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Easy Fingerstyle Melody for Beginners. Acoustic Guitar Lesson!

Dec 7, 2017

Easy Fingerstyle Melody for Beginners

Dark Ages Symphony

Today I want to show you this easy fingerstyle melody for beginners called Dark Ages Symphony. I was

inspired by a soundtrack I was listening to a while ago for a documentary on the Dark Ages, Medieval period between the 5th and 15th Century.

The melody is easy but also challenging as we will play it on two different octaves.

This is the perfect fingerstyle melody for beginners, so start with this lesson if you want to familiarize yourself with fingerstyle acoustic guitar.

Let’s get started.

Fingerstyle Melody – Video Lesson

As always, let’s start with the video lesson to have an idea of what we are going to learn. You can also have access to the tab 100% free as this is part of the BlitzGuitar Melody lab program.

The melody

Fingerstyle Guitar Lesson for Beginners

Let’s talk about the fingerstyle melody you are about to learn. The idea was to create a straightforward melody that could be played on two octaves.

The first octave based on the first position of the guitar will be played within the first three frets of the fingerboard, and it’s pretty simple. The second octave is more challenging, and even though it is the same rhythmic and melodic part, it will require more practice to become fluent.

The fingerstyle pattern is also pretty straightforward.

The melody, highlighted with the red color, will be played with the fingerstyle technique, always using alternate fingering (index and middle finger).

The bass note, which is in yellow color, will be played with the thumb with no exceptions.

Fingerstyle Melody on Different Octave

Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar

Once you become familiar with the first part of the fingerstyle melody, you should then move on to the second part of this exercise, played on a different octave.

The melody will now start on the 10th fret of the second string, and the entire melody will be played in that position. Even though it might sound challenging, I am pretty confident you will easily play this guitar part!

As you already learned the first octave, playing the same melody one octave higher shouldn’t be too difficult. The rhythm is the same, so it’s all about left-hand finger movement and fingerstyle.

Here’s the second part of the melody!

Notice that the only thing that is different from the first part of the melody is the last two bars.

How to Practice

Fingerstyle Guitar Tips

Let me give you a few guitar tips that can help you practicing this exercise correctly so that you can make the most out of your guitar practice and really nail this exercise as quickly as possible.

Practicing fingerstyle guitar isn’t about piling up hours of practice. You can play guitar for as many hours as you can, but if you don’t have the right method, you will probably end up wasting a lot of time.

Step 1 – Start with the Melody

Steps by Step Guitar Practice!

The first awesome thing we can do when you start practicing this exercise could be focusing on the melody only. You can easily avoid the bass note and play just the top melody with alternate fingering.

This is indeed the perfect way to start learning any guitar part of the fingerstyle melody.

By breaking it down into sections, you will focus on one element at a time and learn the melody step by step.

Step 2 – Bass note and Harmony

Guitar, Fingerstyle, and Chords.

For the next step, we are going to add one guitar part at a time. Usually, after I learned the fingerstyle melody, I start by adding the bass note. Now I can hear the melody much better, with the bass note giving me the harmony!

Usually, adding the bass note shouldn’t be difficult. However, it could be challenging at the beginning to give grove and flow to the melody. Keep practicing slowly and keep trying for a few days. You will get better.

At that stage, I am not quite focusing on the rhythm yet. Take your time learning the melody and bass, then move on to step 3 and add the rhythm.

Step 3 – Add Rhythm

Putting it Together

The last step would be adding the rhythm and any other musical feature that this melody needs. This is the step that every guitar player enjoys the most. With the rhythm, the song becomes more musical and fun to play. It also feels good to perform the exercise finally.

Step 3 is highly motivating and extremely important if you want to build momentum and drive.

Now you should spend a little bit of time enjoying playing this exercise and evaluate your progress. It’s now time to grab the next exercise and make some improvements in your fingerstyle guitar playing.

Learning guitar is a process that never ends.

Keep learning and pushing forwards.

Good luck, guys.

Six Chords in 29 Minutes. Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Secret!

Dec 4, 2017

Simplify Chords using Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar

Six Chords in 29 Minutes

Since I started teaching guitar (fifteen years ago), I’ve heard this question a hundred times and saw the same expression every time I answered it.

The one thing that I love the most about teaching guitar is that you can change people’s beliefs. I can help someone changing their state of mind and go from worrying about learning guitar to enjoying playing guitar is priceless and driving.

