Are you looking to take your fretboard knowledge and improvisational skills up a notch? Then guitar modes have got you covered! While it’s not completely necessary to learn any theory on the guitar to be an excellent musician or songwriter, it can only enhance your ability in following through with these endeavors. As you read
If you’ve been learning to play lead or classical guitar, chances are you’ve been introduced to scales. While they can become boring, they really are the basics of music. Now you want to play rhythm guitar and need to know what chords are in the scale. It’s not as simple as just taking all the
Minor guitar chords are an excellent way to capture the contrast from happy to sad within a chord progression, build tension, and tell a story without words. As you can imagine, they’re pretty important, and also a great way to get started with learning more about guitar and the music theory surrounding it. As you
The F#7 chord is one of many great-sounding seventh chords you can play on the guitar. In fact, many popular songs you probably know use these seventh chords. Songs like, “Jeff Buckley’s – Hallelujah”, “John Lennon’s – Imagine”, and even “Frank Sinatra’s – Fly Me To The Moon” use these colorful chords. As you read
If you’re looking to add some new and colorful chords to your musical repertoire, then look no further! Your Cmaj7 chord is one of many seventh chords and is relatively easy for beginners to start using. As you continue reading, we’ll cover how to play it, how it works, and additional information that will help
Seventh Chords are an excellent way to spice up your chord progression by giving it a different, more “Jazzy” aesthetic. Your D7 chord on the guitar is no different! As you read on, we’ll dissect this smooth-sounding guitar chord, and how you can incorporate it into your practice routine. Let’s dive in! How to Play
Seventh chords are a great way to spice up any chord progression. They might sound somewhat intimidating and complex just by the name, but that’s just on the surface! In fact, seventh chords can be easy to add to your chord repertoire, and fun to play! Today we’ll be going over the Em7 chord, how
Nothing is quite as distinctly pleasing as the pentatonic scale in terms of sound, and playability. Many popular songs like “John Newton – Amazing Grace”, “Led Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven”, and even “Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Can’t Stop” all use this scale. So how can you start? As you read on, we will
Have you been searching for the right transitional chord to give a feeling of “space” or “openness”? Then look no further than your sus chords. In fact, your Dsus2 chord has been used in many popular songs, such as John Mayer’s hit Free Fallin’, Bryan Adams – Summer of ‘69, The Beatles – Ticket to
There are many excellent tunings to mess around with on your guitar, however, none sound quite as beautiful as the open D tuning. When changing your tuning, it’s very easy to feel lost as a lot can change on the fretboard, making the task of playing beautiful melodies and chord progressions all the more difficult.
Seventh chords have such an interesting sound and can really add some color and character to a chord progression. The A7 chord is no exception and is very easy to learn, and add to your musical repertoire! Let’s go over it in further detail, and learn how you can start using the A7 chord today!
Are you looking to expand your chord repertoire on the guitar? Then you’re in luck! The G7 chord is one of the many seventh chords you may learn on the guitar, and more importantly, it’s fairly easy to play! For beginners, this is an excellent chord to get yourself started before learning other seventh chords
The key of C is where beginners tend to start, and an excellent place to begin practicing songs. So, why not learn the chords that flow together within the key of C? It only sounds logical, right? As you read on, we will cover what these chords are, and some music theory pertaining to that.
