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