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Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

It’s got the name and number of each string. Pretty common, right?

It shows you the notes on every string up to the 12th fret, Yep, that’s pretty common, too.

Ahh, but here’s the beauty…… it shows you each note on the music staff!

It’s pretty self-explanatory, so I won’t take up any more of your time. Download it, print it and have fun!

Here is the link for the PDF file Guitar Fingerboard Chart

Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

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Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

I have added more FREE VIDEOS since my original post. The new items are in yellow.

Check out videos, including

How to Buy a Guitar

How to Change Your Guitar Strings

How to Clean Your Guitar

Guitar Lesson – How to Use a Guitar Pick

Guitar Lesson – Barre Chords

Guitar Lesson – Using a Capo

How to Maintain Your Guitar – Parts 1, 2 & 3 

Watch for more video lessons, including-

Tuning Your Guitar

Intermediate Guitar Pick Exercises

Finger Drills

Download Free Worksheets that I designed for my students, including

Parts of Acoustic Guitar

Tuning Your Guitar

Strings & Notes

Finger Numbering

Basic Chords

Key & Chords

Blues Scales

Mellow Scales

Capo Transposition Chart

and more!

Feel free to download, print and share this information.

All I ask in return are 2 things.

Please give me credit for the material

Come back and leave a comment about how this information helped you

Music, a Gift for Life!

Steve

Songwriter, Musician, Entertainer, Instructor

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

So your favorite guitar takes a fall and the headstock snaps off! You buy a nice guitar but you want a different tone from it. Your guitar gets stolen and you’re wondering, “Will I ever get it back?”.

Performer and Guitar Teacher Steve Falter speaks with Luthier Peter Taylor of Chellee Guitars about common maintenance and repair issues for guitars.

Part 1 – Intro, Set up, Frets
Part 2 – Strings, Cleaning, Electronics, Routine Maintenance Tips, Tuning Issues, Shipping Your Guitar
Part 3 – Typical Repairs, Modifications, Recovering a Stolen Guitar

Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

So you own a guitar and you notice the sound has changed or you hear some “buzzing” when you play. Maybe It just doesn’t feel the same when you fret your strings or your electronics are making a strange noise (or no sound at all)! What’s up with that?

Performer and Guitar Teacher Steve Falter speaks with Luthier Peter Taylor of Chellee Guitars about common maintenance and repair issues for guitars.

Part 1 – Intro, Set up, Frets
Part 2 – Strings, Cleaning, Electronics, Routine Maintenance Tips, Tuning Issues, Shipping Your Guitar
Part 3 – Typical Repairs, Modifications, Recovering a Stolen Guitar

Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

So you own a guitar and you notice the sound has changed or you hear some “buzzing” when you play. Maybe It just doesn’t feel the same when you fret your strings or your electronics are making a strange noise (or no sound at all)! What’s up with that?

Performer and Guitar Teacher Steve Falter speaks with Luthier Peter Taylor of Chellee Guitars about common maintenance and repair issues for guitars.

Part 1 – Intro, Set up, Frets
Part 2 – Strings, Cleaning, Electronics, Routine Maintenance Tips, Tuning Issues, Shipping Your Guitar
Part 3 – Typical Repairs, Modifications, Recovering a Stolen Guitar

Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

There are a few “basic” shapes that you will find, regardless of what brand you come across. Three common shapes are the “teardrop”, “triangle”, and “Dorito”. Every manufacturer has its own name for each style, these are just what I call them.

Teardrop

Triangle

Dorito (TM)

Picks also come in a lot of different thicknesses. Some manufacturers simply say “Thin”, “Medium”, “Heavy” or “Extra Heavy”, while others measure thickness in mm. Settling on a guitar pick is a personal choice and, fortunately, they are fairly inexpensive, so you can buy several and try them out to decide which works best for you and your playing style.

My preference is the triangle. I have fairly large hands and it’s easy, and comfortable, for me to hold. For thickness, I like Medium.

Now let’s talk about how to hold the pick, strum the strings and get great sound.

