Hello once again video students. My name is Scott Graves and I'd like to welcome you to
volume two of the Introduction to Rock Guitar Series. Now in this volume we are going to
cover guitar cording, we're also going to cover basic guitar scales, and we're also
going to learn how to play along with pre-recorded music. Now chords are going to be really crucial
for you to practice. With chords you're going to be able to do stuff like this. Scales are also
very crucial for your practice. For scales, using scales you're going to be able to do things like
this. That's what scales are good for. Now in the last section what we're going to do is combine
everything we've learned so far on the entire introduction course to learn how to play right
along with pre-recorded music. That's going to be the pinnacle of our guitar playing experience.
So if you haven't done Introduction to Rock Guitar volume one, I highly recommend you go back and you
do that tape before you move into this tape so that you won't be lost and you won't fall behind.
You won't be frustrated either. All right now one thing I do want to mention real quick is that now
and again on this tape you will hear me mention a workbook. Now I mentioned this in the first tape.
There's a workbook that is designed to accompany the entire introduction course. It is not necessary
to do the tape. The tape is designed to be self-sufficient, but if you want to order the
workbook, fill out the order form that's in your video case and send it to music instructional videos.
They'll send you a workbook. There's also a toll-free number on that on that insert card. All right,
let's have some fun music instructional videos. Introduction to Rock Guitar volume two coming right up.
All right, section four, the basic guitar chords section. Now guitar chords or chords in general
are groups of three or more notes played at the same time. Some examples of chords might sound
like this. Or like this. All right, now the first type of chords we're going to look at are called
root position open chords. Now let me explain what root position open chords means. That's kind of
a big long word. First of all, these chords are called open chords because they involve playing
at least one or more open string in the group of three or more notes that are being played. Okay,
now root position, what does that mean? Root, the root of the note is the chord that, or the note
that gives the chord its name. In other words, the root of an A chord is an A. The root of a B chord
is a B. When a chord is in root position, the root is the lowest note played. Now if that's a little
confusing, we'll clear it up in just a few minutes. Just hang in there. All right, now let's take a
closer look at some root position open chords. The very first root position open chord we're going
to look at is a root position E minor chord. Now the chord graph on the right side of the screen is
a condensed version of the net graph focusing on a four fret area. One, two, three, four. Okay, the
circle two on the chord graph is telling you to put your second finger on the fifth string second
fret. The circle three is telling you to put your third finger on the fourth string second fret. Now
if there is no circle number off to the left of your chord graph, it's just assumed that the top
line on the chord graph is the nut. That's how I knew to put my second finger here on the second
fret and my third finger here on the second fret. So the top line on the chord graph is the nut. Now
the symbol E M at the top of this chord graph is the chord name. M, a small m like that, stands for
minor. So E M means E minor. If you saw A M that would be A minor. Now if I want to strum this chord,
what I'm going to do is start on the sixth string and strum across all of the strings being sure
that each note rings clearly. Now the rules for making chords are the same rules that we used in
the chromatic exercise. You should be on your fingertips. Your thumb should be in line with
your middle finger, okay, and you should be as close to the frets as possible. That rule can be
relaxed a little bit when making chords because sometimes it's hard to get both fingers right
next to the frets, but you should be as close to the frets as possible. So when I strum this chord,
I begin on the sixth string. I strum slowly, playing one string at a time, being sure that the strings
ring clearly. Now if I get a dead thudded sound like this, okay, that means that I'm not playing
something clearly. In this case, I'm not holding the string down tight enough. Okay, sometimes I
might get a buzz type of a sound. Now if that's the case, a lot of times what will happen is your
finger will be on top of the fret, so you'll need to move it back. And another thing that's real
common is to be leaning a finger against a string that should be played open or by another finger.
And if that's the case, you'll need to move your finger off of the string to get a good clear sound.
So the key here is to strum slowly and be sure that each string is ringing clearly. Once you have
each string ringing clearly, then go ahead and strum all of the notes. Now the E in this chord,
the low E on the sixth string, is the root of this chord, okay? This chord is in root position
because the lowest string or note that I'm playing is that low E. The root is the lowest note played.
So this is a root position E minor chord. Now let's look at one other root position chord. We're
now going to look at a root position C chord. Now if there is at the top of your chord graph a letter
all by itself like there is on this a C, that is actually called a C major chord. You can call this
a C chord or a C major chord. So we're going to look at a root position C chord or C major chord.
First of all, let's locate the fingering. Our first finger goes on second string first fret,
second finger goes on fourth string second fret, and third finger goes on fifth string third fret.
Remember the rules of the chromatic exercise are applying here. Now notice on the graph there is
an X over the sixth string on the graph. That means don't play the sixth string. So I'm going
to strum from the fifth string across. And once again, this I'm using my right hand for demonstration
purposes only. Normally I would be strumming down across the body of the guitar. But so we can get
all of this in with the split screen, I'm going to be strumming up here next to my hand. So I'm
going to strum because the sixth string is X'd off, I'm going to strum from the fifth string down.