Let’s simplify chords!

The Dreadful Question Every Beginner Asks

Student: Can you simplify chords on the guitar?

Me: Yes, we can! We will use the fingerstyle acoustic guitar technique!

Student: Ok, but they told me the fingerstyle technique is difficult.

Me: I know. Losers say that all the time.

There is a way to simplify chords on guitar using the fingerstyle technique, and today I am going to show you how! I have been using this system since I started teaching in 2002 and guitar players (especially beginners) loved it!

The awesome thing about fingerstyle guitar is that it allows you to get rid of strings you don’t need to play and simplify chords down to a “two strings chord.”

Six Chords in 29 minutes

This video lesson is awesome. The chord diagrams are on the screen so that you can easily follow them. Guys, as we will learn this new concept of simplifying chords, keep in mind that it might take a little bit of time to become familiar.

Take things step-by-step, and don’t stress out if it takes longer than 29 minutes to learn that. You can get the chord diagrams and part 2 and part 3 of this mini-program here.

Get the Tab here

The Chord Progression

The chord progression we are going to simplify today is in the key of C major, and it goes as follows:

C – G – Am – G – F – Em7 – F – G – C

If you had to strum all these chords, you would probably agree that some of them are more difficult than others. For example, the F major is always a pretty difficult chord to play at first, and the C major and G major can be quite stretchy at first.

In this lesson, we will play “two strings chord,” which can be possible only by using the fingerstyle technique.

Check out how we simplify the C major chord using fingerstyle.

The C major Chord Simplified

The C major chord is quite a basic chord. This is definitely not the most difficult one you’ll ever play, but some guitar players can be pretty challenging due to its stretch.

The distance between the 5th and 2nd string can be quite stretchy if you are a beginner. Also, I am sure that many of you struggled to get the 4th string sounding good.

I am sure you can make this chord pretty clear sounding after a few practice sessions, but what if you can make it super easy so that you don’t struggle at all?

In the example below, we will eliminate the 1st, 3rd, and 4th string so that we are left with just the 5th and 2nd to play.

How easy is that!

The F major Chord Simplified

Let’s try with a tough chord for beginners. The F major is known to be one of the most challenging chords on the guitar. And trust me, it is!

It’s a six strings chord that requires a technique called bar chord. I will not explain exactly how to play it but trust me, this chord is extremely challenging.

With fingerstyle guitar, we can simplify this chord to a two strings chord that any beginner guitar player can play.

Check it out and try.

Classical Guitar Fingerstyle Pattern for Beginners

Dec 3, 2017

Classical Guitar Fingerstyle

Today I want to share this simple lesson on the acoustic guitar using a classical guitar fingerstyle pattern for beginners.

I know that many of you think that classical and acoustic guitar are different instruments, and it is partially true.

They have different strings and shapes, and they don’t share the same repertoire, but the fingerstyle pattern I am about to show you today will change your thoughts about acoustic and classical guitar.

The Classical guitar pattern – Video lesson

As always, let’s start with the video lesson so you can have an idea of what we are going to learn. In this video lesson, I really want to focus a lot on the right-hand classical guitar fingerstyle pattern we will learn today.

We will have a right hand close up, and I will show you step by step how to improve your fingerstyle technique using this awesome pattern.

If you are a beginner and you want to know more about fingerstyle guitar, make sure you check out this article.

The Fingerstyle Pattern Explained

Let me start by saying that this is a classical guitar fingerstyle pattern that I learned from a classical guitar book called Sagreras – First guitar lesson for beginners, which is one of the most famous books for classical guitar beginner guitar players.

The fingerstyle pattern is straightforward and repetitive below the guitar tab, where I break it down for you.

The yellow section represents one pattern. Each bar contains two fingerstyle patterns.

Each pattern goes as follow: P – i – m – i – a – i – m – i –

You can start familiarizing yourself with the pattern by playing with open strings before playing the chord progression.

The Chord Progression

Let’s spend a few words on the chord progression you are about to learn with this classical guitar fingerstyle exercise.

Before we get started, let me say that this chord progression combines basic and intermediate chords.

The majority of the chords will be pretty simple to learn. The progression goes as follows:

A – E – D – A – E – F#m7add11 – E – D – A – E – A

Even though the chord progression seems to be quite long, I can guarantee you that it isn’t difficult at all. In fact, we are always repeating the same chords, and you shouldn’t struggle a lot.

