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Guitar Lesson 1 - Absolute Beginner? Start Here! [Free 10 Day Starter Course]

hi guys my name is Andy Crowley thank

you for joining me for day one of this

10-day guitar challenge where we're

going to play guitar for ten minutes a

day for ten days this day one is my

absolute beginners first lesson so if

you were taking a one-to-one private

lesson with me and you'd never even held

a guitar before or you tried a few bits

in the past but it was a long time ago

and this is the guitar lesson that I

would be showing you in this lesson I'm

going to show you how to play the

easiest two chords on guitar and then

get you playing your first song by the

end of this video in under 10 minutes so

if you've never even played a song

before this is the ideal place to start

and let's get you straight in for a

close-up and learn how to play these two

easy chords so the first chord we're

going to be learning is the E major

chord also known as an E chord and this

is where we need to place our fingers to

be able to play it

now if your guitar isn't in tune it

doesn't really matter where you put your

fingers on the guitar it's not going to

sound right there is a video of mine in

the description below where you'll find

a video showing you exactly how to tune

your guitar with and without a guitar

tuner so check out that video first if

you suspect that something isn't

sounding right here but I'm going to

talk you through a couple of other bits

of the guitar before we get fully

started so these metal strips going down

the guitar here are your frets and going

across are the strings we number the

strings thinnest to thickest so one two

three four five six and each fret it's

the area between the metal strips that

we'd call fret 1 fret 2 and fret 3

anytime we place a finger on a fret we

really want it to be to this side of the

fret so the side nearest to you up

against the metal strip but not on it so

if I wanted to place my finger on first

finger first fret it would be placed

here rather than in the middle and we

also want to be right on the tip of your

finger like this for this first chord

the E major chord we need that first

finger to be on the third string at that

first fret so that's just here right on

the tip of our finger and we are

pressing between our thumb and first

finger my thumb is directly behind where

my first finger is on the guitar just

here the middle finger needs to be at

the second fret of the fifth string so

string five one two three four five and

the third finger otherwise known as the

ring finger goes here directly

underneath at the same fret on the

string below so just one recap these

fingers are placed finger number one or

the index finger middle finger and the

third finger here the little finger it's

best to keep it as close to the third

finger as possible rather than shooting

off and doing its own thing this is

where we want to place

here for this particular chord we do

want to strum all six strings and make

sure that they're all heard so let's do

that now and strum our E major chord

now that sounds like it should sound and

hopefully your sounds the same if not

your guitar maybe attitude so check out

that tuning video however we also want

to make sure that all six strings are

ringing out by which we want to pick the

thickest to the thinnest string so

string six to one

and if they all sound like that then

we're doing it correctly possibly one of

the strings sounds a little bit like

this we get a little bit of either

buzzing or it's not ringing out at all

like this there are two common reasons

that that can be the case the first

thing is you need to be at this side of

the threat as I said at the start of the

video if then in the middle of the fret

that may not ring out they all want to

be at this side of the fret not at the

far side and then each finger also needs

to be right on the tip not flat now this

is common because whenever we hold

things say if I was just holding this

guitar neck to pick it up

we'd grip it like this but this is not

how we press down notes on a stringed

instrument we need to be right on the

tips of our fingers and make sure that

this joint in our fingers is bent and

kind of curled over so that each tip of

the finger is at 90 degrees to the fret

and when those two things are the case

when we're at this side of the fret and

on the tips of our fingers

it's just a case of getting that right

amount of pressure down but with the

right finger placement it may be a

little bit less than than you think

now even I at this point I have some

lines on the end of my fingers this is

normal we do have to press down you know

a decent amount to get the note ringing

out but try not to press down any more

than you need to try and find that sweet

spot the second chord we're going to

cover in this video is the ear major

chord and with this chord we can play

any one of ten songs as I say there'll

be a song at the end of this particular

video but there are a number of songs

ten songs that are played on using these

two chords on my website and the link to

that is also in the description so to

play the a major chord it's best to

start off on the E major chord that we

already know now we need to keep this

first finger down but lift the other two

away and this is really important this

is going to be our anchor finger because

when we're learning chords the hard

thing isn't necessarily playing one

chord is the change between so what

we're going to do is keep this first

finger down but slide it over to the

second fret and this time we want to be

around in the middle of the fret because

we're going to place the middle finger

above it at that same second fret and

the third finger directly below it and

this is the a major chord you may have

seen this chord played like this however

if this is the first time you've ever

picked up a guitar before it's going to

be incredibly difficult to change

between any chords and these included so

we're making this as easy as possible by

keeping contact with the fretboard at

all times and using that first finger as

an anchor point so this is the a major

chord that we're going for let's place

this first finger at the third string

second fret one two middle finger goes

directly above it and third finger below

it and it's best to keep that first

finger around in the middle of the fret

this time and this time only really so

that we can fit the other two in and

with this particular chord we want to

strum from string five

and this is what the a major chord

should sound like to check that all

those strings are ringing out we want to

pick again from the thickest to the

thinnest but we're going to start from

string e5

there is more opportunity for strings

not ringing out on this one so again try

and get them as far to towards you as

possible and keep right on the tips that

is the best way to get them ringing out

but you may have to press on just a

little bit harder on this cord to get

