I suggest that you right now start to take command over your guitar. Usually when you are playing your first guitar sheet music melodies you will have to learn the notes in the first position on the guitar. To have a good grasp of these notes on the guitar I suggest that you learn them slowly and with concentration.

I usually begin by teaching the notes on the first string like E on open string, F on fret 1 and G on fret 3. On string two you?ll find B on open string, C on fret 1 and D on fret 3. With these notes you can play the song Mary Had A Little Lamb.

Using the previous notes the melody can be played as follows:

E D C D E E E D D D E G G E D C D E E E E D D E D C

I hope you recognized the melody. This kind of music notation doesn?t give any hints as to how the rhythm is to be played but you already know the melody, right!

Is using tablature cheating? My father taught me some interesting things about learning to read guitar sheet music.

My dad was the only guitar tutor in the town where I lived and he taught mostly classical guitar pieces. His young students, I was one of them, learned those first guitar pieces very rapidly because he used a system similar to tablature showing the frets and strings to play, along with the sheet music. Tablature wasn?t common back then. I remember somebody remarking that his system prevented the children from learning to sight read sheet music.

His reply was that if somebody really wants to learn the notes they will anyway!

I agree with that and I have found that if a pupil is not motivated learning guitar sheet music they will not advance in this area whether they play with or without tablature.

Do you think your fingers has anything to do with guitar playing? I guess you’ll answer yes!

A more important question is if the fingers you choose to use can have a bearing upon your guitar playing. Left hand fingering means which finger you use when playing a specific note.

Usually when playing the first pieces on the guitar on the first frets one plays the notes on the first fret with the index finger, notes on the second fret with the middle finger, notes on the third fret with the ring finger and notes on the fourth fret with your little finger.

Why mess up everything with this fingering stuff? Isn’t it possible to play every melody with your left index finger and forget about fingerings?

Well, of course you can play melodies with your index finger but your progress will be very limited beyond just playing easy melodies.

Besides you?ll have to move your hand all the time as you change frets and, most importantly when reading sheet music, you?ll have to look at the guitar fretboard all the time instead of looking at the sheet music.

The important thing when learning to play the notes on the guitar is to make a conscious effort to learn the notes and not to work on too many notes at the same time.

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com.

In this learn to play guitar article I will give some examples of easy to play guitar chords and progressions. I will use guitar tab to help you find the notes on your guitar.

In this article i will only use the first four strings on the guitar. In the guitar tab staff notation I will also use only the first four lines. The first string is the thinnest string on the guitar or the E-string.

The first guitar tab progression will be in the key of D. The chords of the progression is Dmaj7 and Em7. Here is the guitar tab:

1. –2—0—
2. –2—0—
3. –2—0—
4. –0—0—

The guitar chord progression above can be used as a little intro in a song in the key of D. It can also end a song or be used as a break between verses in a song. You can repeat the progression to make it last longer.

The next example will use the first chord and a Gm6 as the second chord. This little passage can also be used as an intro in a song if you like it:

1. –2—0—
2. –2—3—
3. –2—3—
4. –0—0—

The following example will use just one chord, the D chord and it will be moved two frets up. When you move the chord up it will not be D anymore. It will change into a E7 or if you want E/D. This means that you play an E-chord with the note D as a bass note.

The chords in this guitar chord progression will be D and E7. Try it!

1. –2—4—
2. –3—5—
3. –2—4—
4. –0—0—

When you move the chord up the two frets you don’t need to lift you left hand fingers. Just release the pressure of your left hand fingers a bit and slide up to the new position.

This method of sliding to new positions can be used when you change between chords. Many times you can keep one or more of your fingers on your fingerboard and slide when you change to new chords. This will make it easier to find the chord and will speed up the chord change.

Our last little guitar chord progression will use the same progression with just a different way to play the E7 chord.

Remember that all these chord progressions can be repeated over and over as intros or something else in the key of D on your guitar.

1. –2—0—
2. –3—0—
3. –2—1—
4. –0—0—

Observe that you can slide with you first finger that you hoopefully have pressed down on the second fret of the third string when you play D. When you change to the second chord you can slide to the first fret.