Again, I make sure that all of the notes are ringing clearly. Now the lowest note I'm strumming
in this chord is this note here on the fifth string, which is an A, B, C note. C is the root
of this C chord. The C chord is in root position because the C is the lowest note played. Now there
are graphs in your book of other commonly used root position guitar chords. And those graphs can
be used as references for the upcoming open chord exercises at the end of the section.
Alright, now we're going to look at some other types of chords that are used in modern music.
We're now going to look at rock bar chords, or bar chords. Now let me just show you some examples
of some bar chords. Barring means holding down more than one string with the same finger. Now
here are some examples of rock bar chords. Now notice in all of these chords that I played,
all of those chords that I played, I was holding down more than one string with one finger. Now
let's take a closer look at some of these rock bar chords. The first rock bar chord we're going
to look at is a G major chord. Now remember, as I said, if you see a chord symbol with no other
number or a letter that stands alone as a chord symbol, that means major. So we're going to look
at a G major chord here. Now on this graph of the G major chord, notice there is an arched line
stretching from the sixth string to the first string. That arched line is indicating where I'm
making the bar. Now where am I making this bar? Look at the circle three off to the left of that
arched line. That circle three is telling you that you're making your bar across the third fret,
okay? And the two ones there, the one in the triangle and the one in the circle, are telling
you you are making the bar where the arched line is with your first finger. Now let's demonstrate
here the best, most effective way to make a bar. The best way to make a bar is to make a U shape
between your index finger and thumb, just like this. So I want a U shape between my index finger
and thumb. Now that U shape should be made basically like this with your index finger being real straight.
You don't want a hook like that in your index finger, okay? You want a nice straight index finger. Now
what I'm going to do to make this bar, since I'm making it on the third fret, is I'm going to insert
the neck of the guitar into that U shape that I'm making between my thumb and index finger. And I'm
going to plant the tip of my index finger on my sixth string where the bar begins. Now notice my
thumb is still basically going to be in line with where my middle finger is. Now remember I said don't
bend this finger. You want it kept straight. That will help you to apply even pressure onto all of
these strings. We're going to hold all of these strings down now with the index finger. Now before
I begin pressing down real tightly here with the index, what I'm going to do is slightly roll my
finger away from the body. So that way I just slightly roll it back. And that again helps me
to apply a little more evenly direct pressure onto the neck. Also your finger should be lined
up exactly parallel to the fret. Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to play this bar. Notice
all the strings ring clearly. Holding down all those strings with my index finger. My thumb is
basically still in line with my middle finger and the finger that's doing the barring is nice and
straight. Okay now what I'm going to do is add the rest of the fingers to this chord shape. So my
second finger will go here. My third finger will go here. And my fourth finger will go here. Once
I add the additional fingers to the shape I now strum and be sure that all the strings are ringing
clearly. That is a G major bar chord. Now probably some of you are out there saying, yes Scott that's
really really neat that's a G major bar chord but that doesn't sound a lot like rock and roll. No
this doesn't sound a lot like rock and roll kind of but not especially a whole bunch like rock and
roll. There are two things we need to do to make this G major chord sound more like rock and roll.
The first thing we need to do is add distortion to this shape. So be sure that your amplifier
can produce a distorted sound. And once I add the distortion this should sound a little more like
rock and roll. It's getting there okay pretty close that sounds pretty darn close. Now the next
thing that I'm going to do to make this sound even more like a powerful rock chord is I'm going to
only strum the sixth string the fourth string and the third string. Okay sixth fourth and third
strings only and that will give me a more powerful sound. See how that sounds more powerful like rock
and roll. Now when I play the lowest three notes of the shape like that that is called a power five
shape. So I'm no longer playing a G major chord when I play those lowest three notes I'm now playing
a G power five chord and that power five chord is the sound the basic rock and roll sound that you
hear everybody getting these days. Now I can play the lowest three notes of the shape I can also play
the lowest two notes of the shape which would leave me with these two notes. Let me do that up here with my right hand so you can see what I'm doing.
Now so there's two ways of playing this chord a G major chord if we strum all the strings and a G power five chord if we strum the lowest two or three notes of the shape.
Now there's one other thing that you need to know about this chord shape notice on the graph the note
that is underneath your index finger okay on the sixth string has a little triangle around it that note is the root of this chord. Now that note in this particular case is an E F G note okay that is why this is a G chord a G power five or a G major chord because the root is covering a G note.
If I would have made this shape up on the fifth fret this would have been an E F G A power five chord or A major chord depending on how many strings I strum. So this is a movable shape and I can get the chord name different chord names by aligning my root note which is underneath the triangle with the different notes on the neck.
So this is one type of rock bar chord this is a power five chord or major chord shape with its root on the sixth string. Now let's look at one other type of power five chord or major chord we're going to look at a graph of a B major chord.
Now notice on your graph of the B major chord that we have two bars we have a bar extended from the fifth fret or excuse me fifth string second fret going to the second fret first string okay so in this particular case the bar with the index finger is not covering the sixth string it's beginning with the fifth string.
