Guitar Workshop e104 : Playing the Major Scale Using All The Strings : Position 1

Hey Again Guys,

Lets learn how to play the major scale using all the strings in this lesson. For now we will learn position 1. Position 1 here means the first way to play the major scale. The are quite a few ways to play the major scale with the guitar, the position 1 being the most important.

If you look at the diagram above, it shows the note positions of the F# major scale. the bottom red circle is the F# note on the top E string (the thickest string).

Just follow the instructions below:

• 2nd finger on the 6th string 2nd fret (F# note)
• little finger on the 6th string 4th fret
• index finger on the 5th string 1st fret
• 2nd finger on the 5th string 2nd fret
• little finger on the 5th string 4th fret
• index finger on the 4th string 1st fret
• ring finger on the 4th string 3rd fret
• little finger on the 4th string 4th fret (F# note.. so you have played through all the notes of the F# major scale and have reached the next octave)
• index finger on the 3rd string 1st fret
• ring finger on the 3rd string 3rd fret
• little finger on the 3rd string 4th fret 
• 2nd finger on the 2nd string 2nd fret
• little finger on the 2nd string 4th fret
• index finger on the 1st string 1st fret
• 2nd finger on the 1st string 2nd fret. (F# note again.. so now you have played the F# major scale through 2 complete octaves)

Make sure that your guitar is well tuned before you play this, otherwise you will have a feeling of hearing notes that do not fall into the major scale.

With the 1st position you can learn how to play the major scale without moving your hand horizontally along the guitar fret board as opposed to playing the major scale on one string.

Now suppose you want to play the A major scale. All you need to do is put your 2nd finger on the 6th string 5th fret, then little finger on the 6th string 7th fret and so on. The cool thing is, all you need to learn is how your fingers are moving. Once you have mastered the finger positions, you can start from any note and get the major scale from there.

You can take a look at this video to know more: Major Scale Position 1

Guitar Workshop e103 : Knowing the Major Scale and Playing it on One String

Hi Guys,

After a long wait we are back with another lesson, knowing the major scale and playing it on one string.
First lets know what is a scale. A scale is quite simply a group of notes that sound good together. The most commonly used scale is the major scale.

As you know there are 12 notes in total which are :

A,

A#,

B,

C,

C#,

D,

D#,

E,

F,

F#,

G,

G#

Now to know about a major scale you need to remember this formula: 2+3+

This means if you want to play a C major scale (The major scale in the key of C i.e. starting from C) you need to first play C, then skip one full tone to D(1), then one full tone to E(2), then one half tone to F(2+), then one full tone to G(2+1), then one full tone to A(2+2), then one full tone to B(2+3) and then one half tone to C again(2+3+). Refer to the diagram below which will show you how to play the C major scale on one string.

So transposing this same formula to the A major scale, you need to play A, B, C#,D,E,F#,G# and A. So any major scale you need to play, you just need to use the above formula of 2+3+

You can all refer to the below youtube video to get a better idea. 

Playing Major Scale on One String Video

Hope you get an idea of what the major scale sounds like with this. Try playing the major scale on different keys. I will be back with more soon. \m/

Guitar Workshop e201 : Barre Chords : Holding techniques with major, minor, major 7th and minor 7th on 6th string

Hey guys...

Please go through this 201 sections if you have already attended the guitar sessions in campus, else if you are a beginner, I recommend you stick to the 101 series for the time being.

Back again, this time with Barre chords. In our sessions, all of you had a tough time holding the barre chord. Definitely it will be tough in the beginning but you guys will get a hang of it slowly.

Now, before we begin, be sure to remember the 4 important chords here:
1. The E Major
2. The E Minor
3. The A Major
4. The A Minor

For all of you who are doing this for the first time, don't get baffled or anything, it will come with time.
For barre chords, I need you guys to check out the following two links

For holding techniques:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpMhueVEz2g

For variations of the barre chords:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNe4oHE8WLU

Always remember that to know which is the root note of your barre chord, the only thing that you need to do is know the note that is being pressed by your index finger.

Just for your reference I am sharing a few sample chord diagrams below which you can refer to after you have checked out the videos

First the E major: this is an open chord and the same structure is repeated for all the major barre chords. All you need to do is just move your hand parallel down the guitar fret board:

E Major

F Major Holding Technique

Note that in the diagram to your left, the top string is open. The open top string is the E note right, so you have the E major chord here






 Now the pic on the
 left is how you hold the F major barre chord. Note the fact that the index finger is pressing down on the 1st frets of the 1st , 2nd and 6th strings. The other 3 fingers are basically holding an E major shape, but just shifted one fret down from where we hold the E major.

F Major Finger Position

The pic on the left is a better diagram of the above figure only.  In this diagram, the note played by the top string is an F note, because you are holding the first fret of your 6th string. So.... an F Major chord






Now similarly if you want to hold, say like an A major barre chord, all you need to do is shift down your hand parallel, so that your index finger now holds the A note on the top string(6th string). Walla !!!! you get an A major chord.

Keep practicing... do write back if you get confused.

Guitar Workshop e102 : Knowing the notes on your fretboard & Tuning your guitar

Hey guys,

Lets take a look at what notes are there on the fret-board. It is very important to know which fret position means which note.  There are 12 notes that you can play on your guitar. Of course these notes start appearing over various octaves. These are:

A,

A#,

B,

C,

C#,

D,

D#,

E,

F,

F#,

G,

G#

These would be read like, A , A sharp, B, C, C sharp and so forth
Note that we don't have a B sharp or an E sharp
You can also write it as:

A,

Bb

B,

C,

Db

D,

Eb

E,

F,

Gb

G,

Ab

These would be read as A, B flat, C, D flat etc.
The important thing to notice here is that A sharp = B flat
Now take a look at the below diagram to know the positions of these notes on your guitar string. If you refer to the e101 article, there we have already learnt which string is tuned to which frequency or note. Now using that lets find out the positioning of the remainder of the notes on the fretboard

Take a look at this link below to know how to tune your guitar. For all guitarists it is very important to know how to tune your guitar because the strings have a terrible tendency to fall out of tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF27dlZOzaE

You can always go and buy a tuner from the store so that its easier for you to tune your guitar. But I would highly recommend that you first try to tune on your own. This will help you get your ear acclimatized to the notes first.

Swagi

Guitar Workshop e101 : How to hold a pic & Knowing the frequencies of your guitar strings

Hi guys,

first things first. Take a look at this video to first learn how to hold a guitar plectrum or what is more popularly called a "guitar pic"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIuk8eBlJn4


After you know how to hold a guitar pic, you should know first which strings in your guitar are tuned to which note. take a look at the below video to get an understanding.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4melH6csRw

you can also refer to the below diagram for knowing the frequencies to which a standard guitar's strings are tuned to

Remember this formula to remember the guitar string tunings:

e - every (higher e - the thinnest string)
B - Boy
G -Gets
D -Down
A- An
E - Electric guitar

every Boy Gets Down An Electric guitar
eBGDAE

Guitar Workshop

Hi Guys,

Welcome to Online Guitar Workshop . Thank you all for showing your interest in the initiative. Keep following. I'll try to regularly post new stuff so that you all can keep learning stuff online as much as you can. We will obviously have practical sessions too...

There will be 2 sets of courses..

1: Guitar Workshop e 101 onwards - for beginners
2: Guitar Workshop e 201 onwards - for those who already have had the first round of sessions at infy.

keep following and feel free to write in your comments if you have any..
Happy Learning....

swagi....