Our site proudly contains 30 Super Classic video song lessons, all completely taught for Easy Rhythm Guitar. Here is a list of what’s available. They cost $4.99 each, plus there are some freebies . Clicking on the titles will take you to the lesson preview/purchase page for more details.
We’ve got 34 of ‘em, and views are going up up up! We are only weeks away from having 1 million views with YouTube and other sites combined! This is SO fun for us! Here’s an embed so you can see an example (and so I can get practice with blog video embeds):
It’s no secret that we, just like you, love the Beatles at RhythmStrummer.com. In fact, they have been my main musical inspiration since the mid 90’s when I started really educating myself in pop music history.
There are a few Beatles tunes that were originally done mostly by acoustic guitar, like Yesterday, Julia, Mother Nature’s Son, and Dear Prudence. And, man, those are awesome classic guitar riffs! But they aren’t super easy unless you’ve been playing for quite a while.
What has worked better for me in my early years of playing is to start with old Beatles 4-piece stuff. Tunes like I Should Have Known Better, No Reply, Love Me Do have pretty easy chord progressions and everyone knows them well enough to sing along.
Simple songs like these give your brain more space to keep everything else together. After all, playing an instrument (especially while singing) is a lot like juggling. You have to be coordinated and managing a lot of synchronous activities at once. If you play simpler songs, you can still have a great musical experience, but without all the mental responsibility.
So pick a Beatles song you like that was written before 1965 and look up the chords. Then, get out the recording and try to match the chords up so you can at least strum one time with each chord change. Don’t worry about the rhythm yet- just figure out how you are going to finger each chord and practice moving from one chord to the next smoothly (a HUGE part of developing good technique!).
Once you can strum one of each chord at the moment that it happens in the song (still while listening to the recording), start strumming a chord on every major beat- like maybe just downstrokes to keep your right hand moving in time.
Here’s where a LOT of repetition and mental focus can pay off. If you just keep your right hand moving evenly, and you are changing chords at the right time, you are playing the basic skeleton of the song. It’ll sound cool if you play it with the recording, but it’ll sound empty and boring if you play it like this on your own- more complex rhythm will need to be added.
I wouldn’t add it yet though unless doing this is really easy for you. If you can’t play through the whole tune with just one downstroke per beat, then encourage yourself to keep at it until it’s smooth, even if you only do it 5 minutes a day.
I’ll write another post in the next few days continuing the conversation from here. Happy Strumming!
I’m taking over for Anton for the time being, and this is my first blog post. I actually created the whole RhythmStrummer.com website, and there’s a lot to watch over and develop with a project like this! You’ll get to know me better as things progress. For now, I want to get some feedback from everyone about how our site could improve. We need more students to stay alive!
First thing I want to ask about is how everyone likes the site’s appearance and navigation. What can I do to make it more obvious and user friendly for new visitors? Some have said that’s it’s either too busy or too hard to know where to go from the home page. I can’t really tell since I’m so used to looking at the darned thing. It’s like trying to edit your own writing- it’s just impossible to be objective about your own creation.
Second, could anyone tell me what features or functions you’d like to have added? We are going to install a loop feature soon on the video so you can pick a section of the lesson to watch and hear over and over. You can practice along with it! And soon, we’ll add slowed down versions (50 and 75% speeds) of the videos so you can loop a section at a reduced speed in case it’s hard to play at full tempo.
I’ll stop there for now because I don’t want to throw too many ideas at everyone all at once.
In this post we will take a quick look at two chords, 9th and minor 7b5. When based off the fifth string they are actually two chords with the same shape. Here is it below.
At the second fret that chord form can function as either a G9 chord or a B minor 7 flat five. Those chords are considered enharmonic. Lets break it down.
From the fifth string down the notes are B, F, A, and D. Treating the 5th string as the root its a Bm7b5, which contains the root, in this case B, the third D, a flatted 5th F, and the minor 7th, A. Like all the other chords we have been looking at recently this one is movable, slide it up one fret and its a Cm7b5, up two frets from that and its a Dm7b5. Pretty cool.
But it also functions as a G9 chord, lets look at that. So keeping the chord in the same position at the second fret we have thenotes B, F, A, and D. As you can see no G, which means this chord contains no root. So in this case the B note on the 5th string will be the third of the chord. A G9 chord contains the notes, G, B, D, F, and A. So minus the root G, which is not totally necessary, we have the same notes at the Bm7b5. And thats how you can have two different types of chords with the same notes. Just remember that the 5th string is now the third of the chord, not the root. So you slide it up two frets and its an A9, two more frets from there and its a B9 etc.
Next time we will look at few more movable chord forms, which should give us a nice bunch of chords to use.
Playing guitar can often times seem like a huge endeavor. No matter what stage you are at there is so much to learn, different chords, scales, right and left hand techniques, lead playing etc.
One thing i try to keep in mind is improving one percent per day. Imagine if you kept that up every day you would be 365% better at the end of the year. It doesnt have to be much. A new chord, new appregio pattern, new lead lick, or working a few measures through a difficult piece. Every time you pick up the guitar for a practice session, in addition to reviewing what you already know, try add something new to your bag of tricks. Keep track of what you learn, and by the end of the year i bet it will add up.