Now there is another bar on this shape and it is made across the fourth fret beginning with the fourth string and this bar is made with your third finger now we're going to talk about this bar first okay.
To make the bar that's being made by your third finger place the tip of your third finger on the fourth string fourth fret. Now extend that bar across the third fret or excuse me third string and second string so you're staying on the fourth fret and you're barring across the fourth third and second strings okay.
Now to make that bar with your third finger you need to collapse that knuckle right there and push in hard against the neck okay so you don't want a popped out knuckle here you need to bar by collapsing that knuckle.
Now notice on your graph the first string on your graph is X'd off you're not going to be playing the first string so you really don't need to bar across the first string here on the guitar you can just kind of lightly rest your finger or let your bar up at that point and it doesn't matter if that string is sounding or not.
You may just want to kind of deaden the sound with your finger. The most important thing is that your fourth string third string and second string all ring clearly.
All right now that we have that bar being made correctly with our third finger let's add the bar with the first finger now remember I said that your first string is X'd off here so you really don't even need to bar all of these strings with your first finger.
You really only need to hold down the tip of your first string or finger excuse me on the second fret of the fifth string okay and that way
you can relax that finger just a little you really don't need a bar here you just need to hold down the second fret and most of the emphasis should be on this bar being made in your third finger.
So this bar chord shape should look like this and also notice on your graph your sixth string is X'd off so I'm basically only strumming from the fifth string to the second string.
Now once again to get a real good powerful sound you need your amp set on distortion and we're going to make a power five out of this shape as well we're going to make the power five by strumming the lowest two or three notes of this shape.
Now the lowest two or three notes do not include the sixth string because the sixth string is X'd off so we're going to strum the fifth string fourth string and third string or just the fifth and fourth.
Notice that gives us a good beefy rock and roll sound.
And again with this shape we have the root of the chord being underneath the index finger only the root for this chord is located on the fifth string.
So again this is a movable shape the reason this is a B chord or a B power five chord is because I'm playing with my index finger on the A B note if I wanted to play a D power five I'd move B C D up to here and there I'd have a D power five.
And this leaves us with two types of rock bar chords a root on sixth string shape and a root on fifth string shape.
And both of these shapes can be made into power five chords by playing the lowest two or three notes of the shape.
Both of these shapes are movable and can you can change the chord name of these shapes by simply aligning the root with the different notes on the fifth and sixth string.
Now that is why it's important to memorize those notes on the fifth and sixth string or be able to quickly identify those notes on the fifth and sixth string so that you can quickly find the different chord names depending on what your root note is aligned with.
All right now at this point we're going to go ahead and do I'm going to get you started on some exercises for section four the chord section of the video.
All right now I'm going to get you started on the exercises for section number four the chord section.
Now exercise number one for the chord section looks like this.
Now in exercise number one we have a graph of a common chord chart and I'm going to identify some of the parts of this common chord chart for you.
First of all the vertical lines are called bar lines.
The space in between the bar lines is called a measure.
Now in this case a measure equals four beats or four taps of the foot.
This is called four four timing or common time.
In other words let's get a shot of my foot and I'll show you what I'm talking about.
I'm going to get my eighty dollar Italian leather shoe tapping like this and I am going to divide these taps into groups of four.
Okay like this one two three four one two three four.
Now watch the arrow on the screen follow the exercise as I tap my foot one two three four one two three four.
Notice how the arrow moved into a new measure after every fourth tap.
Now to put the chords to this exercise what you'll do is this.
Let's return to a full screen of the graphic and what we're going to do is this.
We're going to strum down on the F chord in the first measure on the first beat of that measure.
And I'm going to hold that F chord down for the entire length of that measure.
Now it will help you to watch the arrow on the screen as I do this.
So on the first measure I will strum down on the F chord and I will count to four.
One two three four.
Then I'll move on to the C in the next measure.
One two three four.
Then I'll move on to the G.
One two three four.
Now I won't take breaks in between those measures.
I will just continue on according to how fast my foot is tapping.
So if I was playing it at an even tempo it would be like this.
One two three four.
Now notice in those measures there is one slash in every one of the measures on this exercise.
Now that slash is a common way of telling you to strum one time.
Okay. So on a common chord chart you will strum one time per slash that you see in every measure.
Now that slash in each one of these slashes is positioned basically over where the one is.
Now on a real chord chart you will not see numbers underneath each measure.
But the position of that slash tells you which beat to strum down on.
Because that slash is positioned over the one you will strum down one time on the first beat of each measure.
Now the double bars on this graph indicate your beginning and your ending points.
So what I'm going to do now is demonstrate the first three bars of this measure using a split screen.
Okay now I'm going to demonstrate how to play the first three measures of this exercise along with the graphic of the exercise.
Now one thing I did forget to explain here.
Notice in the graphic that there is a circled six next to the F chord.
That circled six is telling you to play an F root on six string power five chord.
You should use power five chords for all of the chords in this exercise.
So in the next measure you will play a C root on fifth string chord.
Then the next measure a G root on sixth string chord.
So the circled sixes and fives are telling you which string to place your root on.