Seventh chords are an amazing way to provide a fuller sound with more character, but for those who don’t understand them, they might be somewhat intimidating. Learning how to play the E7 chord can be easy, fairly rewarding, and fun! As you read on you’ll not only understand how this chord works, but how you
Of every type of scale you can play on the guitar, one that has really stuck with me is the pentatonic scale. Songs like Amazing Grace, Cotton Eyed Joe, and the iconic Led Zeppelin hit Stairway to Heaven all use it. The pentatonic scale has a very unique, and pleasant sound – but even better,
The melodic minor scale is an interesting scale and not only because it’s one of three different minor scales. It has such an interesting sound to it thanks to the raised sixth and seventh intervals. But not just that, you don’t play it the same way down as you play it up, at least in
F#dim is one of those chords, that in my opinion, doesn’t sound great on its own. But when used in the right way, it adds a dark kind of tension that adds some drama to a song. Usually, it’s used as a bridge between two other chords so that the tension resolves. But because of
The internet has many valuable tools for musicians. As both a rhythm guitarist and a songwriter, one of my favorite products of the digital age is the chord progression generator (CPG). Using CPGs has helped me expand my musical knowledge AND experiment with some kick*ss riffs I’d never have come across otherwise If you’re reading
In music, patterns are a fairly common occurrence that brings some “order” to something that otherwise might seem pretty complicated! The CAGED System is no different and can be quite the resource for familiarizing yourself with chord shapes and how notes on the fretboard relate to one another. Let’s dive in! The CAGED System in
Mastering the “Six Stringed Behemoth” can be a challenge that requires a lot of time and devotion. When you take the time to learn the names of each string, you bring yourself one step closer to being a better guitarist! Let’s dive in! Why Are the Names of Each String Important? The Six Strings of
Getting to know the guitar fretboard notes opens a lot of musical doors, especially paired with a bit of music theory. I say this because you’ll see things that you didn’t know were possible, or just get ideas that you hadn’t thought of before. A lot of guitarists get by with no knowledge of music
In this article we will explore some most commonly used shapes for E minor scale. But before that it is necessary to learn the basics of how a minor scale is built so that you can create your own shapes in the future to save a whole lot of time. Also there is a section
The Cm7 guitar chord, like all minor seventh chords, has that beautiful jazzy sound. It’s not to say that minor seventh chords are only present in jazz although you’ll find them there a lot. They just fit in with jazz so well. But you’ll find them in pop, rock, blues, etc. Any time a little
Scales, it’s a word you’ll always hear in connection with improving your playing. But they can be so boring, especially when you’re running through them over and over and over. You don’t need to torture yourself like that. Learn the D major scale, play it to warm up and improve your hearing, and then use
“Classical” guitars refer to acoustic guitars with nylon strings. Today, we’re looking at the top 10 cheap classical guitars you can play proudly. In other words, these are not trash guitars, the kind you’d buy in a rush to put your kids in guitar class. We’re taking this seriously, though. In order to deliver a
Transposing chords is a necessary skill to accommodate a singer’s vocal range. Especially on the fly. We can’t always get the music printed in a different key and it’s not always appropriate to use your phone, tablet, or laptop. So while it’s all good to use the transpose buttons on Ultimate Guitar or one of
Ah, the C7 chord. It’s full of tension, but in a beautiful way. It’s jazzy, but it fits into the blues, rock, pop, and so many other genres. This chord, like all other dominant seventh chords, is versatile and injects flavor into chord progressions that have become a little stale. It’s true, the C7 guitar
The Dm7 guitar chord is one of those that I feel is gentle with a jazzy flavor. Of course, as with all seventh chords, D minor seventh is used to introduce some tension, add some spice to the mix, and works well in turnarounds. Sounds a bit contradictory to my earlier impression of it being
The E minor pentatonic scale, like all the other pentatonic scales, is very versatile. It’s very common in blues music, but you’ll find it in just about any genre. The word pentatonic, denotes five notes. That’s all a pentatonic scale is. You may be wondering how a scale with only five notes can be that
I quite like the C#m guitar chord. Minor chords by nature typically sound sad or poignant, but I feel that C#m sounds hopeful at the same time. In fact, depending on the chord progression, I don’t find it sad sounding. As complicated as the name, C sharp minor, sounds, it’s not actually that complicated to
Learning guitar is exciting and fun. But it can also be confusing and frustrating, especially if you’re trying to play chords or riffs above your skill level. If you’re learning on your own, it can also be hard to know where to get started. And of course, it’s all good and well to learn chords,
Today, I’m going to introduce you to the G major scale. I’m going to be honest. Many guitarists, particularly in the first while that they start playing scales, end up getting bored, frustrated, and even annoyed. I mean, a scale in and of itself is kind of boring. But they are something that all guitar
Learning scales can be very overwhelming for beginners. Even at the intermediate levels knowing that so many types of scales exist can instill fear in the minds of guitarists. But according to me, learning a scale is not the hardest part. Using that scale to write melodies or solos or riffs is where the crux
As a beginner guitarist, I had this impression that any chord that had a number tacked onto the back of it was hard. To be fair, they can be. But many of them are actually quite easy to play, as is the case with Am7. The beauty about the guitar is that you can get
Looking for a power chord chart for beginners? A chord is a group of notes that are played simultaneously. These chords make an integral part of the songs. The chords make up one of the three integral parts of any music called Harmony, the other two being Melody and Rhythm. Any and all types of
Today’s article is reviewing the best acoustic guitars under 1000. Naturally, we’ve included various premium choices without breaking the triple-zero price mark. At the same time, we included budget and mid-tier options as well. The best way we found to create the list was climbing the price ladder with each item, so you see what
Today, we bring you a list reviewing the top acoustic bass guitars you can buy right now. We’re covering various price levels for your convenience. That means we’re considering entry-level acoustic bass guitars to start our list, and then climb towards top-tier models. Acoustic bass guitars are hollow wooden instruments. They are larger than dreadnought
At Beginner Guitar HQ, it’s our mission to help you become a better guitar player. Part of becoming a better player is learning scales –– the essential building blocks of great guitar licks, riffs and chord progressions. The pentatonic and major scales are usually the first ones you tackle as a beginner guitarist. After that,
Alternate tunings are some of the best ways to take your guitar playing to the next level. They can help you experiment with new chords and melodies that aren’t always possible in standard tuning. There are hundreds of alternate tunings out there. Some, like Drop D, are widely used. Others are a bit more niche.
As a beginner guitar player, you probably started off by learning the major, (natural) minor and pentatonic scales. After all, these are the most common ones in the Western world. They’re easy to learn and can be transposed (moved up or down) to any key. They’re also used in most genres of guitar music. But
You’ve been playing guitar for a while now. You know your basic chords and scales. You’ve even memorized a few songs to whip out at parties. But now you’re looking for a new challenge. In this case, it might be time to unlock some alternate tunings. Most popular guitar songs are written in standard tuning.
The ukulele word is fun and often surprising. While there are not as many options as you’d see on the acoustic guitar market, there’s still plenty to try out. For that reason, we’re here to share the best baritone ukuleles we could find right now. We already created a guide showcasing the best ukuleles. This
Today’s article is reviewing the Washburn Rover, a parlor travel guitar featuring an eye-catching and rather unexpected design. It’s also a budget offering that, despite its shorter body, actually has a fully-sized fingerboard for classical acoustic guitar players. Washburn is a medium-sized company and a medium-sized name in the musical instrument industry. Their offers revolve
If you’re new to guitar, chances are you’ve only been playing in standard tuning. This is when you tune your… 6th string to low E 5th string to A 4th string to D 3rd string to G 2nd string to B 1st string to high E Standard tuning has been the go-to for popular music
As Axis of Awesome’s “Four-Chord Song” proves, you can play (almost) any popular guitar song with only a handful of major and minor chords. But what if you want to break out of the G-C-D-Em rut? Shake up a tired chord progression? Learn something new? This is when sus chords come in handy. Sus chords
Power chords are the key to unlocking many iconic guitar songs across genres and decades –– from Buddy Holly to Black Sabbath to Blink-182. The best part is, they’re not even that hard to play. They’re nowhere near as finger-cramping as barre chords. They’re even easier to fret than some open chords (looking at you,
Triads are some of the simplest chords that you can play on your guitar. The shapes are generally pretty easy, and as long as you aren’t playing any open strings, the basic shapes can be moved all over the neck to play different guitar chords of the same quality. Knowing where to find them on
As a beginner guitarist, it’s tempting to pick every single note in a downstroke. But experienced players know that alternate picking is the best way to up your game. This classic, staccato style picking uses a combination of alternate downstrokes and upstrokes. This way, you can easily play at lightning speed. It’s also more versatile
When it comes to blues and blues rock, it’s impossible to ignore Stevie Ray Vaughan. A legendary guitar hero, made all the more mythical by his short time in the spotlight, he was famous for his raw edge and aggressive playing and sound as well as his on-stage appearance. Stevie Ray Vaughan rescued blues in
For beginner guitarists (and even experienced players), barre chords can feel like a major pain in the…hand. After all, they’re one of the trickiest voicings to master. Barre chords are a necessary evil. They can teach you how to play anything –– from a B Chord to a Cm to an E♭maj7 It may not