#2 So I Picked up the Guitar...Now What?

A lot of people play the guitar today, some are self taught, and some take lessons either formally or informally through friends and family. I mean you can also take virtual lessons online, or watch some youtube videos. If you wanted to teach yourself guitar, there is more than enough information out there that is easily available.

BUT... If you are new to Guitar, all of this can be a little confusing. If you don't know anything about Guitar, or Music, I will explain a few concepts in this post that will help make your journey a little easier for you. For this post, I thought to myself and asked a few of my friends this question - "If you were going to give advice to someone who is picking up the guitar for the first time, what would you tell them?"

So here it goes...

#1 - In my opinion (this doesn't mean it is fact) I believe the easiest way to learn how to play Guitar is to learn how to play songs you like. If you don't like Heavy Metal, and every time you pick up a Guitar you try to play Heavy Metal riffs - you are likely to put the guitar down since some of them can get pretty complicated. So stick to playing stuff you ACTUALLY like.

#2 - Power Chords and Strumming Patterns

Since I Believe the best way to learn how to play is to actually start playing, it would make sense to learn how to play the easiest chords and get used to strumming.

Power Chords, (you may see them listed as x5 chords...such as G5, A5, D5 etc) are the cornerstone behind music like punk rock, and all other kinds of rock. Almost any song you can play with power chords if you really wanted to. So how do you play a power chord?

Just follow these exact steps:

#1 - Using your pointer finger, hold down the third fret on the E string. This note is G.

#2 - Using your ring finger on the same hand, place your ring finger right next to your pointer finger on the E string, 2 frets up so it is on the 5th fret.

#3 - To make this work, we just need to move your ring finger down one string. The string directly below the E string is the A string. You already should have your ring finger on the 5th fret. The last step is moving your ring finger from the E string to the A string. Just move it down to the string below it. You should now be holding two string down.

#4 - Strum the guitar to see how it sounds. It may feel awkward if it is new to you, so you will have to keep practicing until it becomes natural to hold your hands and fingers in these positions. Below I am going to draw a diagram of how this should look like.

E - - - - - - - - - - - - -
B - - - - - - - - - - - - -
G - - - - - - - - - - - - -
D - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A - - 5 - - - - - - - - - -
E - - 3 - - - - - - - - - -

^^^
What I have drawn above me is what is referred to as a TAB. This is a way for Guitarists to communicate how to play something to other guitarists in a way that is easy to understand. The letters on the left hand side represent the strings on the guitar. The bottom E is the heaviest string, and the top E is the lightest string. The numbers refer to what frets you should be hold down, on that string, to make the chord.

This shape can be used all over the neck of the guitar, on any strings, and it will create a pleasant sound. To know what chord you are playing, you need to know the root. For example, in our example we played a G power chord, often referred to as G5. This is because the 3rd fret is G. Don't even worry about what the 5 means, it's not that important unless you plan on getting into music theory. Just know that when you see 5 after a letter for a chord, like A5, you a playing an A power chord.

If you took the same shape, and slide it up the neck of the guitar to the 7th fret, you would be playing a B power chord. That would look like this.

E - - - - - - - - - - - - -
B - - - - - - - - - - - - -
G - - - - - - - - - - - - -
D - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A - - 9 - - - - - - - - - -
E - - 7 - - - - - - - - - -


When playing power chords, you want to lay your fingers across the rest of the strings lightly. What this does is mute the strings, freeing you up to get crazy with strumming patterns. To get good with power chords, practice playing them with different strum patterns, using root notes on the E string and the A string.

#1 It's Only Going To Get Cooler

I first started messing around with audio recording programs around the age of 13. In fact, Audacity was the first program that I used. After witnessing Garageband on my friends Macbook, and finding out the program comes standard on a Macbook, I saved up all of my cash until I could get one. I thought Garageband was the coolest thing ever made. What I didn't know is that Garageband is like a Honda Civic, and there were Ferrari's and Bugatti's in the Music Technology World.


Garageband is a Digital Audio Workstation that comes standard on all Apple Computers. There are now versions for the iPhone and the iPad - allowing you to record your guitar right into your iPad, or use your iPad as an amp/pedal board, and send that sound out to an amp for a show. Apple also makes a professional audio application, called Logic. This is like the grown up version of Garageband. It comes jam packed with virtual synthesizers, guitar amps, pedal boards, and a full collection of tools to help you mix down your audio tracks and get them sounding exactly how you want them to sound.

Logic is one of the main players in the Digital Audio Workstation world (from now on, referred to as DAW). Other main players in this world are Pro Tools, FL Studio, Ableton Live, Cubase, Reaper, Digital Performer, and many many more. Around one year ago I bought Logic, which has provided me and continues to provide me with endless amounts of creative fun.

So how do you get high quality sound from your computer into these software programs?

There are products called "Audio Interfaces". In their most basic form, what they do is take a signal from an external device, such as a guitar, bass, or microphone and translate the incoming audio into a language the computer can understand. These Interfaces connect to computers usually through a USB port, but also can connect through FireWire input.

In Today's Music Technology Landscape, is it very possible to create high quality recordings at home, in your bedroom, using software programs such as DAW's and using a high quality Digital Audio Interface with a High Quality Microphone.

What we haven't touched on yet is Midi. Midi stands for "Musical Instrument Digital Interface". Essentially Midi allows musical programs to communicate with each other to create music. This is commonly used in the creation of Electronic Dance Music and Top 40 heard on the radio today. There is an abundance of software programs that are designed to replicate synthesizers, drum sets, guitars, basses, keys, and any other instrument you can think of! A midi controller is needed to control these instruments through the use of Midi. Usually, programs will have a feature called "midi-learn" or something similar which will aid you in the programming of your specific controller to controller the specific parameters of the software instruments.

Midi Controllers often look like keyboards, and the cool thing is they don't always sound like keyboards! You can program it to whatever function you want. For example, say you are working with a drum machine, and you map the keys on the controller to each individual drum on the drum kit. Now you can play the drums with your keyboard.

Midi has been around since the 1980's. So it is OLD technology. This blog is going to teach you new technologies that are coming around, and since midi is still king - we will show you the really sweet software programs that run with Midi. We will explain what Sampling is, and how it created hip hop - and where Sampling is today. We will also show you how there are now full blown synthesizers, capable of creating any sound possible - available for purchase in the App Store. You can literally get on a stage today and replace the synthesizer with an iPad.