In Learn Guitar 1: First Steps for Beginners, you learned several essential chords, a variety of rhythm patterns, and added five songs to your repertoire. Here in Learn Guitar 2: Next Steps for Beginners, we'll continue to expand your chord vocabulary with more chords you must know. We'll also work on your single-note picking technique, and you'll learn your first scale. You'll learn how to arpeggiate chords and incorporate rests into your playing for more dynamic rhythms and strumming patterns. You'll wrap up the course learning how to play two more popular songs with your new chord vocabulary, along with some new rhythm variations. Learn Guitar 2 lessons are presented in easy-to-digest, bite-sized chunks so that you'll never feel overwhelmed or frustrated. TrueFire educators guide you through our unique playalong practice sessions every step of the way, unlike other learning methods that send you off to practice on your own. Ready to get started? Grab your guitar and let's dig in.
Learn Guitar 2: Next Steps for Beginners
Learn more chords, strums & songs with this hands-on method for beginners.
Overview
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Learn how to play guitar with free online guitar lessons and interactive video guitar courses at TrueFire, the world's most comprehensive library of guitar video lessons.
01: Learn Guitar 2 - Next Steps for Beginners
Welcome to Play Guitar: Next Steps! In this course you will find some of the "Next Steps" for your chord knowledge, rhythm playing and get to dig into scales and notes. This course is designed to be an accelerated jump start into playing guitar. Each lesson is followed by a series of Practice Sessions that you will work through with the instructor. So grab your guitar and lets get started!
1 min
02: Chord Chart Primer - Lesson 1: Demonstration
This chord chart is a great resource for the essentail chords we will be working with in this course. It is also a handy reference chart to have when you are learning songs.
1 min
03: New Chords and Song - Lesson 2: Demonstration
Let's start off by learning a couple of new chords and waste no time in putting them into a song! Memorize the chord shapes so you can get your switching down faster.
6 min
04: Practice Session 1 - Playalong: Slow
This Practice Session is at 50 beats per minute. It's pretty slow, but you need to be able to switch chords cleanly so take your time and do it as many times as you need to.
2 min
05: Practice Session 2 - Playalong: Band
Let's jam with the band! Playing along with the band is where the fun is anyway so take this chord progression and play along.
2 min
06: Single Notes & The Major Scale - Lesson 3: Demonstration
Here we take a look at our C Major Scale. Looking at the notes that make up the scale will be our first foray into music theory on a single note level. Just get used to playing through the scale and you will gradually develop single note skills you will use a lot later in your playing.
7 min
07: Practice Session 3 - Playalong: Slow
Play this one slowly with the Practice Session as many times as you need to.
2 min
08: Single Note E Groove - Lesson 4: Demonstration
Sometimes cool things can happen on just one string! The key to this sounding good is to make sure your rhythm is in the pocket.Once you get it down spend a lot of time playing with the Practice Sessions!
4 min
09: Practice Session 4 - Playalong: Slow
We want to start out practicing this one slowly at first. Don't move on until you can play it in time and smooth.
2 min
10: Practice Session 5 - Playalong: Fast
As we speed this up to 90 beats per minute it gets pretty fast. Take your time and keep your focus on making sure your hand position is where it should be.
2 min
11: Practice Session 6 - Playalong: Band
Playing with the band can make even a simple riff sound great! Focus on locking in with the drums and bass.
2 min
12: The Musical Alphabet - Lesson 5: Demonstration
Let's look at the names of the notes on the neck. While you may not need to know every note everywhere right now, having a good understanding of how they work will help you see the entire neck.
6 min
13: Rhythm Patterns & Rests - Lesson 6: Demonstration
Rests are an important part of playing guitar. Being able to stop and keep strings muted is not as easy as you might think. This lesson will help you get that down.
7 min
14: Practice Session 7 - Playalong: Slow
We will start out at 75 beats per minute. Play along with this Practice Session as many times as you need to before you move on up.
2 min
15: Practice Session 8 - Playalong: Fast
As we speed up a bit make sure you are still staying in time!
2 min
16: Practice Session 9 - Playalong: Band
There is a lot going on in this track. Don't let that distract you. Just make sure you have your part down and then just keep time and play your part! It will fit in there perfectly!
2 min
17: Arpeggiating Chords - Lesson 7: Demonstration
Picking through chords one note at a time is an essential skill. When you play a chord one note at a time it is creating an "arpeggio". So basically "Arpeggiating chords" is a fancy way of saying you are just picking through each chord!
5 min
18: Arpeggiating a Song - Lesson 8: Demonstration
Here is a classic song that you can use your new found skill of arpeggiating chords on. Make sure you are playing these chords slowly and cleanly! Keeping your technique clean is the key to really getting this down.
4 min
19: Practice Session 10 - Playalong: Slow
Start slow at 80 beats per minute. Don't move on until you have this down.
3 min
20: Practice Session 11 - Playalong: Medium
We will bump this tempo up to 100 beats per minute. Play it as many times as you need to.
2 min
21: Practice Session 12 - Playalong: Fast
120 bpm is our tempo here. If this is too fast - just go back to the previous Practice Session and play that as many times as you need to in order to get it down and be comfortable with it. Then come back to this Session and try it again.
2 min
22: Practice Session 13 - Playalong: Band
It is always a good feeling when you get it worked up to the speed where the band comes in! Keep focused on picking the individual notes and remember if you miss a chord, just jump in on the next one.
2 min
23: Progressions and Chord Names - Lesson 9: Overview
Looking at some of the reasoning behind chord progressions and chords will help you understand chord charts and songs as you continue to grow as a guitar player.
3 min
24: Learning Songs - Lesson 10: Overview
Here are a few cool songs utilizing some of the new chords we have learned. Take your time with learning the proper strum. Once you can play through it slowly, then jump into the Practice Session with the band!
1 min
25: Free to Be - Song 1: Demonstration
This classic Beatles song "Let it Be" is a great one to practice your chord changes on. Work on the difficult parts that you find and then put it all together and you will have it!
4 min
26: Practice Session 14 - Playalong: Band
This song with the band track is a lot of fun to play! Make sure you can switch the chords cleanly and in time!
1 min
27: Lunar Eclipse - Song 2: Demonstration
Here is a great Credence Clearwater Revival song, "Bad Moon Rising." This one is a little faster so you might need to work on the chord changes slowly for a little while before you jump into the band track. But the chords are pretty straight forward so don't let the faster tempo worry you.
4 min
28: Practice Session 15 - Playalong: Band
Now you are rockin'! Have some fun with this one.There are a couple parts to the song, but if you can play the main riff at tempo you will be good to go!
1 min
29: LEARN GUITAR 2 - Wrap Up & Next Steps
Congratulations on completing Play Guitar: Next Steps! You have now worked on several new rhythms, learned a handful of new chords and delved into some theory by learning a Major scale, names of the notes on the neck and arpeggios. We finished up with a couple of iconic songs. Now you are ready to dig into your favorite style and continue on your Learning Path. Practice smart. Play hard!
1 min
