You don’t really learn any music when you memorise that C major has 0 1 3 on E strings etc, but you do become familiar with some basic shapes on the guitar that help you easily improvise your solos.

If you can back up your scale learning with a bit of music theory then I strongly suggest you do this. The basic reasons is that it’s harder to think that D major chord has a F# etc then it is to remember the shape with your left hand.

One of the skills great guitarists have is the fact that they know every note on the guitar. There are little secrets regarding remembering them on the guitar, for instance 7 on a string means the note of the string before it (7 on E string means B note etc) with one exception on the B string, where the G note is found on the 8^th fret.

These are things that you will notice for yourself when you gather enough experience. You just need to learn the notes on each string and then the shapes and forms will create themselves in your mind.

These are the reasons I strongly suggest learning all notes on all the strings before you start learning scales. Once you know every note on every string it will be very easy to learn any kind of scale you like to.

As they stand they are at the complete opposite of one another, the picado is alternate index and middle finger picking for fast variations, while alzapua is a thumb technique a lot different from every other existing technique.

In this free online guitar lesson we’ll start with the picado, since it is a little easier to comprehend and explain. Now, for the basic technique, it is really just alternate picking with the index and middle fingers. However, an important thing about picado is that there are actually 2 types of picado, divided in rest strokes and free strokes. The deal about these is that free strokes don’t touch any other string after the actual picking of a string, while rest strokes are called that because the finger rests on the next string from the one that was played.

Alzapua is a totally different thing. The basic technique is a combination of strokes with the thumb. First comes a normal rest stroke (explained above) on a string, then a quick one-move motion on the next 2 strings, then a backward with the back of the thumbnail quick one-move motion up 3 strings to the initial position, then you repeat. Doing this fast will create a much more powerful sound than any other technique. Sometimes the ring finger is used to hit the guitar case (golpe) when doing alzapua for an added twist.

I believe this free online guitar lesson should help you understand and develop your technique neatly. If you practice both they will help each other more than you can think of. When you see no more progress practicing picado, try some alzapua exercises and you’ll see results soon enough. Likewise the other way around works too.

However it is easy to establish what is important. The division is usually between left hand technique and right hand technique. “There isn’t a shortcut to improve your left and right hand technique other than just practice” is what you usually get, because there are so many details it would be useless to enlist them all. First off all you will never remember all of them when you are struggling with your technique. Second of all you will not be able to hold your hand in the correct way because your muscles are not strong enough.

What you aim for is what’s important; if you’re ambitious and want to play faster than any guitar player then you should aim for perfect technique, with as little variation as possible. This way your brain will get used to the pattern and you will stop thinking about it, that’s when your hands take over. A tip for these free acoustic guitar lessons: you can’t be fast unless you know what you’re going to play very clearly. Eventually your moves will become sharp and you will easily play flurry of notes on the guitar.

The problem with trying to be fast is that singing the same thing over and over is really boring. Sometimes I wonder how I lasted so long doing this. Anyway, apart from learning all these scales and chords as they tell you in free acoustic guitar lessons, which are indeed very good, you should try and improvise off of the basic stuff. The greatest songs started from simple things. I’m not saying to totally neglect study, but instead of doing that all the time (boring) try and work on your imagination a little bit too.

How does that happen ? let’s suppose you are trying to learn the picado technique, the best thing to do is perhaps take a few videos of Paco De Lucia and study the movement closely, then practice it on the guitar. Problem is that you will most likely miss a few important details, and you won’t be able to move your hand quite like him. So this leads to a faulty technique, which in turn leads to mistakes while playing, which is the kind of thing we should want to avoid.

So how should you learn guitar picking techniques ? Get the general idea, picado – index and middle fingers alternatively, cool – and record it. Record yourself doing the technique, then compare the video with the way Paco De Lucia is doing it. This way it is easy to see the differences and you will easily understand where you are wrong and what you should try to do. This is the technical approach to learning techniques, comparing positions and movements.

Another way is to try and make the guitar sound the same as the song, but this is very unreliable as in the case of picado it is highly unlikely that you will be able to move as fast as Paco De Lucia even if you’re using 4 fingers for a tremolo instead of 2. Still I recommend trying this as well as the other method.

Using both methods should lead to you developing your own style and guitar picking techniques, and that is the point of playing guitar.

Technique-wise classical guitar will prove difficult only for the left hand. Complex chords will prove to be a beast for your left hand, hence they are very good exercise. For this classical guitar lesson I would advise you to learn Bach or Beethoven first as their songs are a little easier to begin with.

Nicolo Paganini has perhaps the most complicated songs techique-wise so if you’re looking for a challenge, this is the thing. They’re also full of melody, perhaps more than other classical greats. This is where you can learn another very important part of music, rhythm.

So getting back to this classical guitar lesson, first comes figuring out the key you’re in, and then learning it if not by heart, but so you know some of the primary chords you’ll see. This will help you cathegorize things much easier when you see them. This is easy, just look at the end of the song, the final note or chord represents the key you’re in. This goes for every song, as otherwise they wouldn’t have a feeling of completion.

