Posts Tagged beginner guitar chords

Guitar Lessons for Beginners – Lesson Two Chord Progressions

Lesson two in the guitar lessons for beginners series covers chord progressions.  A chord progression is series of chords (which you learned in the mastering guitar chords for beginners lesson) played in succession (and typically is repeated).  There are a million potential chord progressions possible when you have a guitar or any other instrument at hand but we chose a simple, frequently used chord progression that you’re sure to have heard played in various forms on the radio or mp3 player.  Guitar chord riffs form the wall of sound in virtually every song.

We have chosen the I-IV-V chord progression for our lesson because it is used in practically every style of music you are likely to hear.  Sometimes you’ll see it played as a minor chord progression (which we demonstrate in the more advanced metal guitar scale lesson), most times as a major progression (country and rock tunes typically).  With this second step in the guitar lessons for beginners series we want you to be able to play this one chord progression very proficiently so that we can record it on tape, CD, or on your computer… then play it in the background while we learn scales and lead solos to play over it in the later lessons.  Like always, check out the guitar lessons for beginners DVD series previews.  The DVDs cover these topics much deeper but with the same philosophy.  Learn one thing, use it as a foundation for the next lesson.

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2 Comments updated July 26, 2013

Guitar Lessons for Beginners – Mastering Chords

So the first lesson in the guitar lessons for beginners series covers your first chords.  A chord is technically defined as a three tone (note) harmony – whether you play it on a guitar, a piano, or sing it acapella with some friends.  Our mastering chords lesson covers two barre chords – first a major barre chord, then a minor barre chord.  With just these two chords mastered you will be able to play about 90% of the songs you hear on the radio today, when you learn to train your ear to hear well enough.  Electric guitar chords begin your journey into a larger world.

It should be plainly obvious why the major and minor chords were chosen for this lesson, as they are prevalent in just about every piece of music you’ll ever hear.  Subsequent lessons build on this lesson, where we next take the major chord and play it in three spots on the neck to create a progression, then learn about scales and how to play them over the progression you’ve learned.  You can find links to all the other lessons here, and also see video sample demonstrations of the complete DVD guitar lessons for beginners series.

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1 Comment updated July 26, 2013