Chords - Exactly Why the Guitar Rocks!

Only so many instruments can play several notes at the same time. Forget the flute and all the woodwinds.

It's hard to carry around a piano in your car. So you've got a choice between violin with a bow, making it impossible to sing along with yourself, and a guitar. You chose guitar because of many reasons, yet the freedom to sing while you play almost anywhere makes guitar highly worthwhile.

Click on this text link to view, download or print the chords handouts. 

Don't get scared by all the eighth and sixteenth notes! Stretch yourself to learn.

We begin with simpler chord sequences and I include the tab so you can remind yourself in the beginning, while you're on the steep learning curve.

Also see my past chord key of G handout. Enjoy!

Note Values Handouts... Timing is Everything!

What are note values?

Kind of like fractions in math. Really, if you intend to play music well, you'll never escape math.

Click this text link to view, download, or print my Note Values handouts.

Note values simply tell you how long to let a note last. The difference between the familiar tune of "Flight of the Bumblebee" and the tune of a popular funeral march begins with note values.

Start with a tempo... keep the value of your notes consistent, and you'll find memorizing note values a breeze.

This is a practice handout. If you want to look at all the values, click on my simple, easy handout for understanding notes. This reference and the above handout will help you understand things a bit better.

Music Theory Part 2 - Intervals? Huh?

Intervals? what's that?

Intervals just tell us how far apart two notes are from each other - one step or five steps away.

Click this text link to view, download or print my intervals handouts.

It's important to know intervals as you learn chords on the guitar. The guitar sounds so magnificently when you play the right combinations of notes. One combination of notes can really ring joyfully in your audience's ear while a half step up or down can mean cruel torture.

Enjoy!

Music Theory Part 1... We All Need It!

So scales, schmales,...

Quick and simple, the do-re-mi made so famous by "The Sound of Music" is a basic scale.
In our culture, we organize 8 notes on a scale as they progress from bottom to top. Learn your scales, and you'll automatically know the rules making each song that you learn, sound so fantastic.

Click this text link to view, download or print my scale handouts.

Practice makes perfect and there's no other way to memorize scales than to play them.