About.com Beginner Guitar Lesson Ten

Part 1

More of this Feature
• Part 1: overview
• Part 2: palm muting
• Part 3: major chord inversions
• Part 4: chord quiz
• Part 5: advanced string bends
• Part 6: learning songs
• Part 7: practice schedule

Related Content
• Index of Guitar Lessons
• Buying Your First Guitar
• How to Read Guitar Tab
• Easy to Play Songs

In lesson one of this special feature on learning the guitar, we were introduced to the parts of the guitar, learned to tune the instrument, learned a chromatic scale, and learned Gmajor, Cmajor, and Dmajor chords. Guitar lesson two taught us to play Eminor, Aminor, and Dminor chords, an E phrygian scale, a few basic strumming patterns, and the names of the open strings. In guitar lesson three, we learned how to play a blues scale, Emajor, Amajor, and Fmajor chords, and a new strumming pattern. Lesson four introduced us to power chords, basic note names on the sixth and fifth string, and new strumming patterns. In lesson five, we studied sharps and flats, were introduced to barre chords, learned to read tab, and learned a basic 12-bar blues. Then, in lesson six, we tackled 7th chords, more barre chords, a new strumming pattern, and a movable chromatic scale pattern. We learned the basics of fingerpicking, another barre chord, hammer-ons, and pull-offs in lesson seven. In the eighth lesson in the series, we learned more fingerpicking patterns, alternating bass note strums, sliding, and string bends. Lesson nine taught us a complex strumming technique, a two octave major scale pattern, and sus4 chords. If you are not familiar with any of these concepts, it is advised that you revisit these lessons before proceeding.

What You'll Learn in Lesson Ten

We'll learn a technique called palm muting, major chord inversions, and a more advanced bending technique. Plus, we'll have a little chord review quiz, and, as usual, learn more fun songs to play.

Are you ready? Good, let's start guitar lesson ten.

Part 2 - Palm Muting

More of this Feature
• Part 1: overview
• Part 2: palm muting
• Part 3: major chord inversions
• Part 4: chord quiz
• Part 5: advanced string bends
• Part 6: learning songs
• Part 7: practice schedule

Related Content
• Index of Guitar Lessons
• Buying Your First Guitar
• How to Read Guitar Tab
• Easy to Play Songs

"Palm muting" is a guitar technique, executed in the picking hand, used to muffle the strings slightly, while simultaneously hitting the strings with the pick. It is a technique used primarily on electric guitar, but it can also be useful when playing acoustic guitar. To get a feel for what palm-muting sounds like, listen to the following mp3 clip:

Weezer Hashpipe mp3 exerpt
from "The Green Album" (2001)

Can you hear how the guitar sounds slightly "subdued" at the beginning of the clip? That's the result of palm muting. If you listen carefully, you'll note that near the end of the clip, the band stops palm muting the guitar, and the music gets louder, and more unrestrained feeling. This is a common use for palm muting - if part of the song is played with palm muted guitar, the part that is not seems louder and more aggressive than it otherwise would have. Note that palm muting DOES get used in many styles of music, so even if the above music didn't appeal to you, this technique is still worth learning.

How to Palm Mute

The key to proper palm muting is in the picking hand (for most of you, the right hand). The concept is to slightly mute the notes you are hitting with the pick, yet not mute them so much that they can't be heard. Rest the heel of your picking hand lightly on the strings, close to the bridge of the guitar. In your fretting hand, position your fingers to play a power chord with the root on the sixth string. Now, with the heel of your hand still touching all relevant strings (make sure it's covering the sixth, fifth and fourth - the strings we're going to play), use your pick to play the chord. In a perfect world, you'd hear all the notes in the chord, only they'd be slightly muffled. Chances are, the first time you try it, it won't sound wonderful.

Getting a proper feel for how much pressure to apply with the heel of your picking hand is the key. Apply too much pressure, and the notes won't ring at all. Apply uneven pressure, and some notes will sound muted, while others will ring unmuted. Concentrate on getting a very even, controlled sound whenever you attempt string muting.

For further illustration of how palm muting is supposed to sound, listen to this mp3 clip of an A5 chord (A power chord) being played, first with palm muting, then without.

To Do:

* Let the flesh on the heel of your palm do all the work. Play with your hand position until it feels comfortable on the strings. This is a technique that is easy once you get it, but can be frustrating to learn.