After you got some things in mind, like the major and minor chords in the key proceed to learn the song, note by note, chord by chord. If it’s really complex I recommend first learning the bass lines(they’re easier) and then the rest. If you have the song or a program that can play the tabs it becomes much easier to learn a song you like. This is it for today’s classical guitar lesson.

The rasguedos are the most important technique in my opinion, partly because it develops all your fingers and because of the main role it plays in any flamenco party. There are 2 main types of rasguedos, but dozens of variations in the technique that various flamenco guitarists employ as a form of personalization of their music.

I’m not sure how to characterize the 2 types of rasguedo, but as with all my flamenco guitar lessons I will try to detail each technique as clearly as possible. The first type of rasguedo involves using your fingers, except the thumb, in rapid succession like this: pinky-ring-middle-index. You start with the thumb resting on a string, the other fingers are held tightly like a punch of sorts. Then release your fingers one after the other on the strings then repeat. If it sounds something like dram-dram-dram you are not doing it fast enough, just keep trying. It should sound something like a constant r, rrrr; when you get that kind of sound you are doing it correctly.

The other type is a more traditional type, most often done using the thumb and middle, though thumb and index are sometimes used for even faster rasguedos. This techniques key points to keep in mind are: the motions are thumb up the strings, middle down, thumb down then repeat, though you can start with any of them. The same rule applies for the sound. This is more difficult to explain in words and your best bet to understand is to try and visualise it, or try to copy flamenco guitar players.

The first type is usually used in bulerias and fandangos, because it is fast and powerful. The second type is common in rondenas and alegrias, but combinations are always employed. More flamenco guitar lessons delve into the other techniques and genres.

There are several styles of guitar finger picking, ranging from classical to flamenco. Intermediate styles like jazz involve using both a pick and your fingers alternatively in order to produce different effects and sounds.

Classical finger picking doesn’t rely so much on anything other than arpeggios and a primitive form of picados. Though some classical songs involve different techniques, they are generally focused on the sound quality rather than being challenging. Jazz and acoustic styles also use arpeggios as the main technique and again are not very challenging since not much speed is required. The focus of all these styles is comfort and relaxation.

In contrast, flamenco is a very complex genre, and it involves several right hand techniques that are unique to this style. The best flamenco guitarist in that he has mastered every technique in existence is Paco De Lucia. His trademark technique is the picado. The picado is the technique in which you use your index and middle fingers alternatively for rapid picking of the strings. Done right it sounds like a flurry of notes with the feeling of a galloping horse. Coupled with the fast nature of flamenco and an excellent control over the left hand patterns the result is remarkable in both speed and power.

Any exercise is good to practice your picado, that is everything helps, both exercises for thumb or arpeggios are very good. These will help you improve your guitar finger picking a lot.

These beginner guitar lessons will emphasize the boring part of music: training, but it will also include the reasons behind exercises and specific chord progression. When it comes to guitar training, there are a few basic exercises which you should master.

The most famous is the 1-2-3-4 exercise of which I am certain you have heard before. But just to be sure I will illustrate the basics of this exercise. The notes you play are the first 4 frets of a string of your choosing, in the progression 1->2->3->4. The left hand fingers you use are all four fingers, one for each fret, index for 1, middle for 2 etc. You should do this exercise about 5-10 minutes a day without break. After you get the idea you can start to improvise and change it.

For beginner guitar lessons the basic chords are enough, there are 7 major chords and 7 minor chords, all within the first 4 frets. Once you know them you can start to understand them, if you move the chord 1 fret up then from say..E major it becomes F major. The trick is that you have to consider the free strings too, so you have to keep the index finger to illustrate the free strings. Once you have that down you begin to realize the similarities between chords and which chord is which.

Try different techniques and see what you can figure out. A small tip to end these beginner guitar lessons, when you are playing the guitar, try and never have the same session twice, at some point change a chord, an exercise or whatever; it will make you enjoy it a lot more.

There are many differences between spanish music and flamenco. While flamenco was born inside of Spain, it is only native to the region of Andalusia. The techniques are somewhat alike, but flamenco includes many genres and Spanish guitar lessons often include subtle aspects of flamenco and other styles.

These are the most well-known but the truth is there are many regional folk styles just like Andalusian music(flamenco), each with their own flavors and characters. The region of Aragon is characterized by a dense percussive element and the main instruments are castanets, guitar, tambourines and bandurria.

The regions of Asturias, Galicia and Cantabria have a distinct tradition which bears a powerful Celtic stamp. The signature instrument is the gaita, an instrument similar to the classic bagpipe of Scotland. Castille, Madrid and Leon is a large region that has been marked by numerous sources: Portuguese, Roman, Gypsy, Moor and others.

In other words spanish guitar lessons often refer to a very general style, while spanish music is much more complex and branched than it is believed.

But the most important rule of them all is that you have to stay in the rhythm no matter what. A wrong note or two can get by very easily, and with experience you will choose the right alterations without thinking, you will feel what fret sounds like what and picture something in your head rather than figuring out if the note you’re on is in the key or not.

