Stephenson - Axe Zero To Guitar Hero: Guitar For Beginners

Axe Zero to Guitar Hero

Guitar for Beginners

By: John Fletcher Stephenson

All Rights reserved. No Part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including spanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder. Copyright John Fletcher Stephenson 2013

SUMMARY

Congratulations for purchasing this book! By downloading this book, as well as my own guitar resources providing 12,000 FREE online guitar song tutorials at www.guitarwin.com ,I have reached so many people around the world.

Lets start with a small introduction about myself and a description of the fun ways I like to teach guitar. I have been playing guitar for 28 years in a number of bands and solo gig performances. I have been teaching students guitar on and off for the past 15 years. I have studied a Masters of Music at the acclaimed School of Life and provide you with the basics that I have self-taught over the many years.

Chapter 1 will set the scene proving you with guidelines in the hope that you maximise your benefit from this book. In a nutshell it gives you some boundaries so please dont skip it.

Chapters 2 through 4 are the key basics providing you with the essential core knowledge to commencing your journey to Guitar Mastery. Think of this as your foundation where you will build your skills up. Typically most books do not usually teach this part because it is often overlooked.

Chapters 5 through to 6 take you further teaching you the fundamentals of guitar. You will be taught how to read tabs and the different ways to tune your guitar.

Chapters 7 through to 9 you will be introduced to Tab readings, Hammer-ons, Pull-offs, Bends & Bend Releases, Slides, Vibrato and Palm-muting techniques. You will also learn the different types of acoustic and electric chords, ESSENTIAL to start playing your favourite songs. In this section you will also have exercises to test and develop your new axe wielding skills. These skills are paramount to give YOU the ability to play guitar successfully like a Pro.

Chapters 10 provides you with the motivation to continue to perfect your newly learnt skills. This section provides a bio of the best guitarists in history giving you that MOTIVATION and POSITIVE ENERGY to SUCCEED so you will not fail!

Chapter 12 grants you FREE BONUSES to continue your journey from Axe Zero to Guitar Hero. You will find more resources providing YOU tutorials, tab sheets and lessons.

This book is different. I have written this book with slight humour and the odd joke to make your guitar learning experience funny, enjoyable and a real pleasure. I believe if you follow the steps in this book you will progress from Axe Zero to Guitar Hero.

Thank You!

Thankyou for downloading this book. Please rate, Review and Like and Share this book on Amazon. I read all feedback and will introduce changes to improve future books. Thank you very much!

http://www.guitarwin.com/book-review

INTRODUCTION

So you want to learn guitar?
Whether you want to strum quietly on an acoustic in your back-room, or melt a crowd's face off with your 20-minute electric solo; all guitarists have to start somewhere.

This book will teach you the very basics of guitar-playing: guitar anatomy, basic chords, tab-reading and more.

The techniques taught in this book would be best practised on a steel-stringed acoustic guitar, though other standard guitars will suffice. As long as it's got six working strings then we're in business my friend.

So grab your Axe, grab the Whiskey, and let's get ready to LEARN SOME BASIC TECHNIQUES!
Or rock, I guess rock sounds better.

CONTENTS

Here are some basic dos and don'ts that you need to keep in mind whilst starting out.

DO-
DO have patience with yourself. Learning guitar can take it's toll on your patience, and this is something I have experienced myself. Your favourite band are probably very advanced musicians, and you aren't going to be able to play their material straight away. Start with easy parts and work your way up as your skills progress.

DO prepare for callouses. Callouses (basically rough sections of skin) will form on your fretting hand, which for most people is their left hand. Although acquiring them is a little bit painful, they will actually help with your playing, as they stop fretting from hurting as much. As I'm typing this I stopped to look at my fingertips, my right hand looks beautiful but my poor left looks like it's had a hard life.

DO learn the basics of music theory if you don't know them already. If you don't know what notes or keys are, you're gonna have a bad time.

DO keep spare strings, if you have a violent strum like I do; they snap from time to time.

DO keep millions upon millions of picks/plectrums. Picks have a peculiar way of disappearing without explanation.

DO take breaks. Sometimes if practising intensely then your hands will get tired.

DO keep a regular check on your tuning, as guitars (especially cheap ones) can slip out of tuning sometimes. I can't tell you the amount of times I have wondered why my chord sounds dissonant (clashing/ incorrect) when it's actually been a naughty string that has flattened itself.

DO learn the basics before attempting bigger things; you'll regret skipping out on the foundations in the future.

DO have fun! If you're not having fun with your newly-acquired musical skills then what's the point?

DON'TS-

DON'T jump in at the deep end. When it comes to learning an instrument, it's just not a good idea.

DON'T try to learn your favourite song too soon. I used to do this and it's just demotivating. It turns out that no-one can play November Rain after 2 days.

DON'T change the fingering of basic chords because it's: easier or feels more comfortable. Chord finger positions are there for a reason, and many of them make chord switches quicker and easier in the long run.

DON'T use too much distortion if you're learning on an electric. As awesome as distortion sounds; it literally distorts the sound of your playing and can make it harder to notice when you've made a mistake. Heavy distortion is something that you should use AFTER you know that you can play something clean (without distortion).

DON'T finger-pick to begin with. I would advise you use a plectrum to pick whilst you learn the basics, as the emphasis will be more on your fretting hand, and finger-picking requires attention to both hands. Matters will become rather complicated.

DON'T learn in Drop D. Drop D (DADGBE) is a tuning that is widely used in Heavy Metal guitar-playing. Drop D makes certain chords (called: Power Chords) easier to play, but makes other types of chords (for example Open Chords) near-impossible to play. It's always better to learn in standard tuning (EADGBE) and then change your tuning if you are learning a song that requires it.

STRINGS/ FRETBOARDS

The strings of any guitar are tuned via the Tuning Pegs on the headstock, which are turned to either tighten or loosen the strings, resulting in higher or lower notes being made. The strings pass over the nut, which is the sort-of bar thing in between the fretboard and headstock (these are my best technical terms).
The fretboard is where the strings lie, and different frets (sections of the fretboard) create different notes. The notes ascend in semitone order in the same way that they would on a piano, so for example if we looked at the low E-string..