This is always better to demonstrate and may be hard to do from reading an article, so watch the short video below.

You want to hold your pick between your thumb and forefinger. If you are using a larger pick, you may want to also use your index finger. Hold it firmly enough so it doesn’t just flop on the strings as you strum and/or fly out of your hand.

Now, hold the pick so it’s at a right angle to the strings and rest it on the 6^th string with the tip of the pick a little past the string, like this.

Next, angle the pick about 45 degrees.

I like to strum with my forearm, so my wrist is kept straight. This lets me easily, and painlessly, adjust my strumming anywhere from gentle to strong.

Now, strum your strings, one at a time and stop to rest on the next string. Just push down and smoothly slide off each string. Kind of like you would stroke a dog or cat.

Do this a few times.

Now, let’s strum all six strings in one motion. This will be like we just did, except we are not going to stop on each string.

Do this 6 times.       How does that feel?

Practice these strumming exercises on your own until it is smooth, effortless and you don’t even have to think about it.

I hope you found this helpful. Visit my Online Music Studio and check out the Resources page for plenty of free worksheets and links.

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel or Blog to hear about new lessons as they are posted. See you next time!

Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.

Barre Chords come in 2 shapes, A and E.  

So, how do you know when to use the A or E chord forms? Simple. If your chord’s root is on the 6^th string (E), use the E chord form. If your chord’s root is on the 5^th string (A), use the A chord form.

By A and E Chord Forms, I mean A (major), Am, A7, Asus, Amaj7 and E (major), Em, E7, Esus, Emaj7.

OK, let’s fret a F# Barre Chord.

We need to know two things to do this. First, the root, F#, is on the 6^th string, 2^nd fret. Second, that it is a Major Chord.

Think of your 1^st finger as a capo.

First, you fret, or “Barre”, all six strings with your first finger on the root’s fret, in this case, the 2^nd fret. Next you fret/finger the rest of your chord, just like an open E chord. using your 2^nd, 3^rd and 4th  fingers.

If we needed and F#7, we would put our 2^nd and 3^rd fingers in the same position as an E7, but at the3rd and 4^th frets

OK, now let’s fret a B Barre Chord.

The root, B, is on the 2^nd  string, 2^nd fret and it is a Major Chord. Barre the 2^nd fret with your first finger, and use an open A chord shape on the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th strings at the 3^rd fret.

This takes some getting used to, especially your hand and finger strength. You will usually want you thumb pressing right in the middle of the width of the neck, directly behind your first finger.

Barre Chord Exercise

I have my students start with and E major chord form at the 7^th fret, then and Am chord form at the 6^th fret, and so on, down to the 1^st fret. So, you are alternating chord forms back and forth one fret at a time.

I have found that it is much easier working from higher frets to lower frets and develops muscle memory, hand and finger strength quickly, and at the same time.

Here’s the video version

Feel free to check out my other Free Resources, available for you to use and share, at my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site, below.

Visit my Guitar Lesson Studio Web Site

Visit my Musician/Band Web Site

Check out my YouTube Channel

Listen to me on IM Radio

Interested in taking Lessons in person (locally), or worldwide (via Skype) or booking Steve for a Private Party, House Concert or Office Function?  Just leave a comment and I will contact you by email (your address shows on my admin panel).

Steve started playing guitar in ‘69, and has been performing regularly since ’90. His involvement with recording and sound engineering began in the early ‘70’s.

Steve, and his bands, have always given back to the community, supporting Special Needs Families, Christian Outreach, Food Pantries, Homeless Shelters and Medical Research.

As a songwriter and registered artist with BMI, Steve’s songwriting and gig sets span the Blues, Rock, Folk, Country and Christian genres.

2009 was the start of a busy solo performing schedule as well as sharing his love of music by teaching both Guitar and Live Performance Techniques. Steve teaches his guitar students to play the music THEY want to play, right from the start, without getting bogged down with music theory. With Live Performance Techniques lessons, students learn how to move from the living room to a live stage.