons. We will look at how the '5-6' pattern can be formed around different chords, then practice alternating between two different chords.

There is a fretted, movable version of the '5-6' that we'll look at later. The movable '5-6' patterns let you apply the '5-6' to any chord.

By the way, '5-6' is my own terminology since I have never found a commonly accepted name for these patterns, even though they are incredibly common and everybody uses them. So if you discuss '5-6' patterns with someone who knows the number system, they may know what you're talking about. Otherwise, they probably wont know what you're talking about. If you search on '5-6,' you probably wont find anything relevant. Like I said earlier, '5-6' refers to the scale degree, so it's a good, descriptive musical term as far as I'm concerned.

Lesson 29 - Open 'Five-Six' Patterns – Part 2

The same left-hand parts as in the previous chapter, but the two notes are played together instead of separately. This uses the same right hand strum as we did in the Power Chord Warmups lessons, and in the Box Power Chords lessons.

Lesson 30 - Open 'Five-Six' Patterns – Part 3

This lesson uses the same left-hand parts as in the previous two chapters, but this time there's a third note added to the left-hand shapes. The right-hand part plays the bass note first, and the two harmony notes last.

Lesson 31 - Open 'Five-Six' Patterns – Part 4

Coming Soon -- Introduces note patterns other than the 5-6 that are used commonly in blues rhythm guitar parts.

Lesson 32 - Chord Melody Patterns – Part 1

Lesson 33 - Chord Melody Patterns – Part 2

Lesson 34 - Chord Melody Patterns – Part 3