Alright now what I'm going to do is demonstrate the first three measures of this exercise.
It should start like this.
I'm going to get us started off by counting a measure of four beats without playing anything.
And then I'll come in.
That will help me to establish a tempo or the time or pace that we're going to play the exercise at.
So we'll start like this.
One, two, three, four.
F, two, three, four.
C, two, three, four.
G, two, three, four.
Alright now those were the first three bars of this exercise.
The idea here is for you to go ahead and figure out the rest of this exercise on your own.
See if you can do it.
Also try the other exercises for section four, the chord section.
Once you feel like you have understood completely these exercises,
then come back to the check yourself section and we'll go ahead and do these together to make sure you're doing them correctly.
Now let's look at the points for review for this section.
First of all, the first point to remember is this.
The root of a chord names the chord.
The root of an A chord is an A. The root of a B chord is a B.
When looking at a chord graph, don't strum any strings that are marked with an X.
Be sure the strings that you are strumming are ringing clearly.
When you're playing a power five chord to get the power five sound from a rock bar chord,
be sure that you play the lowest two or three notes of the shape only.
And be sure that you're getting a distortion sound from your amplifier.
Also there are two basic shapes for rock bar chords.
A root on fifth string shape and a root on sixth string shape.
Now what I'd like you to do is complete the exercises for section four,
then return to the check yourself section of the video for section four.
And once you feel comfortable with those exercises, then move on to the next section.
Alright, now let's check yourself and see how you're doing on the exercises for section number four, the chord exercises.
Now the first exercise we're going to check is exercise number one. And exercise number one looks like this.
Alright, I'm going to count us off here, give us four counts to establish a tempo to play the exercise at.
One, two, three, four.
Alright, that's what exercise number one looked like.
Now if you had a hard time changing to some of these shapes, it's one thing that may help you with this considerably.
Instead of holding the chord out for the entire measure like this.
One, two, three, four.
And then trying to change to the next chord, you may want to simply strum down on the first beat of the measure.
One, and then change over beats two, three, and four to the next chord so that you can come down exactly on the first beat of the measure for that chord.
In other words, that would look like this.
F, two, three, four.
C, two, three, four.
G, two, three, four.
Et cetera. I'm just using the second, third, and fourth beats of the measure to change to the upcoming chord.
Alright, now let's take a look at exercise number two.
Now, the most important thing on exercise number two is to finger the chords exactly as indicated on the chord graphs.
Okay?
There are some different fingerings for the same chords in this exercise.
In other words, look at the first measure of the exercise where the E minor is.
And you can see I'm fingering the E minor using my first and second fingers.
Now, in the last measure, I'm fingering the E minor using my second and third fingers.
Now, why is that?
Well, let's look at the first measure again.
And the first measure I'm using my first and second fingers to finger the E minor chord because the next measure, the upcoming measure, is a C chord.
And in that C chord, I have on the fourth string second fret my second finger playing that note, just like in the E minor chord I was using in the first measure,
I was using my second finger to play the fourth string second fret.
Okay?
So, in other words, I have a note in common between the two chord shapes.
And for that reason, I'm fingering the E minor differently in the first measure than I am in the last measure.
Now, this is a concept you want to always keep in mind when you're moving from chord to chord.
If you have tones or chord notes in common in your chord shapes, try and leave those fingers down on the neck in order to make a smoother, more efficient chord change.
All right, now I'm going to play exercise number two, and I want you to follow along with me on your screen.
So, exercise number two starts out with an E minor chord.
And again, I am going to count us off by counting to four and establishing a tempo.
Once again, follow the chord chart on your screen and finger the chords exactly as indicated.
Be sure you're strumming down on the first beat of each measure.
And if you're having a hard time getting to the chords, use the second, third, and fourth beats of the measure to change to the upcoming chord.
All right, let's try this exercise.
One, two, three, four.
E minor.
Two, three, four.
C.
Two, three, four.
A minor.
Two, three, four.
E minor.
Two, three, four.
G.
Two, three, four.
D minor.
Two, three, four.
A add nine.
Two, three, four.
E.
Two, three, four.
G seven.
Two, three, four.
C.
Two, three, four.
F major seven.
Two, three, four.
D minor.
Two, three, four.
G.
Two, three, four.
B seven.
Two, three, four.
E minor.
Two, three, four.
All right, so those exercises that we just completed should have given you a very good idea of how to play some rock bar chords or power five chords,
and how to do some commonly used root position open chords.
Once you feel comfortable for this material from the chord section, go ahead and move on to the next section of the video.
All right, section number five, the scale pattern section.
Now scales or scale patterns are the main tools for helping you build good, efficient technique in both your right and your left hand.
Scales, patterns, or scales will also play an important role in your soloing as you begin to solo on the guitar.
They're also the basic tools for helping you understand music theory.
Therefore, your study, practice, and understanding of scales and scale patterns is going to play a very important role in the success of your playing.
Now the first scale patterns we're going to look at are called pentatonic scale patterns, and they look like this.