those strings ringing out one more time

strum pick each string

and strong

so to change between those codes we need

to keep that first finger down at all

times and change between them so if you

go back to the E major chord now and

just give it one single strum of all six

strings we keep the first finger down

slide to the second fret middle finger

above third finger below and strum

and then to change back the first finger

stairs down slide it back to that first

rat middle finger above third finger

below

and strum again so it on that first

chord that we looked at now the e chord

so we keep the first finger down we

slide it to the second fret for the

second chord that we looked at middle

finger above third finger below and

strum try and strum from the fifth

string so missing out the thickest

string if you do accidentally catch that

thickest string it's okay for now we're

just learning first finger stays down we

move back to the first fret for our

first chord which is the E major and

strum and that's our E major

now you may wish to pause the video here

so that you can have a little bit longer

practice between those two chords

changing between the E and the air chord

remember to keep your first finger down

at all times and the first chord we

looked at has your first finger on the

first fret and then chord number two the

air chords first finger second fret

middle finger above third finger below

and strum and you're wanting your

fingers to take around a second to go to

each chord to move on to the second part

which is basically going straight for

our first song which is a song called

for what it's worth by Buffalo

Springfield this song has just these two

chords and we have to play each chord

for a bar of each to do this we need to

understand about bars and beats the beat

is whatever you would nod your head to

when your favorite song comes on so when

you kind of grooving along to a song and

tapping your foot and enjoying it you're

tapping your feet are nodding your head

to the beat this is an even pulse

throughout the song and it generally

goes to a count of four so can even

count of one two three four and that is

repeated throughout an entire song

evenly

it's that count of four that we call a

bar so the simplest strumming pattern we

can do for any song is just strumming on

the beat and we're going to strum each

chord in this particular song four times

so we strum the e cause four times one

two three four and keep that first

finger down when we're going to change

to the second chord which is the air

chord and then strum this four times one

two three four

and then we need to change back to the e

chord and do this in a loop for around a

minute and if you've never heard that

particular song that we're going for the

link is in the description to a YouTube

video of the song so you can have a

quick listen to it to hear what we're

going for

and you should pretty distinctly hear

this rhythm guitar part throughout the

entire song

[Music]

now keeping the strumming hand going

while changing chord is undoubtedly the

trickiest part of learning songs on

guitar

however this anchor finger keeping the

first finger down makes it a much easier

task and helps us going forward to learn

the other chords that we're going to be

learning in the coming days so drilling

this change is so important rather than

learning more chords so many beginners

get a book full of ten chords over a

hundred chords and try and learn them

but it's mastering the change between

them that's going to get you the end

goal have been able to play it real

songs as soon as possible and hopefully

this will be one that you can play just

in a few minutes now by following me so

let's start with the E major chord the

first chord we covered in this video and

we're going to strum this four times and

soon as we've done that we want as soon

as we strum that fourth strum we want to

change immediately to the ear cord as

swiftly as possible now if this takes a

few attempts and that is totally fine

because this is the end goal of this

first video of this day one of this

ten-day guitar course so if it's a

little struggle at first that's

understandable because it might be the

first thing that you've ever done go

easy on yourself allow this trickiest

part of this the chord changes to bed in

and for you to get used to them before

you put too much pressure on yourself

so let's play along together really

slowly now and let's have a go at

playing our first song for what it's

worth by Buffalo Springfield so we get

ready on our ecord we press down and we

begin strumming in two three four one

to then change to the air cord and big

instrument again one two three back to

the e changing back and one two three

four first finger stays down we change

to the a one two three

and pause there so now's the time to

take stock with how you're doing if you

need to pause the video just briefly one

time again to just do some individual

changes which will drill that change a

little more often to help you get used

to it more maybe take a quick break to

rest your fingers a little bit because

you might have big lines and there might

be quite sore that's understandable and

totally normal in the beginning and when

you feel up to it play this video from

this point one more time and this time

we're going to try and get those spaces

between the chord changes as as quick as

possible and the goal is just to keep

our right hand strumming evenly no

matter what chord we're playing however

there's a change or not we're just going

to try and keep this chord and strumming

okay so from the E chord play along with

me one last time in 1 2 3 4 3 then 2 2

form a chain

and a

[Music]

three one last time from the e see

and ac3 finish on me

and that's how to play our first song

and that is the end of day 1 of this

tender guitar challenge so thank you

very much for making it this far your

homework now is to practice these two

chords the E major in the air major the

changes between them and then try and

play them for four strums of the e chord

and the four strums for the air chord

and we want to keep that chord sequence

going for around a minute and in total

that should be around 10 minutes worth

of practice so if you do that straight

away after watching this video you'll be

in the perfect position to join me for

day 2 tomorrow where we'll learn a new

guitar chord and a new song and this

time the song will have a very easy lead

guitar part which is a bit more of a

melody so we won't just be focusing on

chords in this course we'll also focus

on some single string playing as well

it's going to be really cool it's going

to sound just like the song and be

really really recognizable something

great to show your friends and I hope

you will join me there thank you very

much for watching guys please subscribe

if you enjoy this course and I'm sure

I'll see you again in one of my videos

take care of yourselves and bye for now

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