Staying in the rhythm is not so easy as it may seem at first glance. Often times you get carried away with what you’re playing and you fail to pay attention to where the song is, and overlapping occurs which ruins your solo. My advice for this solo lesson is to try tapping the rhythm with your foot to try and keep you from forgetting about the song. A more advanced technique would be to play notes in the counter-measures of the base rhythm; this is bound to create more feeling to the solo and people will enjoy it more.

Technique-wise not that much is required, though you have to know where you’re at and what you can do. Of course while training you can try and do anything, that’s the best way to learn, but in a solo you play for some people you should try and stick to the things you know are going to sound good.

Speaking of things you know sound good you should have 3-4 basic patterns that last half a measure/a full measure/2 and a half measures etc so you have something in reserve if you run out of ideas. I am writing this solo lesson because many times I got stuck without knowing what else to play, and you don’t want to ruin everything with 10 seconds of complete silence.

This solo lesson should help you develop a style of your own, suitable for you and your technique level.

Several guitar strumming techniques are available, but you should develop your own style. If you look at Al Di Meola, John Mclaughlin, Eric Clapton and other guitar masters you will notice they all have their own style. The easiest part to personalise is your strumming technique as it doesn’t have to be precise, and it doesn’t have to copy what is written in the rhythm pattern.

For the rhythm pattern there are a few good ways to remember it. First of all you should always tap your foot to keep the rhythm while you’re playing. When you have a bit more experience with that you can even tap the main beats a little bit harder than the others. Another method is to clap your hands, but this will keep you from playing while doing it. So I recommend tapping your foot at all times.

The most important skill you need to acquire is a technique I call counter-rhythm, which is basically tapping your foot and playing the counter measures of the main beats. Most guitar players change the tapping of their foot to adjust to the new rhythm, but this is a mistake.

A few standard guitar strumming techniques are the simple brush-type up and down movement meant to play the whole chord in one slice, the rasgueado(the typical flamenco technique) and something I call the ‘trio’, which means doing a fast up-down-up or down-up-down motion on all the strings, creating a galloping effect to add flavour to the rhythm.

A classical guitar player will hold the guitar on his left foot, which will be resting on a guitar footstool in order to have easy access to the whole fretboard as classical music relies heavily on complicated chord progressions.

A flamenco guitar player holds the guitar leaned forward, on his right leg, as it rests with the ankle on the left leg. No footstool is required and this position is meant to make the guitarist look proud and imposing. Another variation is to simply hold the guitar on the right leg while standing on a chair.

Electrical guitar players usually don’t sit down while playing and they tend to hold the guitar very low, and will be leaning himself in order to reach the strings with his hands.

There are variations of these as each guitarist develops his own position, but these are the standard positions for these styles.

Beginner guitar exercises are meant to improve the left hands stretching ability with simple progressions such as f-f#-g-G# or 1-2-3-4 on the E string so the player can also easily remember notes on the fretboard. This exercise is most commonly practiced on all strings, starting from the lower E string to the high E string(on a standard tuning).

Advanced players will often practice scales instead of the chromatic progression in order to implement certain patterns for faster and more precise playing. Common scales include A minor(same as C major, but it just sounds more kinky) which would be a-b-c-d-e-f-g-a. On the first 4 frets you can repeat this scale 2,5 times. I recommend trying to learn this scale on the whole fretboard as this is the basic scale and it will help a lot.

I encourage you to create your own guitar exercises, usually you can copy parts of songs that sound cool or use variations from the exercises you already know (from 1-2-3-4 you can try 2-5-7-10, then try 2-5 on E string and 7-10 on B string, then you can try…well you get the idea, improvise and create your own style).

Why should you create your own guitar exercises? For one thing you’re the one who should know best what you can and can’t do and also guitar greats usually develop their songs based on the exercises they created.

But how do they do it? If you look at the great Al Di Meola or Paco de Lucia, Eric Clapton and so many others they never miss a beat, and they always flourish the song so that it gives us a feeling relevant to what they’re playing.

I can go about the different guitar strumming lessons in several ways.The first distinction is whether we use a pick or our fingers.

The pick is mostly used by electric and jazz guitar players. With a pick the motion is simple, either up-down or the other way around. A couple things to keep in mind: try not to keep your hand on the guitar body when playing rhythms, this will make your movement difficult and you will not be able to keep up when accelerating; you should keep your hand together as a fist, holding the pick between your thumb and index fingers.

Finger picking is mostly used by classical and flamenco guitar players. The right hand technique of the flamenco music is far more complex than it’s classical counterpart.

A common technique to both styles is using your hand as you would a pick, keeping it together as a fist and using the thumb and index fingers to brush the strings, creating the desired rhythm.

The most important flamenco rhythm technique is the rasguedo. And there are 2 broad ways to do it. Either by using your 4 fingers(except the thumb) one at a time to produce a galloping sound, usually starting with the pinky and finishing with the index finger, or by using a circular motion with the thumb and middle finger for a faster, but less powerful effect. Another techniques involves using your index finger going up-down to create the rhythm and another finger to hit the guitar case. This is a much harder technique to master.

I hope these guitar strumming lessons will help you improve and broaden your guitar playing.