The Guitar PlayAlong Program
This program is designed to offer brand new guitar players the opportunity to learn guitar in a personalized group setting (and online). The course is intended as a group experience with (potentially) new players at slightly different stages of development.
The emphasis is to make steady progress on the guitar. But the format also allows participants to play different parts such as melody, harmony, or rhythm - or even, on occasion, different instruments like bass guitar, drums, keyboards, or even lead instruments like horns, flutes, or harmonicas - depending on the musical backgrounds and interests of the participants.
In what follows we have given you a complete overview of the course material, with many supporting videos. These are meant as practice materials for student participants, but can be used by non-participants as well.
What will students learn?
-
Guitar basics - learn how the guitar works, become familiar with guitar terminology (strings, frets, chords, picking, chording, basic music theory as it applies to the guitar, etc.)
- Playing along with songs - This is the real heart of the course. From day 1 students will begin to learn how to play along with songs, and where appropriate, they will learn to play songs with other students and/or instructors. We have hundreds of songs set up just for this purpose.
The Guitar PlayAlong Program
is currently available
to residents of Waterloo Region
Free for a Limited Time
Exercises and Lessons - Guitar PlayAlong
Lesson 1 - Guitar Intro, Notes on G String
- Parts of the Guitar
- How Frets work
- Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie
- The G Major scale on the G string
- Ode to Joy on the G string
Lesson 2 - Playing on the GBE Strings
- Review of EADGBE
- G-Scale on GBE strings
- Ode to Joy on GBE strings
- Twinkle Twinkle on GBE strings
Lesson 3 - Your First Chord (G)
- Review of the G Scale on GBE
- Finger Exercises
- The Simple G Chord
- Chording to Row Row Your Boat
Lesson 4 - Your 2nd Chord (D)
- Review of the G Chord
- The D Scale on the D string
- The D Scale on DGBE strings
- The Basic D Chord
- Chording (D) to Row Row Your Boat
- Moving Between G and D Chords
Lesson 5 - Playing the C Chord
- Review of the D Chord
- The C Scale on the B string
- The C Scale at the Open Position
- The Basic C Chord
- Chording (C) to Row Row Your Boat
- Moving Between C and G Chords
Lesson 6 - More Songs in C, D, and G
- Achey Breaky Heart - C-G Chords
- Budapest - G-C-D Chords
- Free Fallin' - G-C-D Chord
- Intro to the Simple F Chord
- Rivers of Babylon - C-F-G
- Preview of Next Lesson
Lesson 7 - Focus on F and A Chords
- The Simple F Chord
- Twinkle, Twinkle in C
- You Are My Sunshine in C
- The Basic A Chord
- Transitioning Between D and A
- Ode to Joy in D
- Preview of Next Lesson
Lesson 8
- Review of C and F Transition
- Twinkle, Twinkle in C
- Review of D and A Trasnsition
- Ode to Joy in D
- Preview of Next Lesson
- Minor Chords
Guitar player? Great for practicing your chords, leads, and bass parts.
Horn player? We've got tracks for you too...in your key so you don't have to transpose.
Just starting out, or learning a new instrument? We give you a lot of "easy" songs to get you going.
Become a Member of PracticeTracks.org
Members have access to our entire library of arrangements and instructional videos. Membership is cheap. Much less than you might pay for (static!) printed music. And definitely less than taking lessons.
PracticeTracks.org Membership
For a Limited Time
PracticeTracks.org is the Perfect Compliment to Taking Lessons
PracticeTracks.org will give you valuable exposure to playing along with other (virtual) musicians in real time. It's just as if you were playing in a small band with a few friends.