First, I’ll say that I think the best way for me to learn guitar was to find a teacher I like and take one on one lessons. But that can cost a lot of money (I know, I’m doing it and at $50 per hour lesson, it ain’t cheep). So, I decided to take a look at online lessons as a supplement to my one on one lessons. That way I can cut back the number of times I meet with my instructor.
The other day I posted about my first guitar lesson and touched on the CAGED system. I wanted to follow up that post with some more detail, mainly for my own learning process. If I write it down in my own words it helps me remember.
Above are the five major chord shapes an their scales. My instructor points out that for the most part you’re not going to use a lot of the shapes when playing bar chords. Since you can play any chord with any of the shapes, it doesn’t make sense to use the D shape to play a C chord when the A or E shape is so much easier. And after trying to play the D shape, I agree. Maybe once I get better I can venture into the more difficult shapes.
It’s been a couple weeks since I started this blog and I thought I’d post another “what’s this site all about” post since I’ve had some more time to think about it. I’m sure I’ll have some further insight down the road, but this is what I’ve been come up with so far.
Here’s a little riff my guitar teacher taught me to help with playing bar chords. It’s pretty simple and sounds pretty cool. Just pick a strumming pattern you like.
G7 | C7 | G7 | G7
C7 | C7 | G7 | G7
D7 | C7 | G7 | G7
D7 | C7 | G7 | G7
Well, I wasn’t really expecting to add a new guitar to my collection today. I posted the other day I was looking at Les Pauls and Telecasters but I didn’t really plan on getting a new guitar any time soon. But, today was the Four Amigos Guitar Show in San Rafael and I found a guitar and deal I just couldn’t pass up.
I guess it was love at first sight when I saw the 2009 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul 1957 R7 Korina Goldtop Reissue. This is a limited edition run that is made from Korina wood rather than the normal mahogany. I honestly always expected to buy a sunburst Les Paul if I was ever going to get one.
And they had plenty of nice examples at the guitar show. But, when I saw the Goldtop it was all over.
Gibson ’57 Les Paul Korina Goldtop Reissue Electric Guitar Features:
