Some extra knowledge...

MINOR 7, SUSPENDED 4, SUSPENDED 2 CHORDS

Figure 1

By merely moving beyond the basic major chords - where appropriate - to other shapes aren't much more difficult to play, simple songs can take on added tension and atmosphere. Here are three other types of chord that are often found in songs, and can be useful mood builders. The minor sevenths are the minor version of the A7, B7 and so on previously shown. The Bm7 will yield an alternative Am7 if you take off the barre and move the fingers two frets down toward the nut. The little finger with F#m is optional.

The suspended fourth chords are often used to inject drama into song accompaniment because of their tension. In the case of Asus4, Dsus4 and Esus4 all that is required is to add a note to a simple major chord shape. The Asus2 and Dsus2 are popular because the reverse happens: you just lift a finger off a string that would usually be fretted for A or D. The sus2 is not as tense and has an open, "hollow" sound.

Figure 1

A MISCELLANY OF EFFECTIVE ACOUSTIC CHORDS

Figure 2 and 3

Here are 16 chords that sound great on an acoustic guitar. Some are created by either lifting a finger off a note with a common barre shape (Bmadd4, F#madd11, Fmaj7add11) or moving a chord shape up (D6/9, Amaj7), or are unique "voicings" - like the C which has a 12-string resonance because within it there are two Gs and two Es at the same pitch.

Also included are two first inversion chords - G/B and D/F# - which often feature in acoustic songs. First inversion simply means that the root note is not the lowest in the chord, the "third" above it is played instead - the note that is two tones higher than the root in a major chord. Try these out and learn the ones you like for your own playing.

Figure 2

Figure 3

Picture below shows an american finger-stylist Leo Kottke. A seminal instrumentalist and one of the true "godfathers" of the acoustic scene over the past thirty years. Running from folk, to jazz, to bluegrass, to blues, his work is consistently inspiring.

Materials are taken from the book Guitar.

Strumming

Okay, so right now you have lots of chords to play with. What about strumming then? I'll focus on strumming for now :)

Although it is possible to strum with your thumb, but the best tone for straight-on rhythm playing is produced by using a pick, or plectrum.

The coin doesn't count...

These small pieces of plastic are held between your thumb and forefinger (don't use your second finger because you might want to pluck a string with it at the same time as holding the pick). Picks come in various shapes and thicknesses. For acoustic strumming a thin one is easiest to begin with and might give the best tone for jangly but not-too aggressive rhythm playing. Thick picks put up more resistance against the strings and take a little more effort, while also inducing a little more volume.

The essence if good strumming can be summarized as follows:

• evenness of tone
• avoiding bass strings that are not meant to be hit
• the ability to strum up and down with equal facility
• controlling the volume
• keeping steady time

It also means knowing when and how to leave out strums.

As you can see there are arrows on top of the notes. Follow them. "Up" arrow means strum upwards and "Down" arrow means strum downwards.

The picture above is to help us to get started in strumming. To practice, do these following:

1. Hold down any chord. Maybe you can start from holding down an E Major chord. Or C Major. Anything that is comfortable for you.
2. Tap your foot, count to yourself, or get a metronome (if you have one, use it. If you don't you can check out the right side of this blog, or any other online metronome).
3. Set the metronome going at a medium tempo (around 80 to 90 bpm).

This exercise is in 4/4, which means four beats to each bar. Strum downwards every other beat, then on each beat, then twice on each beat (8ths or quavers), then four times on each beat (16ths or semi-quavers). Depending on how fast or slow you're going you may find that strumming twice or four times to a beat is too difficult just going downwards. The answer is to strum down and up.

The picture above shows different styles if strumming pattern. Of course there are A LOT of different patterns. But you can start from this.

This exercise gives nine strumming patterns. The first is a strum in straight 8ths. Notice how with each example some strums are taken away; the chord is allowed to ring. The rule is: the faster the tempo the longer a gap you can leave. With IV there is the introduction of a "tie". This is the line joining the 5th quaver to the 4th. A tie means you strike the first of the joined pair but not the second. Instead, the first lasts for the length of time of both notes. In any song you could use any one or a mixture of strumming patterns. Your choice will depend on mood, tempo and "groove".

Some extra tip:

To learn how to let loose of your hand while strumming, you can do this...

After washing your hand, hold an "imaginary" pick. Dry your hand. Not using any towel or blow dryer. Like how we "fling" our hand.

We tried this method beforehand, and it works!

Some of these materials are from the book Guitar.

Chords

Here's the first lesson for the beginners...

Chords.

So what are chords? Chords are the combination of notes.

Basically chords are above the song lyrics. For notes and theory they are different story. So at least to be able to play a song or two, you have to learn chords, whether you like it or not.

Here is a chords table. To make everything simple, the "KEY" on top left is like the head of the family. The rest across the column is the family members. So I call them 'The Family Chords' or 'The Chords Family', based on your own liking.

	Major			Minor
KEY	1	4	5	2	3	6	7
C	C	F	G	Dm	Em	Am	Bm
D	D	G	A	Em	F#m	Bm	C#m
E	E	A	B	F#m	G#m	C#m	D#m
F	F	Bb	C	Gm	Am	Dm	Em
G	G	C	D	Am	Bm	Em	F#m
A	A	D	E	Bm	C#m	F#m	G#m
B	B	E	F#	C#m	D#m	G#m	Bbm

*Actually there's a line in between column 5 and 2

You can copy paste this and print it out to practice. If you do not know how to press the guitar, go check out some websites about chords. This is one.http://www.8notes.com/guitar_chord_chart/

Of course there are a lot of other websites. The link above is just a reference.

This is a simplify version of that bigger table. This was my first chords table. Learn it.

C	Am	F	G
D	Bm	G	A
E	C#m	A	B
F	Dm	Bb	C
G	Em	C	D
A	F#m	D	E
B	G#m	E	F#

So you might be wondering why are you learning all these? They are the basics. I remember my coach taught me that basics are important because they are the foundation. If you want to master a skill, go for the basic first. Same goes to the guitar. Master the basics first.

Oh I almost forgot, get a pick :) A thin pick for strumming an acoustic guitar.

About your guitar

To learn guitar, you have to have a guitar. :)

I'm not advertising anything...

Basically there are six strings on a normal left-handed guitar.

The thickest string is the 6th string. The thinnest string is the 1st string. So from the sixth string until the first string, the key of each open string is EADGBE.

E------------------

B------------------

G------------------

D------------------

A------------------

E -----------------

So to memorize them, this is an easy way:

Elephants And Dogs, God Blesses Everything.

REMEMBER THESE! :D