Back to Basics

F. Markovich

2005

Purpose• Find that students either don’t know some of the basics

or have forgotten them.• Want everyone to be on an even footing. Baseline the

class• These need to be checked from time to time.• Want class to pair up and check each other on these. I

do this even now with a friend on a regular basis. The term “Physician heal thyself” is so misleading as it is almost impossible to see what you are doing incorrectly yourself!

• While I won’t cover everything in this presentation, the basics that all players need will be covered.

• Incorrect technique not only gets in the way of advancing as a player it can also lead to various physical problems such as tendonitis.

• As you go through this note where you have issues! Take notes and then work on problem areas.

Lots of stuff here

• I suggest that you print this out and review it at least once every couple of weeks.

• Pair up with someone to also look at you as you play – I promise that you won’t see the same thing that someone else can see!

• Take this seriously! Technique is key to developing your full potential on the guitar!

Parts of the guitar.

Sitting or standing

• How you hold the guitar is critical.• Make sure you do it in the same way every time you

play.• I recommend using a strap unless you are playing in the

classical style with a footstool!!• Your fretting arm should be straight. Think of being in a

gun fight and going to draw with your fretting hand. Just bring the arm up from that point – straight up – don’t have the elbow in or out. Men tend to have the elbow out and woman have it in.

• Look at the following slides.

Holding the guitar.• Hold the guitar in an upright position. Be sure to sit

upright with your back straight. • Hold the waist of the guitar on your leg.• Balance without using your hands to support the

guitar.• The neck should be at a slight angle. From parallel to

the ground at about 30 to 45 degrees above that. • Thumb goes behind the neck. About where the 2nd

fret is opposite. Think of holding a baseball. You want the leverage.

• You will strum in the beginning with your thumb over the sound hole or if electric over the neck pickup.

Close-up of holding

Holding when standing

Hand position

To fret a string • Curve your finger so that each joint is

equally curved. • Use just the tip of your finger.• Keep your finger perpendicular to the

fingerboard.• Do not touch any other strings.• Finger needs to be as close to the fret as

possible without going on the fret wire itself.

More advanced

• Make sure you place the finger as close to the fret as possible without being on the fret itself.

• Push just hard enough, using each joint of the finger curved, to get the note to sound with no buzzing. Pushing too hard causes the note to bend slightly out of tune.

• Make sure the string is pressed and that the string is not bent up or down – the string should be straight from the bridge nut to the head nut!!

• The last segment of your finger should be perpendicular to the fingerboard and centered on the string.

Try what I just said

• Pair up – use a pick or your fingers for the plucking hand – will focus on that later in the presentation.– One person play a first position C chord. Your partner

can check you. • Watch for the items mentioned previously.• If everything looks good then reverse – person watching is

then one playing. – Now play on each string starting with the 6th string fret

1 then 2 then 3 then 4 using your 1st, then 2nd then 3rd , then 4th fingers.

• Watch for the items mentioned previously.• If everything looks good then reverse – person watching is

then one playing.

Lots to remember

• I know that at first this can seem like too much to remember but most of you will have only one or two things that need to be tuned up on the fretting hand.

• Once you make it a habit to do it correctly it will become much easier and you won’t have to think about it.

• The 2 areas that most people have issues with are:– Sitting correctly with the neck at a high enough angle.– Pressing properly without bending the strings.

Plucking and strumming hand

• Will start with the basic strums with the fingers.

• Once these are down we will go to the pick.

Strumming the chord with your thumb.• To start strum with just your thumb in a downward motion. Play

over the sound hole. This is called a sweep. Try to hit the strings quickly. Ideally all at one time. Use your wrist.

• The thumb joint is kept straight! • Use the tip of the thumb by where the fingernail joins the finger.• Make sure that you only strum over the strings and a bit beyond

the strings. Don’t strum more then a few inches on each side of the string!

• We will play in 4/4 time which means that there are four counts per measure. A measure being the distance between bar lines (vertical lines on the staff).

• Pair up again – Check each other on this!

Picking hand position

• Your fingers should all be curved at each joint.• Thumb should be to the left of your fingers (right handed

people) and to the right of your fingers if you play left handed.

• When you look over your picking hand you should see a small triangle between the bottom of your thumb and the index finger. Very important that the thumb not be opposite the index finger!

• Once you get the position – pair up and check each other.

• Do not rest any part of your picking hand or fingers on the guitar or the strings.

The Rest Stroke

• For the bass you should do the rest stroke.• How it works is that when you hit a note

with the thumb you will follow through and rest or stop on the next string.

• This gives you the fullest sound.• Again you use the tip of the thumb and

keep the last joint of the thumb straight. But this time you will pivot at the joint where the thumb joins the rest of the hand!