All right, these two patterns are called pentatonic scale patterns.
One of the patterns is called a pentatonic minor pattern.
The other pattern is called a pentatonic major pattern.
Now first of all, we're going to look at the pentatonic minor pattern.
To play the pentatonic minor pattern, begin with your hand, your left hand, in the fifth position.
So your index finger is going to be positioned over the fifth fret.
All right, now what you want to do is begin with the triangle on the scale pattern.
The triangle is the root of the scale.
Remember, the root names the scale, just like the root of a chord names the chord.
Now to play the scale, what you'll do is you'll begin with the triangle, then you'll move from top note on the sixth string to bottom note on the sixth string,
which would be the root and then the note on the eighth fret, which will be played by your fourth finger.
Now you'll notice on your scale patterns that the numbers on the graph correspond with the fingers of your left hand, which should be playing those notes.
So we begin with the root and then play the next note on the scale pattern, on that string, sixth string.
Now after we've completed the notes on the sixth string, you move across the graph to the next string, which would be the fifth string,
and you play the notes on the fifth string in order from top to bottom.
So I'm going to play index finger, third finger.
Now I'm going to move across to the next string, fourth string, and play first finger, third finger.
Now I'll move across to the notes on the third and play first, third.
Now I'll move across to the second string and across to the first string.
So that should look like this.
Alright, now what I'm going to do is descend the scale.
We just played the scale in an ascending motion, which means ascending in pitch, okay?
Now we're going to descend the scale or go back down in pitch to the root.
So I'm going to start on my first string with my fourth finger and play that note.
Now I'm going to play first finger on the first string, then I'm going to come to the second string, fourth, first, and move across, third, first, third, first, third, first, third, or excuse me, fourth, first.
Alright, now that was a pentatonic minor scale pattern.
This particular scale pattern would be in the key of A pentatonic minor because the root is over an A note and the root names the scale.
So we just played an A pentatonic minor scale.
We ascended the scale and descended the scale and we played that scale in the fifth position because our index finger was positioned over the fifth fret.
Now let's take a look at the other scale pattern, the pentatonic major scale pattern.
Now the pentatonic major scale pattern looks exactly like the pentatonic minor scale pattern, but the root now is on the fifth string using your fourth finger, or excuse me, fifth fret, sixth string using your fourth finger.
So now we are in the second position, okay, our index finger is positioned over the second fret.
Now with this scale pattern I'm going to again begin on the root of the pattern. You always want to begin a scale on the root of the pattern.
After I play the root, because it is the lowest note on the sixth string, now I am going to move across to the fifth string and begin with the top note on the graph and play to the lower note on the graph.
And I'm going to follow that same top to bottom on each string moving from left to right across the neck, that same pattern up to the fourth finger on the first string.
So I just ascended the A pentatonic major scale now up to my fourth finger and now I'm going to descend the pattern beginning with my fourth finger and going fourth, first, fourth, first, third, first, third, first, third, first, fourth, first, and then fourth again.
So notice when I descended I started here on the first string, I played the notes down to the root and at that point I passed by the root, played the notes that are below the root, which in this case was only one note, and then moved up and ended on the root.
So notice I started and ended on the root, okay, you always want to start a scale and end a scale on the root. The root names the scale.
So basically you're moving from left to right across the neck and from top to bottom on the strings, you're beginning and ending on the roots.
You do want to try and alternate pick these scales. If you have a kind of a tough time at first you may want to get comfortable with your left hand by using plain down stroke picking.
And once you feel good enough that you can move on to the alternate picking then try and incorporate the alternate picking with your right hand into your scale pattern.
Remember to start on the root and end on the root.
Now what I'd like you to do is go to your book and do the exercises for the scale section in your book.
Remember to play at a smooth even tempo or pace and only play the exercise as fast as you can play it perfectly.
Try the exercises in the book on your own then come back and play them along with me in the check yourself section.
Remember your progress depends on your practice. Now stop the tape here and try the exercises in the exercise section.
Alright now let's check your progress on section number five the scale pattern section.
Play along with me as I play all of the scales that we're going to go through.
Let's try starting out here with the pentatonic minor scale root on sixth string and we're going to play in the fifth position which makes this an A pentatonic minor scale.
Ready begin.
Notice how I alternate picked the scale.
Alright now let's try the second scale the D pentatonic minor scale in the fifth position.
This one will have its root on the fifth string.
Now remember we'll play up to the first string back to the root then we'll play the notes below the root and come back and end on the root.
Let's try this one D pentatonic minor.
Ready begin.
Again notice I'm playing at a smooth slow even tempo.
You want to only play as fast as you can play it perfectly.
Alright let's move on to the pentatonic major shapes.
Here we're going to move into the second position and we're going to begin with an A pentatonic major shape root on sixth string.
One, two, three, four.
Alright now let's try the D pentatonic major shape root on fifth string second position.
Ready begin.
Alright now let's try your major scales.
These ones have a few more notes than the pentatonic major or pentatonic minor scales.
The first major scale we're going to look at is root on sixth string major scale and we're going to play this one in the fourth position.