The F#m7add11 is more difficult to pronounce than to play it. It is again a pretty simple chord to play with two fretted notes and two open strings.

Check out the guitar tab below.

Classical guitar fingerstyle Tab

Spice up Your Guitar Chord Progression using the 153 Chord Shape

Dec 1, 2017

Guitar Chord Progression

How to spice up your chords on guitar using the 153 chord shape

Are you bored with always playing the same chords over and over again? Well, I can’t really blame you!

We spend so much time practicing things such as technique, tone, dynamics, and melodies. But what about chords?

Today I will show you how you can spice up basic chords on guitar using the 153 chord shape. This chord is perfect if you use fingerstyle guitar, and it is very simple to memorize and implement in your guitar playing.

You can learn more about what fingerstyle acoustic guitar is here in this article I wrote a while ago.

The Guitar Lesson

As always, let’s start with the video lesson to have an idea of what we are going to learn. This guitar chord progression is pretty simple and “basic.” There will be only two chord shapes to learn, and the fingerstyle pattern is pretty simple and straightforward. Check the guitar lesson down below.

The Chord Progression

Awesome! I am sure you like a guitar lesson. Let’s analyze the chord progression and learn the four chords you will need.

D major, A major, B minor, and G major

If you are familiar with the basic chord progression above you, probably realize that what I just played in the video doesn’t sound like the chord progression, you know.

The reason for that is because I am using a different chord shape that changes the interval structure and the voicing of the chord giving it a completely different sound.

Let me show you how to play this awesome guitar chord progression using the 153 chord shape.

The 153 Chord Shape

The 153 chord is a type of chords built on three notes: The root note, the 3rd, and the 5th. We call that triad (or chord).

The triad is the simplest chord in music, and you have been using it since you started playing guitar. In fact, all the basic chords you play are probably triads.

What a 153 chord shape looks like?

Let me show you the two-chord shape we are going to learn today. The chord progression we are about to learn has three major chords and one minor. For that reason, we will be learning two different 153 chord shapes.

The Major 153 chord shape

This is the major 153 chord shape. The number next to the notes refer to the left-hand fingering.

You will play the note on the 4th string with the index finger, the note on the 3rd string with the second finger, and the note on the 1st string with the fourth finger.

The index finger (the one on the 4th string) represents the ROOT note, giving the name of the major chord considering its position on the neck.

Example: Play this chord with the index finger on the 4th string fret two; this note is E; therefore, the chord will be E major,

The 153 Minor Chord Shape

The minor 153 chord shape is also pretty simple to memorize. We are lowering the 3rd the notes on the first string one fret down to change the chord from major to minor.

The left-hand fingering is the same, with the only difference in the first string where we will use the 3rd finger rather than the 4th.

Familiarize yourself with the two-chord shape before putting it together and play the whole thing.

If you find the chords too stretchy for your left hand, you can check this useful left-hand stretchy exercise here.

The Chord Progression Diagrams

Below you will find the chord progression written in chord diagrams. By using the chord diagrams, you will be able to see the chord shape as well as the distance between each chord. Obviously, the three major chords share the same 153 chord shape. Click to enlarge.

Fignerstyle Guitar. Spanish Chord Progression for Beginners. Acoustic Guitar Lesson

Nov 29, 2017

Spanish Chord Progression for Beginners

Today I want to talk to you about one of the most romantic and expressive guitar style: Spanish Guitar. I consider this guitar style the most beautiful and captivating music on Earth, and today, we are learning one of its most common Spanish chord progression.

Grab your acoustic guitar and get ready to learn something easy yet really effective and fun to play.

This is the perfect Spanish Chord Progression for Beginners that nobody taught you yet.

Spanish chord progression video lesson and tab

In this acoustic guitar lesson, you will be learning four different chords and a Spanish fingerstyle pattern, and a Spanish chord progression.

We will break it down and analyze each aspect of this exercise to improve not only your “fingers” but also your guitar skills and music theory knowledge.

The Chord Progression

The chord progression is straightforward and easy to learn. We are in a key of E minor, and we will follow one of the most common chord progression in Spanish music.

E minor, D major, C major B7

The first step here is to memorize the chord progression with basic chords and a simple strumming pattern. The chord progression can be played with basic chords. If you want to know more about basic chords, check out the skills page here.

Once you familiarize yourself with the chord progression, you will apply the fingerstyle pattern that is so characteristic of Spanish guitar.