Bass Sweep Strum

• For a D chord do the rest stoke on the 4th string.

• Then follow through and play the rest of the first 3 strings. This is called a sweep. The strum is the bass sweep strum.

• Count as follows beat 1 hit the 4th string with the thumb, beat 2 do a sweep, beat three the bass (4th string) and beat 4 a sweep.

Here it is in tablature and notes. Top one is for Guitar I, bottom Guitar II.

For the A7 chord

• Do the same as the D but use the 5th string as a bass.– Beat 1 5th (or A string) string bass.– Beat 2 1st 4 strings sweep.– Beat 3 5th string bass.– Beat 4 1st 4 strings sweep.

A7 – Guitar I plays top one and guitar II bottom one.

Pair up again

• Try this on the A7 chord.

• Then try other chords.

• The bass is the root of the chord.

Bass notes to use

• The idea is to use the root for the first bass and the 5th (most of the time) for the 2nd bass note.

• Beat 1 will be the root and beat 3 the alternate or 5th of the chord. But sometimes you will use the 3rd of the chord for beat 3 or be doing a run down or up. But for now look at the following chart.

• This is another reason you need to learn the locations of all of the notes and at some point the basic’s of music theory.

Alternating bass as above is used most of the time when any bass chord type of pattern is used. Here it is in 1st position. First 4 notes are for countoff.

Here it is on A7

Chord and bass notes

Chord Bass AlternateA, Am, A7 5 4 or 6B7, Bm 5 4 or 6C, C7 5 4 D, Dm, D7 4 3 or 5E, Em, E7 6 4 or 5F 4 3G 6 4

Bass Brush Strum

• For a D chord do the rest stoke on the 4th string.• Then use the back of the nails by uncurling the

fingers. Use just the tips of the fingers – don’t dig in.

• Don’t move the hand when doing this – only the fingers.

• Count as follows beat 1 hit the 4th string with the thumb, beat 2 do a sweep, beat three the bass (4th string) and beat 4 a sweep.

Bass Scratch Strum• For a D chord do the rest stoke on the 4th string.• Then do a scratch which is the same as a brush stroke

but only using the index finger.• Count as follows beat 1 hit the 4th string with the thumb,

beat 2 do a scratch, beat three the bass (4th string) and beat 4 a scratch.

• Now with alternating bass. On beat 1 hit the bass note (usually root of the chord). Beat 2 the chord (first 3 strings), beat 3 the alternate note (usually the 5th degree of the chord) and beat 4 the chord (first 3 strings).

• This one can also be played with an up-stroke. When doing that only play the first 2 to 4 strings – do not strike them all.

• Play bass on beat one then scratch down up on beat 2 (1/8th note each) then alternate on beat 3 and then scratch down up on beat 4 (1/8th note each).

Pair up again

• Pair up and check each other on:– Bass Sweep– Bass Brush– Bass Scratch

• Really watch the position and ensure that your partner is doing everything correctly! You are his/her teacher at this point.

The Fingers – Free Stroke• The stroke for your other fingers is called the "Free

Stroke" and is done by striking the string with the finger in the following manner. Let's assume that you are hitting the 2nd string with your index finger. – The index finger will be just below the second

string and actually just hook the string and bring the index finer upward toward the palm of your hand. It should not touch the other strings.

– Again like the thumb you should make a small circle to bring it bake to where it can strike the next note. This movement is very small and your index finger moves only about an inch total.

– It is important to note that you do not bring it all the way until it touches the palm.

– Also keep your fingers touching each other as you do this.

Pluck Strum• To do this you will use your index finger on the

3rd string, middle finger on the 2nd string and ring finger on the first string.

• They will work together as one group, plucking the strings by slightly hooking under each string then bringing the fingers towards the palm of the hand.

• Each finger hits only the one string and not all of the strings.

• On the picking hand the fingers should actually touch each other.

• You will do bass – chord just like before but it will be bass – pluck etc.

• Try to just a few chords at first. Be sure to still do the rest stroke on the bass notes.

Try on various chords

• Again the fingers move but not the hand. It will remain above the strings. This is a key to all of these techniques until we get to the pick.

• Once you can do alternating picking with this on various chords try changing chords.

• Then pair up again and check each other out.

Next just basic fingerpicking

• Will do alternate fingerpicking for this.

• Reason is that it is the most used and all we are after is the techniques not the patterns themselves as those will be covered in other presentations.

• For the Bass you will always use your thumb with the "rest" stroke. For example, to strike the 5th string hit the 5th string in a downward motion and follow through and stop with your thumb resting on the 4th string. Your thumb will then make a small circle to come into position for the next note. You should use a little of the fleshy part of the thumb and the nail.

• Again keep your thumb to the left of the fingers!• If you are using a thumb pick you won’t do a rest

stroke! It would be far too loud.

