Play TEN guitar songs with two EASY chords | Beginners first guitar lesson
Hi there, my name's Andy and I'm gonna
show you the easiest two chords to play on guitar and then show you how to play them in a
chord sequence so that you know how to play along to any of the songs that are on my web site already, and this
is an example of an absolute first lesson with me you can use this video so that you know
what guitar lessons are going to be like or to get a head start before your first
lesson with me so let's look at our first chord which is
an 'E major' and lets get you in for a close-up So here we are.
I've moved the camera so that not only can you see my cool Union Jack rug (which looks amazing)
you can also see the guitar of from your point of view this should be the
angle that you're looking at your guitar from. Here's a little bit on the anatomy; I'm gonna
number the strings 1 through to 6; so that's from the
thinnest 1 through to 6; so that's from the
thinnest, to the thickest I'm gonna number your frets 1, 2 and 3.
Open strings are considered to be 0 zero fret I am I'm gonna get you to put your first
finger on the third-string inside that first fret So thats string 1,2..3. String 3 and position wise you want to stay on
the tips of your fingers and you wanna be at your side above the fret so the fret
(even though the fret is technically the metal strip that goes
down) Fret 1 is this an area here the wooden part, of your fret board, and you want to put you first finger at this side of this area, the side closest to
you. kinda next to, or against the metal fret So that's where your first finger goes. Middle finger.. 2nd fret on the 5th string. And 3rd finger… directly underneath that middle
finger so that will be on the 4th string also
second fret. So, if we do those three again we have;
one two… and three And, if you push those down with the tips
of the fingers kinda make a nice arch shape with
your hand kinda like a claw I guess (for want of a better term) Now press those down, and strum every string with your right hand and that's what your first chord should
sound like.
Both these want to be at your side of the fret here, if it's over this side it might still ring out just about but you'll have to press down
significantly harder to get this note to ring out if you press
over here you most likely be very surprised by how
much you don't have to press down and it still rings now and sounds great. If I play that same
correct chord but I'm over this side (of the fret) it doesn't quite ring out even when I'm pressing down the same amount So we're over this side And that is your first chord. Now here's that same chord from another angle Here's our E chord, and that's what it should sound like and the first finger goes on the first
fret third-string so 1, 2, 3 and this is also
the first string that we'd call our
'wound string' So you've got two strings that look like
cheese wire and then he should have four bronze
coloured or silver coloured strings with on a metal
wrapped around them and that's the first string that is wound.
Middle
finger; on the fifth string at the second fret
and then your third finger directly underneath An try and have your little finger right against your third finger. It makes sure we know its doing,
its not kinda down here or hurting your hand at all. You wanna keep everything as close to this position as you can to make a nice strong shape okay a second chord is gonna be an A We're gonna learn the second chord from
your first chord which is an E major so I want you to put that first chord down put your fingers back where they were for this first E chord, 1 2, and 3. And now we're going to take take the second and third fingers
away and just keep that first finger down this first thing is going to be one with
a call your 'anchor' finger it's going to stay on this first string and it's just going to slide across the
2nd fret. This is so that the change will be significantly easier and you'll be able to remember your chords better.
So for the first three chords that we're going to learn (in this course, E, A and D) this first finger is gonna stay on this third string it's just gonna
slide across like this. so this is where it was for the E chord, and your first finger stays on the same string, but it slides over slides over to just inside this second fret. Its OK it your finger is at this side of the fret because we need to put your middle finger
directly above it and then your third finger directly below it. So I've not put my 3rd finger here kinda like where it was for the A chord. I've moved it 1 fret further down and the first finger is holding the note down in the space.
This is your 'A chord', or 'A major' and is the second
chord we're doing today and it should sound like this. So, first finger is on the same string,
middle finger is just above it and your 3rd finger is just below it. Now for this 'A chord' we're not going to strum this thickest E string.
I just want you to strum from the fifth string all the way down
to the thinnest. will get into how's and why's later but
just take it from me now that it just sounds better in my opinion we've got this low string that is kinda spoiling the chord a little bit and we want it be the 5th string, the A string that is heard. Just a show reason why that sounds
better and why thats what I want you to do- This is your open 'A' string which is
the root note, or the base note of your 'A major' and that's why we have that one
as your thickest string that we want heard.
So now we'll go back to the E chord using the same method. Keep the first finger down, scooch back
with that first finger to the first fret, and then strum. One more time to the A chord; First finger
stays down slide it over to the second fret, middle
finger above, third finger below and strum. sounds great! Second chord; first finger stays on the same fret, the other two (fingers) come away. Slide it just over the fret, middle finger above, third finger below and strum from that A string. It can be quite hard to get the
middle one ringing out so can you say right on the tips of your fingers to get everything ringing out. Keep all your fingers inside the second fret
here so 0, 1, 2 *strum* Strum your A chord. First finger stays down slide it back and strum your E chord. First finger down but switches over to the
second fret, middle finger above, third finger below, and strum. You may also see this chord written down, or you may have learned it as kinda three (fingers) in
a row, like this This way of learning a is absolutely
fine it's something you've done before.