Let check it out.

The Spanish Fingerstyle arpeggio

This Spanish arpeggio is one of the most common in Spanish Guitar. Let’s break it down into three different chunks.

As you notice, the plucking pattern is pretty simple, and it can be divided into two different ones.

The yellow color: Same pattern with the thumb, middle, and index finger. The only difference between the two is the string that the thumb will pluck.
The red color: Just two notes with the thumb always on the 4th string.

One thing you can do to make this fingerstyle pattern easy to memorize is to group it in that way:

123 123 12 – 123 123 12

Practice the arpeggio on the E minor chord for a while before moving on to the next chord.

Style and Performance

You should always consider when playing a Spanish chord progression like this one is which note you should emphasize. It is vital to accent the notes played with the thumb to create a strong rhythmic contrast between melody and accompaniment.

The rhythmic emphasis will then look like that.

By emphasizing each group’s first beat, you will be able to give more dynamics and style to such a simple chord progression.

Practice slowly, and make sure you also focus on reducing the volume on the top two strings. Good luck with that.

Difficult Parts

One chord will challenge you a little bit more than the rest, and this is the D major chord. The reason why this chord is more challenging than the rest is due to its stretch.

The D major chord in this chord progression will also play an additional note on the 4th string fret four making it pretty stretchy and difficult to get at first.

Here a picture of the bugger!

Try to keep the left-hand thumb down behind the neck (I am not really following this rule, but hey, I am the teacher!) and stretch with the little finger close to the fret.

There might be a buzzing noise at first, but I am sure that with some purposeful practice and consistency, you will successfully play this chord. Not all the Spanish chord progression is easy to play!

If you need to stretch your left-hand fingers, I have an awesome stretchy exercise that you can follow here.

My thoughts

I really think that this Spanish chord progression will help you learn new chords and rhythmic patterns and musicality and fluidity. It is indeed an exercise disguised as a song.

As always, make sure you practice everything steps by step and learn each chord individually. You will also find it helpful to check out this article about finger positions and avoid them when practicing fingerstyle guitar.

Fingerstyle guitar is awesome, and with these exercises things, you will love it even more.

Estas Tonne Fingerstyle Guitar Lesson with Tab. Acoustic Guitar Lesson.

Nov 29, 2017

Estas Tonne Fingerstyle Lesson

There are very few guitar players that come across as impressive as Estas Tonne. Born in Ukraine in 1975, Estas Tonne’s guitar style has impressed guitar players and many crowds all over the World.

There are three words to describe his guitar playing: Charismatic, expressive, and Gypsy.

Estas Tonne’s fingerstyle guitar has become so popular all over the world that it took him from busking on the streets to sell out arenas where he performs and promotes his music influenced by Flamenco, Gypsy, Latin and modern music.

The Fingerstyle Guitar Lesson

Today I want to try to give you an idea of his guitar playing by sharing a guitar lesson with you based on one of his fingerstyle patterns. Before we get started, let me say that his guitar style is tough to “code,” so don’t expect the same bit of music he usually plays.

This guitar lesson is not a transcription of one of his works, but an attempt to (ethically) steal a piece of his style so that I (and hopefully you) can understand more about this awesome guitar player.

I apologize if what you’ll find doesn’t resonate with you.

Learning from Estas Tonne’s fingerstyle isn’t easy at all.

Enjoy the guitar lesson.

Video Tutorial

In this video tutorial, I will show you one of the famous Estas Tonne fingerstyle patterns that can be used over different chord progressions. You can find a similar pattern in the song Golden Dragon which is the song that inspired this lesson.

Let’s get into details with step by step guitar lesson below.

“Stealing” from Estas.

One thing handy that we can do as guitar players is to analyze and learn from others. Transcribing our favorite players allows you to learn so many different aspects, techniques, and musical ideas that are not part of your guitar playing.

We can ethically “steal” from all these guitar players to learn more techniques and slowly incorporate them into our guitar playing.

The Guitar Tab

Below you will find the guitar tab for the Estas Tonne fingerstyle exercise and few tips on how to approach such a difficult guitar part.

I highly recommend you take it step by step and practice one bar at a time as you will see the guitar part is pretty challenging.

Estas Tonne fingerstyle exercise

The song starts with a super-challenging into which is just one bar long but contains twelve notes. Sorry about that!

The one bar intro serves as a launch for this beautiful melody played on one string.