This one again will put us in the key of A but our root is starting on the second finger here.
So we're going to start with the root on the second finger and then move up the string and across the neck according to the rules of the scale pattern usage.
Okay let's try this.
This is the root on sixth string major scale. Ready begin.
Alright that was root on sixth string major.
Now let's try a root on fifth string major shape.
And for this one I am going to have to shift to the second position. I'll begin with my root on the fifth string using my fourth finger on the fifth fret.
And I am playing out of second position.
Now this is a D major scale.
Let's try this one.
Ready begin.
Alright now we're going to look at the last scale pattern which is the natural note scale.
Now this scale pattern is played with your first finger in first position.
But notice on the graph the open strings are named or labeled at the top of the graph.
The E, A, D, G, B, and E.
What you will do on this natural note scale is begin with the open E on the sixth string at the nut.
Then you'll play the F and the G on that string.
After you play those two notes you'll move across to the fifth string and begin with the open A.
Then you'll play the B and the C.
You'll move across the pattern beginning with the open note on the nut on every string.
As soon as you get to the G on your first string, descend the pattern starting with G coming down to F then open E.
Then you'll go to D on the second string, C, open B, etc. until you reach the open E again.
This is called the natural note scale because if you start with the E here and you follow this scale pattern,
you will land on only natural notes across the first three frets.
Alright let's try this natural note scale pattern beginning with the open E.
One, two, three, four.
Alright now if you have completed those scales or you have accomplished those scales,
your technique should be well on its way to being right up there with the best of them.
Now if you can't quite keep up with me on this section, just hang in there and keep practicing these scales.
Eventually you'll be able to play them fast enough.
These scales are tough business.
Remember your progress depends on your practice.
Let's move on with the next section.
Alright here we are, section number six, the live playing exercise section.
This is the first section where we are going to start actually playing to cassette tapes
and showing you what it's like to play with cassette tapes of your favorite bands or to play with a live band.
So this is a section where we combine everything we've done so far and start learning how to play guitar with cassette tapes or live bands.
Now the first exercise we are going to look at in this section, exercise number one, playing exercise number one, looks like this.
Because exercise one is so long, we are only going to put half of the exercise on the screen right now.
Alright, exercise number one looks like this.
Now notice exercise number one you were playing one chord per measure of the exercise.
Now let's take a close look at the first eight bars of the exercise.
In the first measure we have an A minor chord, an open A minor chord.
That open A minor chord is fingered in your booklet.
All the chords for this exercise show fingerings at the bottom of the chord chart in your booklet.
If you don't have a work booklet, you can go back to section number four, the chord exercise section,
exercise number two, and that exercise shows fingerings for all of the chords used in this exercise.
So that was section number four, exercise number two, if you need to find references for fingerings for these chords.
Otherwise just look at the fingerings in your work booklet to see how these fingerings are made.
So we are looking at a common chord chart.
The first measure is an A minor chord.
There is no slash in this measure.
When you don't see a slash, just assume that you strum one chord per measure.
The next measure is an F power five chord.
Notice it says root on sixth string.
So in the next measure you are playing F power five chord root on sixth string.
The third measure you will be playing an open G chord.
And in the fourth measure we have some numbers placed on the little lines that are in that measure.
Now that system of lines and numbers is a system of musical notation called tablature,
a very common way of writing music for guitar.
The way the tablature works is this.
First of all the six lines represent the sixth strings of the guitar.
The lowest line represents the sixth string on the guitar.
And above that would be fifth, fourth, third, second, and the top line would be the first string of the guitar.
Now the numbers on the lines represent the frets on the guitar.
In other words, the first number you see there is number three, right?
That means third fret fifth string because that three is on the second to the bottom line,
which represents the fifth string on the guitar.
So you are playing third fret fifth string.
The next number tells you to play second fret fifth string.
The next number is a zero which stands for open.
So then you would play fifth string open.
And the last number again is a zero, but this time the number is on the sixth string.
Alright, so the tablature, the numbers equal the frets, and the strings are represented by the lines.
So in that measure we had a measure of tablature.
Now all of those notes are played on the downbeats in the measure.
In other words, I am going to play the three on the first beat of the measure, the two on the second beat of the measure,
the open fifth on the third beat of the measure, and the open sixth on the fourth beat of the measure.
So this is going to sound, the first measure of tablature will sound like this.
You are not going to see me play it, but it will sound like this.
One, two, three, four.
Notice I played one note per beat in that measure.
Alright, now let's talk a little bit more about how to read through this graph.
Whenever you approach a common chord chart, the very first thing you should do is familiarize yourself with the chords you are going to be playing.
That's why I pointed out to you right away that we were playing an A minor, an F5, and a G.
Because I want to be somewhat familiar with the chords that we are going to be playing in the exercise.
Now we are just looking at the first eight measures.
So you notice the only chords we need to know for the first eight measures are the A minor, the F power 5, and the G.
Now also you should be familiar with the tablature for these measures if you want to get it down smoothly.