Bass

Alternating Bass – First Step

Do the following to any A type chord (Am, A7, A etc.)

Count What you do 1 Thumb hits the 5th string 2 Thumb hits the 4th string 3 Thumb hits the 5th string 4 Thumb hits the 4th string

Keep the pattern going

• The bass notes change as you change chords while the strings played with the first and second fingers many times remain the same.

• Once you have mastered the bass notes then you need to move on to adding the rest of your fingers into the patterns.

• Usually with this pattern you will use only your index and middle fingers. That is why this style is many times called “two finger fingerpicking".

Chord and bass notes

Chord Bass AlternateA, Am, A7 5 4 or 6B7, Bm 5 4 or 6C, C7 5 4 D, Dm, D7 4 3 or 5E, Em, E7 6 4 or 5F 4 3G 6 4

The Fingers – Free Stroke• The stroke for your other fingers is called the "Free

Stroke" and is done by striking the string with the finger in the following manner. Let's assume that you are hitting the 2nd string with your index finger. – The index finger will be just below the second string

and actually just hook the string and bring the index finer upward toward the palm of your hand. It should not touch the other strings.

– Again like the thumb you should make a small circle to bring it bake to where it can strike the next note. This movement is very small and your index finger moves only about an inch total.

– It is important to note that you do not bring it all the way until it touches the palm.

– Also keep your fingers touching each other as you do this.

Let’s try the first fingerpicking on Am

Count What you play1 Thumb plays the 5th string& Middle finger plays the 1st string2 Thumb plays the 4th string& Index finger plays the 2nd string3 Thumb plays the 5th string& Middle finger plays the 1st string4 Thumb plays the 4th string& Index finger plays the 2nd string

Check each other out

• Pair up again.

• Check each other out on the bass pluck and the alternate fingerpicking!

• Again watch for the various items listed earlier not just these 2 techniques.

Next the pick

• Start with holding but will go through much more.

• Important that you master everything in this section.

Holding the pick

• Hold the pick between your thumb and index finger.

• Have just the very tip of the pick out. It is acting like an extension of your thumb fingernail.

• Have the wrist slightly arched and strum from the wrist.

• Get all the notes to sound at the same time.• Strum over the strings – do not go to far beyond

the strings either up or down.

First just strum down

• Will do all ¼ notes in 4/4 time.

• Strum down, make sure that the tip of the pick strikes the strings so that the pick is in a parallel plane with the strings.

• Don’t dig in.

• Just going over the very tops of the strings.

Dynamics

• Still with just strumming down (1/4 notes) try the following:– Play softly (p = piano). Do this first – make

sure that the time is right and you are striking the strings at the same time.

– Then moderately loud (mf).– Then Loud (f = forte) but not so hard that the

strings bounce off of the fingerboard.

Add in up strokes

• This will be 1/8th notes. • Strum down on the beat (number) and off

on the and (between the beats), counting 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & as you play.

• Timing must be even!!• Also, make sure you only strum over the

strings and not too far on either side.• Then we will do as in all down – see next

slide.

Dynamics

• Still with just strumming down (1/4 notes) try the following:– Play softly (p = piano). Do this first – make

sure that the time is right and you are striking the strings at the same time.

– Then moderately loud (mf).– Then Loud (f = forte) but not so hard that the

strings bounce off of the fingerboard.

Practice

• Pair up again and practice this and check each other out.

• Do some of this every day until perfect.

• In another presentation you will work on various timing variations of combining ¼ notes and 1/8th notes.

• 1/16th notes are the same idea as 1/8th notes only just doubling it up.

Picking individual notes

• For this we will start by just playing the 1st string.• Using the pick strike the first string down on ¼

notes like before. Just play within a 1/8th or ¼ of an inch of the strings.

• Small movement is best. Pivot at your wrist. Try making smaller and smaller movement.

• Once you can do this, try at different dynamics.• Then go onto the next string.

Alternate picking.

• For this we will start by just playing the 1st string.• Using the pick strike the first string down on

the beat and up on the & notes like before. Just play within a 1/8th or ¼ of an inch of the strings. This is alternate picking

• Small movement is best. Pivot at your wrist. Try making smaller and smaller movement.

• Once you can do this, try at different dynamics.• Then go onto the next string.

Other picking patterns

• For also try all up strokes.• For Triplets (3 notes per beat) there are

two basic approaches:– Down Up Down – Down Up Down etc.

1 & a 2 & a– Down Up Down Up Down Up etc.

1 & a 2 & a

• Again try on each string at various dynamics.

Basics of Reading Music

• Just a brief overview of traditional music and tablature.

• Even if you don’t want to be a great reader, it is important to know the basics.