The whole piece should be played with emphasis and flow, focusing on achieving the right balance between volume, fluidity, and musicality.

I highly recommend that when you first start practicing this fingerstyle exercise, I really understand the left-hand movement with the pull-off technique. This technique is key if you want to be able to play this exercise correctly. I wrote an article a while ago about the legato technique. You can learn more about pull off technique here!

The fingerstyle Pattern

Few words about the fingerstyle pattern used in this short song. As I did my best to reproduce the Estas Tonne fingerstyle technique, I know that there are a ton of different variations of it. Estas himself admitted that all his music and techniques come from “within.” His guitar playing keeps changing and evolving, and the stuff that he plays never sounds the same.

I took this fingerstyle pattern from one of his songs Golden Dragon which you can listen to in this awesome YouTube video. The pattern starts at 1:06.

How to simplify this song

This exercise can be approached in many different ways. Unless you are a skilled guitar player able to play this guitar part straightaway, I would recommend breaking it down into pieces. Slowing it down is definitely a good thing, but you might need to take a different road if you are a beginner.

I will show you how you can effectively simplify this exercise by eliminating one musical element so that you can focus on one musical aspect at a time.

I covered this way of simplifying a song in another post where I show you how to simplify Autumn Leaves. You can check it out here!

Step 1 – Eliminate the Bass note.

We can start simplifying this song by eliminating the bass note. This is usually pretty easy and straightforward and a really effective way to simplify this fingerstyle exercise.

Each pattern is six notes long and the first note is always played with the thumb. The first step is to eliminate the first note and play the remaining five notes as they are.

You will still have to count the first note in your head without playing and starting the second string pattern.

Step 2 – Looping

Once you feel comfortable with the guitar part, you can then start looping one or two bars and practice it separately. Estas Tonne fingerstyle patterns are perfect for looping and can be used to really make an awesome improvement in your guitar technique.

I usually recommend to loop one bar at a time, and as you become more fluent, you can then start combining more bars.

Step 3 – Rhythmic Variations

There is also another way to simplify this guitar part by changing the pattern’s rhythm and making it easy. We will not cover this lesson approach, as steps 1 and 2 are already pretty effective.

Conclusions

I had fun analyzing Estas Tonne fingerstyle playing. I know that there is so much more to discover about him, but I am happy with what we have achieved today.

Transcribing is an awesome tool for us to learn from others and ethically steal their style, knowledge, and musical ideas.

I suggest you transcribe your favorite guitar players as much as you can. Be inspired isn’t enough. You have to know more about them and influence your guitar playing with their music.

It’s an awesome journey that anybody can start right now.

The sooner the better.

Good luck.

Acoustic Guitar Exercise. How to stretch your left hand Fingers

Nov 28, 2017

Acoustic Guitar Exercise

How to stretch your left-hand fingers

Beginner lesson.

Hey guys, today I will show you this acoustic guitar exercise that you can use to stretch your left-hand fingers. Guitar players with a developed left-hand fingers stretch can easily play chords and melodies without struggling. Also, fingers stretch allows you to learn more things easily, creating positive momentum and drive.

Overall left-hand stretch is one of the most important aspects you want to develop when it comes to acoustic guitar and fingerstyle guitar.

How stretchy are your fingers? Let’s find out!

The video lesson

Stretchy Chops

First thing first, I will show you the video lesson so that you can have an idea of what the exercise looks like. There are a ton of different variations of it. This is the acoustic guitar exercise using all the fingers, which allows you to stretch your left-hand fingers consistently. However, if you find yourself struggling, you can always decide to simplify it. I am going to show you how later on in this post.

The exercise and its structure

What to expect for Stretchy Chops

This acoustic guitar exercise is based on the famous symmetrical combination that all guitar players refer to as the 1234 exercises. This exercise is pretty common, especially for beginners. It is basically a straightforward and symmetrical way to start “moving” your fingers on the guitar neck by playing a sequence of notes going from the first finger (labeled as number 1) to the fourth finger (labeled as number 2).

This picture shows you the fingers stretch you can obtain by using the sequence. Notice how each finger sits on one fret.

If you start the sequence on fret one with the finger one, then the second fret will have the second finger, the third fret the third finger, and the fourth fret the fourth finger.

Pretty easy, no?!

How to perform the exercise

Fingerstyle guitar tips

Once you understand the symmetrical 1234 finger concept, we can then move on to the acoustic guitar exercise we are about to learn. This exercise guy is pretty straightforward; however, it can be quite challenging to play.

