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Articles & Books From Hal Leonard Corporation
A one-stop resource to the essentials of owning and playing the guitar If you’ve just bought a guitar, or you’ve had one for a while, you probably know it takes some time and effort to learn how to play the popular instrument. There’s so much to know about owning, maintaining, and playing a guitar. Where do you even begin?
The key to fast and fun piano proficiency! Whether you’re a wannabe Mozart or are an experienced hand at tinkling the ivories, the latest edition of Piano For Dummies has what you need to take you to the next level in making beautiful music using this much-loved and versatile instrument. Working as an introductory course—or as a refresher to keep those fingers nimble—you’ll find information on getting started, improving your technique and performance, and the best ways to practice until you hit finely tuned perfection.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-16-2022
On this Cheat Sheet, you find handy reference material that you can print and place conveniently in your practice area. Included are an explanation of guitar notation as it translates to actually playing the guitar, 24 common guitar chords, a fingerboard diagram showing all the notes on the guitar up to the 12th fret, and a list of essential tools and accessories that facilitate trouble-free and versatile music-making on guitar.
Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-10-2022
Learning to play the guitar is a lot fun. Use this cheat sheet to help you get started with your guitar finger placement and guitar chords. If you need help with finger placement on your guitar, use tablature (tab) and fingerboard diagrams.Practice playing the most common open-position chords on your guitar to get that “jangly” sound, and make sure you know the notes on the neck of your guitar to change starting notes in scales, chords, and arpeggios.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
One of the best reasons to pick up the guitar is to play a song that most everyone knows and can sing along with. Following are ten songs that are ideal for playing and singing, either alone or with other people around to help out. All the songs here can be played in a number of keys, using just a few simple chords.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Knowing guitar theory is one thing — applying it is another. To become a strong guitar player, you have to practice and play. This article includes suggestions to help you implement an understanding of guitar theory in your playing. The following are some of the best ways to practice along with tricks to help you take advantage of every playing opportunity.
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
How a guitar is built defines what type of guitar it is and (generally) what type of music it's used for. Consider just two examples:
A solid-body electric guitar is used for rock. It has no holes in the body — which adds to its sustain (the guitar's ability to increase the amount of time a plucked note rings).
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Following are chord diagrams for 96 of the most widely used guitar chords. The chords are arranged in 12 columns from C to B, for all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. Each of the eight rows shows a different quality — major, minor, 7th, minor 7th, and so on. So if you're looking at a piece of music that calls for, say, a Gsus4 chord, go over to the eighth column from the left and then down to the sixth row from the top.
Video / Updated 11-09-2022
Open chords are chords that fall within the first four frets typically using open strings. They sound twangy because they include unfretted strings that are permitted to ring open. This chart represents 24 of the most useful open chords you use to play guitar:
Article / Updated 03-26-2016
Like the A form, the E form is a standard barre chord shape. On the guitar, you use it to form major chords for notes along the 6th string. You can form it into some unique chord voicings, especially when you use the extra note found in its arpeggio pattern.
Credit: Illustration courtesy of Desi Serna
You add only one note to the E form shape to complete the arpeggio pattern: a 3rd interval on the 5th string.