The Staff.• Music is written on a "staff" which consists of 5 lines and 4

spaces. The musical alphabet contains 7 letters repeated endlessly (A, B, C, D, E, F, G). In addition there are sharps and flats that can be applied to each of these notes. A sharp raises a note while a flat lowers a note. The letter name would be reflected. For example, if you flatted a B the note would be called B Flat (b) or if you sharped a C the note would be called C sharp (#).

Before all music on the guitar there appears a G or Treble clef sign. It is called a G clef because the symbol looks like a Gothic G.

• Refer to page 5 in Guitar Reference!

The ‘Staff’ and the ‘Treble Clef’.

The staff

The "G" or Treble Clef

Notes in spaces spell out the word Face.

Notes on the lines spell out: Every Good Boy Does Fine.

Learning the names of the notes.

• When you learn notes it is best to say the names of the notes aloud in the beginning until you have them memorized. If is critical that you know the names of the notes by heart as you progress. You might want to make some flash cards to help you remember the names of the notes. You could study these while you are sitting on a bus or at lunch.

• Refer to the note chart on page 6 of Guitar Reference!

Ledger lines are above or below the staff to add more notes.

Names of the notes on the open strings.

E A D G B E

Below are the names of the notes on the open strings. These need to be memorized. From the lowest pitch to the highest pitch:E, A, D, G, B and E. Note that the 6th string is called ‘low E’ and the 1st string is called ‘high E’. Start to learn where they are written.We will even do some exercises towards that.

Below is where the open strings are written on thestaff!

Do all down picking on this.

Do first all down then alternate picking on this.

Reading a chord chart that is a scale.

• This works just like reading a chord chart but start on the lowest string and lowest fret.

• Move up the neck on each string. Then go to the next string.

• Play forward and then reverse and play backwards.

3

2

4

11

D Major Pentatonic

Note the root is on the 5th

string.

3

1

44

Here is the D Major Pentatonic based upon the C Major Form of CAGED.Note in Green is the root.

Start on the 5th string 5th fret with the 4th finger to the 4th string 2nd fret index finger,to the 4th string 4th fret with the ring finger to the 3rd string 2nd fret with the index finger to the3rd string 4th fret with the ring finger etc.

Use this example to understand using chord charts for scales.

3

2

4

11

D Major Scale

Note the root is on the 5th

string.

3

1

44

2

4

1

3

4

1

3

2

4

11

D Major Pentatonic

Note the root is on the 5th

string.

3

1

44

See relationship between D major scale and D major Pentatonic.

Understanding tablature

• Start by referring to the “Guitar Reference” to get the basics.

• Following is an example of tablature and how to read it.

123456

4 2 5

2 4 2 2

4 2 5

2 4 5 5 3

5

G D C D G

1 2 3 & 4 1 2 3 & 4 1 2 3& 4 1 2 3 4 1

Introduction to Wonderful Tonight.

This is in tablature format. Each line is a string. The top line is the 1st or theHigh E string. The bottom line is the 6th or Low E string.The numbers indicate which frets to play. For example, the first number is On the 3rd string and is a 4 so you would play the 3rd string 4th fret. TheNext note is on the 2nd fret of the 3rd string then the next is the 5th fret of the4th string (since it is on the 4th line).

Review of tablature:

Idea is that each line is a string and the number on that line tells youwhich fret to play. If the number is ‘0’ it would mean an open string.If the numbers line up vertically then you would play them all at the same time.

Chords• Definition: A chord is a combination of at least three different notes

(letter names) that sound pleasing to the ear.• Chords are the basis for beginning guitar.• There are approximately 20 chords for the beginning guitarist.• This is the place to start. Take your time and get each chord to sound

clearly!• Those chords are used to build all other chords.• Chords such as C mean C major, Cm means C minor and C7 would be

C dominant 7. Remember just the letter name makes it a major chord.• There are in practical terms 36 chords – others are just alterations or

extensions of the basic 36 chords.

How to read a chord diagram.• The strings are numbered 1 - 6 with 1 being the

highest in pitch or the one closest to the ground.• The top line is the head nut. The next line is the

1st fret wire. The third line is the 2nd fret wire.• The numbers on the string tell you which finger

to use. A ‘O’ means to hit that string open (no fingers). An ‘X’ means not to hit that string.

The D Chord• To start do not strike the 6th string. The 5th string can be struck

but for starters just do the first 4 strings. As you work with this though you will add in the 5th string open. The notes in a D chord are D, F# (Sharp), and A.

• Play Guitar Ref CD the D chord as example.

1 2

3

D Major (Guitar I)

0 0

1

3 3 3

D Major (Guitar II)

Rt

5th Fret

While you can barre this, it is mucheasier to play it as above.

A D A D F#

D A D F#