Now what we are going to do to play this exercise, and I am just going to demonstrate playing the first eight measures for you,
is begin at the double bars with the A minor.
Now I am going to count off a group of four notes to establish a tempo once again.
Okay, and I am going to play through the eighth measure.
I will strum down on the first beat on all of these chords of the measure.
If you have a difficult time changing to any of the chords, remember use the second, third, and fourth beats to change.
Now let's go ahead and try these first eight measures of exercise number one.
I will count us off.
One, two, three, four.
Two, three, four.
Alright, so that is what the first eight measures should have sounded like.
What I want you to do now is I want you to stop the tape here,
and I want you to learn the rest of the chords and the rest of the tablature for exercise number one, and try it on your own.
Once you feel comfortable with this exercise, come back to the tape,
and I am going to play this exercise along with a recorded drum beat so we can show you how to play along with a drummer.
That is our first step in learning how to play with other instruments or with recorded tapes of your favorite bands.
So stop the exercise here, learn the chords and the tab for the rest of the exercise, then return and try playing it along with me.
Alright, now we are going to try playing exercise number one with the cassette tape of a recorded drum machine,
and this is our first step to learning how to play with record albums of your favorite bands or tapes of your favorite bands.
Alright, what I have done is in this cassette machine I have a tape of a drum beat.
What is going to happen is the drum beat will give us a count, it will establish a count for us.
You will hear this, one, two, one, two, three, four.
Those last four counts are establishing the tempo we are going to play the exercise at.
So as soon as I start this we are going to begin our exercise.
And when I start the machine we will put the graphics up on the screen so you can follow along with me as I play the exercise.
Alright, so that was an example of exercise number one being played with a drum beat.
And that is your first step in playing with other live musicians or in playing to tapes of your favorite bands.
Now if you had a hard time playing that exercise, keep trying.
Here are some hands that may help you in upping your speed on the exercise.
Remember, be familiar with all of the chords and all of the tablature that you are going to use.
Also, you can use the second, third, and fourth beats of each measure to be changing chords to the upcoming chord.
Now if you had a hard time changing from the tablature to the upcoming chords, all of that tablature ended with an open note.
In other words, in the first measure of tablature we had this.
Notice those last two notes I played were open notes.
You can use the space that those open notes are taking to change to your upcoming chords.
That is another helpful way of completing chord changes.
So hang in there, keep practicing this, work on this thing sections at a time.
Maybe break it down to eight measures at a time.
Don't try and do the whole thing at once.
Work on it little bits at a time and accomplish those small goals, maybe say the first eight measures, before you move on with the rest of that section, if you are having problems with it.
If not, excellent. Hang in there.
Alright, now let's look at exercise number two.
Alright, exercise number two looks like this.
Now don't have a heart attack.
And actually we can't put the whole thing on the screen because it is such a big exercise.
So you will see portions of it come up at a time.
Now exercise number two is a little more involved than exercise number one.
So be sure that you have exercise number one completely down before you attempt exercise number two.
Now I am just going to explain some things that you need to know about exercise number two.
Once again, exercise number two incorporates all of the aspects of the different techniques that we have used so far.
It also demonstrates some commonly used methods of musical notation.
So you will not see the entire exercise on the screen at once, but that really doesn't matter because the best way to approach a new chord chart is to work on the exercise in sections anyway.
So first of all, let's kind of identify the different parts of the chord chart here.
We are going to start with the first measure.
We are on a B flat power five chord root on fifth string.
Now you should by this point know how to make that B flat chord.
The other thing that we have going on in the first measure is we have eight slashes.
That means we are going to be strumming down eight times on the B flat chord in that measure.
We will also be strumming down eight times on the B flat chord in the second measure.
Now, because there are so many slashes there, it is hard to keep track of how many times that you have strummed on the guitar.
And you don't want to keep track of it like this.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirty, forty, fifteen, sixteen.
That is too confusing.
The easiest way to break down those groups of eight slashes is to do this.
Break them into groups of four.
Feel those slashes or those strums in groups of four.
So it will sound like this.
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
Four groups of four slashes a piece.
That equals sixteen.
It is easier to keep track of it that way.
All right.
The next thing that we are going to do is in the third measure we will just strum down on a C power five chord root on fifth string.
All of the chords in this exercise are going to be power five chords.
Now the next measure, the fourth measure, we will just continue holding the C chord from the previous measure, from the third measure.
So that C in the third measure will be held for actually a total of eight counts.
Now after that we move on to the fifth measure where we again have a C.
But this time we have two slashes in the fifth measure.
Now this measure should sound like this.
That is all there is to it.
Two slashes.
To play that measure in the following measure it would sound like this.
And that feel is the feel that you want to have for each measure that you see two slashes in.
Now there is one other thing in the fifth measure that I want to point out to you.
Next to that C chord you will see a double bar with two double dots.
That is a repeat sign.
Now I am going to explain that in detail in just a second.
So from the fifth measure we will continue with the C two times.
Go to the sixth measure, C two times.
Then we will go to the next line in the exercise which is a B flat.
Again we are just following the pattern of strums which is two strums per measure.