The above progressions use the open D-string as a fundament so to speak and this bass note creates an illusion of peace in the chord progressions. In tonal music this bass note is called a pedal point.

If you like finger picking on your guitar I will give you a pattern that can be used with these chords. I will use the common classical guitar symbols for the right hand fingers. P denotes the thumb, i the first finger, m the middle finger and a the ring finger.

1. –a———–a—
2. ———-m——-
3. ——i———–
4. –p—————

I hope you will find this little learn to play guitar lesson helpful. There are a lot of chord progressions that sounds nice but are very easy to play. In other words, I will be back!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play guitar resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star is a popular English nursery rhyme with the French melody Ah! Vous dirais-je, Maman. You can play this song on the first three strings on the guitar.

The text is from a poem, The Star, by Jane Taylor. It was first published in 1806. Here you have the English lyrics:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!

We will use guitar tablature so you will not need to read sheet music. You will only use the thinnest strings on the guitar. The string with the highest pitch is called the first string or E-string. Look at the following guitar tab:

1. 0-0-0-0—————–
2. ——–1-1-1-1———
3. —————-2-2-2-2-

This is a tablature staff and the four number 0 indicate that you play the first string four times without pressing down any finger on your right hand. This is called to play on an open string.

The four number 1 coming after is played on the second string pressing down your first finger on the first fret. Then you will play the third string four times pressing down the string on the second fret. This is what the previous guitar tablature notation is telling you.

Let’s play the first notes of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star with guitar tablature:

1. ————0–0————————–
2. ——3–3——-3—-1–1–0–0———-
3. 0–0—————————–2–2–0–

If you want to use your left hand in a professional way you can play the guitar tab notes on the first fret with your first finger, notes on the second fret with your middle finger and the notes on the third fret with your ring finger.

Now it’s only one guitar tablature part left:

1. 3–3–1–1–0–0—–
2. ——————3–
3. ———————

After having played this part twice, go back and play the first guitar tablature part and the melody is complete.

Now when you understand guitar tablature notation you can find many songs written this way on the internet. Search for guitar tab or guitar tablature. A complete guitar tablature staff has six lines representing the six strings.

If you have an ukulele hanging somewhere you can use the previous tablature too. The first three strings on an ukulele is tuned the same way as on the guitar.

Just one more thing for you to do. Play the song for your friends! Good luck!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free printable sheet music, guitar tab and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Using the previous notes the melody can be played as follows:

E D C D E E E – D D D – E G G – E D C D E E E – E D D E D C

I hope you recognized the melody. This kind of music notation doesn?t give any hints as to how the rhythm is to be played but presupposes that you already know the melody. Traditional classical guitar sheet music notation shows both the notes and the way they are supposed to be played.

My dad was the only guitar tutor in the town where I lived and he taught mostly classical guitar playing. His young students, I was one of them, learned those first guitar pieces very fast because he used a system similar to tablature showing the frets and strings to play, along with the sheet music. Tablature wasn?t common back then when playing classical guitar sheet music. I remember somebody remarking that his system prevented the children from learning to sight read sheet music. His reply was that if somebody really wants to learn the notes they will anyway. I agree with that and I have found that if a pupil is not motivated learning guitar sheet music they will not advance in this area whether they play with or without tablature.

What has fingers to do with guitar playing? The answer is obvious. Quite a lot. A more important question is if the fingers you choose to use can have a bearing upon your guitar playing. Left hand fingerings are numbers on the sheet music indication which finger you are suggested to use when playing a specific note. Usually when playing the first pieces on the guitar on the first frets it can be a good idea for you to play the notes on the first fret with the index finger, notes on the second fret with the middle finger, notes on the third fret with the ring finger and notes on the fourth fret with your little finger.

What then are the left hand fingering advantages? Can?t you play every melody with your left index finger and forget about all this fingering stuff? Well, of course you can play melodies with your index finger but your progress will be very limited beyond just playing easy melodies. You?ll have to move your left hand all the time as you change frets and, most importantly, when reading sheet music, you?ll have to look at the guitar fretboard all the time instead of looking at the sheet music which means that it will be hard to sight read music.

