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1 month ago | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |David Hamburger |Ruth H Parry |Gretchen Menn
Think of the guitar intro to the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” played by George Harrison with a capo way up at the seventh fret. That passage is instantly recognizable because it introduces the song’s melody along with the chords—using common open chord shapes. In fact, Harrison continues to play the melody through much of the song, doubling his voice while holding down the rhythm.
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Sep 18, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Sean McGowan |Sean Mcgowan |Scott Nygaard |Gretchen Menn |Jane Miller
Browse through a guitar songbook and you’ll see the names of chords (called chord symbols) written above the staff. Sometimes those symbols are accompanied by chord diagrams, but not always. Even if you know an option or two for chord forms, there are always different ways to play them. Having choices keeps your fretting hand from jumping around too much in search of the next chord.
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Aug 4, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Dylan Schorer |Gretchen Menn |Sean McGowan |Sean Mcgowan |Scott Nygaard
In the first installment of this Basics series on chord embellishments (July/August 2024 issue), we focused on simple ways to sweeten your accompaniment by using hammer-ons and pull-offs with open chord shapes—either hammering onto a fretted note from an open string, or pulling off of a fretted note down to the open string.
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Apr 28, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Kate Koenig |Julie Bergman |Mark Small |Gretchen Menn
Jiji plops to the floor the moment she sees there are cats. Allowing them to approach at their own pace, she earns their immediate approval. She is swarmed with purrs and fluffiness as we sit in my apartment, talking about music, matcha, and the Steven Mackey guitar concerto that we are both scheduled to perform—Jiji with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra in March, and I with the Utah Symphony in April. I hand her the Kenny Hill classical that I currently have on loan.
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Mar 22, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Gretchen Menn |David Hamburger |Josh Workman |Sean McGowan |Sean Mcgowan
The use of harmonics showcases one of the most beautiful techniques available on the guitar. There are two kinds of harmonics: natural and artificial. This lesson will focus on how to play both types and incorporate them into your playing. Harmonics appear in virtually all styles of guitar music, from classical to bluegrass to rock.
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Mar 15, 2024 | 
acousticguitar.com | Cathy Fink |Jamie Stillway |Gretchen Menn |Jane Miller
If you are making progress on sight-reading duets with a partner and would like to take things to the next level, it’s time to revisit some familiar materials, but in a different key, this time playing up the neck and negotiating some trickier rhythms.
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Nov 8, 2023 | 
acousticguitar.com | Sean McGowan |Sean Mcgowan |Alan Barnosky |Gretchen Menn |Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
Skip to content Play a Jazzy Fingerstyle Rendition of “Over the River and Through the Woods” Learn Jamie Stillway’s Spacious Take on the Traditional Bluegrass Tune “Red Haired Boy” Classical Guitar Basics: Getting Started with Tremolo Technique Learn to Play Tracy Chapman’s Groundbreaking Hit “Fast Car” Work on Your Sight-Reading Skills Through Two-Part Studies Taking a Fresh Look at the Centuries-Old Waltz “On Top of Old Smoky” on Guitar Adam Levy Performs and Teaches “Sidewalk Chalk” |...
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Nov 1, 2023 | 
acousticguitar.com | Paul Mehling |Cathy Fink |Gretchen Menn
Andrés Segovia’s version of the iconic Tárrega piece “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” was love at first listen for me. Even with ears accustomed to the polyphony that abounds in classical guitar repertoire, I found the effect fascinating—not just for the clarity of the separate voices, but for the long, seemingly sustained melody notes accompanied by arpeggios in the lower and middle range. The guitar doesn’t allow for sustained notes the way wind or bowed instruments do.
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Aug 23, 2023 | 
acousticguitar.com | Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers |Gretchen Menn |Ruth H Parry |David Hamburger
If you’ve been strumming and playing songs using chords like G, C, D, E, and A, with maybe a couple of minor or sevenths thrown in, you’ve been playing open chords—those that use one or more open strings. Barre chords have no open strings; you play them by placing your index finger across five or six strings at once (barring them) and putting down some combination of your remaining fingers on the frets above your index finger.