* Practice this technique a lot. Palm muting gets used all the time in many styles of music, and guitar players with poor palm muting skills are really quite painful to listen to.

* Concentrate on palm muting when playing power chords. This is where the technique is used almost constantly by many guitarists.

* If your amp has distortion, turn it on. Distortion tends to really accentuate the palm muting technique.

* Listen for palm muting in your favorite music. Once you learn to spot it, you'll start to realize exactly how often this technique gets used.

* Make sure your muting hand isn't too far up the guitar (towards the headstock). The farther up the guitar your hand is, the easier it will be to accidentally completely mute the strings.

Now, let's move on to learning major chord inversions.

Part 3 - Major Chord Inversions

Everyone knows how to play an Amajor chord, right? At this point, you should probably be able to play the A major chord three ways - the open A major chord, and the two barre chord shapes (one with a root on sixth string, and one with root on fifth string). If you remember all three shapes, then that's terrific! But I've got news for you - there are many more ways to play A major, or any other major chord. In this lesson, we're just going to scratch the surface, and learn three new major chord shapes.

A Bit About Major Chords

Before we dive in, we should briefly explore what exactly a major chord is. Any major chord you have ever, or will ever play, contains only three different notes. Any more, and it becomes something else (like a major7 chord, or a major6 chord, etc.) Now, there are obviously a lot of times when more than three notes are strummed... an open Gmajor chord uses all six strings, for example. If you check each of the notes in that Gmajor chord, however, you'll find that there are only three DIFFERENT notes played. The remaining three strings played are merely repeated notes. The major chords we will explore today leave out any such repeated notes, so only three strings played in each chord.

6th, 5th, and 4th String Group Major Chords

guitar chord triad guitar cord major 1st inversion 2nd root position inversion triad major chord guitar lesson learn teach guitar how to

The first step in playing these three chord shapes (aka voicings) will be to find the root note of the major chord you want to play on the sixth string (eg. if you wanted to play A major, the root is on the sixth string, fifth fret). Then, play the first chord voicing above, making sure the root of the chord (marked above in red) is on the root of the chord you're trying to play. You'll probably want to finger the first chord above as follows: fourth finger on 6th string, third finger on 5th string, and first finger on 4th string. This is referred to as a "root position" major chord, because the root note is the lowest note sounding in the chord. There are two ways to figure out how to play the next chord illustrated above. The first would be to find the root note on the 4th string, and to form the chord shape around that. If you're not too familiar with the note names on the 4th string, however, you may find this difficult. Alternately, try the following: from the note you just played on the 6th string, count up four frets. This will be the starting note for the next chord shape. Plunk your fingers down (I might suggest third playing the note on the 6th string, and the first finger barring the 5th and 4th strings), and you have another way to play a major chord. This type of chord is referred to as a "first inversion" major chord, since the root note is no longer on the bottom. Try moving back and forth between the root position and first inversion chord. Eventually, you will get a feel for how far the distance between the two are, and will be able to move from voicing to voicing without counting frets. To play the last major chord voicing above, you again have two options. You can find the root note on the 5th string, and form the chord around that note. Alternately, you can count up three frets on the 6th string from the last chord you played, and start the new voicing on that fret (third finger on 6th string, second finger on 5th string, first finger on 4th string). This third major chord is referred to as a "second inversion" major chord. If you would like to bring these voicings full-circle, count up five frets on the sixth string, and play the root position chord again. Once you've memorized these chord shapes, try moving back and forth between all three chord voicings for the major chord you've chosen. They should all sound similar; all three chords shapes above contain the exact same three notes. In each voicing, these three notes are just arranged in a different order.

Example: to play an Amajor chord using the above 6th, 5th, and 4th string voicings, the root position chord starts on the 5th fret of the 6th string. The first inversion chord starts on the 9th fret of the 6th string. And the second inversion chord starts on the 12th fret of the 6th string.

5th, 4th, and 3rd String Group Major Chords

If you take a quick look at the above diagrams, you'll notice they are exactly the same shapes as the previous chords formed on the 6th, 5th, and 4th strings. So, follow the above rules for these chord shapes, and you'll have learned three more ways to play a major chord. Once you're comfortable with the above chords on string groups 6,5,4 and 5,4, 3, try using these same shapes to play different major chords (eg. F, Bb, E, etc.)

When Can I Use These Chords?