I am going to post the first part of the guitar tab. You can also get the detailed PDF tab plus an introduction to the exercise by creating your BlitzGuitar account and instantly access a ton of free fingerstyle guitar lessons. By the way, this is a lesson from my free ebook, Fingerstyle Engine. 100% free!

This is the tab

As you notice, the finger sequence is played on the second string, and you will be performing a 1234 pattern where each finger sits on a fret. You can start this exercise by playing the second string only before you add the first open.

Once you familiarize yourself with finger stretch on the second string, you can then add the first open string that will be alternated with the second string.

We add the first open string because we want to make sure that your left hand is positioned correctly. If you have to play the first open string, you are forced to lower the left-hand thumb and stretch your fingers to the maximum. Your hand will also be in line with the strings.

If your left hand isn’t positioned correctly, the first string doesn’t ring, so you’ll know that your left-hand position needs to be adjusted.

The worst left-hand position

How to kill your stretch for good!

In this picture, I will show you the WORST position you can apply to guaranteed failure.

Notice how the fingers are “rolling” on the side, and the thumb is sitting on the top neck.

This position kills your finger stretch and reduces the agility and fluidity of your fingers. If you ever find yourself playing using this posture, make sure you spend some time to fix that.

With this position, you will never be able to correctly perform Stretchy Chops as the first string will never ring out properly.

Final Thoughts

How much do you need to practice?

One of the questions I get asked the most is, “For how long should I practice this exercise?”

This is a fundamental question because, as with any acoustic guitar exercise, you want to make sure to allocate the right amount of time for it. Overdoing it will kill your improvement. Playing it for too little will not give you the results you are probably looking for.

I recommend that you practice this exercise for between 8 and 25 minutes. This is the right amount of time for you to fully engage with the exercise and maintain a high focus level. Before you heat 8 minutes, your brain is still “figure things out.” Once you cross the 25 minutes, the autopilot kicks in, so your fingers move, but your mind is somewhere else hence no improvement.

Practice this finger stretch exercise until you feel you are 100% focused on your fingers and feel the stretch and fluidity getting better.

Good luck with this exercise, guys, and please, make sure you take it step by step, practice slowly and enjoy the process.

Autumn Leaves. How to play it on Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar.

Nov 27, 2017

Autumn Leaves Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar

Hey, guys, today I really want to show you how you can simplify this awesome song called Autumn Leaves on Acoustic guitar and really make it simple and fun to play.

Autumn Leaves is one of the most famous Jazz Standard written by Joseph Kosma in 1945 and then played and rearranged hundreds of times by elite musicians worldwide.

A simple song for beginners

Today I am going to propose this fingerstyle acoustic guitar arrangement for beginners, which will help you improve not only your fingerstyle technique but also your musicality and dynamics.

If you want to warm up before you start to learn this song, you can check out this awesome fingerstyle warm up here!

Let’s get started and enjoy the lesson!

The Video Tutorial

In this video lesson, I want to show you how you can easily simplify this beautiful song on acoustic guitar using the fingerstyle technique. If you are a beginner and want to learn how to play something really cool, make sure you watch the video lesson and learn how to play this awesome song. You can also start here if you need a few guitar tips for beginners.

How to Simplify Autumn Leaves

Today I will tell you one thing that is going to change the way you think about learning and playing the guitar. This thing is: EVERYTHING CAN BE SIMPLIFIED.

I know it sounds pretty straightforward, right, yet many guitar players fail to understand this concept. They believe they know how to make a song simple, but practically, all they do is play the song slower. Trust me, playing a song at a slower speed doesn’t make it easier.

For me, simplifying a song means eliminating one or more musical elements so that all you are left with is one musical aspect of the song. Music is made of three elements: Harmony, rhythm, and melody. By eliminating one or two of these elements, you are not only simplifying the song, but you are also becoming aware of its structure.

Step 1 – Start with the melody.

One of the most common ways to simplify a song is by eliminating the harmony (chords) and learning the melody individually. I personally think that learning the melody as the first step will help you memorize the rhythm and chords easily. If you are a beginner, it’s probably the easiest way to get started with a song.

Autumn Leaves melody is straightforward and easy to memorize. This acoustic guitar arrangement focuses.

As you notice, the guitar tab above only shows Autumn Leaves melody played on acoustic guitar. The melody is quite “jumpy,” so I highly recommend you really learn it step by step and memorize the frets and notes to play.

One thing I would also consider is the “alternate fingering” with the right hand. Pluck the melody starting with the index finger and then always alternate between index and middle. The fingerstyle pattern will change a little when we add the bass note, but it will be easy for you to play this simple melody with alternating index and middle finger.

Step 2 – Add the bass note.

Once you practiced the melody and learn it by heart, it is time to add the bass note. The bass note will add more texture to the song and. Also, the chords will come up more clearly, and we start hearing the chord progression.

We are still only playing one single bass note per chord, but the difference is pretty clear. The acoustic guitar tab will look like that.

Now that we added the bass note, the guitar tab looks more “busy” and reach. I can guarantee you that even though we added just one bass note, the song will sound completely different.

If you are a beginner guitar player, you will probably find this stage pretty challenging, so I highly recommend you practice one note at a time and slowly familiarize yourself with the fingerstyle pattern.

As we add the bass note, your plucking will be slightly different. You have to pluck some strings with the thumb simultaneously with the melody, so a little bit of time to adjust is required. Don’t get frustrated if you struggle at the beginning. Keep pushing forward, and you will be fine!

Step 3 – Add chords

Once you really feel like adding the ultimate touch to this awesome acoustic guitar melody, you can definitely start working on chords and harmony.

Let me show you a simple way to add a few chords to Autumn Leaves.

I still want to keep things pretty simple, so I am not going crazy with chords. I will only add a few notes here and there to spice up the harmony and make it sound less basic and more advanced. Check it out!

The Chord Progression

Few words about Autumn Leaves chord progression and its structure. Like much standard Jazz, this song follows a prevalent chord progression found in hundreds of Jazz songs. It goes as follow:

Am7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Cmaj7 – F#min7b5 – B7 – Em

Many guitar players would refer to this chord progression as II – V – I – IV – VII – V – I.

Music is numbers

The Roman numbers represent the grades that each chord represents in the G major scale (which is the scale/key of this song). Jazz musicians need to know each song’s chord progression perfectly so that when gathering together for a “Jam,” they can freely improvise and express themself.

Conclusion

The art of simple songs

Playing the guitar is awesome. It’s fun, creative, and “social.”

The acoustic guitar is definitely one of the most popular instruments around, and it’s amazing how you can learn songs easily if you just spend a few hours practicing.

However, playing the guitar can be frustrating and upsetting sometimes. As for everything we learn, we all come across setbacks and frustrations. The awful moment we try to become better, but for some reason, we don’t see the results.

So how can you keep going even when things get ugly and keep motivated if you are stuck in a guitar rut?

Easy! You simplify the song as we did today so that it’s easy and step by step!

You start by playing the melody and familiarizing yourself with the mood of the song. Then you add the bass note, and only at the end, you spice up everything with some beautiful chords.

The art of simplifying a song is the one important skill you want to acquire if you want to make playing guitar the most enjoyable moment of your day.

To learn this song and then apply this concept to everything you play. You will improve quickly and with joy!

Good luck with your journey, guys.

Fingerstyle Spanish Guitar Lesson. Chords and Arpeggios for Intermediate

Nov 26, 2017

Spanish guitar arpeggio

Super guitar lesson about Spanish guitar arpeggio for intermediate guitar players. If you are searching for an awesome guitar lesson that can help you improve your fingerstyle technique and control, and fluidity, you better check this out!

This Spanish guitar arpeggio is marked as “intermediate,” so if you have been playing guitar for you days, you probably want to come back in few months or when you feel ready!

Also, guys, I recommend you practice guitar slowly and step by step. In this guitar exercise, you will find some difficult chord shape and rhythmic challenges that can really stress you out a little bit.

Practice the guitar with consistency and momentum, and make sure you don’t give up. Usually, the moment you are about to give up on an exercise is also the moment you are about to overcome a plateau and push forward. Good luck!

The Video Tutorial

Below you will find the full guitar lesson of this awesome exercise. You can also get the guitar tab at blitzguitar.com once you create your free account. Here’s the video lesson!

The Chord Progression

Let’s have a look at the chord progression you’ll find in this Spanish guitar arpeggio. Analyzing the chord progression will help you understanding and memorizing the exercise easily. You can also learn the correlation between the chords, so it will be easier in the future to learn a similar exercise.

