What you will learn

After this course you can

Two grips, one strumming pattern, five songs. Seven lessons of fifteen minutes, each ending with a tool that is already set up and a song to play.

Before you start

For someone starting from zero who wants to play a first song this week, not next year.

Before you play

Lesson 1 of 7Before you play: tuning, sitting, the pick
A tuned guitar and a comfortable hand, before the first chord. The tuner, two ways to sit, how to hold a pick and one note played cleanly.
11 minBefore you playOpen the Tuner →

Grips and the change

Lesson 2 of 7The first two grips: C and G, and four songs that stand on them
Two grips, one change, four songs from the catalogue. We start with C and G, because it is the most common change around the campfire.
10 minPlaying chordsOpen the exercise on the G and C pair →
Lesson 5 of 7The third chord: D. Three grips, ten songs
The third grip opens carols and campfire songs that two chords cannot carry. A triangle on the three thin strings, with the two thick ones silent.
9 minPlaying chordsOpen the exercise on the C and D pair →
Lesson 6 of 7The F chord hurts. Three ways to get around it today
A capo, another key and a four string grip instead of a barre. Songs with an F are playable today, and the full barre can wait a few weeks.
11 minPlaying chordsPractise the G to C change, with a capo that is your F →

Strumming and the first song

Lesson 3 of 7The first strum: four times down
The right hand does one thing: four even downstrokes per bar.
10 minRhythm and strummingGuitar strums: All down-strums →
Lesson 4 of 7How to read strumming arrows (D, U and the “and”)
Down arrow, up arrow and an empty slot: the whole strumming notation in three signs.
10 minRhythm and strummingRhythm tap: D DU UDU →
Lesson 7 of 7The first song from start to finish: how to work with the song view
Bar range, slower tempo and highlighting: how to practise one fragment instead of the whole song at once.
9 minSinging with a guitarOpen Hej sokoły →