Since all of the previously illustrated major chord voicings have the same notes as a "normal" major chord, you could theoretically insert any of them at a time you were required to play a major chord. This is where personal preference becomes your guide; some guitarists will elect to use these shapes all the time, while others will use them more sparingly. There are circumstances where these new voicings will certainly sound out of place. Assume you are the lone guitarist in a "campfire situation", accompanying a group of people singing. You would certainly not want to choose the A major chord shape on the 16th fret of the fifth string, amidst a bunch of other "normal" open strummed chords. In that situation, you'd want the full sound of open chords. If you were the SECOND guitar in that situation, however, your role changes. In that circumstance, you could let the other guitarist play the open chords, and you could use some of these newly learned inversions. This would add a nice, fuller sound to the music. In any event, you'll need to let the musical situation dictate whether or not to use these major chord inversions.

How Do I Practice These Chords?

Trying to learn and utilize these new chord shapes is a daunting task at first. The thought of picking up a guitar, and playing a first inversion Amajor chord, that doesn't even have the root on the bottom, seems impossible. The key to using chord inversions properly is to know which string the root in each voicing is on. When you have internalized this, you can form the chord shape around that root. Learning major chord inversions this way will make the task of finding the root position chord, and counting up to the proper inversion, unneccessary. Here is a suggested practice schedule to help you learn these new chords as quickly as possible:

Step 1: Randomly choose a major chord to work with (eg. Amajor, or C#major, or Dmajor, etc.)

* Start by playing only the root position chord; on each of the four string groups.

* Then, play root position, first inversion, and second inversion chords on each of the 4 string groups.

* If space allows, try playing the chords down the neck starting with root position. Eg. Amajor on 5,4, 3 string group. play root position at twelvth fret, then second inversion on seventh fret, then first inversion on fourth fret. Repeat on other strings where possible).

* Next, try picturing the root position chord shape on each string group, without playing it. Then, play each first inversion shape.

* Picture the root position and first inversion chord shapes on each string group, without playing them. Play each second inversion shape.

* Play the first inversion major chord shapes on each of the four string groups, without playing the root position chord. * Repeat the above with second inversion chords.

Step 2: Choose two major chords. It may be easier to begin with if they are in the same key. If you are unsure about this, try one of the following pairs of chords: Cmajor and Fmajor, Dmajor and Amajor, Gmajor and Cmajor, Bbmajor and Fmajor, Emajor and Amajor, Gmajor and Dmajor.

* Play the root position voicing of t

he first chord, then the root position voicing of the second chord. Repeat on each of the four string groups. * Play the root position voicing of the first chord, then the root position, first inversion, and second inversion voicings for the second chord. Repeat on each string group. While you are playing the voicings for the second chord, remember where you played the root position voicing for the first chord.

* Play the root position voicing for the first chord, then move directly to the closest voicing (on the same string group) for the second chord, whether it be root position, first inversion, or second inversion. Repeat on each string group.

* Play the first inversion voicing for the first chord, then move directly to the closest voicing (on the same string group) for the second chord, whether it be root position, first inversion, or second inversion. Repeat on each string group.

* Repeat the above for the first second inversion voicing, on each string group.

* Play the lowest voicing available on a string group for the first voicing (whether that be root position, first, or second inversion). Move up the neck to the closest available inversion for the second chord. Move again up the neck to the next available inversion of the first chord. Repeat this process all the way up the neck, on each string group.

Now, let's move on doing a chord quiz.

Part 4 - Chord Quiz

We've covered a whole lot of ground in our lessons up until this point. We've learned a great variety of chords - including open major and minor chords, power chords, 7th chords, barre chords, and sus 4 chords. Here's your chance to test your knowledge, by trying to identify the following ten chords. Pick up your guitar, and try and play the following chords. When you've fingered the chord you believe is correct, hit the "answer" button, and the correct chord will be displayed.

For Quiz Answers Please Refer to About.com Question 1:
How to you play an open G major chord?
Question 2:
How to you play an open A minor chord? Question 3:
How to you play an open D minor chord? Question 4:
How to you play an open E major chord? Question 5:
How to you play a B minor chord, with root on fifth string? Question 6:
How to you play an open C7 chord? Question 7:
How to you play an F# minor chord, with root on sixth string? Question 8:
How to you play a B5 chord (B power chord) with root on fifth string? Question 9:
How to you play a Db major chord? Question 10:
How to you play an open Asus4 chord?

