When I was 16-years old, my dad took me to a music store in Holiday Florida and bought me my first electric guitar. It was a grey Palmer with a black pick guard and three pick ups. At the time, I didn't know the first thing about guitars. But, I was determined to learn. Unfortunately, being visually impaired made it difficult to find a teacher who could convey the concepts of written music to me in a way that i could understand. It never failed, no matter what i tried to do in life, there always seemed to be one or more visual hurtles that needed to be overcome before I could advance to the next level in this or that disciplin. If I couldn't read sheet music, how would I ever excell on the guitar? I didn't know how I was going to overcome this hump in the road, but I wasn't ready to give up either. Now, almost 20-years later, I look back and see that no one tells a great guitarist after a concert, "Mann, that was some amazing sight reading skill you exhibited out there." No, what impresses the audience is the musicians mastery of the guitar neck and overall ability to make the instrument come alive. The best music you will ever learn to play will not be music you read off a sheet. It will be music that pours out of your soul. It will be something you found inside yourself after a long journey and overcoming many hurtles along the way. A sound that can only come from learning who you are and how to develop your own voice in a sea of good and bad tallent all around you.

So, if you have a guitar and want to learn how to play, then please take the time to read through my series of blogged lessons. I will help you to develop an ability to go from the basics to some advanced techniques that will get you well on the way of reaching your goals as a guitar player. And along the way, I might even share a crazy story or two about my philosophy on life, women, and how to take your guitar playing right to the edge of the envelope. For now, I just want to mention a few basics about the guitar. As you probably already know, a standard guitar has six strings. It is important to memorize the order of these strings.

Low E string (or thickest string)
A string
D string
G string
B string
High E string (or thinnest string)

If you need to, recite the string order over and over again from the top down until you know it by heart. Knowing the string order is the first key to learning the neck of the guitar. In fact, it is a good idea to write and/or type out anything you learn about the guitar so that you have a solid knowledge base to refer back to as you advance from one lesson to the next.

I want you to take the time to memorize something else. If you can memorize 13 notes in order, you will have everything you need to begin your mastery of the guitar neck. The 13 notes I want you to memorize in order are listed down the page as follows:

A
A Sharp
B
C
C sharp
D
D sharp
E
F
F sharp
G
G sharp
A

You will notice that there is no sharp note between B and C and no sharp note between E and F. If you recognize this rule right off the bat, then memorizing the above list of 13 notes in order becomes a piece of cake. Also, you will notice that we started on an A note and ended on another A note one octave higher. So, another rule to remember is that no matter what note you begin on, the same note will occur again in the pattern every time you move 12 notes past the note you are currently on. But, how does this help us? What it tells us is that on the guitar, if playing the D string open is a D note, then there must also be a D note on the 12th fret of that same string. And if we play the G string open, there must be a G note on the 12th fret of the G string as well and so on. Hopefully, you are writing all this down in your notes. But, you might be asking yourself, "What is a fret"? If you run your finger up the neck of your guitar on any string, you will notice little metal bars under the strings that run perpendicular to the direction of the strings themselves. These little metal bars are called fret bars. A fret is the space between any two fret bars along the neck. When you push a string into the space between two fret bars and pluck the string, a note should ring out. If you notice that you get a lot of buzzing or percussive thumping, you will have to adjust your finger tip until you get it more in the center between the two fret bars. Don't worry if it takes a while to get your finger positioned correctly. It actually takes weeks and sometimes months for some people to be able to develop the finger strength and accuracy to get notes to ring out properly. Like anything else it is a skill that takes time to learn. So, it isn't worth getting discouraged over, if you are not able to get a clean sounding note right away. Eventually, you will be able to get your fingers to fly across the neck and you won't even think about how difficult it was to properly fret a note. So, for now, practice moving your finger around in the space between any two fret bars and plucking the string until you get a nice clean sounding note.

This brings us to the end of our first lesson. Your homework is to memorize the string order, the list of 13 notes, and work on finding the right sweet spot between two fret bars to plant your finger at to get a clean sounding note when you pluck the string. Until next time, practice practice practice!


Corey J. Bray