School of Rock Lesson 1: Introducing The Guitar |
The School of Rock
Lesson 1 of 3
Introducing the Guitar
"Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosphy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents." - Ludwig van Beethoven
Learning Outcomes: This lesson is meant to instruct and inspire those just beginning on their quest to master this wonderful instrument. It will cover the difference between an acoustic and an electric guitar, the basics of the guitar itself, and how songs are formed using notes and chords. All this will be presented using text, images, and video clips.
Introducing the Guitar
Lesson 1 in a 3-Part series
There are two main types of guitars I would like you to know about. The one on the left is an Acoustic Guitar and the one on the right is an Electric Guitar.
The main difference between the two is that an acoustic guitar is built to give off sound using its body, (that's why it has a hollow, wood body) and an electric guitar is meant to produce sound by plugging it into an amplifier.
Note: Because the two types of guitars are so simliar, I won't make any distinction between the two when speaking of the guitar in general terms. If it is not specifically pointed out, you can assume that the statements I make apply to both types of guitar.
Acoustic vs. Electric
Acoustic
-Softer Sounds
-Can be heard without amplification
-Not necessarily less expensive
-Bigger body, but not heavier
-Great for learning how to play
-Can be amplified for concerts
Electric
-Usually louder
-Needs amplification
-Not only for "rock"
-Usually easier to play
Want to see some nice electric guitars? Check out these Gibsons!
Want to see some nice acoustic guitars? Check out these Taylors!
It's pretty easy to tell the difference between the two when you compare sounds. Click on the center of the two boxes below and see if you can guess which is electric and which is acoustic...
Electric
Acoustic
acoustic
Electric
Electric
acoustic
Electric
Acoustic
You Decide...
Acoustic!
Electric!
Here are the answers for you: The one on the left was an acoustic, and the one on the right was an electric...
Wait!! Don't get too proud yet. An electric guitar only sounds like that when you are using a guitar effect called "distortion", which takes the original sound and alters it to create what we now recognize as the "rock" sound.
Below is an electric guitar without distortion.
Answers!
4 Parts of the Guitar
The Head
The Neck
The Body
The Bridge
Notes: What and How
The neck of the guitar is also known as the fretboard and is divided up by horizontal metal pieces into frets. Each fret is a half-step, in other words, each fret represents a different note.
The notes are sounded by placing your finger(s) on one of the frets and by plucking the associated string near the bridge. The closer to the head of the guitar you go, the "lower" the notes. The closer to the bridge of the guitar, the "higher" the notes.
Most guitars have over 18 different frets, which means that on each string, there are two octaves represented, or in other words, you can find the same note twice on the same string--one will be "low" and one will be "high."
From Notes to Chords to Songs
There is something magical about the guitar that leads so many people to fall in love with it: once you learn a few chords, you can play literally hundreds of songs!
It's true! Nearly every popular song on the radio today uses 5 chords or less. So if you are wondering where to begin your study of the guitar, you should go no further than a "chordbook." The more chords you can learn, the more songs you can play.
The pathway to guitar greatness is easy to remember, but takes practice to master. It is simply this: notes make up chords, chords make up songs, songs make for a lot of fun!
Overview
Remember, it's not what you play necessarily, but how you play it...
"...a good player can make any guitar sound good." - Michael Bloomfield
Thanks for pollinating this lesson on Brainhoney! I'd appreciate it if you left some "buzz" and commented (below) and/or rated the lesson (above).
Be sure to tune into lesson 2 in this 3-part series to learn about "Creating Music With Your Guitar." Thanks for learning with me, and go practice!!!!!!
|
|
|||||
Description: This lesson is the first in my 3-part series on the guitar. It will help you gain a greater understanding of the basics, but will also be interesting to those who know how to play guitar already. It will give you some basic tools that will be preparation for the 2nd lesson in the series entitled "Creating Music With the Guitar." You will hear/see examples of the different types of guitars, the parts of the guitar, and other basic topics.
|
|
|
|
|
Great simple lesson, I will be using your work as an example for my students to follow, thank you.
Posted by nryan
11 months ago
|
|
Support