How did you do? It's rather important to know all of these chords... these, and many others, are commonly used in all styles of music, and you'll need to be able to remember how to play them quickly. If you had some trouble, make sure you review open major and minor chords, power chords, 7th chords, barre chords, and sus 4 chords.

Got it? Now, let's explore advanced bending techniques.

Part 5 - Advanced String Bending

In lesson eight, we explored the basics of string bending. If you haven't studied that lesson, or need a refresher course, it is suggested you go back and spend some time learning the material there.

Although the string bending style we learned in lesson eight is extremely valuable, there are a few nuances of string bending that will make the technique much more useful. Let's look at a few common bending techniques:

Types of Bends

Listen to mp3 of above bends

The above is three variations of a very simple guitar riff used often by B.B. King. We'll use this phrase to illustrate the various types of bending. The first bending technique above, the bend and release, we already learned in lesson eight - bend the note up a tone, and bring it back to "regular" pitch. Rather straightforward.

The second technique is generally just referred to as a string bend. It differs from the first bending technique in that rather than bending the pitch and then bringing it back to it's beginning pitch, we mute the string while it is still bent, so you don't hear the string returning to it's "normal" unbent pitch. You accomplish this by hitting the string with a downpick, bending the note up a tone, then touching the underside of the still bent string with your pick to cause it to stop ringing. You can then release the bent string back to it's original position.

The third technique above is called a pre-bend. The pre-bend differs in that you actually bend the string BEFORE you play it. Bend the tenth fret of the second string up to the 12th fret, then hit the string with your pick. Now, release the bend, so the pitch returns to normal. This can be tricky, since you have to estimate how far to bend the note, without being able to hear it. Concentrate on trying to get the bend in tune.

If you're interested in this style of guitar playing, I'll encourage you to read the learn to play like B.B. King feature. Most of that lesson isn't any harder to play than the material presented above.

Now, let's move on to learning songs.

Part 6 - Learning Songs

We learned quite a bit about specific guitar techniques this week, so let's try to put some of these principles into practice, while still having some fun! As usual, you can find about 200 other songs to play in the easy song tabs archive.

If you need a refresher on the chords we've learned so far, glance over the open major and minor chords, power chords, 7th chords, barre chords, and sus4 chords.

NOTE: A few of the following song transcriptions use tablature. If you are unfamiliar with this term, take a moment to learn how to read guitar tablature.

Hash Pipe - performed by Weezer
NOTES: this was the clip used in the illustration of palm-muting. Lots of chunky power chords to play. Make sure you keep the palm mute happening! Although playable on acoustic, this is more suited to electric guitar.
MP3: iTunes download

Better Be Home Soon - performed by Crowded House
NOTES: A very nice song, with a fairly large assortment of chords. This one is perfectly suited to acoustic guitar.
MP3: iTunes download

Desperado - performed by The Eagles
NOTES: A bit of a challenge, to be sure. Originally played on piano, this one has LOTS of different chords, almost all of which you probably already know.
MP3: iTunes download

Stairway to Heaven Guitar Solo - performed by Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page)
NOTES: for electric guitarists only. Okay, so this isn't easy, by any standards. But, we've gotta start somewhere! Be patient, and give this a shot - bit by bit.

Part 7 - Practice Schedule

As always, I'm going to try and convince you to go back over old lessons - we have covered such a vast amount of material, it's highly doubtful you remember how to play everything we've learned (c'mon... do you mean to tell me you got PERFECT in the chord quiz?!) After you've done that, you can focus on the following:

* First, make sure your guitar is in tune.

* Download one of the software versions of a metronome, and use it to practice with.

* Practice scales we've learned, using the metronome to keep time. Try palm muting the scale. Try sliding from note to note. Try hammering on as you ascend the scale, and pulling off as you descend.

* Practice this lesson's major chord inversions. We're going to keep studying these in detail, so it's important to get these basics together.

* Do some string bending. Do this often, because you won't get better at it until you build up some finger strength. Even if you hate doing it, try doing it for one or two minutes every time you play guitar. You'll be happy you did.

* Keep practicing the fingerpicking patterns from lesson seven and lesson eight. We're going to keep learning fingerpicking patterns in upcoming lessons, so all those we've learned are extremely important.

* Try to play all of the songs above, plus keep playing those from previous lessons.

In lesson eleven, we'll tackle seventh barre chords, more advanced strumming patterns, more chord inversions, and much more. Keep your chin up, and keep on strummin'!