Friday Riffs, #1

This is something I'll do every friday. A riff is a small combo of notes played at a certain speed to sound cool. We'll start off easy, and get more advance as we go on.  The first one we'll look at is from Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones.

In tab, it is played like (tab is using numbers, instead of notes): on the A string, you will play 22, 245, 554. That means you'll hit the second fret twice, then the second fret, fourth fret, fifth fret. Then you'll hit the fifth fret twice then the fourth fret.

Parts of the Guitar

Now that you know the stings on the guitar, lets talk about parts of the guitar. You might be thinking "Why on earth is this important to learning guitar." Well for starters, I will be referencing these parts as these lessons continue. Second off, you might be asked by any aspiring guitar player to show your how to hydrate a fretboard or something. I don't think saying "The hell is a fretboard" is going to make you look very good. So to start off, lets start from the top of the guitar and go from there.

• The top part of the guitar is called the headstock, and on it are tuning pegs, which are used to keep the guitar in tune. It looks like the above image:

• The next topic of interest is going to be the fretboard as mentioned earlier. This is where the playing happens, where you place your fingers to achieve different sounds comes from. Guitars can range from 20 - 24 frets on the fretboard (a fret is the space between the to metal bars).

• Next comes the pickups, these are what makes sound for the guitar. If you have an acoustic guitar vs. and electric, you will not have pick ups, you'll have whats known as a sound hole, which is obviously the giant hole in the guitar.

• Another important part of the guitar is the bridge. The Bridge is what elevates the strings off the guitar so making noise is possible. 

• The next item of business is the pick guard. This ensures the guitar itself doesn't get scratched up while your playing.

• And finally we come to our last need to know parts of the guitar, which happens to be the volume and tone knobs. Volume obviously controls how loud the guitar goes, tone gives the guitar more bass vs. treble, or vice versa. If you have an acoustic guitar, your guitar will not have these knobs.  

I hope this lesson has helped you to understand the importance of learning the parts of the guitar.  

Starting simple, string names

Hey guys, everyone who wants to learn guitar should start by knowing the names of the strings. They are (from the thickest string to the thinnest).

• E
• A
• D
• G
• B
• E

An easy way to remember that is by use of the acronym Every Adult Dog Growls Barks Eats, others are Edward Ate Dynamite Good Bye Edward or Every Apple Goes Bad Eventually.