To summarize this learn to play guitar sheet music article, I could say that the important thing when learning to play the notes on the guitar is to make a conscious effort to learn the notes and not to work on to many notes at the same time.

Peter Edvinsson is a guitarist, pianist, composer and educator. He is also the proud owner of the website capotastomusic.com with free printable sheet music, guitar tablature and bass tablature and learn to play guitar, piano and other instruments resources for musicians and music students.

Visit his website and download easy free guitar sheet music and guitar tablature sheet music! http://www.capotastomusic.com

As you probably know Mary Had A Little Lamb is a popular nursery rhyme. Here is the first verse:

Mary had a little lamb
little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow

In When testing his invention of the phonograph in 1877 Thomas Edison used this poem and it became the first audio recording to be successfully made and played back.

We will not use sheet music in this piano lesson. Instead we will use a form of piano tablature or shorter piano tab.

Tablature is a form of musical notation, often with numbers and letters, which tells the player where to place his fingers on a particular instrument rather than which pitches to play.

First you’ll have to locate the note C on the piano. On a piano C is the first white key that is to the left of two black keys.

The C we are interested in most is the C on the middle of the piano. This C is called middle C because on the piano keyboard it is right in the middle, near the keyhole.

In our piano tab we will give this C note a number: 1

The white key to the right of C we call 2 and so on. Let’s play some notes:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

When you have played these seven notes you will come to the next C on the piano.

Let’s try to play a bit of Mary Had A Little Lamb:

Mary had a little lamb

3 2 1 2 3 3 3

You can use the index finger on your right hand to play this melody or be a little bit more professional and use your thumb for all number 1, your index finger for number 2 and your middle finger for number 3.

Let’s continue this piano lesson with the next line:

little lamb, little lamb

2 2 2 3 5 5

Use the little finger for number 5 if you want. The next part is the same as the first piano tab:

Mary had a little lamb

3 2 1 2 3 3 3

Now we are about to finish this song:

its fleece was white as snow

3 2 2 3 2 1

How can you use your left hand? Well, you can make this piece a little bit more difficult and also more rewarding to play by using your left hand for bass notes.

The notes from C to the next C is called an octave. You also have these notes to the left of the middle C. We can call these notes the left octave.

If you use the notes 1-7 in the left octave to play bass notes with your left hand we can notate this in the following way:

3/1 2 1 2 3/1 3 3

3/1 means that as you play the first 3 you also play number 1 in the left octave with your left hand at the same time.

The rest of Mary Had A Little Lamb with bass notes included looks like this:

2/5 2 2 3/1 5 5

3/1 2 1 2 3/1 3 3

3 2/5 2 3 2 1/1

I suggest that you play you left hand 1 with your little finger and number 5 with your thumb. This is the whole song and your piano lesson is over!

The best way to practice is probably to take one line at a time and learn it by heart. When you know the song by heart you can play it anytime and anywhere!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play piano resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

What string you use on your or somebody elses guitar doesn’t matter. It’s a matter of personal choice.

As you know Mary Had A Little Lamb is a popular nursery rhyme. Here is the first verse:

Mary had a little lamb
little lamb, little lamb
Mary had a little lamb
its fleece was white as snow

Thomas Edison used this poem in testing his invention of the phonograph in 1877. It became the first audio recording to be successfully made and played back.

Let’s start by playing on a string of your choice. Play the string with the thumb. If you play the string three times with your right hand thumb we can write it down like this:

0-0-0

If you press down the string on the second fret with your left hand first finger and play it three times and then lift your finger and play on the open string three times like you did before it will look like this:

2-2-2-0-0-0

Got the idea? Well, to play Mary Had A Little Lamb you need two more notes. Press down your first finger on the fourth fret and then on your seventh fret and you have all the necessary notes. The song looks like this:

4-2-0-2-4-4-4–2-2-2–4-7-7

4-2-0-2-4-4-4-4-2-2-4-2-0

If you still have questions you can ask a guitar playing friend to help you. She or he will probably be proud to help you.

If this melody is a little bit to easy for you, you can show it to a not guitar playing friend. Many people start to smile when they can play something on the guitar for the first time!

Peter Edvinsson is a musician, composer and music teacher. Visit his site Capotasto Music and download your free sheet music and learn to play resources at http://www.capotastomusic.com

Are you playing the piano? Its a great and rich instrument but before you can really start playing the great masters or that great jazz tune lots of practicing needs to be done… For this article I want to mention 5 ways to improve your piano playing.

1. Find a Qualified Piano Teacher

Dont fall into this trapp from other people saying you dont need a piano teacher. I highly recommend you grab your local paper or phone and find a qualified piano teacher. Why? Most importantly, you will learn much faster and eventually play much better then if you have to do this all by yourself.

2. Practice Regularly Never practice when you are tired you cannot focus and concentrate well enough to make good progress.

Practice Regularly Piano playing requires good coordination and music reading skills. To get best results with your piano playing practice daily for at least 20-30 minutes a day.

3. Set Realistic Goals

When studying your song, set realistic goals. Find a song that is right, and fits your musical knowledge and skills. For example if you are studying a Czerny etude make a goal to learn a new page every day or even a few measures depending on your level and skills.

4. Improve Your Sight Reading

If you have no trouble reading music notes you learn a new song much faster. Keep working on your sight reading skills by making it a routine to start your daily practice with playing a few bars of a totally new piano piece.

5. Read Music literature of the Composer

When you are playing a Mozart sonate and you dont know anything about his life its more difficult to play with a good character. Learn all about your favorite composer and try to find a good approach to play his/her songs.

Take these few tips or read more on my website to to improve your piano playing. Enjoy music!

Rene Knops makes it easy for musicians to find music lessons, sheet music and music resources. visit this link for details: sheet music site

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What is the goal of a guitarist?

Playing pieces of music is not the only goal of a guitarist. Growth in both technical ability and creativity are just as important. When you learn a piece of music by TAB you experience a certain amount of growth but as you master the piece your growth quickly levels off. You have learned the piece and you practice it only to keep it sharp. When you learn a piece of music with traditional sheet music you are not just learning the notes you are also learning another language. This exercising of your mind makes you more flexible, more capable, and more creative. With time and practice you recognize keys, chords, progressions and whole host of things you would never see with TAB.

Advantages of Reading Sheet music

Hearing the music -As your skill develops and your ears sharpen you will be able to pick up a piece of written sheet music and actually hear the notes without playing the guitar. It is a language that you have learned. For some this ability comes quickly and for others it takes years of practice.

Creativity Learning a language exercises a new part of your brain. Everyday, as you apply yourself to learning this new language you will grow. And this growth promotes your creativity. You are given many more tools to work with and apply to your music composition and you gain a broader, and more colorful, understanding of music.

Sight Reading – As you develop your skill in reading sheet music you will gain the ability to pick up a piece of music that you have never seen before and play it from sight. This ability makes you a competent musician and accelerates your ability to add pieces to your repertoire.

Breadth of Repertoire - Does your taste in guitar music deviate from the mainstream? It can be very difficult to find tablature for pieces that are not mainstream. But you can always find the sheet music. It is the language of music.

Cross-pollination with other instruments – If you have heard a piece of music written for another instrument; like the piano, bass guitar, cello, or anything else where would you find guitar tab for it? If you are able to read sheet music you can get a copy of the music, understand it, and transcribe it for your guitar. This holds true for sub-genres of guitar. There is an enormous amount of music available to guitarists that are not written in tab. Music like classical guitar, flamenco, Spanish and progressive/experimental. Reading sheet music gives you instant access to all these flavors of guitar.

The Ultimate Reward

As a guitar player, or aspiring guitar player, you know that it is not something that you study for a few weeks and are done. Playing guitar is a life long pursuit and learning tablature is just a short cut that enables you to play some songs. But learning to read sheet music is a skill that will have a more profound impact on your experience with the guitar and with the music. It will make you a better, more creative, and more capable player. It will enrich your experience with the guitar and with the music in ways that tab never can.

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