Guitar Tricks Blog

Posted April 5, 2019

I've played tons of terrible guitars over the years and just because they have a huge price tag doesn't mean they're any good! Finding the right guitar for beginners is important because when you’re first starting to play, you may not know what to look for in a quality instrument. There are a couple of things you have to take into consideration when looking for a beginner guitar, or your very first guitar. Let’s take a look!

Posted April 3, 2019

Eric Clapton's songs and work have catapulted him into the Rock Hall-of-Fame as an iconic rock and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He’s been part of monumental bands like Cream, assisted with a number of Beatles tracks, and have found great success as a solo artist. 

Posted March 29, 2019

Crossroads Guitar Festival 2019, founded by guitar hero Eric Clapton is a music festival coming to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas from September 20 through the 21st. This will be the fifth event in the festival’s history and all profits will go towards fighting substance abuse. 

Posted March 27, 2019

The Am chord on guitar, or also known as the A minor, is a triad composed from the A major scale. The most common ways to play it is in the open position, at the first fret, or as a barre chord in the fifth position. Since it’s a minor chord, it is often used in slow or mellow songs thanks to its dark sounding tone. 

Posted March 22, 2019

Guitar practice is any time you pick up the guitar and play. Whether you're playing something new for the first time or you're going over something you already know, practice is important because it keeps your fingers and hands warmed up and your muscle memory in tip top condition. 

Posted March 20, 2019

A fretboard, or fingerboard of a guitar is the part of the neck where all the metal frets are placed. Musicians press the string down on different parts of the fretboard to play notes and chords. The fretboard notes of a guitar is not labeled so when a guitarist begins to learn, they simply will have to memorize where each note is through practice. Luckily, there are a number of tools to help with this. 

Posted March 15, 2019

Fingerstyle guitar is when guitar players play without a guitar pick, and only with their fingers. Beginner guitarists may learn fingerstyle guitar by simply practicing without a pick. There are a number of fingerstyle techniques and Travis picking is one of the most common. 

Posted March 13, 2019

Basic guitar chords on guitar are generally open chords like C major, D major and F major. For anyone taking guitar lessons, these are the very first chords you learn because their fingering is simple and straightforward. These chords are also the most commonly used chords in popular music.

Posted March 8, 2019

It’s International Women’s Day and to celebrate, we want to highlight our most popular song lessons on female-led artists and bands.

Posted March 6, 2019

Jazz chords are chord voicings that are commonly used in jazz music. Technically there are no chords called jazz chords, but instead, jazz musicians generally like to use extended chords like 7th major and minor chords, dominant and diminished 7th chords, minor 7th flat 5, and 9th chords. 

Posted February 27, 2019

Easy guitar songs are important for the beginner guitar player because learning how to play a song is arguably the whole point of learning any musical instrument. The songs below only require you to know about three or four chords, but with so many music-inspired movies recently, let’s take a look at some songs that you might hear in cinemas real soon.

Posted February 22, 2019

Suspended chords like the Dsus4 guitar chord, or an Asus2 are chords that can add some extra color or tension to an otherwise normal chord. To get a suspended chord, we replace the 3rd with a nearby scale degree, the 4th or 2nd. These chords are a lot of fun to play and usually only require the guitar player to lift or add one finger. 

Posted February 13, 2019

Chord progressions are the backbone of every song. From pop and blues to metal and punk rock, and much more, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with these simple concepts if you ever want to write your own songs or understand your favorite songs a little deeper. 

Posted February 8, 2019

Guitar practice means finding a comfortable space and working on a specific skill, technique or song. There are a number of different ways to practice guitar but thanks to Guitar Tricks instructor Lisa, here are some really easy steps on how to practice and how to create a simple, yet effective practice plan.  

Posted February 6, 2019

It's important to know guitar exercises to train your fingers to perform correctly. Guitar exercises are often used to practice specific elements of guitar playing like open chords, scales and so on. Here are some exercises to help you strengthen your fingers and form so that you have a solid playing foundation going forward.