Continuing on with the movable three note chord theme, here are couple more shapes i use around the neck often. They are handy if i am playing a chord form high up the neck, and if next chord would normal be voiced lower on the neck, i can just play one of these versions so i dont have to move my hand as far. Its all about being effecient and lazy.
First lets revisit the three note voicing below. It contains the notes G, E, and Bb. Thus it can be used as a Gminor6 chord, but also a C7 chord, since that chord contains the notes C E G, and Bb. Notice if its used in that context there is no C in the chord, but thats ok. When playing three note chords the root and fifth are optional, depending on how you want to voice the chord.
I will base the other two voicings i am going to show around a G chord, though keep in mind the same shape can be moved around the neck to play a variety of chords.
Next up we have a very similar chord, except we are moving the Bb up a half step to a B. This gives us the notes G, E, and B. That is a G6 chord, rather than Gminor6, since the B is no longer flatted. However, it also gives us an E minor chord, since that also contains the notes G, E, and B, though this version would be with a G in the bass. It sounds different than your basic E minor chord at the second fret, but its always good to have different options. With this form the E note on the 4th string functions as the root, so if you move the whole shape up one fret it becomes an F minor chord, two more frets after that its a G minor chord, etc. This is a pretty handy voicing.
This next shape is again similar, except we will be moving up to the seventh fret. Check out the diagram below. That gives us a B note on the 6th string, a G note on the 4th string, and a D on the 3rd string. Just the right ingredients for a G chord. This would be called a G with a B in the bass. Notice that the note on the 6th string is the one that determines the flavor of the chord, drop it back one fret and you get a Bb, which gives us a G minor chord, the same shape as the chord above.
Thats about it for this post. Check out those voicings, move them around to different positions on the neck, and see what you can come up with.
So in this blog post i want to look at some condensed voicings for the chords we learned earlier. When playing a tune at a fast clip with two chord changes per measure those finger voicings can be tough. Alot of players will use three note voicings that are much easier when switching fast. Especially if you are playing with another guitarist or a bass player, these chords will sound fine.
When learning how to voice these chords there are certain notes of the chord that are not totally necessary. The third degree of the chord is usually needed, as it determines if the tonality of the chord is major or minor. Likewise if you want to play a 7th chord the 7th degree is necessary for that sound. Roots and fifths however, are not always needed, as we will see later. If its a three note chord you are trying to play usually the root or fifth is left out, though usually not both. Lets look at some three note voicings for Dominant 7 and Minor 7th chords.
This Dominant 7 voicing uses the root on the 6th string and includes the root, 7th, and 3rd notes of the chord. The example i have is a G7, so those notes are G, F, and B. As you can see there is no fifth.
This three finger voicing works nicely, and is easy to slide up and down the neck depending on what chord you need. Note the muted strings, make sure not to strum those.
Next up is a three note minor chord voicing that again contains the root, third, and seventh. Its the same shape is the Dominant 7th voicing above, just shit your fingers down one string.
Its really easy to switch from the Dom7 on the sixth string to the minor 7 on the fifth string, which is handy for fast tunes.
Last up for this blog post we have a three note chord that can be used in a variety of ways, here is it below.
Treating the sixth string as the root its a G minor six. G is the root, the Bb note makes it a minor chord, and E is the sixth. This is a common chord for gypsy jazz, and is moved alot up and down the neck.
But this chord can also function is a dominant seven chord, though there is no root. Recall this shape below, Cdom7, with the root on the 2nd string.
If you notice the top three strings are the same voicing as the Gm6, so this shape will also function as a Cdom7 chord, containing the 5th, 3rd, and 7th scale degrees, which G, E, and Bb respectively. So this is one of those chords that does not have a root. This is handy thing to know in a tune with fast and quick chord changes.
So there we have a few three note voicings that can be moved up and down the neck. Give them a shot, and for the next blog post i will look at a few more.
I am not sure how many folks read the blog who are interested in making a living playing music, but musicians Danny Barnes has some great advice here on his blog. I have a read it a bunch, so i felt i had to post it. I think it applies well to anyone who is self employed, or just people in general.
One more quick chord form that i forgot to include. Then i will get into more three finger chord forms in the next blog post.
This chord form is another dominant 7th, except this time the root is on the second string, the fifth string is muted, and we are fretting the sixth string.
Compare this to the very similar C7 below.
Except for the placement of the third finger both chord forms are the same. The difference with the first is that muting the 5th string, and fretting the G note on the 6th string makes the root of the chord that C note on the second string. The fretted 6th string now functions as the 5th of the chord, since G is the fifth of the C chord. This is a nice chord form, slide it up two frets and you have a D7, to more frets and its an E7, one more fret and its an F7, etc.
I hope you all can add that chord to your collection, and the next blog post will deal with three note versions of some of these chords. They come in handy when playing fast swing tunes with lots of changes.
