When playing guitar, one of the most fundamental chords is the open position chord or first position chord. This can be any major, minor, or even harmonic chord that starts with the root note (the highest pitch) as its base. The term ‘root’ comes from music theory where you are defining what key your song will be in!

The easiest way to learn how to play this chord is by using our guitar trively. You can either use the natural third finger position, the second index position, or both together for different shapes.

Any of these positions can be used to start every practice session to learn the fretboard. By doing so, you will become familiar with the notes and their locations on the neck quickly!

Knowing the right fingering for each position helps too! Luckily, we have some very easy beginner lessons here on YouTube to get you started! Many songs begin with an open position chord and then move onto other chords.

Learn to read music

Learning how to play guitar is really learning how to read music! While not every song you learn to play has lyrics, most songs do have a structure or pattern that makes it easy to work with music as a form of language.

By reading music, you are picking up patterns and information about what notes go together to make a melody and what chords exist in a piece, and then using that knowledge to create your own melodies and pieces.

Reading music is also a great way to test yourself on musical concepts such as intervals (like blues scale) and tritone substitution (major chord + minor third = dominant chord). Both are important concepts for beginner guitarists to know!

There are many ways to learn to read music. Some people may be more familiar with one method than others, so depending on your preferences, you can choose which one(s) feel comfortable to you.

Become familiar with commonly used guitar chords

The next step in guitarist development is learning how to play some popular guitar chords. These are simply strings of music made up of three or more notes that we combine to create songs!

Most beginners start off by trying to play simple melodies, which is totally fine! Doing so will help you develop your ear-muscle, which is very important as a musician.

But now it’s time to advance your skills slightly and learn how to play some basic chord structures. And the best place to begin?

Learn the open position bass (or “F”) chord. This can be learned via YouTube or any other source that teaches beginner guitar lessons.

Once you have this down, move onto the half (or second) position bass (or “Ab”) chord. After that, progress to the close (or third) position bass (or “G�”) chord.

Learn to sing

More than just music, singing is an integral part of guitar playing. You can start by learning how to read music, which is listening to songs and figuring out what notes they have.

Singing is also learning how to breathe rhythmically, and some people even learn how to do this with their own voice. This is called breathing or vocalizing.

You can practice this on any song you want, but our choice of lesson plan today will focus on something special. The song we will use as a primer for vocals is “Happy Birthday” by Pharrell Williams!

Practice twice a day every other day for one month and you’ll have your voice back in top form! Now that you know the basics of reading music and practicing, let’s get into some fun ways to improve your singing skills.

Record and edit your guitar playing

Recording yourself is the best way to learn how to play any instrument! You can do it quickly with technology these days, and there are many ways to do it. There are even apps that make recording easy and intuitive.

You should start by practicing once or twice a day and then working up from there. Once you have recorded some songs that you know well, move onto creating new recordings of other songs.

Practice in a quiet space away from distractions. Use headphones if needed so you don’t distract others around you. Have someone who will listen check your practice for correct notes and rhythm.

Learn to take guitar lessons

There are many ways to learn how to play the guitar, but none of them work unless you actually teach yourself how to read music. You can either do it by buying or creating your own set of guitar books that contain music notation or you can use online resources and software to learn!

Many people begin playing by learning what position each note is in the scale as well as which chords go with which notes. These are both very important things to know when starting out!

By knowing these basic concepts, you will be able to start reading songs easily. It is also good to know some fundamental rhythm patterns like kick drum beats, bass rhythms, and treble (high) melodies.

When it comes time to practice, try practicing twice a day for one minute per session– this can be done either immediately after completing a task or before going to sleep at night.

Learn to read music

Having knowledge of music theory is very important when it comes to guitar playing. You need to be able to recognize what notes are being played, how they’re connected together, and what key each piece is in!

Music theory isn’t just for professional musicians either – knowing some basic concepts now can help you pick up the instrument later!

For example, many people who play the violin or piano learned little bits of music theory like intervals and modes before moving onto their own instruments. By understanding the basics, you’ll know whether something sounds good and why!

There are several ways to learn about music theory. Some books with simple explanations are great starting points if you don’t have much experience yet. You could also take lessons from a teacher or group that focuses more on this area. The internet is full of resources too!

Reading music is another way to get started. There are many types of reading methods, so choose one that makes sense to you.

Learn to sing

While not every song is about a chord, most songs contain at least one chord that makes up their structure! Most beginners start learning guitar by practicing playing individual notes or chords over and over again.

This can be fun to do, but it’s very note-focused. What if you wanted to learn how to play some music?

You would need to know what key the song is in first! Chances are, you wouldn’t just randomly pick A major as your starting point. You would have to choose which note becomes the root of the song. In this case, the A natural sounds better so that is the choice made.

Now that you learned the root of the song, you could practice singing those roots. For example, say the root was an A. Then you could simply whisper “la la laaahhhh” as many times as you want! (Don’t worry, we will include some basic vocals later.)

After you are able to sing the roots of several songs, you can move onto practicing actual melodies and lyrics. To do this, you must understand interval theory! This article has a full lesson plan for you to follow along with here.

Happy experimenting! And don’t forget to keep yourself motivated – a goal sheet or notebook and pencil can help. Also, try taking lessons from professionals once in a while to see how they teach and get inspiration from them.

Practice playing the guitar fingering chart starting at the letter F

When you learn how to play the guitar, your first few songs will probably be in the key of A. To play a song in this key, you must know what an intro is! An intro is when you repeat a part or fragment of a melody or phrase multiple times. The most common intros for beginners are either a pattern that goes Dm-Am-Dm-G (dorian mode) or Am-Gsus2-Dm-(guitar chord).

By learning these two patterns, you have learned your first beginner guitar finger tips! What people usually call the index finger, middle finger, and pinky can be called the root position, since it starts the tonal circle. Then the second digit, pointer, third, and thumb can be referred to as the second position, because they go next in order around the tonal circle.

The next major group of chords is the power position, which uses all five fingers. The index, middle, ring, little, and pinky become the fifth, fourth, third, second, and first position respectively.