The 1st string & a few more chords

Okay so you've learned a little something about rhythm & how to count. Don't get too lost in the concept of counting. We're mostly going to be counting to 4 for a while and that's about it.

So now let's look at the notes on the first string. And remember, that's the little string at the bottom of the neck. The open string plays the note E. The 1st fret is an F & the 3rd fret is a G.

We're going to start out by picking up, down & around these 3 notes. So try to play through the following piece. Watch your fingering & take your time until you have it down smoothly. It doesn't matter at this point whether all your pick strokes are downstrokes or alternating downstrokes & upstrokes. But we will begin alternating our pick strokes soon. So you're welcome to try playing this piece using a down/up/down/up picking stroke. Then you'll be ahead of the game!

This might seem kind of dull at first. But there is a method to the madness. You'll see what I mean as we learn the notes on the adjacent string & beyond. For the time being, you can be proud of the fact that you've just learned 3 notes on the C scale.

And since we're talking about the C scale, let's go ahead & learn the C major chord. Here is the C major chord grid:

C major starts out so many popular songs. It's a very popular chord! Consider "Imagine" by John Lennon, "Like A Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan & "Don't Look Back In Anger" by Oasis just as a few. Or "The Star Spangled Banner" by Jimi Hendrix!

Strum through the C major chord a few times until you can play it smoothly & clearly. Once you have it down, you can move on to the next chord we will learn today: the G major chord.

G major, like C major, is an extremely popular chord. It starts off & forms the basis for thousands of songs! Consider "Night Moves" by Bob Seger, "Pink Houses" by John Cougar Mellencamp & "Under The Boardwalk" by the Drifters.

The C major & G major chords almost make a tune by themselves. They go together quite well! And there's a good reason for that. You'll learn why when we start talking about music theory. For the time being, just strum the C major chord followed by the G major chord & back again.

And congratulations! You've learned all the first position open major chords. These are the CAGED chords, like we talked about in the first chord lesson. C-A-G-E-D! Play them all, one after the other. They don't sound like they go together do they? But they do!

Play C major, then G major, then D major, then A major & finally E major. Recognize that progression? It's "Hey Joe" by Jimi Hendrix. Bet you didn't think you'd be learning any Hendrix this soon, did you? Now you can impress all your friends! And here's the sheet music to practice with:

I hope you enjoyed this lesson. Next time, we'll learn some notes on the 2nd string & put them together with the notes we just learned on the 1st string. Plus we'll learn a few more chords. Until then, rock the house!