Chord progression Em – Am – B – Em – Am – B – Em

As you notice in the picture above, each bar contains an arpeggio or chord. The difference between the two is that a chord has all the notes played simultaneously; with the arpeggio, we play the chord individually. Let me explain to you what that means by analyzing the E minor chord.

The E minor chord is composed of three notes: E – G – B. When you strum an E minor chord, you are playing these three notes simultaneously.
The E minor arpeggio contains the same three notes, but they will be played individually.

In this example, you can clearly see the three notes that compose the E minor chord played with the thumb at the bottom of the guitar Tab.

The 4th string fret 2 is E.

The 4th string fret 5 is G.

The 3rd string fret 4 is B.

On top of the arpeggio, you will also play the first and second open strings, which can be considered accompaniment.

The fingerstyle pattern

Let’s talk about the fingerstyle guitar pattern that you will be learning with this Spanish guitar arpeggio. One of the most important things to do when learning a new fingerstyle pattern is to break it down into small patterns. Check the picture below to learn more about the fingerstyle pattern.

We can simplify this fingerstyle arpeggio in two different sections.

The yellow section is based on two identical patterns, with the only difference on the bass note, played on the 6th and 5th string.
The red section is based on two notes only, and it will be played with the bass note on the 4th string.

The fingerstyle pattern is the same throughout the exercise; therefore, you have basically learned the entire exercise pattern when you learn one bar.

Dynamics and Performance

We definitely want to spend a few words on the dynamics and performance of this exercise. This Spanish guitar arpeggio must be played following these two features:

The thumb needs to be louder than the accompaniment, so you must practice the arpeggio, pushing a little more with the thumb and keeping the index and middle finger quiet.
Fluidity is key to make this exercise sound awesomely beautiful.

Guys, this is an awesome lesson, and you are going to love it.

Let me know if you like it!

Simple Spanish Song for Beginners on Acoustic Guitar Tab Available

Nov 26, 2017

Beginners Acoustic Guitar Lesson

Hey, guys, today I am going to show you this awesome fingerstyle guitar lesson for beginners. I personally love this guitar lesson because it is simple but enjoyable to play!

It isn’t easy to find beginner acoustic guitar lessons that are easy and fun to play, so I am constantly trying to write new things to help you improve your guitar playing while having fun.

I called this lesson Spanish Dance and the melody would be played mainly on the first string of your acoustic/classical guitar. As always, make sure you take things to step by step and don’t forget to record yourself from day one so you know how much progress you’ve made over a week/month period.

Let’s get started, guys. Below you will find the video lesson and all the info you need to learn and understand this awesome beginner’s acoustic guitar lesson.

Spanish Dance video lesson

Watch the video lesson several times to learn how to play this beautiful fingerstyle guitar lesson. Below I will analyze the melody so that you can learn more about this beginner’s acoustic guitar lesson.

The melody

This small fingerstyle exercise is based on a straightforward melody that can be easily played on one string. It is pretty common for beginners to start learning a melody on one string as it comes pretty easy and fun to play. However, there are a few things you really have to consider when you start learning this Spanish melody.

We are in a key of E minor, and the chord progression is straightforward. As you notice, we only have one chord at the beginning of the song where you actually play four strings simultaneously. You will only play what we call the “bass and melody” guitar part, which is obviously the melody with one bass note at each bar’s beginning.

Red color: Guitar melody on mainly one string. You can practice that separately without the bass.
Yellow color: The bass note will be played at the beginning of each bar. The chord progression is Em, Am, Em, D, Em, D, and Em. Pretty simple, right!

The hand position

It is essential, guys, that you practice this short song using the correct hand position. I have other posts where I show you how to position your hands of the neck and pluck the strings, so make sure you go back and watch that so you don’t pick up bad habits.

The right-hand position should always pluck the strings following a 45 degree to achieve a beautiful tone and effective plucking articulation. Beginners acoustic guitar players need to learn this approach from day one so that you can get the most out of each single guitar session you’ll in the future.

Look at the picture to learn the correct right-hand position over the strings and follow the picture to readjust your right hand.

The left-hand position is also critical. There are three things you should do to position the left hand on the fret-board effectively.

Keep the thumb positioned straight behind the neck.
Keep the palm away from the bottom neck.
Stretch the left-hand fingers to avoid “buzzing.”

Follow these few tips, guys, and you will be able to play this awesome Spanish melody easily and quickly.