But if you struggle changing between the E and the A, or an A to a D or if you struggle with any of the chord
changes when you try and play this in a song, then I recommend that you go for this A that I've taught you today because the idea of using this fingering is this
finger stays down on the E, the A and on the next chord that we'd do in this beginners course which is a D And it give you that anchor point and saves you playing an E, taking all your fingers away and then thinking 'hang on where do these go? I've lost my reference point! Right, so now you know your two chords,
how do we play songs with them? Well we need to know about bars and beats.
Of Holtby's in Obama and A 'beat' is a pulse throughout any kind of music. So if you're tapping your foot to a song or you've seen and you've clapped along
to bands as thy're playing, kinda in a chanting motion
you're clapping along to the beat! Or you're nodding your head to beat!
So if I play this pulse now is the beat, and we play that beat to a count of 4, for example *strums 4 times* Notice that I'm playing them all totally even with an even spacing between each of the strums. If I play some (strums) slower, or some quicker, it's impossible to nod your head to it or tap your foot to it because there is no rhythm.
So you need to keep everything Totally even. So get your guitar and strum along to me now. So, 3, 4…
1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4 Keep that going A 'chord sequence' is playing a certain chord for a certain
amount of time then playing another chord for a certain amount of time. For example
this is what a bar of E looks like. And this is what one bar of E and then one bar of A looks like when written on a sheet paper and this is what that should
sound like For example you could just two one strum
at the start to the start of each bar, so on the first beat 1, 2, 3, then.. A, 2, 3, 4 3 then A 2, 3, 4 That would be for the chord sequence above. And there are plenty of songs that happen like that. The song example I like to give my
students to get them playing along to a record as
soon as we can is 'For What It's Worth' by Buffalo Springfield which was Neil Young's first band (So there's a bit of Rock History for you!) So if we play this chord sequence along
to me you'll be able to do it along to the
record as well and it's one song under your belt that you can
play along to a song with.
So get ready with your first chord, the
that E major Give it a strum; 1, 2 3, then A 2 3 4. 1, 2, 3, 4 4, A, 2, 3, 4 So that's just strumming 1 strum per bar Which when you've got a new chord
sequence is very handy, it just allows you to get
all your chord changes and for you to know what's gonna happen
later on . it does sound… Rather learning harder chords it sounds much better certainly early
on if we can get more strumming in there. So when you learn a new song just play
one strum per bar An once you've got the chord changes under your fingers and your more comfortable default to playing on the beat. If you can
play on that pulse that you tap your feet to, that you would clap your hands to if it was being played live, by a band you will be able to play along to the
record which is such an important skill to be
able to do many people who get a such a high level
on guitar still can't join in to their favorite records.
Or play along to the rock riffs that they know along to the record. So there is a
skill there that needs to be learned and I want you to be able to do it
straight away even in this first lesson So I'm going to count you in, I want you this time (so long as the other one went OK) I want you to strum along to that beat. Raady? 2… 3, 4… then A 2, 3 Keep that going And finish on E 4.. Beautiful. if you can do that then you
can put that record on or YouTube that song at Buffalo
Springfield is the name of the band 'for what it's worth' is the name of the
song and it will sound great if you so wish we can have a little
jam now I'll sing a little bit for you and we can we can play together. OK, from your E chord, from that first chord that we did earlier 1, 2, 3, 4.. E, 2, 3, and.. Keep that going.. *sings song* *sings song* *sings song* *sings song* *sings song* one more time and end on E…E.
And stop there. Beautiful! I'm sure that sounded great. If that
wasn't at a level that you can get to, if you couldn't join into me then…go back and change between just E and A and make sure your changes are absolutely solid and you can also just play along to the record with just an E chord E chord, just to get used to playing along to the beat. For some people, it's more straight forward than for others. So if you play that first E chord you can stay on that first E chord, and just strum along to the beat. Try and count along in your head '1, 2, 3, 4' 1, 2, 3, 4… in the mind, or you can count out loud if you want And you can even try not counting try and just feel where the beat is, or just count the 1.
but at the end to the day the acid test is can you do this al record; Put the song on and strum along to it. Count yourself in and strum 1, 2, 3, 4 and start playing. If it sounds good along to the record you know your doing it right. So have fun with that and I hope to
see you for a later lesson!.