On a B flat we will move on to the F.
Then we will move on to the C.
Now at the end of the second line here that puts us in the twelfth measure.
Notice there is another group of double lines with double dots.
That double dot set of double dots with double lines is a repeat sign.
And that tells you to repeat from the first repeat sign that was pointing towards it.
Which would have been that repeat sign in the fifth measure C.
So you are going to, those two repeat signs are acting as parentheses.
And you are going to repeat that section one time and one time only.
And then you will move on with the rest of the exercise.
So from the twelfth measure now we move into measure thirteen.
Which is the first measure on the third line.
And in that measure we see a G strummed one time followed by some tablature.
You will have to figure out how to play that tablature.
That measure should sound like this.
Okay you will have to figure out how to do this.
Okay the next measure again you will have an F strummed one time followed by some tablature.
Should sound like this.
And then we have a C, two slashes or two strums on a C followed by another C.
Watch your repeat signs it tells you to repeat that whole line.
The next line you should be able to figure out just fine.
You have all the technique and knowledge and know how to be able to complete that line.
Now we will move on to the following line.
Again we start with a G, play some tab.
F, play some tab.
Then we have two down strums on a C.
Now the next measure has a line over it.
Okay the twenty eighth measure has a C with two slashes in it and a line over that measure.
With the number one at the beginning of that line.
That little line over the measure is called an ending.
Okay and the way you approach an ending is like this.
Let's go back to the first of this line.
The twenty fifth measure will be in a G, play the tab.
F, play the tab.
C with the two down strokes.
Then we take ending number one which is underneath the line with the number one in front.
Now at the end of that measure there is a repeat sign.
So at the end of ending number one there is a repeat sign.
And that tells us to go back to the first repeat sign pointing towards it.
Which is the G with the tab again.
Then the F with the tab.
Then the two C's.
Now at the end of that measure, the measure of the C with the two down strums.
We've already completed ending number one.
So we don't want to play ending number one again.
At this point you jump over ending number one and you play ending number two.
Which is a C, eight slashes or eight down strums.
Now from that point you will move on with the rest of the exercise.
Now those endings are important to remember.
Be sure you understand how they work because they are seen on all sorts of chord charts.
So after the second ending we move on.
You should be able to play all of that material no problem.
Watch your repeat signs.
Move on with the next line, no problem.
Move on with the second to last line.
We've got the G with the tab, the F with the tab, two C's.
We repeat that.
And then that takes us to the last line.
In the last line we play a G in the first measure with the tablature.
Now the next measure we have an F.
And then we have after the F a little bar with a dot after it.
That bar with the dot is called a rest.
Now in the next video in the series, beginning rhythm in rock guitar,
we will go into detail about reading rhythm and understanding rhythm.
And you will know what this rest means and how to read that.
But all you need to know for right now is that that bar with the slash is telling you to rest for three beats of that measure.
So in that measure what you're going to do is strum down on the F on the first beat and rest on the second, third and fourth beats.
It should sound like this.
Two, three, four.
Just like that.
One, two, three, four.
Then you'll move on with the C, two down strums.
And in the last measure you will hit a C and rest for beats two, three and four.
C, two, three, four.
Now that explanation should get you started on this exercise.
You should now know how to play that exercise.
What I want you to do is try this exercise in sections on your own.
Break it down into sections, okay?
Take it in small parts and then try the whole thing.
If you don't understand something, go ahead and come back and watch the explanation again.
Then once you feel comfortable with the exercise, come back to the check yourself section here.
And we are going to go ahead and play playing exercise number two.
Alright, now we're going to play exercise number two, the pinnacle of our guitar playing experience here on introduction to rock guitar.
Okay, now with exercise number two, there's one thing I have to explain to you about the beginning of this.
This exercise does not start off with a count off like the other exercises did.
This exercise simply starts off with the guitar on the tape beginning right away with measure number one on the eight down strums on the B flat chord.
Now because it's hard to estimate when the guitar is going to start on the tape, what you will want to do is let the guitar on the tape come in for the first measure, the first eight down strums, and then you join the guitar on the tape.
So I'm going to start the tape.
We're going to play exercise number one, or exercise number two all the way through.
And you just follow along on your screen and make sure you can do this perfectly.
So I'm going to go ahead and start the tape.
Here we go.
Okay.
All right.
Exercise number two all said and done.
Excellent job you guys.
Hang in there.
If you had a tough time on this exercise, just hang in there and it will come together.
Remember you can work in sections on this exercise.
And also remember get exercise number one down completely before you go on with exercise number two.
Now as you've completed all the material on this tape, if you were my private student, I would consider you now an entry level guitar player.
Ready, willing, and able to start playing with tapes of your favorite bands.
All right all of you hot new guitar players.
Congratulations.
You made it all the way through the entire Introduction to Rock Guitar video course.
Good job.
Hang in there.
Remember your progress depends on your practice.
Remember stay with music instructional videos.
The leaders in state of the art music education.
On behalf of MIV, my name is Scott Graves.
Take care.
Thank you.